Referee Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to officiate a major European men’s final when she oversaw Liverpool’s penalty shootout win over Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday night.

eferee Stephanie Frappart makes a call during the UEFA Super Cup match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Getty Images

Frappart, who was the referee for the United States win over the Netherlands in this summer’s Women’s World Cup final, became the first woman to referee a French top-flight men’s game when she oversaw Amiens against Strasbourg in April.

She has also been promoted to a full-time role for the French men’s league this season and was given the Super Cup assignment in June. She said ahead of the match that she was “proud and honored” to gain that promotion and hoped she could inspire more young girls to take up refereeing.

Frappart oversaw an action-packed match that finished in a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes of regulation and extra time that saw Liverpool win the Super Cup when goalkeeper Adrian kept out the spot kick of Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham on the last kick of the shootout.

For the Super Cup, Frappart was accompanied by assistants Manuela Nicolosi of France and Michelle O’Neal from Ireland, reuniting the team which officiated the Women’s World Cup final.

Following the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: “I told the refereeing team after the game that if we would have played like they whistled, we would have won 6-0. That was my absolute opinion.

“Whatever you could have thought before the game, there was pressure on them like hell with an historic moment. Staying calm and do what you have to do, decide very important things in a very difficult and intense game — I couldn’t have more respect, to be honest. It was really a brilliant performance.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

Source –ESPN 

Former European Cup winners had mixed fortunes in Champions League qualifying as Ajax Amsterdam and Red Star Belgrade squeezed into the playoff round while Celtic and Porto were eliminated after a dramatic evening on Tuesday.

Kristoffer Ajer’s Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League by CFR Cluj on Tuesday. Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Ajax, semifinalists last season, came from behind to beat PAOK 3-2 for a 5-4 aggregate win over the Greeks while Red Star knocked out FC Copenhagenon penalties after a bizarre shootout involving 22 spot-kicks.

Krasnodar sprung a major upset with a 3-2 win at Porto to advance on away goals after losing the home leg 1-0 and Romania’s Cluj won 4-3 at Celtic to eliminate the Scottish champions 5-4 on aggregate.

Ajax youth academy reject Diego Biseswar fired PAOK ahead with a thumping shot at the Johan Cruyff Arena before Dusan Tadic, having had a penalty saved, equalised with another one before halftime.

PAOK keeper Alexandros Paschalakis pulled off a string of superb saves but was undone by a Nicolas Tagliafico header and another Tadic penalty before Biseswar set up a tense finish with a stoppage-time effort.

Ghanaian forward Richmond Boakye fired Red Star ahead in Copenhagen and Dame N’Doye levelled to force the shootout in which the Danish champions missed two chances to progress before they were dumped out by visiting keeper Milan Borjan.

Borjan kept Red Star afloat with two stops and netted a spot-kick himself before he sent the away fans into raptures when he blocked Jonas Wind‘s weak effort to send the Serbians through.

Having earned a 1-1 draw in Romania, Celtic rallied from an early deficit to lead 3-2 before a late collapse gifted Cluj two late goals and a 5-4 aggregate win over the 1967 European champions.

Billel Omrani scored for Cluj after they trailed 2-1 and 3-2 and George Tucudean delivered the final blow in stoppage time as Celtic threw men forward.

Porto fell 3-0 behind to Krasnodar in a dire first half for the Portuguese side as Magomed Suleymanov struck twice after Tonny Vilhena had levelled the tie on aggregate.

The hosts, who have won Europe’s premier club competition twice, hit back in the second half through Ze Luis and Luis Diaz but the Russian visitors held on at the Dragao stadium.

Pepe reacts after seeing Porto eliminated from the Champions League by Krasnodar. Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

Dynamo Kiev looked like overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Club Brugge after Vitaliy Buyalskiy netted early on but the Belgian side hit back.

Stoppage-time substitute Lois Openda silenced the home crowd in Kiev barely a minute after coming on, scoring in the 96th minute to secure a 3-3 draw and book Brugge a playoff clash with Austrians LASK.

LASK followed up their 2-1 win at Basel with a 3-1 home victory over the Swiss team, while Dinamo Zagreb thumped Ferencvaros 4-0 away after a 1-1 home draw with the Hungarians.

Rosenborg beat Maribor 3-1 for a 6-2 overall win over the Slovenians, APOEL won 2-0 at Qarabag to overturn a 2-1 home defeat and Olympiakos beat Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0 for a 3-0 aggregate triumph over the Turkish side.

