MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland had “shut the mouths” of his critics after scoring the only goal of a nervy 1-0 win for Manchester City over Brentford on Tuesday.
Just two points separate the top three in a fascinating Premier League title race as City moved to within a point of leaders Liverpool, with third-placed Arsenal one point further back with 13 games to go.
Haaland was keen to make amends for a frustrating night in front of goal as City were held 1-1 at home by Chelsea on Saturday.
The Norwegian has only recently returned from a two-month injury layoff and Guardiola said he was also coping with the loss of his grandmother off the field.
But Haaland was more like his old self in front of goal when he raced onto Julian Alvarez’s pass to slot in his 22nd goal of the season 19 minutes from time.
“Top strikers score a lot of goals. Don’t criticize, he will shut your mouth. Sooner or later he is there,” said Guardiola.
“He was out for two months, he lost his grandmother, it is not easy for a human being.
“We spoke about the moment (missing chances against Chelsea), and I realized this later, but he didn’t say anything about the passing away of his grandmother.”
Kevin De Bruyne was left on the bench for the entire match as Guardiola revealed he has “niggles” in his hamstring.
The Belgian missed the first five months of the season due to a hamstring tear.
De Bruyne’s ingenuity was missed as City struggled to make their domination count despite enjoying nearly 70 percent possession and having 25 shots on goal.
The Bees were the last visiting side to win at the Etihad 14 months ago and had their chances to spring another huge surprise.
Frank Onyeka failed to beat Ederson when one-on-one midway through the first half before Ivan Toney sent a dipping free-kick inches over the bar.
The vast majority of goalmouth action came at the other end.
Oscar Bobb came closest to opening the scoring in the first half, on a rare start for the Norwegian youngster, when his effort was cleared off the line by Ben Mee.
Bernardo Silva also headed a glorious chance wide as Thomas Frank’s men held out until the break.
Liverpool and Arsenal’s hopes of a second unlikely gift from City in the title race in four days would have been raised by a quiet start to the second period.
However, City remain well in the hunt to become the first side ever to win four consecutive English top-flight titles for a reason.
One slip by Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer provided the moment Haaland had been waiting for as he galloped clear on goal and kept his composure to score for just the third time in his last eight games.
“I’m incredibly proud. We didn’t give much away until the goal — which is a slip,” said Brentford boss Frank.
“I think they’re good enough. They don’t need that luck to get over the line!“
City should have extended their advantage, especially as goal difference could yet prove decisive in the title race.
Phil Foden scored a hat-trick when the sides met earlier this month in City’s 3-1 win in west London.
But the England international was denied twice late on by Flekken as the goalkeeper tipped over a blistering shot and then stood up well to block as Foden tried to go round him.
Haaland ‘shuts mouths’ as Man City close on Liverpool
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Haaland ‘shuts mouths’ as Man City close on Liverpool
- Just two points separate the top three in a fascinating Premier League title race as City moved to within a point of leaders Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain shut down Bayern Munich, reach CWC semis
- PSG played the closing minutes with just nine players after a pair of red cards
- Bayern exits the tournament after being held scoreless for the first time
ATLANTA: Desire Doué scored in the 78th minute, Ousmane Dembele added a second in stoppage time and Paris Saint-Germain sealed their place in the FIFA Club World Cup semifinals with a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Bayern Munich on Saturday in Atlanta.
Pairs Saint-Germain played the closing minutes with just nine players after a pair of red cards and still added a goal to seal the victory.
Referee Anthony Taylor dismissed Willian Pacho in the 82nd minute for his dangerous challenge on Bayern’s Thomas Muller, and sent off Lucas Hernandez in the second minute of second-half stoppage time for an elbow in the direction of Raphael Guerreiro.
But Doue and Dembele’s first goals of the tournament were enough to seal a meeting in East Rutherford, N.J., on Wednesday with the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
Gianluigi Donnarumma made five saves to keep PSG’s fourth clean sheet of the tournament.
Bayern exits the tournament after being held scoreless for the first time, on a day when they lost Josip Stanisic and Jamal Musiala to first-half injuries.
It was still 11-on-11 when Doue took Joao Neves’ pass, created some space near the edge of the penalty area, then unleashed a left-footed strike that found the bottom right corner as Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer slipped while trying to change direction.
Dembele doubled the advantage on a stunning foray forward despite the numerical disadvantage and some brilliant setup work by Achraf Hakimi, who beat three defenders off the dribble.
