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STUTTGART, Germany — Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Stuttgart 3-1 and extend its lead at the top of the Bundesliga to 11 points on Friday. Bayern’s ninth win in its last 10 Bundesliga matches was disappointing news for a chasing pack which hoped to see its lead cut after Stuttgart went ahead in the 34th minute. The home side started well and had already hit the woodwork when Angelo Stiller gave it the lead. The former Bayern youth player gathered the ball outside the box and rifled a superb strike into the roof of the net from 20 meters. But Michael Olise equalized on the stroke of halftime when he ran on to Leroy Sané’s defense-splitting pass and calmly converted in the one on one. Leon Goretzka, back in the side to replace the injured Joshua Kimmich, made it 2-1 and Kinglsey Coman scored a fine individual goal in the final minutes. The result was another blow for Stuttgart, which has taken only four points from its last six league games. Last year’s runner-up has fallen ...

Aston Villa and Cardiff City look to move on the quarters for the FA Cup. Watch the game on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have advanced in the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament after beating the Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa 2-0.  The result gave the ‘Caps a 3-2 edge in the two-legged aggregate series after dropping a 2-1 decision in Costa Rica last week.  Vancouver will face LIGA MX club CF Monterrey in the round of 16 next week.  Brian White scored both of Vancouver’s goals Thursday. He headed a ball in past Saprissa goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado in the 47th minute and slotted in a rebound in the first minute of injury time.  The ‘Caps were the more dangerous team across the first half, outshooting the visitors 4-2 and registering the lone on-target shot. Vancouver plays its Major League Soccer season home-opener Sunday against the L.A. Galaxy. Canadian forward Ali Ahmed had multiple chances for the Whitecaps across the first half when he tallied three of the team’s four shots. His first came in the 13th minute when Ahmed slipped through a clutch of ...

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho was given a four-match ban and fined by the Turkish Football Federation following his comments about Turkish referees after a match at Galatasaray. The Turkish federation on Thursday fined the 62-year-old Portuguese coach 1.6 million Turkish lira ($44,000) after he criticized the match officials in a media conference following a 0-0 Super Lig draw on Monday. Mourinho served one of his suspended four games on Thursday when he was absent from the bench for Fenerbahce’s 4-1 Turkish Cup win at Gaziantep. Britain’s Sky Sports News said Fenerbahce had appealed the four-game ban. It means that if Fenerbahce’s appeal is unsuccessful, he will miss their next three domestic games. In his post-match interview on Monday, Mourinho welcomed the decision to bring in a foreign referee for the game and also praised Slavko Vincic of Slovenia for a “top performance.” Mourinho said he’d gone to see the referee and thank him following the ga...

BOLOGNA, Italy — AC Milan squandered a first-half advantage in a 2-1 loss at Bologna in a rescheduled Serie A match on Thursday and fell further into crisis. The defeat follows elimination from the Champions League and a loss to Torino last weekend. Milan dropped to eighth place while Bologna moved up to sixth. After Rafael Leao’s opener for Milan, Santiago Castro equalized after the break following a free kick that bounced around inside the area. Then Dan Ndoye took advantage of poor defending to score the winner eight minutes from time by redirecting in a cross. It was the first time that Bologna beat Milan at home in a league match since 2002. The match was postponed from October due to flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region. Half of the proceeds from the match went to flood victims.

Toronto FC completed some roster housekeeping Wednesday, rewarding teenage defender Lazar Stefanovic with a first-team contract as a homegrown player through 2028 with an option for 2029. But the bigger project remains, with general manager Jason Hernandez looking to add another piece to the roster. After clearing up some past salary cap tangles, Hernandez has opted to start the season with the MLS club adopting the U22 Initiative player roster model, which allows for up to two designated players and as many as four U22 Initiative players while collecting an additional $2 million (all figures in U.S. dollars) of general allocation money (GAM). The other roster model allows for up to three DPs and three U22 Initiative players with no extra GAM. Designated players and U22 Initiative players come with salary cap breaks. Essentially, Toronto is now in a position where it can fit Canadian fullback/wingback Richie Laryea within its allotted salary budget without having to make him a des...

Jesse Marsch is sticking up for Canada. Canada’s soccer coach waded into politics Wednesday, telling United States President Donald Trump to “lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being a 51st state.” The 51-year-old Marsch, a former U.S. international who was born in Racine, Wisc., made his comments at a CONCACAF news conference at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., the site of next month’s CONCACAF Nations League Finals featuring Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Panama. He was asked about the recent 4 Nations Face-Off hockey final between Canada and the U.S. and, as an American coaching the Canadian men’s team, how comfortable was he with “all this political stuff happening right now.” “As an American, I’m ashamed of the arrogance and disregard that we’ve shown one of our historically oldest, strongest and most loyal allies,” Marsch said. “But one thing’s for sure, when I look forward to a month from now, I know that this will fuel our team — the mentality we have, the will we...

