Atletico Madrid applied pressure on Barcelona ahead of El Clasico as a 5-1 victory over Real Betis saw them move to within six points of the Liga leaders.
With Luis Enrique s men playing Real Madrid later on Saturday, Atletico took their opportunity to cut Barca s lead with a comfortable victory inspired by Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres.
The pair struck late in the first half to put Atleti ahead at Vicente Calderon, Torres netting with a smart finish before Griezmann enjoyed a stroke of good luck as Betis goalkeeper Adan allowed his throughball to go all the way in.
After Jan Oblak had made a fine double save to deny Heiko Westermann, Atleti resumed their control and saw Griezmann denied again before Juanfran added the third just after the hour.
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that Tottenham Hotspur could be lining up a bid to bring Bournemouth’s Adam Smith back to White Hart Lane.
With Kyle Walker strongly linked with a move away from the North London club manager Mauricio Pochettino is on the lookout for reinforcements and Smith could fit the bill.
The twenty-six year old began his career with Spurs, but made just two appearances for the club spending much of his early years out on loan with the likes of Leeds United, Derby County and Bournemouth – who he signed for permanently in January 2014.
Since then, Smith has played seventy times in all competitions helping them win promotion to the top flight two years ago.
Internationally, he has been capped eleven times for England U21s but is yet to represent his country…
It looks like the next Nintendo console could be released in 2024. According to VGC’s sources, development kits for Nintendo’s next-gen console are now in the hands of “key partner studios.”
Platform-holders like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are understood to provide development kits to certain studios ahead of launch so they can start making games and testing the hardware Come from Sports betting site VPbet . The VGC report did not say which studios might have their hands on the new system right now.
As for a release date, multiple sources told the site that Nintendo is targeting a release for the rumored new console in the second half of 2024. Pricing was not mentioned in the report, but for comparison, the Switch …
Aston Villa have sacked Steven Gerrard after just under a year in charge following Thursday s 3-0 Premier League loss to Fulham.
The former Liverpool midfielder arrived last November to succeed Dean Smith, having previously guided Rangers to Scottish Premiership success the season before.
But a dismal start to the 2022-23 campaign that has seen just two top-flight wins in 11 games means he has been shown the door, with Villa perched just above the relegation zone on goals scored.
Gerrard s position was already uncertain heading into the encounter with Marco Silva s Cottagers.
But a horror-show performance – one that saw them concede a penalty, score an own goal and have a player sent off – meant there was little chance for a late reprieve.
We…
Beckham to captain Galaxy
David Beckham will captain Los Angeles Galaxy for the first time in three years when they face Real Salt Lake on Saturday.The 35-year-old first took the role upon joining the Major League Soccer club in 2007.Beckham relinquished the job when he joined AC Milan on loan in 2009, with United States international Landon Donovan becoming skipper.But with Donovan away on international duty, the veteran Englishman a former Manchester United and Real Madrid player will captain the team at the Rio Tinto Stadium. I ll be proud to wear it, Beckham said, referring to captain s armband. It doesn t change the way I play. It s something you re very proud to wear, but you need more than one leader on the field. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena felt Beckham was the natura…
Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre is adamant the club has a bright financial future despite posting a 20m pound loss last year.
The club s published accounts for July 2009 to June were the makings of previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, widely despised by the Anfield faithful.
The report showed that rising revenues were undermined by an increase in debt, but Fenway Sports Group, who took over the club for 300m pounds in October, have injected 200m pounds of debt repayments into the club so far.
And Ayres is confident the club is now in good hands.
As much as we are all aware of the difficult circumstances surrounding these accounts and that period in the Club s history, everyone in the world can now see just how much has since been achieved…
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan believes coach Thomas Tuchel has the squad strength to cope with their current injury woes ahead of Wednesday s visit to Darmstadt.
Tuchel saw his side struggle to break down 10-man Hoffenheim in their 3-1 win at Signal Iduna Park on Sunday, with Dortmund missing centre-backs Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mats Hummels, while Gundogan was only fit for the second half after illness.
The likes of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lukasz Piszczek all shook off injury or illness to feature as an initially lacklustre Dortmund eventually prevailed with three late goals after Sebastian Rudy had seen red for Hoffenheim.
It keeps Dortmund within eight points of leaders Bayern Munich amid a hectic fixture schedule t…
Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah is eager to avoid injuries in their final friendly before the FIFA World Cup against South Korea on Monday.
Appiah s men face South Korea at Sun Life Stadium in Miami as they finish their preparations for Ghana s tournament opener against the United States next Monday.
Ghana reached the World Cup quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010, but face a tough task if they are to replicate that feat in Brazil, having also been drawn in Group G alongside Germany and Portugal.
A number of teams have suffered high-profile injuries in the lead up to the competition, with group rivals Germany seeing Marco Reus ruled out due to an ankle problem suffered in last Friday s 6-1 win over Armenia.
And Appiah is keen to ensure that he has a full squad of pla…