Source – ESPN

The Atlanta United boss continued his war of words with the Portuguese manager following his time at Crystal Palace.

Photo by Getty composite

Frank de Boer reignited his war of words with Jose Mourinho, stating that he believes “karma always strikes back”.

De Boer and Mourinho’s rivalry began when the former was the manager of Crystal Palace and criticized the latter’s handling of Marcus Rashford during his tenure as Manchester United manager, saying that it was “a pity that the manager is Mourinho”.

The Portuguese boss fired back soon after, labelling de Boer the “worst manager in the history of the Premier League”.

De Boer’s stint at Crystal Palace was historically poor, with the club earning zero points while scoring zero goals in his four matches before his September 2017 sacking.

Mourinho snuck in a further jibe at that fact, stating that, if the Dutchman was Rashford’s manager, he “would be coached how to lose because he lost every game”.

And now, more than a year and a half later, De Boer has fired back while defending his Palace tenure.

“At that moment, he can say that because it was a really bad record, of course,” De Boer told the Guardian.

“For me, if he wants to say that, I’m not the guy who wants to respond to that … I think karma always strikes back.”

Following his Palace departure, De Boer’s reputation took a hit, especially when factoring in a failed tenure at Inter that lasted just 85 days.

Prior to those stints, De Boer had found success at former club Ajax, winning the league four times.

Now manager of Atlanta United in MLS, De Boer says he believes that his time at Crystal Palace could have and should have ended differently while stating that he needed more time.

“I’m convinced,” he said. “I think if we get the time we should, we definitely turn it around, especially at Crystal Palace. We had a feeling, in training you saw it, that this is the moment we’re going to go looking up and win games. And then they decided to sack me. Of course that’s not the nicest feeling, but it’s like that.”

He added: “I was especially angry. They do some promises and they have a philosophy: ‘OK, we want to be a solid club.’

“For example, Crystal Palace, you have to also play like a modern team and don’t play relegation football. If you want to do that, OK, one year you can survive, maybe two years. But one time you will go down, I am convinced.

“So they wanted to change that, like Southampton was doing in that period. I saw that picture in front of me, so I had the feeling that I had time, but when the season started, you already see some signs that this is not the way.

“You always walk in front of a door, and it’s not opening, and I had the feeling again, and also at Inter, that we have to do this and this, and then we make our steps forward. Every time somebody was stepping on the brakes.”

Source – Goal.com

Valencia have completed the signing of Eliaquim Mangala from Manchester City on a free transfer.

Eliaquim Mangala has joined Valencia on a free transfer

The 28-year-old defender has returned to the La Liga club two years after spending a season on loan there, penning a two-year deal keeping him at the Mestalla until 2021.

Mangala has not played for Manchester City since a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Eve in 2017, and his last competitive game was for his most recent loan club, Everton, two months later before a knee injury ruled him out for the remainder of that season.

The former France international was not part of Pep Guardiola’s plans despite the departure of captain Vincent Kompany to join Anderlecht as a player-manager and the club deciding against signing a replacement.

Mangala, whose City contract would have expired next summer, originally joined from Porto for a £32m fee in 2014 and has made 57 appearances for the club.

Source – Sky Sports

The former Netherlands star suggested his playing days were over on Monday, but his agent says the comment was “a slip of the tongue”.

Photo bt Getty Images

Wesley Sneijder’s retirement announcement came as “a complete surprise” to his agent, who says the Netherlands great could yet continue playing.

Former Inter star Sneijder suggested on Monday his playing days were over as Utrecht announced a new business agreement with the 35-year-old.

Sneijder had told Utrecht’s official TV channel : “I have a lot of love for this city. Now that I’ve quit playing, I want a nice place to share my experiences.”

The all-time leading appearance-maker for Netherlands has been without a club since his contract with Al-Gharafa expired last month.

However, the playmaker’s representative, Guido Albers, admitted he was totally surprised by the announcement and says a final decision will not be made until he has met with Sneijder to discuss his plans in the coming days.

Albers also suggested Sneijder may have other options available to him, though he did appear to indicate retirement had been on the table for the former Netherlands international.

“It was a complete surprise for us that he announced it this way,” he said to FOX Sports.

“I had planned a meeting with him next Thursday to discuss the options he still has and then we were going to decide how to announce this to the public. So, next Thursday we can decide if this decision is certain.