Hakimi then fed Dembele in stride for a first-time low finish that left Neuer little chance.
Bayern thought they had a chance to pull a late goal back when Taylor whistled for a penalty even later in stoppage time, only to reverse his decision following a video review.
Musiala departed on a stretcher at halftime after suffering a gruesome ankle injury following a tangle for the ball with Donnarumma that did not show any signs of ill intent.
Even Donnaruma was distraught after seeing the extent of Musiala’s injury, which came in the final seconds of the first half.
Twelve minutes earlier, Stanisic exited with an apparent hamstring injury.
Donnaruma made a pair of exceptional first-half saves.
In the 27th minute, he sprung to his right to parry Michael Olize’s goal-bound effort from just beyond the corner of the 6-yard box. In the 41st, he sprawled the opposite direction to keep Aleksandar Pavlovic’s effort — an intended early cross that was inches in front of Musiala near the penalty spot — from bounding inside the right post.
Neuer was also called into action during the first half, thwarting Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s effort from close range at the near post with an outstretched arm in the 32nd minute.
Four minutes into the second half, he dove left to deny Bradley Barcola on the break.
Family and football unite to bid Diogo Jota farewell
- Football stars joined family and friends at the funeral in his hometown of Gondomar
- Liverpool Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s number 20
GONDOMAR, Portugal: Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother were laid to rest on Saturday in their hometown, just days after the pair died in a car crash that shocked the football world.
Jota, 28, and Andre Silva, 25, were killed on Thursday after their vehicle veered off a motorway in northwestern Spain and became engulfed in flames, a week after the Portugal forward had got married.
Just hours before the accident, Jota had posted a video of his June 22 wedding to partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children.
Football stars joined family and friends at the funeral in his hometown of Gondomar, near Porto and conducted by the bishop of Porto.
A number of teammates from the national side, including Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Danilo Pereira and Joao Felix, as well as coach Roberto Martinez attended, though national skipper Cristiano Ronaldo was not present.
Liverpool Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s number 20.
Friday evening had seen Van Dijk, several players including Liverpool’s Uruguay international Darwin Nunez and Liverpool coach Arne Slot meet with Jota’s family and attend a wake for the deceased brothers.
Among those who came to offer their condolences were a childhood friend, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes and Porto club president Andre Villas-Boas.
Jota formerly played with Porto.
“Football is truly in mourning. Diogo was an icon of the talent Portuguese football represents,” said football federation chief Pedro Proenca.
Close family and friends including the parents paid their respects at Friday’s wake first, with the grandfather aided by two others to help him enter the chapel.
Friday night, British rock band Oasis played their song “Live Forever” in tribute to Jota at a concert in Cardiff marking a return to touring after 16 years.
Mourners arrived carrying wreaths of flowers, some sobbing audibly, before the wake was opened to members of the public.
The death of the Portugal international and his brother has triggered an outpouring of emotion in football, and beyond.
Liverpool opened a book of condolences and lowered flags to half-mast, with dozens of supporters laying a sea of flowers, balloons, Jota shirts, and scarves with the message “Rest in peace Diogo Jota,” outside Anfield.
At the Diogo Jota football academy, close to Gondomar SC where the ex-Porto and Atletico Madrid player took his first steps in the game, well-wishers created a memorial with flowers, scarves, candles and shirts.
“Thank you, Diogo Jota,” read a child’s handwritten message.
Pedro Neves, who was friends with Jota at school in Gondomar, said he “will remember him as someone who was very friendly, very courteous, who loved everyone, who always had a smile on his face.”
“He left us too young, it’s not fair. But that’s how life is sometimes,” Neves, 31, told AFP.
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who brought Jota to the Reds in 2020, has said he was “heartbroken” while the club spoke of an “unimaginable loss.”
Slot, who succeeded Klopp last year at Anfield, said everyone associated with the club owed it to Jota to “stand together and be there for one another.”
Jota was remembered at the Club World Cup in the United States on Friday, with a one-minute silence held at the quarter-final between Brazil’s Fluminense and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in Orlando.
A minute’s silence was similarly held at women’s Euro 25 matches.
Portuguese and UK media reported Jota was driving to the northern Spanish port of Santander to take a ferry to England where Liverpool were due to start training on Friday, avoiding a flight on medical advice after a recent lung operation.
Liverpool’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah said the death of his teammate had left him “frightened” to return to the club as the Premier League champions postponed the return of some players for pre-season training.
