European Super Football

Spurs and Liverpool both picked up wins on their pre-season tours Liverpool 1 - 0 Real Betis Arne Slot earned his first win as Liverpool manager with a 1-0 win over Real Betis courtesy of an excellent Dominik Szoboszlai goal. Slot's new side were beaten 1-0 by Preston at their training ground earlier this month but you can now consider the post-Jurgen Klopp era as now up and running thanks to this win on their US tour. Liverpool now face Arsenal in Philadelphia then take on Manchester United in Columbia on Sunday. YNWA: Click here for more Liverpool news and stories Vissel Kobe 2 -  3 Tottenham Hotspur Teenager Mikey Moore netted a late winner as Tottenham triumphed over Japanese champions Vissel Kobe with a 3-2 victory in a pre-season friendly in Tokyo. The 16-year-old winger sealed the win for Ange Postecoglou’s side with a close-range finish in the 88th minute. Son Heung-min had initially put Tottenham ahead in the second half, but Vissel Kobe equalised shortly after the hou

There has been an interesting addition to the squad at Craven Cottage Ryan Sessegnon has rejoined Fulham on a two-year deal after his contract expired at Tottenham. The 24-year-old Fulham academy graduate returns to the club until 2026, with the option for a further year. He originally left for Spurs in a £25m deal in August 2019. The winger's spell at Tottenham was marred by hamstring problems and he was limited to 57 appearances for the club. During his first spell with the Cottagers, Sessegnon scored 25 goals and made 18 assists in 120 senior appearances. He becomes Fulham manager Marco Silva's first signing of the summer as they look to build on last season's 13th place finish. This is how they announced the signing on their YouTube account.  More reaction Jamie, a Fulham fan, told us: "This is a great signing. Bringing back Ryan Sessegnon seems like a really smart move and I can't wait to see him playing for us again at Craven Cottage." Lucy, another F

Benfica 1 - 1 Brentford Bryan Mbeumo was on target as Brentford drew with Benfica.  Mbeumo capitalised on a sloppy back-pass to give Thomas Frank's side an early lead in Lisbon, but the Eagles levelled on 24 minutes when Vangelis Pavlidis poked home Álvaro Carreras’s cross at the front post. Kevin Schade led the line for Brentford with Igor Thiago sidelined by a meniscus injury. The hosts looked to get off to a flying start on the pitch and fashioned the first chance of note in the fifth minute. Brentford took the lead four minutes later. Schade’s ball up the left channel was intercepted by Morato and the defender’s back-pass to goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin was under-hit, which allowed the alert Mbeumo to steal in and finish first time into the bottom corner. Benfica levelled midway through the first half . Aursnes played a short pass into the overlapping Carreras down the left, who took the ball in his stride, advanced to the byline and delivered a low, fizzing cross to the fr

Chelsea 2 - 2 Wrexham Christopher Nkunku's first-half strike had given Chelsea the lead at Levi's Stadium before goals from Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott in the second period put Wrexham in front. Lesley Ugochukwu equalised in the final ten minutes to ensure Chelsea's first game of their USA tour ended in a 2-2 draw. A closer look at what happened The match didn't begin in friendly fashion. Levi Colwill and James McClean narrowly avoided red cards following a clash just three minutes in. In the second half, Chelsea's Ugochukwu lost possession and then failed to close down a cross from Sebastian Revan, allowing Luke Bolton to score the equaliser. Chelsea youngster Josh Acheampong was caught out of position as Marriott exploited the space behind him, netting a well-struck second goal past Lucas Bergstrom. Chelsea's equaliser came from a slick move involving substitutes Angelo Gabriel, Armando Broja, and Ugochukwu. The latter made amends for his earlier mista

Valur 0 - 0 St Mirren St Mirren missed several opportunities as they were held to a goalless draw by a 10-man Valur in their first European tie in 37 years. Watch the video to get the reaction of Stephen Robinson. The video is from the StMirrenFootballClub YouTube account. Strikers Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron caused havoc for the home defence but were unable to score in Reykjavik. The Icelanders also posed a threat in what was a very open game, with goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe impressing on his St Mirren debut. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Valur's Aron Johannsson received a red card for a last-man foul on Jonah Ayunga. However, the visitors couldn't capitalise on their numerical advantage during the frantic finish. St Mirren will be hoping to make better use of their chances in Paisley for the second leg of their Conference League second-round qualifier next Thursday. Balcombe was called into action in the opening minute, the Brentford loanee making a fine sav

Kilmarnock 1 - 1 Cercle Brugge Kilmarnock will head to Belgium on level terms with Cercle Brugge after a comeback draw in the first leg of their Europa League second round qualifier. There was a fantastic atmosphere before the match started After an evenly matched first half at Rugby Park, the visitors burst into action and were rewarded with Kazeem Olaigbe’s powerful finish. However, Kilmarnock equalised when Kyle Vassell’s f licked header deflected off David Watson and into the top corner. This sets the stage for an exciting second leg at the Jan Breydel Stadium next Thursday. The hosts nearly got off to a perfect start in torrential rain when Danny Armstrong appeared to be fouled in the box. Referee Martin Dohal pointed to the spot, but it was later confirmed that the ball had already gone out of play, calming the excitement. The high intensity, possibly aided by the slick surface, persisted throughout most of the first half but didn’t result in many clear-cut chances for Kilmar

