Soccer

1:30 PM ET After weeks of qualification and months of gnashing teeth over future format changes, the most important and high-quality continental club competition in the world, the UEFA Champions League, begins group-stage play on Tuesday. Somehow, this behemoth of a tournament almost snuck up on us, coming in on the heels of a particularly

5:19 PM ET Live to fight another day. That was likely what Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman was thinking around the hour mark on Tuesday when, 2-0 down at home and on the way to defeat against Bayern Munich, he hooked veterans Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto and did the football equivalent of a bedraggled basketball

4:02 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent BERN, Switzerland — It should have been a night for this new-look Manchester United team to display their Champions League credentials, but in the end it was another evening to suggest there is more to be done than simply signing Cristiano Ronaldo. – Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S.

3:00 PM ET Between May 2013 and early December 2020, seven-and-a-half long years, Barcelona went a record 38 games unbeaten at home in the Champions League, winning 34, drawing four and scoring 112 times. Indomitable form. Between December 2020 and the beginning of Tuesday’s Camp Nou meeting with Bayern Munich, a span of nine months,

9:38 AM ET The Champions League is anything but predictable. The past four seasons have given us four different winners, while nine different teams have contested the most recent six finals. But as European football continues to shake on its axis through a combination of financial mismanagement and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, that

9:42 AM ET Kyle Bonagura Close ESPN Staff Writer Covers the Pac-12. Joined ESPN in 2014. Attended Washington State University. Jeff Carlisle Close U.S. soccer correspondent Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. It was another weekend of thrills in Major League Soccer, as the New England Revolution (Eastern Conference)

3:37 AM ET With the Premier League back in action for the first time since the summer transfer window closed, this feels like a good time to take stock. The clubs who have finished in the top four in each of the past two seasons — Chelsea, Liverpool, defending champions Manchester City and Manchester United

6:00 PM ET Two big players returned to their former clubs and had very different “debuts” in Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United and Antoine Griezmann at Atletico Madrid, while Bayern Munich showed how they’re still the clear front-runner to win the Bundesliga this season and make it a stunning 10 in a row. Here’s the

5:14 PM ET Alex KirklandESPN FC Karim Benzema grabbed a hat trick, Vinicius Junior impressed and Eduardo Camavinga scored on his debut as Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo 5-2 in a thrilling first game back at the Santiago Bernabeu. Santi Mina put the visitors ahead with just three minutes played after left-back Miguel Gutierrez gave

11:14 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo made his second debut for Manchester United on Saturday. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Gender justice group Level Up flew a plane over Old Trafford on Saturday in protest of Cristiano Ronaldo‘s second debut for Manchester United in their Premier League game against Newcastle United in support of the woman who

1:23 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said the Manchester United squad made Cristiano Ronaldo introduce himself at the team hotel the night before his debut against Newcastle but joked that if any of the players didn’t know him before “they do now” after he scored twice in a 4-1 win at Old Trafford.

2:44 PM ET MANCHESTER, England — It’s never easy to turn back the clock and recreate magic moments — they say never go back, after all — but Cristiano Ronaldo‘s football career has always defied logic and by, making a spectacular return to Manchester United with two goals in a 4-1 win against Newcastle United,

9:00 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in Manchester United‘s starting lineup to face Newcastle United at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday. Ronaldo, 36, spent six seasons at United between 2003 and 2009, winning eight major trophies and scoring 118 goals, he rejoined them from Juventus last month on a two-year

Sep 9, 2021 RB Leipzig are familiar with Bayern Munich, their opponents on Saturday (12:20 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+), and not just in the sense of competing in the same league. Defender Dayot Upamecano and playmaker Marcel Sabitzer both left Leipzig for Bayern in the offseason, as did their former manager, Julian Nagelsmann.

5:00 AM ET Sid LoweSpain writer The time was 23:59:40. There were 20 seconds of the transfer window to go when Atletico Madrid completed the deal that brought Antoine Griezmann “home” from Barcelona, or so it goes. It was late, anyway. Too late, some said. Just in time, though LaLiga said. At 1 a.m., they

Aug 20, 2021 Arsenal‘s home Premier League game against Norwich City on Saturday comes the day after the first anniversary of Mikel Arteta’s promotion from “head coach” to “manager.” “That’s recognition of what he’s been doing from the day he walked in the door, but also where we see his capabilities,” said Gunners chief executive

9:03 PM ET Lionel Messi has scored his 79th international career goal for Argentina, surpassing the South American men’s record held by Brazil legend Pele. Messi scored all three goals in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Bolivia on Thursday in a World Cup qualifying match at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, giving him two more

11:14 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo is back at Manchester United and ready to wear the club’s No. 7 shirt for the first time since 2009 in Saturday’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United at Old Trafford. But giving the Portugal forward his old number is the easy part for United; the big challenge now is