Germany off to winning start after beating Poland 1-0 in Women’s Euro 2025
- Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England
- Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland: Germany made a winning start to their Women’s Euro 2025 campaign with Friday’s 2-0 win over Poland which moved the eight-time continental champions top of Group C.
Christian Wueck’s side lead Sweden, 1-0 winners in a Scandinavian derby with Denmark, on goal difference after coming through a hard-fought group opener in St. Gallen thanks to goals in the second half from Jule Brand and Lea Schueller.
Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England.
But the “Frauenteam” were far from their best for most of the match, with Wueck frequently bellowing at his charges to up their game.
And they lost captain Giulia Gwinn to what looked like a knee injury before half-time following a nasty fall in a challenge with Ewa Pajor.
“She’s injured her knee and will undergo an MRI tomorrow, at which point we’ll know what’s happened,” said Wueck.
“It was a tough, hard-fought victory. Poland made it very, very difficult for us with their style of play... We’re happy with the result and we know that we can do better.”
Germany had won all six previous encounters with Poland but the game was even until Brand cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot six minutes after half-time.
And Brand was on hand in the 66th minute with a perfect cross for Bayern Munich striker Schueller, who made sure of the points with a simple header.
Germany have now won six matches on the bounce, scoring 26 goals in that run, but looked some way below the standard shown by tournament favorites Spain on Thursday, with England facing France on Saturday.
Poland acquitted themselves admirably in their European Championship debut but Barcelona’s Pajor, who has scored 51 goals for club and country this season, was uncharacteristically wasteful with her finishing.
Pajor walloped a great chance at Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger just before Schueller doubled Germany’s lead and did the same with a close-range header with nine minutes remaining.
Filippa Angeldahl scored Sweden’s winner in the 55th minute in Geneva after exchanging passes with Kosovare Asllani and firing into the far corner.
Sweden should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Madelen Janogy headed Hanna Lundkvist’s pinpoint cross narrowly wide, while moments before Stina Blackstenius was denied by Frederikke Thogersen’s brilliant goalline clearance.
“It was an enormous sense of joy and relief. There are so many nerves when you start a tournament that it was a wonderful feeling to score that goal,” Angeldahl told reporters.
Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month.
Sweden kept a tight handle on Denmark’s skipper Pernille Harder, although she did smash an effort off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining.
The Bayern Munich forward was also involved when VAR decided not to award a penalty to Denmark in the opening minutes for a potential handball by Madelen Janogy, who was marking Parder.
Fluminense beat Al Hilal 2-1 to reach Club World Cup semis
ORLANDO: Substitute Hercules struck a 70th-minute winner as Brazil’s Fluminense defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal 2-1 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Club World Cup.
A fine left-foot finish from Matheus Martinelli had put the Rio club ahead in the 40th minute but Al Hilal’s Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo levelled six minutes into the second half before Hercules stole the show to the delight of the vast majority of the 43,091 crowd.
Fluminense could yet face an all-Brazilian semifinal if their rivals from Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, are able to overcome Premier League outfit Chelsea in Friday’s other quarter-final.
Al Hilal had pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating Manchester City 4-3, to reach the last eight and Simone Inzaghi’s side fought hard until the end to keep their adventure alive.
They bow out of the tournament having been unbeaten through the group stage, including holding Real Madrid to a draw, and having truly made their mark on the world stage.
There was a moment’s silence before the kick-off in memory of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his younger brother Andre Silva, who died in the early hours of Thursday after their car veered off a motorway in Spain and burst into flames.
Al Hilal’s line-up featured two of Jota’s Portugal team-mates in Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo.
The first half was a tight and tactical affair with few chances until Martinelli opened the scoring when he picked the ball up from Gabriel Fuentes inside the box and span out to give himself space for a left-foot shot that rocketed past Yassine Bounou.
Al Hilal went close to a quick response when Kalidou Koulibaly’s header forced Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio into a fine save.
The Saudi side were awarded a penalty when Samuel Xavier was ruled to have brought down Marcos Leonardo in the box but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie was eventually sent to the monitor where he overturned his own decision after seeing there had been no contact between the two players.
After going in at the break trailing by a goal, Al Hilal came out strongly for the second half and drew level when Koulibaly headed a Neves corner down to Marcos Leonardo who poked home.
