Europe

Napoli pounced on two defensive mistakes to win 2-0 at Parma in their opening match of the season on Sunday as spectators returned to Serie A for the first time since March.

Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne got Napoli's campaign off to a winning start with second-half goals shortly after club record signing Victor Osimhen was brought on for his debut.

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.

Former Derby County winger Reg Harrison, who was the oldest living winner of the FA Cup, has died at the age of 97, the Championship club announced on Friday.

Harrison lifted the FA Cup as a 22-year-old when Derby beat Charlton Athletic 4-1 after extra time at Wembley in 1946 for their only FA Cup triumph.

Derby County are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of 1946 FA Cup winner, Reg Harrison.

We will miss you, Reg 

MILAN — Parma became the latest Serie A team to come under U.S. ownership when they were taken over by the Krause Group on Friday, the club said in a statement following a deal signed in Milan.

The group bought a 90 percent stake in Parma, which won three major European trophies during its heyday in the 1990s, was declared bankrupt in 2015 and returned to Serie A in 2018.

Nuovo Inizio, a group set up by local entrepreneurs which took over the club following its bankruptcy and relegation to the fourth tier of Italian football in 2015, will retain a 9 percent stake.

Connah's Quay Nomads manager Andy Morrison said he had to "turn a blind eye" to players who showed up unwell for Thursday's Europa League game against Dinamo Tbilisi as he had already lost four members of the squad due to COVID-19.

Three players had to be withdrawn prior to the second round qualifier after testing positive for COVID-19 while a fourth showed symptoms and was excluded as a precaution.

Former Barcelona coach Quique Setién and three of his assistants announced on Thursday they are suing the club for failing to fulfill the terms of their contracts after being sacked last month.

In a joint statement with assistants Eder Sarabia, Jon Pascua and Fran Soto released on his official Twitter account, Setién said he had only received written notice of the termination of his contract on Sept. 16, having been sacked on Aug. 17.

He said he had not received any compensation from the club a month after being sacked.

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.

I never thought I would see the day when players from the U.S. would be scattered around the top clubs in Europe. Yet here we are with Weston McKennie linking up with Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus, Christian Pulisic being Chelsea’s No.

German amateur side SG Ripdorf II sacrificed a tight defense for social distancing as they fielded only seven players as a coronavirus precaution in a 37-0 loss to local rivals SV Holdenstedt II.

The preparations for Sunday's match in Lower Saxony's 3. Kreisklasse — the 11th tier of German football — were complicated when it emerged that Holdenstedt players had been in contact with an opponent infected with COVID-19 in a previous match.