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PSG regain form as Mbappe scores on Return

Kylian Mbappe scored on his comeback to the team as Paris St-Germain beat Nice in Ligue 1.

Mbappe had missed their opening three games – two defeats and one win – after testing positive for coronavirus.

The France forward opened the scoring on his first appearance of the season from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Kephren Thuram.

Angel di Maria doubled the lead from a rebound after Mbappe had a shot saved and Marquinhos headed in their third.

Mbappe thought he had a second goal with 15 minutes to go but it was disallowed for offside.

PSG were without Neymar, Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes, who were all suspended after their red cards in the melee against Marseille.

Patrick Vieira’s Nice are on six points from four games, the same total as champions PSG.

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Pirlo gets first win as manager

Cristiano Ronaldo scored as Juventus marked Andrea Pirlo’s first match as head coach with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sampdoria in Serie A.

Sweden winger Dejan Kulusevski opened the scoring on his debut, with a calm finish into the bottom left corner.

And Leonardo Bonucci prodded in the second for Juve, who are chasing a 10th successive Scudetto.

Ronaldo, who had earlier hit the crossbar, rounded off the scoring late on from Aaron Ramsey’s pass.

Like Sunday’s other Serie A matches, a small number of supporters were at the season opener after the Italian government allowed up to 1,000 fans to attend matches for the first time since March.

Former Milan and Juventus midfielder Pirlo had no senior coaching experience before he was chosen to replace Maurizio Sarri in August, and only received his coaching badge last week.

However, this was a relatively comfortable introduction to his new role, with his side easing to victory against Claudio Ranieri’s team.

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PSG Want Dele Alli

Paris St-Germain are interested in Tottenham forward Dele Alli.

The Champions League finalists are aware of the England international’s potential availability and senior figures at the club are known to be admirers of the 24-year-old.

Spurs sources insist they expect Alli to stay and fight for his place.

However, the player was not in the squad for victories against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the Europa League and Southampton in the Premier League.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho has recently added to his attacking options with the signing of Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.

The Wales international is expected to be fit to join Mourinho’s squad after the October international break.

By that time, the transfer window will have closed and, although Premier League clubs can do business after the 5 October deadline, they can only trade with English Football League clubs.

It means Alli has a fortnight to sort out his future or risk an extended spell on the sidelines until the January window opens.

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BARCELONA HAVE BIDS REJECTED FOR NORWICH STAR, MAX AARONS

Barcelona have had two bids rejected for Norwich City defender Max Aarons as they look to replace Nelson Semedo, sources have confirmed.

Barca first made contact with Aarons’ agents over a transfer in May and have already agreed on personal terms with the right-back.

However, they have been unable to strike a deal with Norwich, with an initial offer to take Aarons on loan with an option to buy next summer for around €20 million knocked back by the Championship club.

A second offer has also been turned down but sources asay that Barca haven’t completely given up hope of landing the England under-21 international yet after making him their No.1 full-back target.

Sources at the Catalan club have revealed that Semedo could leave in the next week, with talks at an advanced stage with a Premier League side.

Barca hope to sell Semedo for over €30m. They plan to re-invest that money on a younger right-back to compete with Sergi Roberto this season.

Aarons, 20, has emerged as their preferred option but they are also managing a number of alternatives in case they are unable to find a breakthrough in negotiations with Norwich.

Ajax defender Sergino Dest has also been followed by Barca for a while and is another name on the table if Semedo is sold in the coming days.

In the case of both Aarons and Dest, Barca face competition from Bayern Munich. Sources close to the United States international confirmed that youthe Bundesliga champions are in pole position.

That would clear the way for Barca to move for Aarons, although they have also sounded out the chances of doing deals for Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot.

Barca could still push ahead with signing a full-back even if Semedo stays. However, they cannot buy until they offload players, which is why they initially proposed a season-long loan when negotiating for Aarons.

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LA LIGA BANS RONALD KOEMAN FROM SIGNING LIVERPOOL’S GEORGINO WIJNALDUM.

Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman is currently banned from making a move for Georginio Wijnaldum because of La Liga rules.

The former Netherlands boss has arrived at the Nou Camp with a very clear idea of what players he wants to bring in.

And he has also not been afraid on kicking players out after telling the likes of Luis Suarez and Riqui Puig to leave.

Koeman has been eyeing some players from the national side he coached not long ago.

The two that are on his wish list are Memphis Depay and Wijnaldum.

