Soccer

4:57 PM ET Paul Scholes knows all about winning Premier League titles. He won 11 with Manchester United including the club’s 20th, and last, league championship in 2013. Eight years on, he believes they can finally win it again this season if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team clears the psychological hurdle of beating Liverpool at Anfield

12:14 PM ET Sid LoweSpain writer No one could wipe the grin off Riqui Puig‘s face. At the end of 120 minutes in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal, Barcelona were still standing, somehow. Marc-Andre ter Stegen had rescued them repeatedly, but his work was not done yet and nor was theirs. They still lingered on

4:02 AM ET Ahead of his live commentary on Bayern vs. Freiburg on Sunday for the Bundesliga’s world feed and on ESPN+ (9:30 am ET in the U.S.), Derek Rae says the Bavarians are suffering a defensive crisis and face highly dangerous opponents. Wednesday’s DFB Pokal exit to second-tier side Holstein Kiel only exacerbated their

3:49 AM ET Manchester United are monitoring West Ham’s Declan Rice — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest: PLUS: Tottenham players are confused over Gareth Bale’s role at the club. Jump to: Spurs players surprised over Mourinho’s Bale stance | USMNT star teams up with Messi’s brother | Botman in demand | Chelsea want Giroud

5:43 PM ET In a year that was interrupted around the world by the coronavirus pandemic, the United States men’s national team played just four matches in 2020. With so few opportunities for Gregg Berhalter to get his team together, it amounts to a lost year in the program’s evolution as U.S. Soccer prepares to

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1:01 PM ET In the same way that Chelsea‘s transfer ban eased expectations on manager Frank Lampard during his first season in charge, the club’s £220 million summer outlay is a key reason why he now finds himself under pressure. Lampard knows from his 13 years as a player in west London that Stamford Bridge

6:27 PM ET Harry Kane scored, Son Heung-Min didn’t, and that proved the difference in Tottenham Hotspur‘s 1-1 draw with Fulham. Jose Mourinho’s textbook gameplan of contain, counter, minimise risk and pounce on opponents’ mistakes has propelled Spurs into the title race, but it has relied more on their dynamic duo maintaining top form above

10:18 AM ET Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is still struggling with the injury that saw him taken off in the second half of Saturday’s win against Granada. Messi, 33, was unable to train with his teammates on Wednesday and is considered a major doubt for the Spanish Supercopa semifinal against Real Sociedad. – Stream FC

5:00 AM ET While watching matches in the Champions League and Europe’s top leagues recently, you may well have noticed something a little strange going on as teams prepare to defend a free kick on the edge of their box. Perhaps, if you were watching Arsenal‘s 2-1 defeat to Everton in the Premier League last

6:42 PM ET When Paul Pogba signed for Manchester United in a then-world record £89.1 million transfer from Juventus in Aug. 2016, it was for nights like this at Burnley. Nights when the French midfielder made a match-winning contribution in a big game which resulted in the club moving to the top of the Premier

4:00 AM ET Tor-Kristian Karlsen It was always going to take something special for Schalke 04 to avoid equalling an embarrassing record at the weekend. The club had not won in the Bundesliga for almost a year, a total of 30 matches, and failure to beat Hoffenheim would have seen them equal Tasmania Berlin’s league

3:30 AM ET You never know, of course, but it’s unlikely that the Emir of Qatar was glued to his TV on Dec. 28, in the middle of the night for him in Doha, to watch Lionel Messi‘s interview with Jordi Evole on La Sexta like many of us did. But the Paris Saint-Germain owner

9:22 AM ET For the third time in the last year, MLS and the MLS Players Association (MLSPA) are back at the bargaining table negotiating a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, MLS is concerned that the difficult economic conditions it faced in 2020 will continue this year. The 2021 regular

12:02 PM ET It was a big weekend for soccer again. Erling Haaland‘s heroics gave Borussia Dortmund a significant win over RB Leipzig to keep the Bundesliga race interesting, Barcelona and Juventus kept their winning streaks going (though both teams still have some glaring issues), and Milan’s form in Serie A continued even as Zlatan

5:30 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hopeful Manchester United‘s defensive injury crisis will ease before the crucial clash with Liverpool. Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw both missed the 1-0 win over Watford on Saturday in the FA Cup, while Eric Bailly was forced off with a neck injury before half-time. – Stream

3:11 PM ET Tottenham ran out expectedly comfortable winners over their non-league opponents, but Sunday’s game at Marine encapsulated all that is good and unique about the FA Cup. Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images CROSBY, England — They had a glitter ball hanging from the ceiling of the away-team changing room at Marine.

11:41 AM ET Premier League referee Michael Oliver has said he made a mistake not to show Everton‘s Jordan Pickford a red card for his tackle on Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk in the Merseyside derby in October. Van Dijk suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 2-2 draw and underwent knee surgery but