DOHA, Qatar (AP) — From the sidelines at Real Madrid to one of Spain's most important players at the World Cup. It’s been a nice turnaround for forward Marco Asensio.
Asensio has made just a few appearances from the bench for Real Madrid under coach Carlo Ancelotti.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Brazil coach Tite pleaded for “respect” if his players celebrate goals at the World Cup by dancing.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Coach Paulo Bento acknowledged there are hazards for last season's Premier League joint top scorer Son Heung-min when he takes the field wearing a mask in the Group H opener against Uruguay in the World Cup.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — With defending champion France missing so many big names through injury at the World Cup, there is even more of an onus on Kylian Mbappé to become the team’s leader in Qatar.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Gareth Bale thought about the significance of Wales reaching the World Cup for the first time since 1958.
“Schools are going to stop to watch our games,” he said, beaming. “Kids are going to miss school — fortunately for them.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — One month after raising the Ballon d’Or in triumph to crown his remarkable rise, Karim Benzema’s dream of winning the World Cup is over before he has even played a game in Qatar.
SAO GONCALO, Brazil (AP) — Four years ago and still a teenager, Vinicius Jr. took his first winners' medal to his hometown outside Rio de Janeiro, a place where drug gangs and vigilantes fight for control and children play soccer on the streets alongside piles of garbage.
LYON, France (AP) — Karim Benzema returned and Alexandre Lacazette’s late penalty rescued a 1-1 draw for Lyon against Nice to keep his team just ahead of the visitors in the French league on Friday.
MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid got back to winning — and moved closer to Barcelona going into the World Cup break.
Madrid halted its two-match winless streak in the Spanish league by defeating relegation-threatened Cádiz 2-1 on Thursday to cut Barcelona's lead to two points going into the World Cup stoppage.
Romelu Lukaku was selected in Belgium's 26-man squad for the World Cup on Thursday despite coach Roberto Martinez not expecting to be able to call on the injured striker until after the group stage.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Wales head coach Robert Page has dismissed concerns about Gareth Bale's fitness after including the former Real Madrid forward in his World Cup squad on Wednesday.
Bale will captain his country in Qatar, which is the first time it has qualified for the tournament since 1958.
MADRID (AP) — Carlo Ancelotti defended Karim Benzema from accusations he is not playing with Real Madrid to be ready for the World Cup, saying Wednesday the France striker himself is upset about his lack of minutes going into Qatar.
MADRID (AP) — With an improbable win, Barcelona made sure it will go into the World Cup break at the top of the Spanish league standings.
Robert Lewandowski was shown his first red card in nearly a decade and Gerard Piqué was sent off from the bench in his last career match, but Raphinha scored late as Barcelona rallied to defeat Osasuna 2-1 and secure the Spanish league lead ahead of the World Cup stoppage.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles FC’s victory over the Philadelphia Union on penalty kicks in the MLS Cup final was the second highest in the league's 27-year history for combined U.S. viewers.
Saturday's game averaged a combined 2.155 million viewers on Fox and Univision, a 38% increase from the 2021 final between NYCFC and the Portland Timbers, which also went to penalty kicks.
MADRID (AP) — A “bad night” by Real Madrid cost its unbeaten streak, its perfect away record and the Spanish league lead.
Madrid was far from its best in falling at Rayo Vallecano 3-2 on Monday, losing for the first time in the league and seeing its sixth-match winning run on the road come to an end.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Real Madrid will play Liverpool, again. Bayern Munich will play Paris Saint-Germain, again.
Two rematches of recent Champions League finals were set up Monday by the draw for the round of 16 as some of Europe's top heavyweights were paired together.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Monday:
SPAIN
Real Madrid visits Rayo Vallecano needing a win to regain the lead of the Spanish league. Carlo Ancelotti's second-place team sits two points behind rival Barcelona, which beat Almería 2-0 at home on Saturday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Manchester City can move back to the top of the Premier League with a win against Fulham. Early season leader Arsenal does not play until Sunday, meaning it is an opportunity for Pep Guardiola's team to take advantage and keep the pressure on the London club, which faces a test of its title credentials against Chelsea.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — With the World Cup less than three weeks away, Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde is blossoming into a potent scoring threat for Spanish leader Real Madrid.
The 24-year-old Valverde has long been valued for his hustle as a box-to-box midfielder who excels in his ability to launch counterattacks with his dribbling speed.
BERLIN (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are among a handful of players hoping for a final hurrah in what is likely to be their last World Cup appearance.
Besides those two, there's also Robert Lewandowski, Luis Suárez, Luka Modric, Dani Alves, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller.
HAIFA, Israel (AP) — Benfica kept pressing and the goals kept coming.
João Mário's long-range strike in stoppage time sealed Benfica's 6-1 rout of Maccabi Haifa that was enough to secure the Portuguese team a helpful first place in its Champions League group on Wednesday.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City teenager Rico Lewis had to earn his start against Sevilla, and he made the most of it.