MILAN — The Milan derby will be played five times this season. Inter Milan defeated Lazio 2-0 on Tuesday to advance to the two-leg Italian Cup semifinals against city rival AC Milan. Mark Arnautovic scored with a long-range volley late in the first half at the San Siro and then Hakan Calhanoglu converted a second-half penalty. Milan beat Roma 3-1 three weeks ago. Inter and Milan have already played three times this season — twice in Serie A (Milan won the first meeting and the other one was a draw) and in the Italian Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia, which was won by Milan. Bologna will face either Juventus or Empoli, which play on Wednesday, in the other semifinal. Arnautovic got a rare start in place of Lautaro Martinez, who was rested ahead of Inter’s visit to Napoli in a 1-2 Serie A matchup on Saturday.

BIELEFELD, Germany — Third-division team Arminia Bielefeld reached the semifinals of the German Cup on Tuesday by upsetting Bundesliga side Werder Bremen 2-1 in their quarterfinal. Sam Schreck sent fans in the Bielefelder Alm stadium wild when he scored the supposed third goal on a counterattack in the sixth minute of stoppage time — then the score was ruled out through VAR for a foul in the buildup. But the supporters only had a brief wait before they could celebrate their team’s defeat of a third Bundesliga opponent on its way to the final four. Bielefeld had already eliminated second-tier Hannover, before it knocked out Union Berlin and Freiburg. “Incredible. Indescribable. I don’t think any of us have realized it yet,” Bielefeld goalkeeper Jonas Kersken said. Bielefeld, which was relegated from the Bundesliga in 2022 before dropping another division the following year, has been punching above its weight in the cup this season. Bremen, which had lost its last three Bundesliga g...

Suddenly, depth is an area of relative strength for the Canadian men’s national team.  To be clear, I am not talking about the same sort of depth that the world’s soccer super-powers enjoy, but depth that affords head coach Jesse Marsch the ability to select players based on form rather than simply because there isn’t anyone else to do the job. Small steps, right?  With so many of those Canadian footballers plying their trade in strong European leagues, it is easy to forget that there is also plenty of talent here on our doorstep.  Major League Soccer kicked off this past weekend, and there are some attacking players who simply must enjoy breakthrough campaigns to crack the World Cup squad next year. Tani Oluwaseyi (Minnesota United), Stephen Afrifa (Sporting Kansas City) and Jacen Russell-Rowe (Columbus Crew) are three hopefuls who will be up against it due to the success of their European-based compatriots. However, there is opportunity and zero Euro-bias to preven...

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United expects to make up to a further 200 jobs redundant as part of cost-cutting measures after five straight years of losses, the club said Monday. United made around 250 roles redundant in a first wave of savings last year after British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe paid $1.3 billion for an initial 25% stake in the club and assumed control of its soccer operations. Now, as part of what United called a “transformation plan,” the club “anticipates that approximately 150-200 jobs may be made redundant, subject to a consultation process with employees.” “We have a responsibility to put Manchester United in the strongest position to win across our men’s, women’s and academy teams,” United chief executive Omar Berrada said. “We are initiating a wide-ranging series of measures which will transform and renew the club. “Unfortunately, this means announcing further potential redundancies and we deeply regret the impact on those affected colleagues. Howeve...

Captain Jeneva Hernandez Gray and substitute Ella Kettles each scored twice as Canada ran its goal total to 31 in two games in CONCACAF U-20 women’s qualifying play with a 9-0 win over Bermuda on Sunday. The young Canadians opened play Friday with a 22-0 romp over Dominica. Kaylee Hunter, Kierra Blundell, Teegan Melenhorst, Annabelle Chukwu and Iba Oching also scored Sunday for Canada, which led 3-0 at the half. The score could have been more lopsided had it not been for Bermuda goalkeeper Taya Rodrigues, whose stops included a Natelle El Mokbel penalty in the 85th minute. Chukwu, a freshman at Notre Dame, added to her Canadian youth international goal-scoring record (previously held by Christine Sinclair). The 18-year-old from Ottawa now has 31 goals in 36 games from the under-15 to under-20 level. Hunter, who is with AFC Toronto of the new Northern Super League, has six goals at the tournament. Canada wraps up Group E play Tuesday against host Trinidad and Tobago, which faced Do...

