Bruno Fernandes has targeted more goals and assists than games for Manchester United in the Premier League this season.
The Portugal international has found the net 25 times and set up 14 more in 42 outings in all competitions since joining from Sporting CP for £47million (€55m) on January 30.
That includes nine goals and five assists in 12 appearances in the English top flight this term, with three of those goal involvements coming in Sunday s 6-2 win over Leeds United.
It was the seventh time Fernandes both scored and assisted in the same Premier League game since his debut in February at least two more occasions than any other player during that period.
Going further back, he has been directly involved in 29 goals across 27 appearances in the compet…
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Hoping to make it back-to-back Nations League victories on Tuesday night, Germany will welcome a struggling Switzerland to Koln.
Germany
Starting with the hosts, while Germany might have struggled to find their best form since opening 2020, the former world champions would have been extremely relieved to pick up their first three points over the weekend. Opening up this year s Nations League campaign with back-to-back 1-1 draws against Spain and Switzerland last month, Joachim Löw s men also threw away the lead in dramatic fashion last week as they settled for a 3-3 draw against Turkey on home soil. However, managing to come past Ukraine on their travels on Saturday night, the Whites picked up a 2-1 win in Kyiv and Löw will undoubte…
Alessia Russo fired England through to their third World Cup semi-final with a second-half strike to complete a 2-1 comeback over Colombia at a sold-out Stadium Australia.
Leicy Santos gave Colombia the lead when she looped an effort over Mary Earps after 44 minutes, but saw her opener cancelled out after Lauren Hemp pounced on an error by Colombian keeper Catalina Perez six minutes into first half stoppage time.
Georgia Stanway set up Russo’s low finish to hand the Lionesses the lead after 63 minutes, and while Colombia pushed forward against the European champions an equaliser ultimately proved just out of reach.
MASSIVE WIN.
Your are through to the last four!
— Lionesses (@Lionesses)
England will next face tournament co-hosts Aus…
RB Leipzig are set to appoint Domenico Tedesco as their head coach, following the sacking of Jesse Marsch on Sunday, according to multiple sources.
Having finished runners-up to Bayern Munich last term, Leipzig have endured a highly disappointing 2021-22 campaign so far. At the moment, they sit 11th in the German top flight, and they ve failed, admittedly in a very difficult group, to qualify for the Champions League round of 16. The moment that caused the bubble to burst for Marsch was the 2-1 defeat away to Union Berlin last week, the team s third league loss in a row, though his position was shaky even before that.
Having coached at the youth setups at Stuttgart and Hoffenheim, Tedesco had his first job as a first-team manager at German second-tier side FC Erzgebirge…
Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff has rejected calls to stage a farewell friendly for the retired Michael Ballack.
The 36-year-old hung up his boots after a stellar career in which he picked up 98 caps for his country, scoring 42 goals, and helped the team to reach the final of both the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2008.
The midfielder s club career saw him turn out for Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, winning four Bundesliga titles and a Premier League trophy, as well as numerous cups.
Ballack was offered two international matches in 2011 to take his tally to 100 caps, one of them was to be against Brazil, but at the time the midfielder vehemently refused the offer, after being ousted from the squad following the 2010 World Cup.
…
Aston Villa were stunned by Olympiacos as they suffered a 4-2 home defeat in the Europa Conference League.
On what the Villa faithful hoped would be a famous night at Villa Park, they instead saw their team dispatched by their Greek opponents in the first leg of their semi-final encounter.
Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick for the visitors, who were 2-0 up inside 30 minutes on Thursday.
Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby struck either side of the interval to restore parity, but El Kaabi sealed his hat-trick from the penalty spot before Santiago Hezze added further gloss with a sensational finish. To add to Villa s misery, Douglas Luiz then missed a penalty late on.
Taking home the match ball
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague)
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Newcastle winger Gabriel Obertan has vowed to fight for his place at St James Park after scoring a winner in the Europa League clash against Club Brugge.
The Frenchman rounded off a nice team move to help Newcastle remain at the top of Group D as the Magpies recorded a 1-0 win over Club Brugge.
After scoring his first ever goal at St James Park and only his second for the club, the 23-year-old insisted he was ready to fight for a regular starting berth.
For a lot of the players tonight, we don t get to play much in the Premier League so we really wanted to show the gaffer we could have a starting position in the league, Obertan told club’s official website.
It s been a while that I have been pushing for a first-team place. I feel like in the Europa L…
Chelsea are reportedly preparing to trigger the release clause in Marouane Fellaini s Everton contract.
The European champions are aware of Fellaini s buy-out clause, which is believed to be more than 25 million pounds, and are ready to make a move to sign the player this month, according to football website Goal.com.
The versatile midfielder is regarded by Chelsea as a long-term replacement for Frank Lampard, who will leave Stamford Bridge when his contract expires in the summer.
Chelsea have been encouraged by the news that there is a fee which could trigger a deal, although sources have said that it is higher than the 22 million pounds reported earlier this week.
Stamford Bridge owner Roman Abramovich will not be put off by a 25-million-pound-plus cla…
Gareth Bale scored on a dream comeback from injury as Real Madrid moved four points clear of Barcelona at the top of LaLiga with a 2-0 home win over Espanyol.
Alvaro Morata headed in Isco s cross to score on his first league start of 2017 in the first half of a low-key match which produced few scoring opportunities after the hosts made seven changes to their team.
Madrid received an added boost when Bale returned from three months out with an ankle injury as a substitute to cap a late counterattack and seal victory, Isco again with the assist.
Madrid still have a game in hand on both Barca and third-placed Sevilla, who can reduce the leaders advantage down to three points by beating Eibar later on Saturday.
Zinedine Zidane s men have now won eight s…
Kevin De Bruyne has called on Manchester City to take top spot in the Premier League for injured captain Vincent Kompany ahead of Monday s visit to leaders Leicester City.
Kompany limped off just 10 minutes into his return from a calf injury against Sunderland on Saturday, his withdrawal taking some of the gloss off a 4-1 win over the Black Cats.
With a three-point gap between the sides following Leicester s 1-0 loss at Liverpool on Boxing Day, victory at the King Power Stadium will lift Manuel Pellegrini s men above their hosts thanks to superior goal difference.
Arsenal s 4-0 humbling at the hands of Southampton allowed Leicester to stay top and fixed the damage done in City s defeat at the Emirates Stadium a week earlier, and another slip-up against AFC Bourne…