United States great Clint Dempsey has retired from football at the age of 35.
The Seattle Sounders striker announced he is hanging up his boots in a statement on Wednesday, ending a distinguished playing career.
Dempsey started out at New England Revolution and played for Fulham and Tottenham in the Premier League before returning to MLS in 2013, joining the Sounders.
After a lot of thought, my family and I have decided that this is the right time for me to step away from the game, Dempsey said in a Sounders statement.
I d like to thank all of the team-mates, coaches and support staff that I ve worked with throughout my career.
It has always been my dream to make it as a pro. I m grateful to have been on this ride.
I would lik…
Lille have completed the signing of Sao Paulo midfielder Thiago Mendes in a move said to be worth up to €9million, with Kevin Malcuit also arriving from Saint-Etienne.
Defensive midfielder Mendes has put pen to paper on a five-year contract with Lille and follows in the footsteps of Luiz Araujo, who left Sao Paulo for the Ligue 1 club in June.
Mendes won Brazil s Serie B with Goias in 2012 and, after two seasons in the top flight, moved to the Paulista giants and played a key role in their run to the 2016 Copa Libertadores semi-finals.
The 25-year-old expressed his delight at securing a European move and getting the chance to work under head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Since I was a child, playing in Europe has always been a dream for me, Mendes told Lille s…
Roma head coach Eusebio Di Francesco was relieved to see his side leave with three points following a tough 2-1 win over Qarabag.
Kostas Manolas and Edin Dzeko put the Serie A side comfortably in control after only 15 minutes but the home side hit back when Pedro Henrique scored the first Champions League goal for a team from Azerbaijan.
The hosts produced a far better performance than they managed in their 6-0 loss to Chelsea on matchday one but could not fashion a clear chance for an equaliser, as Roma held on for their first away win in the competition since November 2010.
Di Francesco admitted his side made their own lives difficult but says Qarabag proved they deserve respect.
2520 have won a Champions League match away from home for the first time …
Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden will make his England debut after being selected to start Saturday s Nations League match against Iceland.
Foden, 20, enjoyed a breakthrough campaign at City last season, featuring with increasing frequency in Pep Guardiola s first team.
He made 38 appearances in all competitions, scoring eight times – a haul that included five of his six career strikes in the Premier League.
Particularly strong form after lockdown persuaded Gareth Southgate to call up Foden, who has 15 England Under-21 caps and was a star performer during the Three Lions U-20 World Cup triumph in 2017.
Foden looks set to line up on the left of a midfield three anchored by West Ham s Declan Rice, with Southampton s James Ward-Prowse another surpris…
Jurgen Klopp was relieved after winning the Champions League as he praised Liverpool s owners for never pressuring his team.
Liverpool claimed their first trophy since Klopp took charge in late 2015, beating Tottenham 2-0 in a lacklustre decider in Madrid on Saturday.
While Klopp has overseen clear progress at the helm, there was still plenty of talk about the lack of silverware since his arrival at Anfield.
The German had lost his previous six finals and he was left satisfied after finally claiming success at the Wanda Metropolitano.
I feel mostly relieved to be honest, relieved for my family actually because they are pretty close to me, as you can imagine, Klopp told a news conference.
CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC)
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High-flying Paris Saint-German travel to Marseille hoping to extend their unbeaten start to the new Ligue 1 Conforama campaign in a French Classique that’s become somewhat of an uneven contest in recent years.
Marseille
It’s been an erratic and quite inconsistent start to the new season across all competitions for Olympique de Marseille. Last four matches stand to attest to the claim as Rudi Garcia’s men alternated between defeats, losses and draws in Ligue 1 and Europa League.
Having rose to the occasion to bounce back from a two-goal deficit at Nice and grab a morale-boosting win thanks to a brace from Lucas Ocampos, one goal from Luiz Gustavo and Lees Melou’s own goal, Ma…
Sevilla have that they ve reached an agreement with Atalanta for Luis Muriel to return to Italy.
The striker started his career with Deportivo Cali in his native Colombia, but he moved to Italy after only 11 games. There he joined Udinese, in whose books he would be until the January of 2015, including loan spells with Granada and Lecce. Then he joined Sampdoria and stayed there until the summer of 2017, when he arrived to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. He had scored 13 goals in 65 appearances in all competitions for the Spanish club, before being loaned back to Italy, to Fiorentina, where he spent the second half of the 2018/19 season.
Sevilla took the opportunity to thank the 28-year-old for his contribution over the last two years.
Muriel had traveled with the …
Real Madrid against Barcelona on Saturday will go some way to deciding the destination of this season s La Liga trophy, but it could go much further in defining the Santiago Bernabeu career of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Madrid versus Barca, BBC against MSN, Ronaldo against Lionel Messi – the stakes are always high in El Clasico. This particular battle, though, comes at a time when the Portugal captain s blue-chip stock is starting to fall.
Fewer than three months from his 31st birthday, the forward is under pressure to deliver after producing what has been, by his standards, a poor start to 2015-16 and his long-term future in Madrid is starting to come under real scrutiny.
Ronaldo is under contract until 2018, but his own cryptic comments over his future have done lit…
Barcelona s determination to bring Lionel Messi back to Camp Nou is going to be a major storyline during the next transfer window.
But their pursuit of the 2022 World Cup winner is complicated given the Blaugrana s financial situation.
As a result, Barca s squad are on notice, with expectations that key players may need to be offloaded.
TOP STORY – PREMIER LEAGUE TRIO TO SWOOP FOR RAPHINHA
Raphinha is set to be sold by Barcelona in the off-season with three Premier League clubs circling for his signature, according to reports.
The Blaugrana will need to let Raphinha go to free up space for Messi to return given the club s financial issues, claims Fichajes. Messi is out of contract at Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this season.
Raphin…
Paul Pogba was sent off as Paris Saint-Germain won 2-0 at Manchester United to take control of their last-16 Champions League tie, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tasting defeat for the first time since taking charge.
Injuries to Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard dented United s attacking thrust and PSG scored twice in seven second-half minutes at Old Trafford on Tuesday to put a foot in the quarter-finals.
Presnel Kimpembe converted a corner from Angel Di Maria to score his first professional goal and the former United winger recorded another assist when he set up Kylian Mbappe for a crucial second.
Although PSG were without injured forwards Neymar and Edinson Cavani, United could muster no response with veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon completely untested and t…