Mbappe stars in win over Lorient but PSG’s title party delayed by Monaco victory

Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Kylian Mbappe (R) and teammate French forward Randal Kolo Muani high five each other as they celebrate their victory at the end of their French L1 match against FC Lorient at the Stade du Moustoir in Lorient on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 25 April 2024
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Mbappe stars in win over Lorient but PSG’s title party delayed by Monaco victory

  • Defending champion PSG can clinch their record-extending 12th French league title at home on Saturday against Le Havre
  • Marseille’s European hopes took a hit after a 2-2 draw with fifth-place Nice

LORIENT, France: Paris Saint-Germain will have to wait at least a few more days to try to clinch the French league title.

Kylian Mbappe scored twice and provided an assist in a 4-1 win over Lorient on Wednesday, but there were no celebrations because second-place Monaco beat Lille 1-0 later in the evening.

The lead atop the standings is 11 points with four games remaining. Defending champion PSG can clinch their record-extending 12th French league title at home on Saturday against Le Havre.

PSG remain on course for a treble of trophies in Mbappe’s final season with the club, as they will play Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semifinals and face Lyon in the French Cup final next month.

In a match between the most prolific attack and the most porous defense in the league, PSG winger Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring in the 19th minute in Lorient, a sleepy seaport in Brittany.

Mbappe doubled the lead by nonchalantly flicking a cross from Nuno Mendes into the far corner in the 22nd.

The France forward set up the third goal by dribbling past Nathaniel Adjei to square the ball back to Dembele, who tapped into an empty net.

Mbappe sealed the win in the 90th with a curler into the far corner to solidify his spot as the top scorer in the league by raising his tally to 26 goals.

“We had a good game, we were serious, we deserve the three points,” Dembele told Amazon Prime. “Now we must finish the job to be champions as quickly as possible.”

Relegation-threatened Lorient scored a consolation goal with a powerful header from Mohamed Bamba off a cross from Benjamin Mendy in the 73rd.

Gianluigi Donnarumma prevented a nervy finish by saving a low strike from Lorient substitute Panos Katseris in the 80th.

PSG coach Luis Enrique fielded a makeshift team that included academy players Senny Mayulu and Yoram Zague. Managing his players’ minutes, Luis Enrique even left Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi, Vitinha, Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaire-Emery out of the matchday squad.

PSG have only lost one league game this season, and that was in September.

Monaco won a fourth straight game to go six points clear of fourth-place Lille and move closer to an automatic Champions League spot.

France midfielder Youssouf Fofana won the ball in midfield and scored the lone goal with a low drive from the edge of the box in the 61st.

Lille trail third-place Brest by a point and still occupies the spot for the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Also Wednesday, Marseille’s European hopes took a hit after a 2-2 draw with fifth-place Nice.

Nigeria forward Terem Moffi put Nice ahead in the 13th after goalkeeper Pau Lopez came off his line and missed the ball.

Marseille right back Jonathan Clauss leveled the game with a powerful strike from the edge of the box in the 31st.

Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Marseille the lead with a penalty in the 56th after Mohamed-Ali Cho had fouled Leonardo Balerdi.

But Nice left back Melvin Bard equalized with a low diagonal shot in the 72nd.

Marseille leapfrogged Lyon into eighth place, five points off the last European spot.

Those three games were rescheduled to help PSG, Marseille and Lille prepare for European games.


Fire breaks out ahead of Man City’s Champions League match against Brugge

Updated 29 January 2025
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Fire breaks out ahead of Man City’s Champions League match against Brugge

  • Security staff had cordoned off the area and kept supporters away

MANCHESTER: A fire broke out at a concession stand outside Manchester City’s stadium ahead of the team’s Champions League match against Brugge on Wednesday.
Videos shared online showed large flames and smoke coming from the stand, located near the players’ entrance at the Etihad Stadium.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the smell of smoke remained in the air for some time afterward as supporters waited to be let inside.
Security staff had cordoned off the area and kept supporters away.
City play Brugge in a must-win game as the new-look league phase of the Champions League reaches its conclusion.
The 2023 champion City are 25th in the standings. They need to win to secure a place in the playoffs for the round of 16.


French police arrest Feyenoord fans at the border ahead of Champions League match in Lille

Updated 29 January 2025
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French police arrest Feyenoord fans at the border ahead of Champions League match in Lille

  • 86 fans of the Dutch team have been refused entry to France and that 30 have been arrested
  • Police officers seized pyrotechnic devices and various objects

LILLE, France: Dozens of Feyenoord fans banned from traveling to Lille for a Champions League game between the two clubs have been turned away or arrested at the border, French authorities said Wednesday.
The Prefecture du Nord, which represents the French state in the Lille region, said 86 fans of the Dutch team have been refused entry to France and that 30 have been arrested.
Police officers seized pyrotechnic devices and various objects that could be used as weapons during their checks, the prefecture said.
France’s interior ministry said the travel ban was introduced because of a “real and serious risk of confrontation” between fans of the two teams ahead of Wednesday’s match at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
The French authorities said Feyenoord’s travels are often marred by “public order disturbances due to the violent behavior of certain supporters or individuals claiming to be supporters of this team,” and they cited several examples of fan violence.
In May 2022, there were violent clashes in France between Marseille and Feyenoord fans outside the Stade Velodrome stadium before their Europa Conference League semifinal game.
There were also violent clashes in Lille city center when the club played Bulgarian side Levski Sofia in the Europa League in 2010.


