Sports

Best Odds: 21/10

Bookmaker:

Looking to extend on their early-season romp this weekend, Barcelona will welcome Celta Vigo to Catalonia on Saturday evening.

Barcelona

Starting with the hosts, opening their Champions League adventure with a thumping performance in Catalonia as they claimed a 5-0 romp against Antwerp, Barcelona are certainly riding a recent wave of momentum. Making La Liga history last season as they got their hands on a first domestic crown since 2019, Xavi’s squad should find the mood in their camp at a red-hot high. Marking their return from September’s international break with another stellar display as they landed a 5-0 victory against Real Betis, the Spanish heavyweight will be looking to lay down another marker this weekend. Heading into…

Wolfsburg made Bundesliga history on Sunday after Mark van Bommel s table-topping side preserved their perfect start to the season with a 1-0 win over RB Leipzig.

Jerome Roussillon scored the only goal of the match as leaders Wolfsburg made it three victories from three games – the only team with a 100 per cent record heading into the international break.

Wolfsburg have collected nine points from their opening three games of a Bundesliga campaign for the first time.

They also ended the day top of the table for the first time since winning the title in 2008-09 (minimum three games played).

9 VfL Wolfsburg have collected nine points from their first three games of a Bundesliga campaign for the very first time. They will end a day top of the table for the …

The Champions League group stage reaches the halfway point this week and Tuesday provides another set of tasty fixtures.

Liverpool travel to Atletico Madrid seeking revenge two seasons on from their last-16 exit to Diego Simeone s side in the pick of the games.

Real Madrid and Manchester City are each looking to respond to defeats last time out when they take on Shakhtar Donetsk and Club Brugge respectively.

Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain host RB Leipzig and two of Europe s great entertainers in Ajax and Borussia Dortmund face off in Amsterdam.

Here, Stats Perform takes a look at the key Opta data ahead of some key contests.

Atletico Madrid v Liverpool: Reds face bogey side

Following their last-16 exit to Atletico two seasons ag…

Giorgio Chiellini asserted it was the right time to end his Juventus career after making his final home appearance for the club, revealing Italy s failure to reach the Qatar World Cup influenced his decision.

Chiellini played the first 17 minutes of a Serie A clash with Lazio on Monday, in which Juve threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2.

First-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Alvaro Morata looked set to ensure the Bianconeri marked the Allianz Stadium swansong of Chiellini – and Paulo Dybala – with a win, only for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to equalise with the final kick of the game after Alex Sandro put through his own net.

The 37-year-old defender, who has won 20 trophies during his incredible career with the Turin giants, has made 392 top-flight appear…

Real Madrid returned to the summit of LaLiga as David Alaba s stunner and Lucas Vazquez s late tap in saw Carlo Ancelotti s team beat Barcelona 2-1 in the season s first Clasico.

Sergino Dest squandered a golden chance for Barca at Camp Nou and Madrid made their hosts pay when Clasico debutant Alaba arrowed in a brilliant shot.

Karim Benzema should have added to Madrid s lead in the second half, though Vazquez was on hand to nudge in at the end of a stoppage-time counter.

That proved to be crucial, with Sergio Aguero s maiden Barca goal in the 97th minute not enough to inspire a comeback as the hosts failed to win a fifth straight LaLiga Clasico, their longest winless run against any team in the competition since May 2008.

Barca seemed all set to take th…

Marco Silva believes Fulham s displays have been more complete this season than they were last term, and he is desperate to give their fans another result to savour ahead of Saturday s West London derby at Brentford.

While some expected Fulham to struggle this season after talismanic striker Aleksandar Mitrovic left for Al-Hilal, they sit safely ensconced in 13th in the Premier League table with 43 points.

Fulham have only taken four points from their last five Premier League games, though, and Silva is aware their next match carries more importance than most for supporters.

These types of games are special for our fans, Silva said. I prepare my team in the same way for every match, but we want our fans to have a good feeling after tomorrow.

We have t…

Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne are facing a race against time to be fit for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar next month.

Frontman Ogbene is working his way back from a hamstring injury suffered during Rotherham’s 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Middlesbrough on May 1, while Preston midfielder Browne is continuing his rehabilitation from medial ligament damage sustained at QPR on April 7.

Speaking after a four-day training camp with his EFL and League of Ireland-based players in Bristol, manager Stephen Kenny said: “Chiedozie Ogbene had a hamstring tear with Rotherham and hasn’t been able to participate this week, so we’ll have to see how that is. Alan Browne as well, [is] coming back from a medial injury, so these …

Real Madrid fended off a late comeback from Deportivo Alaves to win 3-2 and ensure Carlo Ancelotti tasted victory in his 300th match.

Reigning LaLiga champions Madrid were cruising to victory at Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday as goals from Lucas Vazquez, Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo put them 3-0 up.

Carlos Benavidez and Kike Garcia scored in the 85th and 86th minutes for Alaves but Madrid held on to win a match they had mostly dominated.

Madrid opened the scoring under a minute after kick-off when Vinicius Junior took a long Federico Valverde pass in his stride and ran up the left channel before setting up full-back Vazquez, who fired home from close range.

Los Blancos extended their lead in the 40th minute when Mbappe played a neat one-two with Jude Bellingha…

Ronald Koeman said it was a fantastic achievement by Netherlands to secure a place at Euro 2020.

A goalless draw with Northern Ireland in Belfast clinched a top-two finish in Group C qualifying for Netherlands, no matter how unspectacular their performance was at Windsor Park on Saturday.

Koeman was a key player in the Netherlands team that won Euro 88 in West Germany, but now he is pulling the strings from the touchline as head coach.

On a testing night, the one-time stylish centre-back admitted he settled for a stalemate before the end, which is why he introduced substitute defender Nathan Ake late on in place of striker Ryan Babel.

It did the job, as Netherlands reached their first tournament since the 2014 World Cup, having failed to qualify for E…

Asian Football Federation (AFC) president Mohamed Bin Hammam on Saturday strongly denied reports that he had agreed to back the Spain-Portugal bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The head of the Qatari football federation had been quoted in Spanish daily Marca as saying that he would vote for the Iberian bid to host the tournament when FIFA s executive committee convenes in Zurich on December 2.

However, he told AFP by telephone on Saturday that no interview with the paper had ever taken place.

I never spoke to any newspaper or media about the bidding for the 2018 World Cup, he said. What was published is totally false.

In a report on Friday, Marca quoted Bin Hammam as saying that Asia supports the Iberian bid but denying there was a pact between the two b…