Pele leaves an inestimable legacy after changing football with his sporting artistry and genius , the Brazil great s former side New York Cosmos said on Thursday.
The three-time World Cup winner s death was confirmed by Sao Paulo s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital after he suffered multiple organ failure.
Pele had battled colon cancer prior to his passing, with his family travelling to be alongside him earlier in December after he had been moved to palliative care when his body stopped responding to treatment.
The 82-year-old has been lauded by numerous tributes from sporting greats, clubs and various organisations after his iconic career with Brazil and Santos.
He scored 643 goals in 659 matches over an 18-year period for Brazilian side Santos before r…
Marcus Rashford has revealed he was benched for Manchester United’s Premier League win over Wolves after he overslept and was late for a team meeting.
The in-form United forward was among the substitutes for the Premier League clash at Molineux on New Year’s Eve, but came on to score the only goal of the game.
Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag said the England international was left out of the starting line-up for a breach of discipline and Rashford confirmed he was punished for staying in bed too long.
I was a little bit late for a meeting, he told BT Sport. I just slept in and overslept. It s a mistake that can happen.
[I was] obviously disappointed not to play, but I understand the decision. I think we can draw a line under it and move on.
5 …
Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette has talked up the prospect of playing for Barcelona after confirming that he wants to leave at the end of the season.
The 25-year-old has frequently been linked with a move to a European giant after developing into one of Ligue 1 s most devastating attacking players since his senior debut in 2010.
Lyon claimed last August that they had rejected a €35million bid from Arsenal for Lacazette, who has scored 18 goals in 17 league games this season, while Barca reportedly made enquiries before signing Paco Alcacer from Valencia.
The France international says he feels that the end of this season will be the right time for him to move on from Lyon and admits it would be a dream to move to Camp Nou.
I think that the right moment…
Serie A fallen giants have apparently begun preparations for the new season and a new era as the triple-winners from 2010 prepare a detailed plan to rebuild their squad.
Inter reportedly made an agreement to sign young Atalanta defender Alessandro Bastoni, the latest player to emerge from Atalanta’s youth set-up.
With 5 goals to his name for the Primavera side, the exciting 17-year-old has also been involved in 119 minutes of Serie A action this season.
Inter Milan director of sport Piero Ausilio has personally visited Atalanta’s counterpart Tullio Tinti with the two men making an arrangement on a sale that would see Bastoni remain at Atalanta for another year, before moving to Inter in 2018.
La Gazzetta dello Sport has recently suggested that Basto…
All four English clubs will be quietly confident of making it to the knockout stages of the Champions League
The draw for the Champions League was made yesterday and it handed English clubs mixed fortunes.
Champions Manchester City was drawn in the same group as Bayern Munich, while Liverpool was drawn alongside holders Real Madrid.
Arsenal will meet Dortmund for a second year running and Chelsea look to have been handed the most comfortable draw of all the English clubs.
Manchester City
Manchester City faces Bayern Munich for a second consecutive season and will also face Serie A runners-up Roma and another team that the Citizens are familiar with CSKA Moscow. The group is considered this season’s group of death.
City defeated the Bava…
Liverpool would be willing to sell Daniel Sturridge for the price of £15million, according to .
Sturridge arrived to Liverpool in January 2013, and since then he has made 133 appearances and scored 63 goals for the Reds. He was a vital ingredient in the team that came agonizingly close to winning the Premier League in 2013/14, forming an incredibly lethal partnership with Luis Suarez. Between them, the duo scored 52 goals in the league alone in that season.
However, injuries have plagued his career ever since and he has always been a little knock away from spending significant time out of action. With manager Jürgen Klopp extremely happy with the current attacking trio, Sturridge s chances of breaking back into the starting XI at Anfield are very slim at best. He spe…
As Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo take football into a new stratosphere, the Champions League goal record is their latest battleground.
Having once again launched their quest for success this season on Europe s grandest stage, the game s two biggest stars are close to writing another entry into the history books.
It has long been a case of when and not if the 71 Champions League goal landmark of former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul will be surpassed.
Ronaldo has 69 in the Champions League proper; Messi is on 68.
Goalscoring immortality is imminent for one of them. Yet Ronaldo v Messi is a race that will run and run.
Football rarely produces such compelling rivalries between individual players but Messi and Ronaldo s exploits for sworn e…
Mikey Johnston has warned the Netherlands not to underestimate the Republic of Ireland as the Dutch attempt to book their place at the finals of Euro 2024.
Barring an unlikely sequence of events which would hand Ireland a play-off place, they will not be in Germany next summer, but the Netherlands will be if they can take maximum points from their remaining Group B fixtures against Stephen Kenny’s men and Gibraltar next month.
Monday night’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Greece as the Republic beat Gibraltar 4-0 in Faro left the Netherlands in pole position to claim second place behind France, but Celtic winger Johnston, who was on the scoresheet along with Evan Ferguson, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson, is determined to end a disappointing campaign on a high.
Big wi…
Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon has tipped AC Milan to threaten his side s six-year Serie A dominance this season following the Rossoneri s spending spree.
Milan s transformation has been headlined by the shock capture of Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci, a key ingredient of Juve s recent success and widely regarded as one of the world s best in his position.
Having also lured the likes of Andre Silva, Lucas Biglia and Franck Kessie to San Siro, Vincenzo Montella s men appear primed to challenge for their first Scudetto since 2010-11.
And Buffon expects Bonucci s defection to spark a competitive title race.
Leo felt he needed a new challenge and Milan intrigued him, Buffon told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Are Milan contenders? I think so… I look forward to a mor…
Kevin Doyle will join Colorado Rapids as their third designated player after the MLS outfit announced his signing from Championship side Wolves on Friday.
Doyle s deal is pending his visa, international transfer certificate and medical, while terms of the contract were not disclosed as he joins Gabriel Torres and Juan Ramirez as designated players in Colorado.
The 31-year-old s move to the United States ends his five-year association with Wolves, where he scored 30 league goals in 160 appearances since 2009.
I am delighted and very excited to be moving to the Colorado Rapids, Doyle told the Rapids official website.
With so many great players moving to MLS to join up with the great American talent already there, it s a great time to play in this league…