LYON, France — Lyon owner John Textor donned a cowboy hat ahead of his team’s French league home match against rival Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night in a mocking gesture seemingly aimed at PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Textor, an American businessman, waved his hat and applauded the crowd before kickoff, just days after leaked footage from a meeting of Ligue 1 club owners revealed how sour the relationship between Textor and his PSG rival has become. During that July meeting, Al-Khelaifi called Textor a cowboy. Textor called Al-Khelaifi a bully. The handling of the league’s TV rights was at the heart of the dispute. Following the collapse of its record-breaking TV rights contract with Spanish-based broadcaster Mediapro in 2020, the league hoped it could get up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) per year from the sale of broadcasting rights for 2024-29 but had to lower its target. In the end, the league settled for 500 million euros per year after sealing a late deal...

MADRID — Luka Modric scored a beautiful long-range goal in Real Madrid’s 2-0 home win against Girona on Sunday that moved the defending champion level on points in the Spanish league with leader Barcelona. The veteran midfielder chested the ball down in the 41st minute before firing a right-footed shot into the top corner. Vinícius Júnior scored Madrid’s second goal after an assist from Kylian Mbappé in the 83rd to leave Madrid with the same 54 points as Barcelona, which won 2-0 at Las Palmas on Saturday. Barcelona leads on the head-to-head tiebreaker against Madrid. Atletico Madrid is one point behind the two rivals. Diego Simeone’s team won 3-0 at Valencia on Saturday. Modric made his ninth start in 25 league matches for Madrid in a season in which the 39-year-old has played few minutes off the bench. The former world player of the year scored his fourth goal this season with his neat strike to put Madrid ahead at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Vinícius scored his first league go...

MADRID — Spain forward Jenni Hermoso said Saturday that the guilty verdict given to Luis Rubiales for his unsolicited kiss after the 2023 Women’s World Cup final sets an “important precedent” for women’s rights. “After everything, this will create an important precedent in society, where there is still much work to do,” she wrote in Spanish on Instagram. “My heart is full of each person who was with me and will stay with me in this fight.” It was her first public statement since a Spanish court ruled Thursday that the former president of Spain’s soccer federation had sexually abused her when he kissed her without consent during the World Cup celebrations. Spain’s National Court ordered Rubiales to pay more than 10,000 euros ($10,400) in fines and prohibited him from getting within 200 meters of Hermoso or communicating with her for a year. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence. She ended her post with the message “And now, it is over,” (“Y ahora sí, se acabó) in refe...

TURIN, Italy (AP) — United States forward Christian Pulisic failed to convert a penalty kick for the first time in his professional career Saturday during a game with AC Milan. Torino goalkeeper Sergej Milinkovic-Savic lunged to his right to push away Pulisic’s low spot kick during the first half of a Serie A match. The save ended a run of 12 straight converted penalties for Pulisic with the U.S. national team (8), Borussia Dortmund’s junior side (1) and Milan (3) stretching back to 2014.

PARIS — Hakon Arnar Haraldsson scored a brace as Lille beat Monaco 2-1 Saturday and leapfrogged its French league rival to move into third place in the standings. Lille has 41 points, one more than Riviera rivals Nice and Monaco. Fourth-place Nice has one match in hand and takes on struggling Montpellier on Sunday. Lille dominated early proceedings at the Pierre Mauroy stadium and was rewarded in the 22nd minute when Haraldsson broke the deadlock at the conclusion of a slick move. The Iceland midfielder was set up by Ngal’ayel Mukau and rushed toward the goal unchallenged and scored with a precise shot from the edge of the area into the far corner. Monaco reacted well and had a good chance to level near the half-hour mark when Eliesse Ben Seghir’s attempt with the outside of the foot ended inches wide from Vanderson’s low cross. But Monaco continued its trend this season of making silly mistakes as a sloppy pass from Wilfred Singo to Denis Zakaria led to Lille’s second goal. Under...

LECCE, Italy — Lorenzo Lucca’s argument with teammates about him taking a first-half penalty scarred Udinese’s 1-0 win at Lecce in Serie A on Friday. Captain Florian Thauvian is Udinese’s regular penalty-taker but Lucca grabbed the ball and pushed away teammates who came to discuss his decision. There was a long delay before the spot kick could be taken as Udinese players remonstrated with the former Pisa and Ajax striker. Lucca, however, held his nerve and made no mistake to slot his third goal in five games. He was pulled off by the coach moments later, with nine minutes still remaining in the first half. The result provided another valuable three points for Udinese, which, after a run of five matches without a win from Christmas to the end of January, was now unbeaten in its last four. The result lifted it to within a point of ninth-placed Roma. Lecce remained 15th, five points above the relegation zone. More from Sportsnet Breaking down Champions League round of 16 dr...

