European Super Football

Club Brugge 2 - 3 Aston Villa Aston Villa breathed fresh life into their season with a narrow Champions League victory over Club Brugge. Author | Peter Grainger  Stadium | Jan Breydelstadion Villa try to build an attack First-half goals from John McGinn, Emi Buendia and Nicolas Jackson secured a hard-fought win for the Premier League side in Belgium. Hugo Vetlesen had briefly brought the hosts level after McGinn's opener, but Buendia and Jackson, with his first goal for the club, restored Villa's advantage. Nicolo Tresoldi's 61st-minute penalty, awarded after Aaron Wan-Bissaka's handball, set up a nervy final 29 minutes for the visitors, with Tresoldi later striking the post. Villa held on for a result they will hope can provide a platform to build on after three successive league games without scoring, with Unai Emery still working to integrate 10 new signings. View from the away end The Europa League winners have lost six members of the starting XI from their triumph...

It has been another summer of transfer records in the Premier League Let's explore a rather eventful few months Author | Josh T Three of the 10 most expensive transfers in football history have taken place this summer, with all three involving Premier League clubs. The window also produced four of the top flight's five biggest deals on record. Fernandez was the headline signing, eclipsing the £116m Manchester City paid earlier in the window for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson.  Chelsea, meanwhile, spent £117m to bring Morgan Rogers to Stamford Bridge from Aston Villa. Liverpool paid an initial £106m, potentially rising to £123m, for Paris St-Germain and France forward Bradley Barcola. Yan Diomande's move to Real Madrid and Anthony Gordon's switch from Newcastle to Barcelona are the only deals completed so far this summer by clubs outside the Premier League to exceed £60m. Tottenham's signing of Sandro Tonali represented a club-record fee that could even...

Shocks, thrashings and more Let's have a look at the biggest talking points from the Premier League this weekend Author | Josh T Champions Arsenal start as they mean to go on First-half goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka put the champions in control before captain Martin Odegaard added a third shortly after the restart to complete a straightforward opening-day win. Full match report here Arsenal were without new signing Bruno Guimaraes because of injury, but another summer arrival, Christos Tzolis, provided an early glimpse of what he can offer. The Greek winger cut in from the left and curled a shot over after five minutes. Newly promoted Hull City shock Manchester United  Michael Carrick insisted the club's opening-day defeat at Hull City will not change the overall direction the club are heading in. The defeat was only Carrick’s third in 21 games as head coach, but it was a disappointing start to the new campaign. Central defenders Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy scored first...

Arsenal 3 - 0 Coventry City Arsenal began their Premier League title defence with a comfortable victory over newly promoted Coventry City Author | DJ Stadium | Emirates Stadium Pre-match atmosphere Mikel Arteta ended the club's 22-year wait for a league title last season and, after a commanding performance against Frank Lampard's Sky Blues, his side offered an early reminder of why they are favourites to retain the crown. First-half goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka put the champions in control before captain Martin Odegaard added a third shortly after the restart to complete a straightforward opening-day win. Arsenal were without new signing Bruno Guimaraes because of injury, but another summer arrival, Christos Tzolis, provided an early glimpse of what he can offer. The Greek winger cut in from the left and curled a shot over after five minutes. View from behind the goal Tzolis was involved again when Arsenal opened the scoring It was a familiar face who supplied the fi...

Celtic 3 - 0 LASK Celtic took a giant step towards the league phase of the Champions League as two stunning Camilo Duran strikes gave a commanding first-leg play-off lead. Author | Sean M Stadium | Celtic Park Duran hit fabulous efforts either side of half-time after a wonderful finish from Benjamin Nygren set the Scottish champions on their way. A closer analysis of what happened Pre match atmosphere The Champions League is all about big players producing big moments, and the goals from Nygren and Duran were of the very highest order. Duran already looks like an inspired signing. His pace, skill, finishing and willingness to work make him a player who appears perfectly at home on the biggest stage. The Colombian scored five goals in the Champions League last season for Qarabag and, if Celtic can finish the job against LASK, he looks capable of becoming a key weapon. Watch | Reaction from Celtic's star player on the night. Video from the club's YouTube channel. Celtic looked vu...

Premier League breakthrough stars | Shea Lacey The first in a series of articles where we analyse young players who might be making a huge impact in the Premier League this season Author | George B At Manchester United, much of the conversation around the academy has centred on JJ Gabriel, a player so precociously gifted that he can seem almost unnatural. But he is still only 15, meaning his involvement this season is likely to be limited to the occasional EFL Cup appearance. A few years further along the pathway, but still only 19, is Shea Lacey, who has put his early injury problems behind him and featured prominently during pre-season. Lacey is an exciting wide player, exactly the sort United supporters tend to take to, and he is already well known to Michael Carrick. The United head coach has watched him develop not only in his professional capacity, but also from a more personal perspective after following his son Jacey through the academy over the years. I watched Lacey against B...

Arsenal 3 - 0 Manchester City Premier League champions Arsenal produced a statement victory over rivals Manchester City to lift the 2026 Community Shield in Cardiff. Author | DJ Stadium  | Principality Stadium Kick-off at the 2026 Community Shield Mikel Arteta’s side took the lead after just 23 seconds when Myles Lewis-Skelly played in Riccardo Calafiori, who calmly slotted the ball past Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Arsenal doubled their advantage in the 28th minute when Kai Havertz headed home, with summer signing Christos Tzolis nodding Martin Odegaard’s cross back across goal for the German to finish. Three minutes into the second half, Tzolis found Odegaard inside the City penalty area. The Norwegian sent Donnarumma the wrong way with a superb dummy before placing the ball into the opposite corner. Arsenal players and families celebrate Victory over the FA Cup holders secured Arsenal’s second trophy in four months and their 18th Community Shield triumph ov...