The former is being touted to replace Suarez up front to form a fluid attack with Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi.

Whereas Wijnaldum is wanted to bring some balance and control into Barcelona’s midfield, which was badly exposed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

However, Koeman will not be able to sign the Liverpool star or anyone for that matter because of some binding rules from La Liga.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Spain hard, with football taking a huge punch as a result of the lack of revenue.

Barca were already in a rut, with huge transfers for the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Griezmann setting them back.

Clubs in Spain are under strict guidelines as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Barcelona are operating on a £510m-a-year wage bill which has been classified unsustainable.

It means they must sell players before they will be allowed to bring anymore in, meaning any move for Wijnaldum is off.

But a program in place means that any transfer fee must be paid in double, with the other half going to the government to help out smaller clubs.

La Liga has outlined to top-tier clubs how much they can spend on transfers, dependant on their finances over the past five years.

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Liverpool maintain their title defence

Liverpool were helped by Christensen’s moment of sheer panic that reduced Chelsea to 10 men right on the break – but they were head and shoulders ahead of a negative home team even before that crucial moment.

The champions dominated from the first whistle and it seemed only a matter of time before they scored, pinning Chelsea back in their own territory and probing for openings at will.

And when the breakthrough came, no-one deserved it more than Mane, now comfortable in world-class and willing to do the dirty work as well as apply the finishing touches.

Mane’s first goal was a superb header but in many ways he summed up what makes him the complete attacker with his second, reacting with fury at giving the ball away before chasing down Kepa.

The Senegal forward’s pace forced the error from a goalkeeper who does not necessarily need forcing into errors and effectively finished the contest with Liverpool’s second.

It was all so easy for Liverpool after that, Thiago easing his way in as a substitute although there will be a concern about yet another injury for captain Henderson, who went off at half-time.

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SERGE GNABRY HITS HATRICK AS BAYERN SCORES EIGHT IN IMPRESSIVE BUNDESLIGA OPENER.

Serge Gnabry hit a hat-trick as holders Bayern Munich romped to a record 8-0 rout of Schalke on Friday in the opening game of the 2020/21 Bundesliga season.

Leroy Sane said all-conquering Bayern Munich crave even more silverware after the Germany winger scored on his debut in Friday’s historic 8-0 thrashing of Schalke in the opening game of the new Bundesliga season.

“We’re still hungry, even though we won the treble last season,” said Sane after creating two goals for Serge Gnabry, who claimed a hat-trick in the goalfest at the Allianz Arena. “Winning our first game at home 8-0 is obviously super. “It felt really, really good finally to be able to play with the lads,” said Sane, who spent most of last season sidelined at former club Manchester City after tearing knee ligaments at the very start of last season.

“It’s been a very good day with lots of goals.”

Just 26 days after winning the Champions League final, Bayern picked up where they left off last season with their 22nd-straight win.

“It is amazing how the team has built on the performance of the past season,” said Bayern board member and former club captain Oliver Kahn.

The jaw-dropping result is the highest win in an opening game of a new Bundesliga season – five weeks to the day after Bayern’s 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Leon Goretzka, Thomas Mueller and Robert Lewandowksi also netted, while England junior international Jamal Musiala, 17, became the youngest Bayern goal-scorer in the Bundesliga when he came on late.

Bayern had to brush off setbacks in the days leading up to kick-off.

On Thursday, the Mayor of Munich scuppered plans to allow 7,500 fans into the Allianz Arena, due to rising new cases of the coronavirus in the Bavarian capital, hours after Bayern confirmed the sale of Thiago Alcantara to Liverpool.

Before kick-off, David Alaba, who is stalling over signing a contract extension with a year left to go, dropped out with a leg injury.

However, Bayern picked up where they left off 26 days after winning the Champions League final in Lisbon.

Cash-strapped Schalke continued their miserable finish to last season as David Wagner’s side have now gone 17 games without a win.

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JAMES RODRIGUEZ SHINES, AS CALVERT-LEWIN SCORES HATRICK TO EASE OFF WESTBROM IN SEVEN GOAL THRILLER.

James Rodriguez scored his first Premier League goal and Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a hat trick as Everton thrashed 10-man West Bromwich Albion 5-2 at Goodison Park on Saturday.

West Brom started brightly and opened the scoring through Grady Diangana, his first league goal, but when Calvert-Lewin equalised after an intervention from the Video Assistant Referee, Everton took control.