“He has some things to do in Doha, where he still lives and there are still a few clubs who probably want to sign him, so I’d like to tell him about that.

“He just came back from America. We will discuss it on Thursday and then he can decide what to do. Normally you consult each other about these things, but I think he just announced it in all his enthusiasm today.”

Should Sneijder stick to his decision, he leaves the game having accumulated plenty of titles at the club level, having secured a historic treble with Jose Mourinho at Inter in 2009-10, as well as league titles with Ajax, Real Madrid and Galatasaray.

He was capped by the Netherlands 134 times between 2003-2018, and was part of World Cup finalist squad at the 2010 tournament in South Africa, as well as a third-place finish in Brazil four years later.

Source – Goal.com

After injury scuppered a swoop for Manchester City star Leroy Sane, the Bundesliga champions appear to be closing in on a deal for the Inter winger.

Photo by Getty Images

Ivan Perisic looks set to complete a move to Bayern Munich after undergoing a medical with the Bundesliga champions.

The 30-year-old has long been linked with a move away from Serie A side Interand is expected to join Bayern on an initial season-long loan move, with an option to make the deal permanent next year.

Perisic was pictured leaving a hospital in Munich on Monday and told Bild: “Yeah, I just had the medical check-up.”

The path has been cleared for him to head out of San Siro as Inter boss Antonio Conte sees no obvious fit for the Croatian in his plans.

He said in July on the back of a 1-0 International Champions Cup defeat to Manchester United: “We’re working with him, but his response isn’t positive.

“Perisic can’t play in the role that I want. Therefore, he can only play as a striker right now.”

While the Nerazzurri have no position for Perisic within their ranks, Bundesliga champions Bayern are happy to open their doors.

Niko Kovac has been in the market for at least one new wide forward following the departures of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.

The Bavarian giants’ hopes of signing Manchester City’s Leroy Sane were scuppered last week following the news he will be out for six or seven months after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Perisic will provide competition to Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman and could join in time to feature in Bayern’s opening league game, as they take on Hertha Berlin on Friday.

The Croatia international has previously played in the Bundesliga, initially for Borussia Dortmund before joining Wolfsburg midway through the 2012-13 season.

He has graced the German top-flight well over 100 times and found the target on 27 occasions – with double figures reached for Wolfsburg in 2013-14.

Perisic signed for Inter in 2015 and has been a regular starter during his four years at San Siro, scoring eight goals in Serie A during 2018-19 and 40 times in total for the Italian giants across the course of his entire stay.

Source – Goal.com

Maurizio Sarri has suggested Paulo Dybala could miss out on selection for Juventus’ Champions League squad as speculation persists over his future.

The Argentine forward held talks with Manchester United and Tottenham over a move this summer, but remains in Turin after the Premier League transfer window closed on Thursday.

But new Juve boss Sarri says Dybala could be forced to leave the club as they struggle to meet Champions League squad size limits.

UEFA requires teams to name no more than 25 players in their Champions League squad, including at least two goalkeepers.

Clubs must also have at least four players developed at their club and eight developed in the country as part of the 25-man squad, something Sarri says is causing Juve problems.

Sarri joined Juventus from Chelsea this summer

He said: “I could talk to him, but if the market goes a certain way then what I say counts for nothing, because in the end we need to cut six players.

“This will also depend on who will receive huge market requests, it won’t be just a matter of choice.

“Obviously I would like to keep them all. Our big problem is that we don’t have players who grew up in this club. We only have one player who grew up in the club.

“Our Champions League roster will be made of 22 players, with three goalkeepers. This puts us in a difficult position, the market might force us to make choices we might not really want to make.”

Dybala was in talks over moves to Man Utd and Spurs this summer

Sarri has, however, praised Dybala’s versatility, and says the 25-year-old is capable of playing as the central striker in his preferred 4-3-3 formation.

“I think he has all it takes, including the number of goals, to be in that role,” said Sarri. “When a player is technically good he can play in many positions.

“We need to see how much we can fill the penalty area with all our players in top form.”

Source – Sky Sports

Only three days after completing his big-money move from Old Trafford, the Belgian scored half of his new side’s goals in an 8-0 stroll.

Photo by Getty Images

Romelu Lukaku marked his first appearance in an Inter shirt by scoring four times in his new side’s emphatic win against Virtus Bergamo.

