Football Bizness

  They trooped out wordlessly. Silent, stunned. ‘Highlights on the big screen,’ cried the stadium announcer. ‘Yeah, let’s all stay for that,’ growled one of the locals, breaking the uneasy peace at last.

The warnings from Jose Mourinho were loud and clear. Stars on the bench, stars left in London and still Chelsea were unable to stop their star from falling a little further.

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski continued his remarkable scoring run with a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night.

If anyone can carry Barcelona through the next two months without Leo Messi then it will be Luis Suarez. 

Louis van Gaal's micromanagement of Manchester United even extends to choosing which of his players get to go up first for their lunches at the club's canteen.

He wasn’t good enough for Liverpool but Iago Aspas was too good for Barcelona on Wednesday night as he scored twice in Celta Vigo’s stunning 4-1 win.

Karim Benzema was the hero for Real Madrid as they ground out victory against Athletic Bilbao to go top of La Liga.

  The difference, it transpired, was that extra bit of guile. Wilfried Zaha does not always appear to have it in abundance, but his trickery was to undo Charlton and see Crystal Palace safely through. The Championship doesn’t make them like him.

Norwich progressed to the fourth round of the Capital One Cup with a convincing 3-0 win against West Brom.

  Wayne Rooney scored goal number 235 for Manchester United and Andreas Pereira his first as Louis van Gaal underlined why he is convinced both the present and future at Old Trafford are in safe hands.

When the ball eventually dropped out of the night sky, the unlikely figure of Mathieu Flamini was lurking unmarked on the edge of Tottenham’s penalty area.

It doesn't get any easier and it isn't getting any better. Brendan Rodgers had reason to cheer an unlikely hero last night but not much else.

Hull and QPR shared the points in a Sky Bet Championship clash which produced only occasional moments of quality.

Luke Shaw will return to Manchester on Saturday morning as he continues his recovery from the horrendous double fracture to his right leg suffered in Manchester United's Champions League loss to PSV Eindhoven.

Steve McClaren said that managing Newcastle during the early weeks of the season was like heading for a car crash — but he did not expect to be sifting through the wreckage of another defeat at home to relegation candidates Watford.

Arsene Wenger urged the FA to serve a three-match ban on Diego Costa and hit out at 'naïve' referee Mike Dean after the Chelsea striker was pivotal in the Premier League champions 2-0 win over Arsenal.

Real Madrid defender Pepe hailed five-goal Cristiano Ronaldo after victory at Espanyol . Ronaldo struck five as Real Madrid thrashed Espanyol 6-0 yesterday.

Morgan Schneiderlin returns to Southampton on Sunday with his manager Louis van Gaal reminding him there is a difference between being a proven Premier League performer and a proper Manchester United player.

This match was the epitome of what the Premier League has become. The theatre was as much in the post-match analysis, both managers trading insults at each other and their respective teams.

Bayern Munich extended their winning start in the Bundesliga to five games by beating Darmstadt 3-0 at the Bollenfalltor.

City are still top but their manager Manuel Pellegrini was in a terrible mood on Saturday night having lost David Silva in the warm-up and then seen his side concede two soft goals in the opening half-hour.

AC Milan beat Palermo 3-2 for only their second win of the season as the visiting side missed the chance to move provisionally top of Serie A on Saturday.

Angel Correa and Fernando Torres scored the goals in a hard-fought 2-0 victory for Atletico Madrid away to Eibar. 

Don’t panic, Cristiano Ronaldo still has 436 games left to break Raul’s record in fewer matches than the legendary Real Madrid captain.

From a tweet posted in anger to a goal scored with glee. In the end, a minor touch was all it took for Saido Berahino to reignite his career at West Bromwich Albion and earn a victory of great significance.

Liverpool hero Didi Hamann is backing Jurgen Klopp to replace Brendan Rodgers.

The costly failures of Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao convinced Louis van Gaal to build a new team — even if he will not be at Old Trafford to reap the benefits.

Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini was delighted with their derby win over AC Milan. Fredy Guarin struck the only goal of the game to earn the points for Inter.

Wojciech Szczesny was delighted with his cleansheet for Roma in victory at Frosinone. The on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper helped Roma to a 2-0 win on Saturday.

Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta was delighted with victory at Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Barca came from behind to win 2-1.

Lame-duck president Sepp Blatter has been implicated in FIFA's corruption scandal for selling off TV rights at a knockdown price.

Following his heroics for Wales in recent weeks, Gareth Bale is back on La Liga duty with Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric's 30th birthday party the first order of business.

Real Madrid players looked in high spirits as they were put through their paces in training ahead of Tuesday's opening Champions League group stage game against Shakhtar Donetsk.  

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon believes this week's clash with Manchester City provides the perfect opportunity for his side to kick-start their season.

Having spent 14 months and nearly £300million at Manchester United, Louis van Gaal returned to Holland last night and admitted that he has no idea if his team are good enough to compete for the Champions League title.

The Hammers had lost both their home matches ahead of Monday night's clash; to Leicester and Bournemouth.

It is the itch that the new Manchester City have been unable to scratch. Since the 2008 takeover and the heavy investment that followed, two Premier League trophies have been lifted, along with an FA Cup and a Capital One Cup.

Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez says Steven Gerrard's claims that he never liked the former Liverpool captain when the two worked together at Anfield are just aimed at shifting more books.

Late goals from Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi gave Argentina a 2-2 draw with Mexico on Tuesday and saved their blushes after they had dominated the match but failed to convert chances in an open friendly game in Dallas.

Misfiring Spain striker Diego Costa has promised there will be 'no lack of effort' on his part to discover his scoring form for his country. 

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos took aim at Barcelona rival Gerard Pique after Spain's Euros win over Macedonia.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho plans to use Bertrand Traore as a bargaining chip in talks for Everton defender John Stones.

On the night when he broke Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time scoring record for England, few would have begrudged Wayne Rooney a warm, smug feeling of self-satisfaction. 

The agent of Gareth Bale has had his say on Real Madrid's failure to land Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea.

Former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp has fuelled speculation over his next job in management, admitting he may not join an 'absolute top club'

Didier Drogba scored a hat-trick in his first start for Montreal, leading the Impact to a 4-3 home win against Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer on Saturday night.

Amidst rolling hills, basking in a balmy late summer sunset and over-looked by a mountain-top castle, a little piece of English football history was secured on Saturday night.

The Portugal squad flew to Albania on Saturday ahead of their Euro 2016 qualifier and Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma made sure they got the best seats... in the cockpit...

Daniele De Rossi converted an early penalty and was later sent off as Italy beat Bulgaria 1-0 in a Euro 2016 qualifier which saw goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon win his 150th cap for the hosts on Sunday.

Holland's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign was plunged into further disarray on Sunday as they were beaten 3-0 by Turkey and dropped to fourth in Group A.

Stevan Jovetic is delighted with the way he's started his Inter Milan career.