Just before half time Rodriguez put Everton ahead from the edge of the box with a finish full of quality, and shortly afterwards was pushed in the face by defender Kieran Gibbs, who received a deserved red card.

Combustible West Brom manager Slaven Bilic was also red-carded by referee Mike Dean as he remonstrated with the official at the break.

The Baggies bagged a superb equaliser from Matheus Pereira’s 30-yard free-kick shortly after the restart, but the Toffees’ greater quality against 10 men then saw them surge ahead.

Michael Keane put them in front from close range before Calvert-Lewin took his tally for the season to four in two games as he netted two more to complete his first hat-trick for the Merseyside club.

Everton appeared sloppy at times compared with their 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur in their season opener. But their improvement from last season continues to be dramatic, while for West Brom eight goals conceded in two games shows the measure of their task in the Premier League.

Everton created 32 goal attempts in their opening two matches, with four of them converted by Calvert-Lewin.

“You look at the quality we have got on the ball, it was important we utilised the extra man,” the striker told BT Sport after the win.

“We created space and chances, and I was happy to be in the box to tap them in.”

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LIVERPOOL COMPLETE £45M SIGNING OF WOLVES FORWARD.

Liverpool have reportedly completed the signing of Portuguese attacker Diogo Jota from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a £45 million deal.

As reported by the Liverpool Echo, Premier League champions,
Liverpool have completed the signing of Diogo Jota from Wolverhampton Wanderers. The player is set to pen a five-year contract with the Reds.

The 23-year-old Jota came through the youth ranks at Portuguese outfit Gondomar, before joining Pacos Ferreira. In 2016, he signed for La Liga giants Atletico Madrid, but was immediately loaned out to FC Porto, where he impressed. The following summer, he joined Wolves, who were in the Championship at the time, initially on loan, before making the transfer permanent in 2018.

Since joining the Black County outfit, the Portuguese forward has accumulated 131 appearances, scoring 44 goals and setting up 19 more. A versatile attacker, Jota has been used mostly on the left flank, but has also often operated as part of a two-pronged attack alongside Raul Jimenez.

Liverpool had been heavily linked with a move for Jota’s teammate Adama Traore all summer. Understandably so, considering that the reigning English champions are lacking quality backup for their first-choice frontline of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.

However, instead of Traore, the club seem to have moved in on Jota, with the report claiming that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been a long-term admirer of the Portuguese. And while it is yet to be announced officially, the Echo is claiming that the transfer is a done deal.

As per the report, Liverpool will be shelling out £41 million for the signing of the forward, with another £4 million in add-ons. Jota is expected to put pen to a five-year contract with the Premier League champions. He is set to become the Reds’ fourth most expensive player behind Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Naby Keita.

It is further claimed that Liverpool will have to pay around just 10 per cent of the guaranteed transfer fee across the next twelve months.

Jota will become Liverpool’s third signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Kostas Tsimikas and Thiago Alcantara, who joined the club only on Friday. After a rather subdued start to the transfer window, Liverpool have made a huge statement with two brilliant signings on a single day.

Jota’s signing is not the only deal that Liverpool have struck with Wolves on Friday. The Reds have also agreed to the sale of defensive prospect Ki-Jana Hoever in a deal worth an inital £9 million with a further £4.5m in add-ons.

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CHELSEA SENDS ZAPPACOSTA ON ANOTHER SEASON LONG-LOAN DEAL

Chelsea officially confirmed on Saturday morning that out-of-favour full-back Davide Zappacosta has joined Genoa on loan for the season.

Zappacosta arrived in the summer of 2017 for an initial fee of £23m, as per the Guardian. The Italy international’s 52 appearances for the Blues all came in his first two seasons with the club.

The right-back fell down the pecking order during the 18/19 campaign, with the west London outfit subsequently loaning Zappacosta out to Roma for the 19/20 season.

A serious knee injury dented Zappacosta’s plans of reigniting his career though, leaving the ace to start just six of his nine appearances last term.

The 28-year-old now has the task of helping Genoa battle against relegation, the Serie A outfit finished 17th last term, just one place above the drop.

Frank Lampard’s made a pretty wise decision in loaning Zappacosta out, it was unlikely that the Italian would work his way back as an important player for the Blues.

Chelsea also have Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta to call on as their right-back options, so there’s really no room for Zappacosta as it stands.