Soccer

5:24 PM ET Cristiano Ronaldo was never going to break the 100-international-goal barrier with a scruffy tap-in from three yards. If his previous achievements have taught us anything about the Portugal captain, it is that the spectacular is always preferable to the mundane. So it was fitting that he became only the second men’s player

3:45 PM ET Chris WrightToe Poke writer Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email By virtue of his two goals in Portugal’s UEFA Nations League match against Sweden on Tuesday, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo has become only the second player in the history of men’s football to score 100 senior goals for his country. With his

4:44 AM ET When a France team starring Hugo Lloris and Yoann Gourcuff won the UEFA Under-19 Championship on July 29 2005, bringing to a close a season that saw Liverpool win the Champions League and CSKA Moscow the UEFA Cup, no one could possibly have imagined the relentless stranglehold Spanish football was about to

2:57 PM ET ESPN Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email Paris Saint-Germain and France striker Kylian Mbappe has tested positive for COVID-19, the French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed on Monday. – Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only) “The result of the COVD-19 test administered by UEFA on Monday morning was positive and he

4:37 PM ET Jeff Carlisle Close U.S. soccer correspondent Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. Austin Lindberg Behind a defense putting up numbers not seen in MLS for a decade, Columbus is cementing itself as a true title contender and tops this week’s edition of Power Rankings. At the

7:54 AM ET James OlleySenior Writer, ESPN FC Close Follow on Twitter Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood have been dropped from the England squad after breaching quarantine rules by inviting girls to the team hotel in Iceland. Foden, 18, and Greenwood, 20, made their senior international debuts in Saturday’s

4:39 PM ET Spain forward Ansu Fati became the national team’s youngest ever goalscorer as the 17-year-old inspired Luis Enrique’s side to a resounding 4-0 win at home to Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League on Sunday. Spain captain Sergio Ramos scored the opening goal with a penalty in the third minute after Fati had

5:46 AM ET ESPN Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email Cristiano Ronaldo was asked to put on a face mask during Portugal’s 4-1 UEFA Nations League victory over Croatia on Saturday night. The Portugal captain, who has 99 international goals, missed the game because of a toe infection and watched from the stands. – Watch

5:00 AM ET The transfer window is a little bit different this year, given the coronavirus pandemic, and deadline day for most of the top leagues in Europe has been shifted to Oct. 5. That means there’s just one month left for clubs to make their moves. 2 Related Chelsea have already had a pretty

11:57 PM ET Second-half substitutes Alberth Elis and Mauro Manotas rallied Houston to a 2-1 win against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at BBVA Stadium to extend the Dynamo’s unbeaten streak to five games. Manotas entered in the 80th minute and scored the winner five minutes later on a header from 12 yards off a

8:50 AM ET Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal trained separately from their Barcelona teammates on Saturday, sources have told ESPN, as both players prepare to leave the club. ESPN reported on Friday that Suarez, 33, had agreed to join Juventus while Vidal, also 33, is in talks with Inter Milan. – Lowe: Messi set for

7:46 PM ET Sid LoweSpain writer Lionel Messi was late. He was late to formally tell Barcelona he was leaving, which is why in the end he couldn’t — held to the June 10 deadline he’d missed. And now he was late to tell everybody he was staying. Ten days after he had sent a

7:00 AM ET Gio Reyna is terrified. It is June 13. His team, Borussia Dortmund, beat Dusseldorf earlier in the day. On the bus after the game, everyone is ecstatic. But Gio didn’t feel right. His throat is raw and he is tired. Only now, he can’t sleep. It is late, near midnight in Germany.

11:03 AM ET Lionel Messi will stay at Barcelona after a dramatic U-turn saw him end his bid to leave the club this summer. The decision, reported by Goal.com, comes after days of intense speculation sparked by Messi’s attempt to unilaterally rescind his contract on Aug. 25. Messi and his legal team argued on Friday

3:00 AM ET Welcome to ESPN’s Insider Notebook, featuring contributions from our reporters across the top leagues around the world. In this edition, there’s the latest on how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is rebuilding Man United after past mistakes. Plus: Real Madrid are planning yet more pay cuts as COVID-19 continues to disrupt football. Jump to:

12:31 AM ET Manchester City would clearly love to bring Lionel Messi to the Etihad as part of their short-term quest to win the Champions League in the next three or four years. But the club are also looking to South America in their long-term planning. They have recently brought in two teenage attacking right-backs

9:55 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo‘s attempt to score 100 goals for Portugal could be put on hold with a toe infection forcing the Juventus forward to miss training ahead of Saturday’s UEFA Nations League clash with Croatia. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star goes into this weekend’s fixture in Portugal on 99 goals

3:14 AM ET Some of the world’s best players were snapped up for a tiny fee; others cost a small fortune. But which do we think are the top moves, via position, a club has made since 2000? 2 Related In the second of our two-part series we explore some of the best attacking transfers