It appears that the Kepa Arrizabalaga experiment is ending for Chelsea. The club announced the signing of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Stade Rennais on Thursday for a fee of $26 million. The Senegalese international allowed just 0.76 goals per game in Ligue 1 last season, second in the league, but is he the solution to Chelsea's goalkeeping headache, or will he be just another overpaid, underperforming shot-stopper?
France forward Kylian Mbappé marked his return to action with a vintage performance and a goal as champions Paris St Germain rediscovered their form with an impressive 3-0 win at Nice in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Mbappé, who missed the opening three games after contracting the coronavirus, fired PSG ahead with a 38th-minute penalty and had a big part in Angel Di Maria's strike before Marquinhos headed home the third in the second half.
The Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille on Sunday ended in a scuffle between the two sides that resulted in five red cards. The fight was prompted by Marseille center back Alvaro allegedly directing a racist slur toward PSG star Neymar.
This story alone was enough to warrant significant media attention, but the comments made by French Football Federation (FFF) president Nöel Le Graët on Tuesday made the issue even more pertinent.
Between August 12 and 23 in Lisbon, Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain changed the narrative surrounding the club by advancing to the Champions League final and performing admirably against Bayern Munich.
In the space of four days coinciding with the club’s start to the 2020-21 season, you could say that PSG has reverted to an even lesser version of its old self.
Brest defeated Dijon 2-0 in Ligue 1 action on Sunday after Romain Perraud opened the scoring in the 42nd minute before Irvin Cardona added the insurance goal in the fifth-minute of second half stoppage time.
“Insurance goal” is one way to frame it. Another is a gravity-defying piece of exceptionalism that only belongs in the Shaolin Soccer film.
PARIS — French champion Paris Saint-Germain, missing several players who tested positive for Covid-19, lost 1-0 at RC Lens in its first Ligue 1 game of the season on Thursday after a terrible error by goalkeeper Marcin Bulka.
Pole Bulka, 20, tried to play the ball out along the floor to a teammate but Cameroonian forward Ignatius Gango got there first to fire into the top corner and give Lens a surprise lead in the 57th minute.
With each kit released for the 2020-21 season, I find myself shaking my head; it has become abundantly clear that kit designers have simply run out of ideas.
France forward Kylian Mbappe has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and will miss this week's Nations League international against Croatia, the French football federation (FFF) said on Monday.
"Given that the result of his COVID-19 test carried out by UEFA on Monday morning showed up as positive, he was removed from the rest of the squad after the results came through following training, and then returned to his home later in the evening," the French football body said on its website.
The Lionel Messi transfer saga has provided the excitement we've all craved during a quiet transfer window, as every club has hope of signing the world's best player (no, he's not going to MLS).