The Belgium international completed his protracted move from Manchester United on Thursday in a reported €80 million (£74m/$90m) deal, ending weeks of speculation.

He did not feature at all for United during their pre-season campaign, and spent some time training back in his native Belgium with Anderlecht as he sought match fitness.

The forward wasn’t ready for Saturday’s friendly trip to Valencia, left out of Antonio Conte’s matchday squad entirely for a game which Inter eventually won on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

However, he was part of a much-changed side that took to the field for a low-intensity encounter against Serie D minnows Bergamo on Sunday.

Handed the number nine jersey, previously warn by Mauro Icardi, Lukaku made a good first impression as he netted half of Inter’s goals in an 8-0 thrashing.

Matias Vecino and Sebastiano Esposito, two other players in need of minutes, scored braces to complete the rout.

Lukaku will have been relieved to finally see his name back on the scoresheet, with his final goals in a Manchester United shirt coming against Southamptonmore than five months ago.

He will hope to have impressed sufficiently to merit a starting berth for Inter’s first game of the Serie A season, as they host newly-promoted Lecce at San Siro on August 26.

They then look forward to fixtures with Cagliari and Udinese, before the first Milan derby of the new campaign on September 21.

Inter are hoping to build on a fourth-place finish last season, as they took until the final day of the season to confirm their Champions League place for the coming year under Luciano Spalletti.

They ended the season 21 points behind perennial champions Juventus and, having been backed with funds in the transfer market, Conte will be expected to close the gap.

Wingers Valentino Lazaro and Matteo Politano have been brought in alongside Lukaku, and there could be further activity from Conte in the window if Ivan Perisic’s expected move to Bayern Munich goes ahead.

With the Croatian looking set to return to the Bundesliga, Inter would have until the Serie A transfer deadline on August 23 to find a replacement, should Conte choose to.

Source – Goal.com

The United frontmen scored three between them in a 4-0 win which showed the Reds can be lethal even without Romelu Lukaku.

Photo by Getty Images

It was more by luck than judgement at times, but the brave new world that is Manchester United’s much-vaunted rebuild under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got off to a thumping start on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Their 4-0 success over Chelsea owed much to them taking their chances when they came and making Frank Lampard’s side rue their failure to do the same.

In the aftermath of the sale of Romelu Lukaku, which had many an observer concerned as to where United’s goals would come from, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial netted three between them and injected some much-needed optimism back into the stands at the Theatre of Dreams.

Their goals came at key times too, with United pouncing during periods when Chelsea looked to be turning the screw in both halves.

The tone was set early by the visitors getting in behind the United midfield with ease and attempting to exploit the channels. It was from that position that Tammy Abraham fired a bullet across David de Gea and against the Spaniard’s far post, and Ross Barkley would be denied by the keeper’s outstretched boot soon after.

United attempted to press high as prescribed by their manager, though, and after Kurt Zouma’s earlier mishit pass had handed Martial a shot at goal the Chelsea defender would then pull down Rashford in the area after more sloppy play on the ball by the London side.

The England striker stepped up to slam home and for 10 to 15 minutes thereafter they were probably the better side as home advantage finally seemed to count for something in the stands and United responded with greater attacking verve.

But as the game fell back into a more moderate pace it was Chelsea who again dominated, and Emerson first struck the angle of post and bar, then tested De Gea either side of half-time.

Again though, it was when Chelsea looked most likely to register that United struck. Jesse Lingard did well to reach a loose pass before feeding Andreas Pereira out wide, with Martial beating Cesar Azpilicueta to turn the ball home from close range.

As the Frenchman pointed to his new No.9 shirt during the celebration it was almost impossible not to think of Lukaku’s record of having netted a single goal in 24 games against top-six opposition during his United spell.

Moments later it was game over, with Paul Pogba delivering a brilliant ball over the top for Rashford to race onto and provide the coolest of finishes.

Solskjaer will have been very happy with more than just his starting forwards though, with all three of his summer signings enjoying fantastic debuts.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was superb at right-back, Harry Maguire always assured in the centre of defence, and Daniel James came on to wrap up the win with a splendid fourth goal after Pogba’s burst through the middle on the break.

It was about as good an opening day as Solskjaer could have asked for even if it took his side a long time to get going.

But then that sounds a lot like United over the last six years – they’ve picked up results at times and even the odd trophy without really getting going.

The long-awaited rebuild has started with a bang.

Source – Goal.com