Soccer World Daily

Coach Manuel Pellegrini has told his Manchester City players not to obsess too much about Cristiano Ronaldo now that the three-time world player of the year hasbeen confirmed fit for Wednesday’s second leg of the Champions League semifinal. “Cristiano will always be a different player,” Pellegrini said. “He has scored a lot of goals inhis […]

Atletico reaches Champions League final thanks to away goal in Munich

Atletico Madrid reached its second UEFA Champions League final in three years by edging Bayern Munich on away goals with a 2-1 loss in Munich following its 1-0 first-leg win in Madrid. Atletico, whichfell in overtime to Real Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final, got the key goal from Antoine Griezmann in the 53rd […]

Police search Portuguese clubs in Russia-linked investigation

Portuguese police carried out searches at soccer clubs, including Lisbon’s Benfica and Sporting, as part of “Operation Matryoshka Dolls,” an investigation into suspected money laundering with likelylinks to Russian crime. “The searches were carried out because of suspected practices of tax fraud, criminal association, money laundering, corruption and forgery of documents,” the prosecutor’soffice said in […]

Leicester thrust Into big-money soccer

Thanks to winning the English Premier League title, Leicester’s coffers will swell by at least $200 million over the next 18 months. By 2018, Leicester is expected to rank among the 20 richest soccerclubs in the world, according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group — even if the Foxes falter next season. Of course, soccer teams […]

Atletico Madrid presents stiff challenge for Bayern

Bayern Munich must overcome a 1-0 deficit to Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal series. Recent history is not on Bayern’s side. Atletico has not lost a game bya margin of two goals since a 2-0 La Liga loss to Celta in February 2015, a span of 71 games. […]

Barcelona battles unrealistic expectations

Barcelona beat Betis, 2-0, to remain on course to a 24th La Liga title — it will clinch with wins over Espanyol and Granada in its final two matches — but it came in for criticism for not matchingthe results of its last two league matches: 6-0 over Sporting Gijon and 8-0 over Deportivo La […]

Burnley rides roller coaster back to English Premier League

Burnley secured its immediate return to the Premier League a year after being relegated when it beat QPR, 1-0, and clinched a top-two finish in the League Championship after Brighton & Hove Albiontied, Derby County, 1-1. Sam Vokes, who was injured and missed out when Burnley was promoted two years ago, scored the second-half header […]

Wolfsburg moves into UEFA women's final

Wolfsburg, the UEFA Women’s Champions League champion in 2013 and 2014, eliminated 2015 champion FFC Frankfurt with a 4-1 aggregate win in their all-German semifinal series. Marith Priessen‘sgoal in the 90th minute was all Frankfurt could muster in a 1-0 win in the second leg. Wolfsburg, a 4-0 victor in the first leg, will meet […]