Arsenal 1 - 1 Bournemouth  Arsenal won 5-4 on penalties Arsenal began their three-match tour of the United States by beating Bournemouth 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.  Fabio Vieira gave Arsenal a first-half lead when he hit Reiss Nelson's deep cross on the volley. The Gunners were pegged back when Antoine Semenyo equalised via a wicked deflection. Far from being friendly, this was a competitive game where several players were booked. After that closely fought 90 minutes, the Arsenal keeper Karl Hein came up trumps in the penalty shootout by saving two spot-kicks, ending the night on the high. Ultimately, pre-season is all about players gaining fitness ahead of the new campaign. From that perspective, it was a worthwhile exercise for both clubs. For Arsenal, their staff will be figuring out how they can improve once again and become Premier League champions for the first time since 2004. You can watch the highlights in the video below The footage is from the AFC Bournemou

Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Sparta Prague (1st leg) Shamrock Rovers' Champions League campaign seems to be coming to an end unless they can overturn a two-goal deficit in Prague next week. The Hoops conceded two soft goals, particularly the first one, when they lost possession while trying to pass the ball out from the back. Before Velkjo Birmancevic's 38th-minute goal, they looked comfortable against their strong opponents. But when Tomas Wiesner made it 2-0 in the 65th minute, the tie seemed almost over. However, the Tallaght side will head to next week's second leg needing to score only one goal. Josh Honohan came very close to scoring twice in injury time – the first was a header brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Peter Jensen, and the second, moments later, was a back-post effort that drifted inches wide. How last season's Champions League was won. Jensen could have cost his side a first-half goal when he rushed from his goal and sent the ball straight to the feet of Neil

Celtic 4 - 3 Manchester City Manchester City's pre-season tour of the United States began with a 4-3 defeat to Celtic in North Carolina. The match was billed as the 'battle of the champions'. Despite the empty seats at the stadium, there was still a fantastic atmosphere.  Two first half goals from Nicolas Kuhn and a smart Kyogo Furuhashi finish meant City went in behind at the break despite Oscar Bobb also finding the net. The blues fought back in the second half. An almost defiant display, spearheaded by the irrepressible Bobb, brought City level with Maximo Perrone and Erling Haaland both on target. The Scottish champions eventuallày took the lead again through substitute Luis Palma Celtic impressed at times but fans are still concerned about the club's like of signings in the transfer window. Transfer News: Celtic sign Kasper Schmeichel (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) More Celtic news and stories Premier League: Summer 2024 news and stories (eurosuperfootball.b

Gareth Barry (remember him) has signed for a new club Former England midfielder Gareth Barry, who holds the record for the most Premier League appearances, has now signed up to play village football in Mid Sussex. At 43 years old, Barry has joined Hurstpierpoint, a team competing in the second tier of the Mid Sussex Football League - which is the 11th tier of the English football pyramid. During his professional career, Barry played 653 matches in the top tier for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton, and West Bromwich Albion , spanning an impressive 22 years. He earned 53 caps for England, scoring three goals, and was part of the squads for Euro 2000 and the 2010 World Cup. In the 2011-12 season, Barry made 34 league appearances for Manchester City, contributing to their Premier League title win. He also lifted the FA Cup with the club. His new club posted on X The club said: "We are beyond delighted to announce that former-England international and all-time Premier League

Aston Villa have secured the signing of midfielder Amadou Onana from Everton in a £50m deal. The 22-year-old played every minute of Belgium's Euro 2024 campaign and now has the chance to showcase his talent for Villa in the upcoming Champions League season. Onana joined Everton from Lille for £33m in 2022 and made 72 appearances for the Toffees, netting four goals. He was linked with a move to Arsenal in 2023, and several top clubs were reportedly interested in him this summer. You can see how they announced the transfer in the video below. The footage is from the Aston Villa YouTube account.  Villa manager Unai Emery had been searching for a new defensive midfielder after the club sold Douglas Luiz to Juventus for £42.35m in June. After finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, Villa are bolstering their squad for the challenges of the Champions League in the coming campaign. They have not competed at this elite level since the 1982-83 season, this was right after w

QPR 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur Yves Bissouma's first goal in Spurs colours and a late strike from Dane Scarlett made it two wins out of two in pre-season. Ange Postecoglou's side secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday afternoon. This was a very entertaining match that both sides would have taken a lot from.  Midfielder Bissouma produced some dazzling footwork to slide home the opener just before half-time. Tottenham then weathered some heavy second-half pressure from the hosts, substitute Scarlett converted Mikey Moore's cross three minutes from time - just moments after his introduction - to make the game safe. Premier League: Summer 2024 news and stories  It was another largely positive afternoon for Spurs at Loftus Road, the only downside being the first-half departure of Lucas Bergvall, who had picked up a knock in the penalty area and was replaced by Dejan Kulusevski as they took no chances over the recent arrival. Defeat but a positive exper

The Scottish champions have replaced former keeper Joe Hart Celtic have signed Denmark captain Kasper Schmeichel on a one-year deal after the goalkeeper led his country to the last 16 at Euro 24. Schmeichel, 37, was a free agent after leaving the Belgian club Anderlecht at the end of last season and replaces former Manchester City club-mate Joe Hart, who has now retired. International goalkeeper, an English Premier league winner. We've seen this movie before. Welcome to the finest team in Scotland Kasper Schmeichel. 🍀 pic.twitter.com/QSpjihOfhT — Boyle (@Boyle_67) July 18, 2024 The Dane has earned 105 international caps and will join his new teammates in the United States, where the Scottish champions are on tour. Schmeichel is best known for his 11-year stint with Leicester City, during which the club won an improbable Premier League crown in 2016. He would later work with Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at King Power Stadium, where the pair claimed the 2021 FA Cup and subs