Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois says he hopes "fans can accept me" after ending his exile from international football this week.

Atlético Madrid player denied in shooutout against RealUefa to enter discussions with Fifa and Ifab over rule Uefa is to ask for a review of the double touch rule on penalty kicks, after “clearly unintentional” contact from Julián Alvarez cost Atlético Madrid in their last-16 Champions League shootout. Alvarez touched the ball with both his right and left foot in scoring past Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois on Wednesday. A VAR check overturned the strike, giving Madrid a slender advantage they went on to convert into victory. Continue reading...

Wrexham midfielder George Evans gained experience next to some big name stars at Manchester City and has also credited Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney for aiding his career

Romelu Lukaku rejoined Chelsea in a bumper £98m move in the summer of 2021, but after a strong start he soon faded from favour, and the Belgian has blasted the club for how they treated him

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has entered the final four months of his deal and is being tipped to leave Etihad following a difficult season under Pep Guardiola

Manchester City are in a period of transition, requiring the new and the old to avoid an FA Cup shock at the hands of Plymouth Argyle. Academy graduate Nico O’Reilly scored two headers before the club’s most-decorated player Kevin De Bruyne ended the resistance. Plymouth could not have done more as they fought to contain City, even taking a shock lead through Maksym Talovierov but a happy ending never looked likely. The Premier League champions were, however, made to toil by the well-drilled Pilgrims, who will rue conceding from two set-pieces. Continue reading...

Manchester City have largely underwhelmed in this season and are in a fight to retain their Champions League spot but Jeremy Doku believes better times are on the horizon for the soon to be dethroned champions

‘That’s reality. Some can’t sustain playing every four days’John Stones and Manuel Akanji may both require surgery Pep Guardiola has said that players who cannot “sustain” Manchester City’s schedule because of serial injuries or fatigue will have to leave, with those under threat including Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Nathan Aké, Ilkay Gündogan and Bernardo Silva. In Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League defeat at Real Madrid, Stones became the latest City player to be struck down, the defender forced off after eight minutes by a thigh problem, with fears his season could be over. This was only the 30-year-old’s 20th appearance this season owing to injuries, with Guardiola suggesting that Stones and Manuel Akanji, who is out with an abductor problem, may require surgery. He said: “The next hours, days, we’ll know if he needs surgery or not. Like Manuel Akanji.” Continue reading...

Even the reliable elder statesmen can’t help Pep Guardiola’s side move a game closer to a shock Champions League exit Three minutes into the second half of a game that had very rarely threatened to defrost, Kyle Walker looked up and slid a simple 10-yard pass for Kevin De Bruyne. There was space on the right and here was the most routine opportunity to get things moving. Nobody would think twice about a combination near halfway between teammates who, over tens of thousands of rehearsals, could complete that drill blindfolded. The pass might have been for De Bruyne, but it never reached him. It skipped out of play, no opponent providing an excuse by applying the faintest pressure, and anyone could have been forgiven a moment to pause and wonder how it had come to this. How had two brilliant, supremely reliable elder statesmen of Manchester City’s all-conquering era become so paralysed as to fluff a move both have had off pat for seven years? Continue reading...

Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is out of contract next summer and manager Pep Guardiola has spoken out about what might lie ahead for the Belgian star

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is unsure whether this will be his last season at the club.

Adversity stirs something primal in him, so it is no surprise the manager chose to sign a new contract now “Come here guys, come here,” shouts Pep Guardiola as the Manchester City players gather in the dressing room of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It’s 0-0 at half-time, the Premier League title is slipping away and the energy levels are frail, bordering dead. Kevin De Bruyne dabs sweat from his brow. Erling Haaland urges his teammates to keep going. An unseen staff member asks whether anyone is still in the toilets. It feels somehow fitting that this question does not come from Guardiola. Great orators should not have to corral their audience out of the can in advance. Continue reading...

BRUSSELS (AP) - Former Belgium and Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld has revealed that he decided to end his international career after thinking he was "going to die".

Erling Haaland is in talks with Manchester City over a new contract at the Etihad Stadium which would make him the Premier League's highest earner - eclipsing team-mate Kevin de Bruyne