Al Hilal’s Brazilian full back Renan Lodi had a let off when his poor backpass fell straight at the feet of German Cano but the Fluminense striker’s attempt to round Bounou was denied by the smart work of the Moroccan keeper.
But the outcome was settled with 20 minutes remaining when half-time sub Hercules saw a shot from distance blocked but from the loose ball Samuel headed the ball back to the forward who raced into the box and fired past Bounou to make it 2-1.
Al Hilal produced a flurry of corners and some intense pressure in the final minutes as they desperately sought a way to keep their dream alive but the Brazilians were good value for their victory.
“We didn’t have many chances but we made the most of them, the entire group worked and were committed,” said Fluminense coach Renato Gaucho.
“Our fans here in the USA and those in Brazil, they can be proud and I ask them to wear a jersey, in the mall, street, beach, wherever, wear that shirt — they should all be proud to wear that jersey,” he said.
The Fluminense coach was full of praise for the performance of his 40-year-old central defender Thiago Silva who ensured the Brazilians were able to withstand the second half pressure from Al Hilal.
“Thiago Silva is huge for us, I worked with him 15 years ago, he is a coach on the pitch, very helpful and conveys calm and experience to the others. He is our captain and a leader and in hard matches like these against big clubs, its important to have people like him. He is key and fundamental,” he said.
Al Hilal coach Inzaghi said his side had been unfortunate to end on the losing side.
“It has been a good World Cup for us but clearly we leave with a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouth because after what happened in that second half, we deserved much more,” he said.
“It was a tight match, decided by episodes, as happens in football. Fluminense are very well organized team that are having an excellent tournament,” he added.
“A Beautiful Gift“: Swiss women pioneers celebrate the game’s transformation
- The mascot of the tournament, a Saint Bernard puppy, bears her name, Maddli, in recognition of her role in advancing women’s football in Switzerland
- There are now 40,000 registered women players and 134 female referees in Switzerland, according to the Swiss FA
SION, Switzerland: On the terrace of a restaurant in the Swiss city of Sion sits a group of pioneers of women’s football in Switzerland who have seen the beautiful game change beyond recognition.
For 72-year-old Madeleine Boll, seeing the city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland hosting three games in the Women’s European Championship, which is being staged across the country, is a proud moment.
The mascot of the tournament, a Saint Bernard puppy, bears her name, Maddli, in recognition of her role in advancing women’s football in Switzerland.
At 12 years old in 1965, Boll became the first woman in Switzerland to obtain a license to play football, with FC Sion’s boys’ youth team. But just months later it was taken away from her after the club said it had made an error.
“I was the happiest little girl. But the day they took away my license, I was the unhappiest because I didn’t understand why I was forbidden to play,” Boll told Reuters.
However, it marked the first in a series of landmark moments that enabled women’s inclusion in Swiss football.
By 1970 the first Swiss Women’s Football League was created, with Boll’s father, Jean Boll, its president. Madeleine later played for FC Sion, one of the earliest women’s football clubs in Switzerland.
“It’s a beautiful gift because it’s here that the beginnings of Swiss women’s football took root,” she said.
KEY MOMENT
A lot has changed since Boll and her generation played. There are now 40,000 registered women players and 134 female referees in Switzerland, according to the Swiss FA.
“It was different. We didn’t have jerseys, we didn’t have means to travel ... We had to make people understand that we are capable of playing,” said 72-year-old Rosemarie Siggen, from Sion who started playing football toward the end of the 1960s.
For Siggen and Boll, who were joined by four other footballing pioneers in the women’s game in Sion, this year’s tournament is a key moment to make strides in supporting women’s football.
“The Euros will be a catalyst,” Boll told Reuters, pointing to it as an opportunity for greater investment in the women’s game.
The Swiss hosts are hoping the legacy of the tournament — being played across eight cities over the next month — will bolster female football in the country as Euro 2022 did for champions England. It is aiming to double the number of female players by 2027, according to the Swiss FA.
“It’s a bit difficult for these young girls. They need help. I think there should be stronger support, a real investment ... we want to see them progress because they can bring many beautiful things,” said Siggen.
Boll hopes that the Switzerland side, who lost their first match of the tournament 2-1 to Norway, can continue to make strides with more financial support.
“If we want to have a good Swiss team ... it will be important that girls become professional because it is difficult ... to achieve results while having a job or being a student,” Boll said.
UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, announced a record 600,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament. Basel will host the final on July 27 at St. Jakob-Park, the largest football stadium in Switzerland.