The full-back became the youngest player in Champions League history to score in his first start in the competition.
It took nine years for seven-time European champion AC Milan to finally win its way back into the Champions League knockout rounds with a 4-0 victory over Salzburg on Wednesday.
Paris Saint-Germain’s quest for a first European title got potentially tougher because it is now unseeded in the round of 16 draw Monday despite winning 2-1 at Juventus.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk's Champions League campaign ended in a 4-0 loss on Wednesday to Leipzig, whose striker Timo Werner came off hurt ahead of the World Cup.
Shakhtar had overcome a series of formidable obstacles just to play in European competitions this season and would have reached the knockout stage with a win.
MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid converted two penalty kicks and saw goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois save another — all in the first half — as it comfortably defeated Celtic 5-1 to secure first place in its Champions League group on Wednesday.
American defender Cameron Carter-Vickers missed Glasgow Celtic's Champions League match at Real Madrid on Wednesday, the latest injury concern for the U.S. team ahead of the World Cup.
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou said during a news conference Tuesday that Carter-Vickers was sore after playing 90 minutes during Sunday's 3-0 Scottish Premier League win at Livingston, which has an artificial turf surface.
MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid is suddenly showing some signs of weakness after a great start to the season.
Madrid was held by Girona to a 1-1 draw at home on Sunday in the Spanish league to follow up its first loss of the season in all competitions.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
Arsenal tries to reclaim top spot in the Premier League with a win over last-placed Nottingham Forest at home, having fallen a point behind overnight leader Manchester City.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona was on the brink of another setback when Robert Lewandowski stretched out his right boot and found the winner.
The Poland striker’s goal in stoppage time snatched a 1-0 victory at Valencia on Saturday, lifting Barcelona back to the top of the Spanish league standings level on points with Real Madrid.
MADRID (AP) — A management company whose co-owner has links to Real Madrid and Barcelona is in charge of promoting a relaunch of the failed Super League venture.
Madrid-based A22 Sports Management is part of a partnership between investors John Hahn and Anas Laghrari, who has worked with the two Spanish clubs on other recent projects.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Leipzig boosted its chances of advancing to the knockout stage of the Champions League by handing titleholder Real Madrid its first loss of the season on Tuesday.
The German club won 3-2 and now only needs to draw its last group match at Shakhtar Donetsk — which drew 1-1 at Celtic on Tuesday — to advance to the last 16.
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Shakhtar Donetsk kept alive its hopes of advancing in the Champions League by recovering to draw 1-1 at Celtic on Tuesday as the Scottish champions were knocked out of European competition.
A look at what’s happening in the Champions League on Tuesday:
GROUP E
Chelsea hasn't failed to advance to the knockout stage since the 2012-13 season — when it was the defending champion — and would make it through to the last 16 again with a win at Salzburg.
A hush descended over the players and coaching staff of the Welsh national team as renowned actor Michael Sheen delivered a stirring pre- World Cup speech at the squad’s training base.
LONDON (AP) — The Champions League enters the next-to-last round of games, with five teams — Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Napoli and Club Brugge — already qualified for the last 16.
MADRID (AP) — Barcelona is not wasting time putting its opponents away in the Spanish league.
After scoring three goals in the space of seven minutes in a win over Villarreal on Thursday, Barcelona found the net three times in a 10-minute span on Sunday to beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0 and stay close to leader Real Madrid at the top of the standings.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Karim Benzema proudly showed his Ballon d’Or award to fans at the Santiago Bernabéu and then sat back as Real Madrid beat Sevilla 3-1 and increased its lead of the Spanish league on Saturday.
MADRID (AP) — Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema did not play for Real Madrid in Saturday’s home game against Sevilla in the Spanish league because of muscle fatigue.
Real Madrid announced the news before kickoff but did not say how long Benzema will be out.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Manchester United heads to Chelsea without Cristiano Ronaldo but with more confidence after an acclaimed performance beating Tottenham 2-0 in the Premier League midweek.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Ernesto Valverde, the last coach to lead Barcelona to a Spanish league title, will make his first return to Camp Nou on Sunday in charge of Athletic Bilbao.
Valverde was fired by Barcelona in January 2020 despite having won two consecutive league titles and with the team top of the standings.
MADRID (AP) — Barcelona needed only seven minutes to get back on track in the Spanish league.
After losing to Real Madrid in the “clásico” on Sunday, Barcelona rebounded by scoring three goals in a seven-minute span in the first half of a 3-0 win over Villarreal on Thursday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:
ENGLAND
Last-place Leicester hosts Leeds with both teams desperate for points. Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers is under mounting pressure after his team won only one of its first 10 league games.
GENEVA (AP) — The Super League project that aims to revolutionize European soccer has hired a new top executive to steer a revived plan after a failed launch last year.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Wednesday:
ENGLAND
With the Premier League's top two — Arsenal and Manchester City — inactive this week, third-place Tottenham will look to take advantage when the team heads to Manchester United for the standout match of the midweek round.