Football

1:36 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent MANCHESTER, England — Jack Grealish celebrated his first Manchester City goal by putting his fingers in his ears, but you can already tell he’s listening to Pep Guardiola. It’s probably not the way Grealish dreamt it — the ball bouncing off his knee and over the line to help City

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5:00 AM ET Romelu Lukaku has a five-year contract to try and replicate the impact of his idol Didier Drogba at Chelsea but Sunday’s trip to Arsenal gives him the perfect opportunity to start. There will be a sense of foreboding among many of the home contingent at the Emirates this weekend, mindful not just

11:52 AM ET The overlap between when the European soccer season begins (this season: Aug. 8) and when the summer transfer window closes (Aug. 31) is ripe for confusion and overreaction — we’re responding to early impressions from a given team when we don’t even know who’s going to be on its roster for the

4:00 AM ET Manchester United have added Kylian Mbappe to their list of striker targets for next summer — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. PLUS: Why Raphael Varane almost missed his grand entrance. Jump to: Varane almost missed United unveiling | Messimania in Paris | Benzema’s Real deal | Lyon’s meltdown | Explaining Arsenal’s

4:00 AM ET The transfer window deadline in Europe has is just under two weeks away and clubs are busy putting the finishing touches to their squads for the new season. 2 Related However, while there have been some big-money moves already (Man City dropping £100m to land Jack Grealish, Chelsea spending £97.5m to sign

9:15 AM ET Social media is a boon for athletes because it allows them to speak directly to the world. No filters, no club press officers, no sponsor PR reps, no misquotes. Just their voice, with their chosen words and the opportunity to clarify and rectify. Somebody probably should have told Cristiano Ronaldo’s social media

6:20 PM ET Danny Lewis The summer transfer window is into its final month for the major European leagues, which means the biggest clubs are looking to make a splash in the market before the new season begins. Check out the latest gossip below, and see all official deals here. TOP STORY: Bayern keen on

2:34 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo has lashed out over the transfer rumours regarding his future, accusing people of being “disrespectful” yet stopping short of committing his future to Serie A giants Juventus. The former Real Madrid forward, who scored a record 451 goals during his nine years at the club from 2009-18, was linked with

9:30 AM ET Bruce Schoenfeld There can be only one table. Just one, in the shape of a square, and it must be big enough to accommodate all 24 players who have made the trip. Please put six chairs on each side, so everyone can see everyone else, and no place is better than another.

3:00 AM ET Slipped quietly into the arguments promoting the formation of April’s doomed European Super League was a suggestion that the Premier League‘s “Big Six” were all on board. Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur all signed up for the project that collapsed in a matter of days, as fans

5:02 PM ET They won the final training match on Tuesday morning. Of course they did. During only his full second practice with the whole Paris Saint-Germain squad, Lionel Messi was on the winning side, and what teammates he had to work with: Keylor Navas, Neymar, Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler and Kylian Mbappe. Their

7:07 AM ET United States women’s national team and OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe told ESPN she doesn’t know what her playing future looks like and she will “need to take some time to think about it.” Rapinoe, 36, was part of the U.S. squad that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, and she will

4:03 AM ET The summer transfer window is into its final month for the major European leagues, which means the biggest clubs are looking to make a splash in the market before the new season begins. Check out the latest gossip below, and see all official deals here. TOP STORY: PSG’s Ronaldo-Messi plot must wait

2:37 PM ET What a weekend in European soccer! Three of the top five leagues (English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spanish LaLiga) kicked off their 2021-22 campaigns, and the games didn’t disappoint. Manchester City‘s title defense got off to a rocky (but predictable) start against Tottenham, Barcelona began their post-Lionel Messi era with a big

12:30 PM ET No one could have imagined that when FC Barcelona played their first competitive match for nearly 17 years without Leo Messi as a first-team squad member, they could produce something as remarkable as almost anything the Argentine magician routinely produced at Camp Nou? OK, the quality of the goal — Memphis Depay

12:37 AM ET Raul Ruidiaz and Fredy Montero each scored twice, with Ruidiaz netting his Major League Soccer-leading 13th goal of the season, as the Seattle Sounders defeated the host Portland Timbers 6-2 Sunday night. Jimmy Medranda and Nicolas Benezet also scored, and goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland made seven saves for the Sounders (10-3-6, 36 points),

6:17 AM ET The players were at an outdoor gathering. Photo by Devin Manky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Three Vancouver Whitecaps academy players were assaulted at an outdoor gathering, in what the Major League Soccer club believes was “a racially motivated attack.” One player was taken to hospital but their injuries are said to be “non-life