Qarabag fight back from 2-0 down to beat Benfica Union Saint-Gilloise win at PSV on league phase debut It was a dramatic opening night in the Champions League, with Juventus and Borussia Dortmund sharing eight second-half goals while Qarabag shocked Benfica. Dusan Vlahovic and Lloyd Kelly scored in stoppage time to inspire a dramatic Juventus escape, as they secured a 4-4 draw in a game where all eight goals came after the break. Continue reading...

It was the night when Thomas Tuchel located the ignition point for his England tenure, when all of the grumbling that had followed him to Belgrade seemed to float away. The head coach needed a result to allow his team to take control of this World Cup qualifying group – and a performance, too, after the flatness of much of what had gone before. Tuchel got both, his players a class apart from the first whistle, Serbia left to look dishevelled, their problems everywhere. It is a troubling moment for their country, anti-government protests gaining in intensity and there were chants of that nature here. Dragan Stojkovic, the manager, is under heavy fire. Where now for him after this? Continue reading...

Guirassy scores double in 3-0 victory over Union Berlin Juventus scrape 1-0 against Genoa after Vlahovic header The Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy scored once in each half to help steer the hosts to a 3-0 victory over Union Berlin on Sunday and notch their first Bundesliga win of the season. The 29-year-old has now netted in his seventh consecutive Bundesliga match, with only two players in Dortmund history having achieved a longer streak. The Guinea international missed two golden chances early in the first half, including a one-on-one with the goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow. But it was third time lucky just before half-time when Yan Couto found the striker with a superb pass. Guirassy then scored his third goal in two league matches in the 58th minute after a one-two with Maximilian Beier and a smooth chip over Rønnow, before the substitute Felix Nmecha sealed the win. Juventus scraped a 1-0 win away to Genoa in their Serie A clash, with Dusan Vlahovic coming off the bench to score for the second successive game. Vlahovic, who also scored in the opening-day victory over Parma, looked set to leave Juventus in the close season, with the club eager to sell the striker rather than lose him for free when his contract runs out next year. Yet for now the Serbia international is proving vital at this early stage of the campaign. This story will be updated Continue reading...

Last 16: Manchester City 3-4 Al-Hilal (aet) Leonardo knocks in late goal to set up quarter-final against Fluminense What a last-16 tie, what a triumph for Al-Hilal, what crushing disappointment for Manchester City who, as the contest aged, gradually lost shape and tempo and crumpled in this shock of the Club World Cup. The killer blow of a breathless extra-time featuring three goals was administered by Marcos Leonardo in the 112th minute. Along the left, Renan Lodi curved a cross in, Sergej Milinković-Savić rose and headed, Ederson palmed out, and the Brazilian struck his second of the contest. Leonardo headed for a corner flag to begin the Al-Hilal party and the camera panned to Phil Foden who eight minutes before seemed to have saved City. Continue reading...

Hull City appoint Bosnian Sergej Jakirovic as their new head coach on a two-year deal.

Dusan Vlahovic's header from close range gives Juventus a 1-0 lead over Manchester City in the 53rd minute on matchday six of the UEFA Champions League group phase.

Premier League trio remain interested in Dusan Vlahovic, Liverpool make opening Mohamed Salah offer and also want Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to sign new deals.

Jonathan David's first-half goal is cancelled out by Dusan Vlahovic's second-half penalty as Juventus rescue a draw away at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in the Champions League.

Substitute scores twice in second-half at San SiroHarry Kane on target as Bayern Munich win 5-0 Piotr Zielinski converted two penalties for Inter as they played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Juventus, for whom Kenan Yildiz scored a late brace, in Serie A on Sunday. The five-goal opening half began with Marcus Thuram earning a penalty, which Zielinski converted to give Inter the lead after 15 minutes. Juve equalised five minutes later through Dusan Vlahovic and then took the lead with a strike from Timothy Weah, all within a six-minute span. After Henrikh Mkhitaryan equalised for Inter in the 35th minute, Zielinski scored his second from the penalty spot just two minutes later, handing Inter a 3-2 lead going into the break. Continue reading...

Marco Silva has successfully redesigned his team after losing his key midfielder and now sit in sight of Europe Fulham were widely expected to regress this season. As much as they tried to prolong it, they lost the very public battle of retaining João Palhinha, the important cog in their midfield opting to sign for Bayern Munich in the summer. Adding to the challenges, they have not had a reliable goalscorer since Aleksandar Mitrovic’s departure a year earlier and lost several first-team players in the past transfer window. Yet early results have dispelled concerns of a decline. Fulham sit sixth in the Premier League – up from 11th at this stage last season. The departure of Palhinha posed a unique challenge: try to replace an irreplaceable player or adapt without him. Marco Silva opted for the latter. Without their midfield destroyer, the manager has pushed Fulham higher up the pitch, now deploying the fifth-highest defensive line in the league, behind only Manchester City, Brighton, Tottenham and Arsenal (Fulham ranked 17th last season). Continue reading...

Juventus go top overnight with 3-0 win at GenoaChampions hold firm to claim 3-2 win at Udinese Dusan Vlahovic scored twice to help Juventus to a 3-0 win at Genoa and top spot overnight in Serie A, overtaking Inter, who had earlier briefly gone top after a double from Lautaro Martínez helped them win 3-2 at Udinese. Vlahovic converted from the spot when Juventus were awarded a penalty for a handball following half-time before he scored again in the 55th minute from a tight angle. The substitute Francisco Conceiçao sealed the win with a low, one-touch finish late on. This roundup will be updated … Continue reading...

The guests at The Corner Terrace restaurant in Ealing were not too disheartened despite a 1-0 defeat against England As Dragan Stojkovic’s side kicked off their Euro 2024 campaign, members of west London’s sizeable Serbian community watched on with hope but also real expectation that a potential shock was on the cards. At The Corner Terrace restaurant on Ealing Common, enthusiastic locals gathered to have traditional delicacies such as pljeskavica and gibanica, and to take in the second match of group C after Denmark’s draw with Slovenia. Jumping out of their seats frequently during the extended spells of Serbia possession, every momentum shift felt like a collective shot on target. Continue reading...

Head coach plotting to take down Euro 2024 contenders‘We are going to fight … and give more than the maximum’ About six questions into Dragan Stojkovic’s pre-match press conference at the Arena AufSchalke, somebody offered Serbia’s head coach the chance for a quick slam dunk. The England team – or at least the country’s media – have underestimated Serbia, went the spiel. What do you say to that? “I am here to talk about Serbia, not England,” Stojkovic growled. “They are a team that tries to be the champion of Europe, but to achieve that they have to do it on the pitch. We know what system, what players, there are no surprises there. What is important is that our players have all the information on the team. We have it, but we do not forget about ourselves – it’s us who have to do our parts of the job.” Continue reading...

Fans were baffled when Mitrovic and Milinkovic-Savic left major European clubs but their attacking danger remains Serbia tend to make a mark at international tournaments and in Germany the interesting element is that two of their three most important players ply their trade in Saudi Arabia. Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, teammates at Al-Hilal, join Dusan Tadic as the individuals likely to pose the greatest danger to England in Gelsenkirchen. Mitrovic, familiar to English fans from his eight years with Newcastle and Fulham, has been mocked in Serbia over his move to the Gulf. The striker has been a Newcastle fan since childhood and it has been suggested that if he loved Saudi Arabia so much he should have submitted his CV to his favourite club rather than playing in the country. Continue reading...