CF Montreal ended the 2024 Major League Soccer season as one of the league’s most in-form clubs. Montreal posted a record of 4-2-1 in its last seven games in a late push for the MLS Cup playoffs.  While Montreal was eliminated in a play-in loss to Atlanta United on penalty kicks, there was a sense of end-of-season optimism within the club that had not been felt in some time. Now, after 123 days of off-season work, Montreal is putting the finishing touches on preparation for the 2025 campaign.  “Everything is in place right now and if you look at the moves we’ve done during this window and the changes we’ve brought both to the squad and the technical staff, I’m very comfortable with the work done,” club president Gabriel Gervais before a season-opening rematch with Atlanta on Saturday.  “We’ve built a good team spirit in training camp … there was lots of intensity but the right kind, not clumsy or malicious and it shows how excited the guys are (for Saturday’s game).”...

Toronto FC has signed midfielder Markus Cimermancic to a homegrown player contract through 2026 with club options for 2027 and 2028. The 20-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., becomes the 36th player in franchise history to sign for the first team from the Toronto FC Academy. Cimermancic turned heads in pre-season as one of three Toronto FC II players invited to camp under new coach Robin Fraser. “We are thrilled to announce the signing of Markus to a first-team contract as a homegrown player after coming through our ranks for the past 10 years,” Toronto GM Jason Hernandez said in a statement. “Markus has delivered in both our Academy and TFC II systems, and we look forward to his continued growth in our first team.” The six-foot-one 183-pounder spent the last three seasons with Toronto’s reserve side, recording six goals and eight assists in 59 appearances (48 starts) in MLS NEXT Pro action. Cimermancic, who joined the Toronto academy in February 2015 after seven years with...

The Vancouver Whitecaps opened their season with a 2-1 loss to Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa in a Concacaf Champions Cup matchup on Thursday.  Ariel Rodriguez came off the bench and scored with just seconds left in injury time to give Saprissa their first lead of the game.  Whitecaps captain Ryan Gauld had opened the scoring midway through the first period and Mariano Torres replied early in the second.  The home side outshot the visitors 10-7 across the game, but Vancouver held a 4-1 edge in on-target shots.  The second game of the two-game aggregate series goes Feb. 27 at BC Place. The winner of the set will face Mexican side CF Monterrey in the round of 16. The Whitecaps will now head to Portland, Ore., where they’ll kick off their Major League Soccer season Sunday against the Timbers.  Vancouver opened the scoring in the 21st minute when Ali Ahmed sliced a pass across the penalty area to Gauld, who sent a right-footed shot in past goalkeeper Este...

Lorenzo Insigne’s future with Toronto FC remains murky with news that the high-priced Italian designated player is not with the team, two days before the MLS season opener at D.C. United. “He is in Toronto at the moment,” coach Robin Fraser said Thursday from Palm Beach, Fla., where TFC is wrapping up its pre-season training camp before flying to Washington. Asked about Insigne’s future, Fraser offered little. “I really can’t say too much about it. I think a lot of what is transpiring predates my even coming here,” said Fraser, who was named coach on Jan. 10. “So I would say that there’s not a whole lot I can say about that. I think that it’s a situation for which we are seeking some resolution and certainly, that is the guidance of the group. “I would say that not much really has changed. I know there’s been a lot of speculation in the last probably seven to 14 days but again that’s not really for me to comment on.” Fraser said his job is “to try and put together as good a team a...

MADRID — The search for answers will continue for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. Guardiola couldn’t find a way to keep City alive in the Champions League on Wednesday, when another poor performance led to a 3-1 loss to Real Madrid and a 6-3 aggregate defeat to the Spanish powerhouse in the playoffs. The Catalan coach looked agitated at times while trying to convey instructions to his players. On other occasions, he looked resigned and desolate, sometimes with his hands in his pockets or with his arms crossed. Guardiola turned around in apparent disgust after seeing Kylian Mbappé score the opening goal in the fourth minute at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Guardiola went back to his bench for a few moments after the France forward added the second goal in the 33rd, and again after Mbappé completed his hat trick in the 61st. The coach took a much longer time to return to the sideline after the goal that sealed the hat trick by the France star. When goalkeeper Ederson resorted to ...

