Olivier Giroud equalled Thierry Henry s France goalscoring record as Les Bleus fought back to begin their World Cup defence with a 4-1 victory over Australia on Tuesday.

Having lost Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and others to injury during a chaotic build-up to the tournament, France suffered another blow when Craig Goodwin fired Australia into an early lead.

But the holders responded well, with the impressive Adrien Rabiot recording a goal and an assist – the latter for Giroud – during a first-half turnaround.

Kylian Mbappe then made the points safe with a fine glancing header before teeing up Giroud to nod home his landmark 51st goal as France took control of Group D.

51 Olivier Giroud has scored his 51st goal for France, joining Thierry Henry as Franc…

Manchester City scored their 500th Premier League goal under Pep Guardiola in Tuesday s clash with Leeds United.

Phil Foden put City ahead against Leeds at the Etihad Stadium as they reached the landmark figure in record time under a manager.

Foden made the eighth-minute breakthrough when he finished off from the edge of the penalty area after Rodri was beaten in a dash to the ball by Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

City required just 207 games to score the 500 goals, bettering the 234 games it took Liverpool to net that amount under Jurgen Klopp.

Next on that list is legendary Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson (265 games), followed by Arsenal great Arsene Wenger (271).

Sergio Aguero, who departed City at the end of last season, has scored th…

Juventus are in talks with Manchester City over a loan deal for Kalvin Phillips, according to Fabrizio Romano. The Italian journalist has reported on X that the Italian giants started negotiations with City over Phillips two years and are still in talks.

Romano has added that Newcastle United are also keen on Phillips, but the Magpies are yet to make a formal approach for the former Leeds United midfielder. Phillips has been on the books of City since the summer of 2022, but he is a peripheral figure at the defending Premier League champions at the moment.

⚪️⚫️ Juventus remain in talks with Man City over loan deal for Kalvin Phillips, as revealed two weeks ago.

Negotiations are still on, Newcastle also keen but no formal approach with City yet.

…

Prediction: Brazil win

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We re getting down to the nitty gritty of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar with just eight teams remaining in the race to lift that famous trophy. There have been plenty of twists and turns along the way thus far and given the nature of the four fixtures ahead of us, we d say that trend is pretty likely to continue as we take a look at the impending clash between Croatia and Brazil.

Croatia

The 2018 finalists have looked solid so far in this tournament which is a pleasant surprise for their fanbase, given that a lot of their supporters didn t expect them to have as much luck this time around. What they didn t take into consideration, though, is that this is a squad full of determined veterans all of whom…

Swansea are progressing with talks for Michael Duff to become their new manager.

Discussions are on-going for the Barnsley boss to succeed Russell Martin in Wales.

Swansea have made an approach to the Tykes but no deal has been struck between the clubs yet, the PA news agency understands.

The Swans, who finished 10th in the Championship last season, want the ex-Cheltenham boss with Martin poised to move to Southampton.

Saints are close to officially announcing Martin as their new manager after the 37-year-old agreed to move to St Mary’s last month.

Southampton and Swansea have disagreed over the amount of compensation which should be paid.

They have been haggling over £700,000 with Martin’s release clause for Championship clubs and Pr…

The Premier League’s summer spending of £2.36billion demonstrates the “incredible pace of growth” in the league’s wealth, according to finance company Deloitte.

The £2bn milestone was surpassed for the first time in advance of Friday’s deadline with moves such as Manchester City’s £53million capture of Wolves’ Matheus Nunes then driving the total to new heights.

Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency: “It took 14 summer transfer windows to exceed £1bn and it’s only taken seven more to surpass £2bn, so that just reflects the incredible pace of growth that we’re seeing.”

Deloitte’s analysis showed the 2023 summer transfer window exceeded the previous record of £1.92bn, set only las…

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver was pleased his half-time rocket fired his side up for a 5-1 FA Cup victory at seventh-tier Marine.

Chris Doyle levelled for the minnows after Abraham Odoh’s early opener, but Sam Folarin’s double as well as further goals from Rodney McDonald and Stephen Dooley completed a comprehensive win.

“I challenged them as a collective to be more ambitious than inviting trouble. It paid off and we ended up with a win,” Weaver said.

“It was fair enough that the fans booed us off at half-time because we’ve got to be better than that as a team to be under siege by Marine, no disrespect, who are a few leagues below.

“It’s the FA Cup, I know that. Poor results can happen, but by and large if the mentality’s right, which the …

Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is worried about his future, according to . Oxlade-Chamberlain, who moved Liverpool from Premier Leagu rivals Arsenal in 2017, fears for his future, as manager Jurgen Klopp has not picked up for any competitive game since March 20.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has made  and eight substitute appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool this season. The Liverpool no. 15 has scored two goals and given one assist in those games. The 28-year-old Englishman has also made three starts and three substitute appearances in the Champions League, and three starts and one substitute appearance in the Carabao Cup for the Reds this season.

Liverpool are second in the Premier League table at the moment with 86 points from 36 matches, level on po…

According to Italian outlet , Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee is interested in joining AC Milan this summer, despite interest from the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Juventus.

Apparently, there s no way of guessing what the immediate future holds for the 22-year-old at this stage. A move outside the Serie A cannot be ruled out completely, but his preferred choice is to remain in the Italian top flight, and he believes the Rossoneri are the right club for the next step in his development. He likes the way the seven-time European champions play under Stefano Pioli.

The young Dutchman played for a number of clubs in his homeland before moving to Bayern Munich at the Under-17 level. The Bundesliga giants sent him on loan first to Parma and then Anderlecht, and in th…

Things are not looking good for Chelsea at the moment. With only four Premier League games played, they recorded their second defeat of the season on Saturday, and a rather unexpected one as they lost at Stamford Bridge to Nottingham Forest. As it turned out in the end, a mistake in the middle of the park early in the second half was all that it took for Anthony Elanga, who only just joined Forest from Manchester United, to settle the game.

The game

Chelsea s plan in a game like this, obviously cannot be faulted. They dominated possession with ease (77%) and created a number of moments when they really should ve scored. But there something seriously wrong when a team as full of talented players as the Blues are, hit just two shots on target in over 90 minutes, out of 21 attemp…