Liverpool rotate squad for game at PSV Eindhoven to rest Salah, Van Dijk and others

Updated 29 January 2025
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Liverpool rotate squad for game at PSV Eindhoven to rest Salah, Van Dijk and others

  • The Reds have already advanced to the round of 16
  • manager Arne Slot opted to take a second-string squad to the Netherlands

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool will give some star players including Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk a rest for the Champions League game at PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
The Reds have already advanced to the round of 16, so manager Arne Slot opted to take a second-string squad to the Netherlands.
Along with Salah and Van Dijk, the other players who were left in Merseyside were Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz.
Liverpool are in first place and can finish no lower than second in the league phase of the Champions League.
On Tuesday, Slot said with the packed schedule it was a chance for players to “get some freshness back.”
The Premier League leaders play at seventh-place Bournemouth on Saturday.


Ex-Belgium midfielder Nainggolan charged in drug trafficking probe

Updated 28 January 2025
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Ex-Belgium midfielder Nainggolan charged in drug trafficking probe

  • The 36-year-old footballer was charged with “participating in a criminal organization” and then conditionally released, his lawyer Mounir Souidi told media
  • Antwerp-born Nainggolan came out of retirement last week to join a lower-tier Belgian side

BRUSSELS: Former Belgium midfielder Radja Nainggolan was charged on Monday as part of an investigation into cocaine trafficking on an international scale, a day after he was arrested, the Brussels prosecutor’s office said.
The 36-year-old footballer was charged with “participating in a criminal organization” and then conditionally released, his lawyer Mounir Souidi told media after a hearing in Brussels.
Nainggolan was among 18 suspects arrested following a series of 30 searches carried out on Monday morning in the northern province of Antwerp, as well as in the Brussels area. Ten of them were imprisoned after being brought before a judge.
The majority of those held face charges of “importation, transport and selling of drugs without permission” and with the “participation in organized crime as leaders.”
Nainggolan was released on bail as he was charged with being a “member” of the organization and not a “leader.”


“The investigation concerns alleged facts of importation of cocaine from South America to Europe, via the port of Antwerp, and its redistribution in Belgium,” prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.
In addition to 2.7 kilos (six pounds) of cocaine, police seized around half a million euros ($521,000) in cash and gold coins, a stash of jewelry, and luxury watches including two worth some 360,000 euros each.
They further seized three firearms, two bullet-proof vests and 14 vehicles, prosecutors said.
Antwerp-born Nainggolan came out of retirement last week to join a lower-tier Belgian side — adding a final spell to a long career that saw him play 30 matches and score six goals for the national team.
Having played for Italian teams Cagliari, Inter Milan and Roma, he had been without a club since last summer before signing with Belgian second-tier outfit Lokeren last week.
He marked his debut with a goal at the weekend in Lokeren’s 1-1 home draw to K. Lierse.
He had previously returned from Italy to Belgium in the summer of 2021 to join Royal Antwerp.
A tattooed midfielder known for his off-field antics, he parted ways with Antwerp in early 2023.
A few months earlier he had been suspended for being caught smoking an electronic cigarette on the bench, according to Belgian media.


Neymar thanks Saudi Arabia, Al-Hilal, fans after departing to Santos

Updated 28 January 2025
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Neymar thanks Saudi Arabia, Al-Hilal, fans after departing to Santos

  • ‘To everyone at Al-Hilal, to the fans, thank you,’ Neymar writes on X
  • ‘To Saudi, thank you for giving me and my family a new home and new experiences. I now know the real Saudi and have friends for life’

BEIRUT: Brazilian forward Neymar took the opportunity on Tuesday to thank Saudi Arabia, Al-Hilal, and their fans after concluding his 17-month stint at the Saudi Pro League side.
“To everyone at Al-Hilal, to the fans, thank you,” said Neymar in a social media post on X, after returning to his Brazilian club Santos after originally leaving them in 2013 to join Barcelona.
He wrote: “I gave everything to play and I wish we (had) enjoyed better times on the pitch together.
“To Saudi, thank you for giving me and my family a new home and new experiences. I now know the real Saudi and have friends for life. I always felt your love and passion for the game. I will be following your journey ahead as a club and a country towards 2034.


“Your future will be incredible, special things are happening and I will always support you!”
Marcelo Teixeira, Santos’ president, said on social media channels: “It is the time (to come back), Neymar. It is time for you to come back to your people. To our home, to the club in our hearts.
“Welcome, our boy Ney! A boy of Vila (Belmiro, Santos’ stadium). Come back to be happy again with the white and black shirt. The Santos nation awaits you with open arms.”
The 32-year-old, who has scored 79 international goals for his home country, moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona for a world-record fee of €222 million in August 2017.
Al-Hilal announced Neymar’s departure on Tuesday on X, saying: “The club expresses its thanks and appreciation to Neymar for what he has provided throughout his career at Al-Hilal, and wish the player success in his career.”
Neymar arrived at the Saudi club in August 2023 after signing from PSG, but only played seven games due to injuries.
Italian sports journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote on X: “Teixeira confirms Neymar Jr’s return to the club. Six-month contract to be formally signed this week, as reported.”