Casey Stoney’s debut as Canada’s coach was a tale of two halves against China at the Pinatar Cup on Wednesday. “I liked the first half. I didn’t like the second half,” Stoney said succinctly after the 1-1 draw. Trailing 1-0 after a Julia Grosso goal in the 16th minute, 17th-ranked China rebounded from a slow start to pull even in the 58th minute. And Canada needed a stellar diving save in stoppage time by goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo to preserve the tie after a China corner. It was a somewhat choppy performance by the sixth-ranked Canadian women as Stoney, a former England captain who put in charge of Canada in mid-January, watched from the sideline at Pinatar Arena.  “I thought we lacked a little bit of control and discipline and kind of went away from our style of play a little bit in the second half,” said Stoney. “We allowed China to dictate what we did a little bit more. They were very physical. I don’t think the officiating (led by Hungarian referee Katalin Sipos) helped u...

DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund’s routine elimination of Sporting Lisbon was a tame warmup for the Real Madrid-Manchester City showdown in the Champions League playoffs round Wednesday. Dortmund brought a 3-0 lead into the second leg at home and was barely stretched in a 0-0 draw with Sporting, whose Champions League campaign imploded after coach Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United in November. The most anticipated game Wednesday is at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where defending champion Madrid starts with a 3-2 lead earned in Manchester last week. Also in the knockout playoffs, Paris Saint-Germain starts 3-0 up at home to Brest and Juventus takes a 2-1 lead to PSV Eindhoven. Sporting was second in the 36-team standings under Amorim but has since failed to win any of six Champions League games under two different coaches. Dortmund also fired a coach midseason and newly hired Niko Kovač now has two wins on the European stage to offset two ...

Toronto FC is close to signing Arsenal under-21 captain Zane Monlouis to add to its defence, according to a source. The source, granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said an announcement is imminent. The English-born centre-back has represented England at the under-15 and under-17 levels. He is also eligible to play for Jamaica and was called into camp with the Jamaican under-23 side last March. Monlouis, who joined Arsenal in 2012 and signed his first pro contract with the Gunners in October 2020, had a brief loan spell with League One side Reading last season. In October, Monlouis made the matchday squad for Arsenal’s Champions League match.  Monlouis’ arrival would tick another box for Toronto general manager Jason Hernandez, who identified a forward, midfielder and centre-back as being on his off-season shopping list. Last week, Toronto acquired Norwegian international forward Ola Brynhildsen on a season-long loan from Denmark’...

Toronto FC will host CF Montreal on April 30 in the first round of the Canadian Championship in a battle of MLS rivals who have combined to win 13 of the last 17 editions of the cup competition. The tournament draw was held in December with Canada Soccer confirming the tournament dates on Tuesday. The 2025 edition features its biggest-ever field with 15 teams, boosted by the addition of semi-pro League1 Alberta and its inaugural champion Edmonton Scottish United FC. The last team standing hoists the Voyageurs Cup and advances to the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the region’s elite men’s club competition. The defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps received a bye into the quarterfinals, scheduled for May and July.  The Whitecaps have won the last three editions of the tournament — and lifted the trophy four times in total with seven runner-up finishes. The first round is in the form of single-elimination knockout games with the quarterfinals and semifinals two-legged affairs. The champ...

MILAN — Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday. Hernandez was sent off for a dive in the 51st minute when Milan was dominating after forward Santiago Giménez’s first-minute goal had levelled the tie against his former team. Feyenoord had won the first leg of the playoff 1-0 last week. But Milan’s defence looked anything but assured after referee Szymon Marciniak showed Hernandez another yellow card for his dive. The France defender had earned his first before the break for lashing out at a Feyenoord player after a foul on teammate João Félix. Hugo Bueno crossed for Julián Carranza to head Feyenoord level on the night in the 73rd, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Feyenoord’s Givairo Read was shown a red...

A new era for the Canadian women’s team begins this week when it competes at the Pinatar Cup.  The invitational, four-nations tournament in Spain marks Canada’s first matches under Casey Stoney since her appointment as coach in January, allowing the team to finally move on from the drone spying scandal that enveloped the program and former coach Bev Priestman at last summer’s Paris Olympics.  Stoney, 42, arrives on the job with a pretty big reputation as both a player and coach, although this will be her first coaching job at the international level. She also has a huge task ahead of her, starting with Canada’s games at the Pinatar Cup against China (Feb. 19), Mexico (Feb. 22) and Chinese Taipei (Feb. 25).  A defender of some repute, Stoney turned out for Arsenal, Charlton, Chelsea, Lincoln and Liverpool during a 19-year playing career. She earned 130 caps for England from 2000 to 2017, and represented her country at three FIFA World Cups and three UEFA European Champ...