Celtic come from behind to secure victory at St Johnstone

Celtic survived a stoppage-time scare as they came from behind to beat St Johnstone 3-1 in Perth.

Celtic trailed to Diallang Jaiyesimi’s first goal for St Johnstone at half-time after failing to deal with an inswinging corner for the second weekend running – Motherwell netted a late equaliser at Parkhead from the same source.

Craig Levein again threatened to mastermind Brendan Rodgers’ first league defeat as Celtic manager as the Hoops took their time to get back in the game. Levein was manager of Hearts when the Jambos ended Rodgers’ 69-match unbeaten domestic start to his first Celtic reign in December 2017.

But Callum McGregor netted with a powerful strike in the 67th minute and Matt O’Riley hit his seventh cinch Premiership goal of the season 11 min…

Messi headlines Argentina Copa America squad as Correa dropped

Angel Correa, Leonardo Balerdi and Valentin Barco have all been cut from Lionel Scaloni s Argentina squad for the Copa America.

Scaloni named a 29-man provisional squad last month, as Argentina aim to retain their title, with Lionel Messi leading the team once more.

Correa, who has 25 caps for La Albiceleste and scored three goals, came on as a substitute in their first friendly against Ecuador but remained on the bench when they faced Guatemala on Friday.

Marseille defender Balerdi has not featured for his national side since 2019, while Barco only has one international appearance to his name.

19-year-old Valentin Carboni, who was handed his first start in the 4-1 win over Guatemala, gets the nod in the squad after being receiving high praise from Messi …

Gundogan completes Man City return from Barcelona

Ilkay Gundogan has completed a return to Manchester City from Barcelona, the Premier League champions confirmed on Friday.

Gundogan, who made 304 appearances across seven seasons at the Etihad Stadium from 2016 to 2023, has signed a one-year deal with Pep Guardiola s side.

The 33-year-old won 14 honours during his initial stint at City, including their maiden success in the Champions League last year, when he became the first German to captain a non-German side in a major European final.

His most prolific season in England came in the 2020-21 campaign, netting 17 goals and adding four assists in 46 appearances in all competitions.

Gundogan becomes City s second signing of the transfer window following the arrival of Savinho from Troyes, and will serve…

Ange Postecoglou expects Tottenham to make early move in January transfer window

Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham will do their January transfer business earlier than usual after the club were hit by another injury blow.

Spurs travel to Brighton on Thursday night and will be without centre-back Cristian Romero, who has been ruled out for four to five weeks with a hamstring strain.

Romero joins a growing injury list that includes Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison, while next month Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr and captain Son Heung-min will also be unavailable due to international commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup.

A trip to Brighton awaits!

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial)

Tottenham have notoriously been active on transfer deadline-day in the winter window, signing Pedro Porro ea…

Ten Hag looking to take Community Shield positives into Premier League opener

Erik ten Hag wants his Manchester United squad to use their Community Shield loss to Manchester City as motivation against Fulham in Friday s Premier League opener.

Ten Hag s team almost started the season with another trophy, but fell to defeat in a penalty shootout at Wembley after Alejandro Garnacho s strike had given them the lead.

Bernardo Silva levelled late on for Pep Guardiola s City side, with Manuel Akanji scoring the decisive spot-kick after Jonny Evans miss from 12 yards.

“We are disappointed, Ten Hag said. We have to feel the pain and everyone feels the pain. That s a good signal, but I also see some positives.

“We performed well, we could ve won that game, we were twice leading in the game and in the penalties, but we lost, and we re d…

Man City probe could lead to rivals facing scrutiny, says finance expert

Premier League clubs have become incentivised to sometimes push the rules to the limit, if not beyond and Manchester City may not be the only team to face an investigation into their affairs, according to a leading football finance expert.

The Premier League announced on Monday it had referred a number of alleged breaches of the competition s rules to an independent commission, with some of those dating back as far at the 2009-10 season.

In response, City said they had irrefutable evidence that would be presented in their defence against the accusations.

Kieran Maguire, author of the book The Price of Football, said isolating City could be seen as making a scapegoat of the Premier League champions, and he suspects investigators will also look closely at the finan…

Barcelona´s Bonmati in running to retain Ballon d´Or

Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati is in the running to retain the Ballon d Or Feminin after enjoying another glittering campaign in 2023-24.

Bonmati was crowned the world s best player after helping Spain win the World Cup for the first time in 2023, succeeding team-mate Alexia Putellas, who won the award in 2021 and 2022.

The creative midfielder could follow Putellas in becoming a two-time winner after helping Barcelona win a Liga F and Champions League double in 2023-24 – their third in the last four years.

Bonmati opened the scoring in the Blaugrana s 2-0 Champions League final victory over Lyon in Bilbao, having also netted in a 2-1 aggregate triumph over Chelsea in the last four.

In the league, Barcelona won 29 of their 30 games, drawing the …

Carragher says Liverpool may need to move on from Salah and Nunez

Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool s next manager has a big decision to make regarding Mohamed Salah s future, adding the Reds definitely need to move on from Darwin Nunez.

Liverpool s title hopes suffered a potentially fatal blow at Goodison Park on Wednesday, as goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin handed Everton a memorable 2-0 win.

The defeat – Liverpool s first at Goodison since 2010 – means they are three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal and one clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand.

Jurgen Klopp now looks likely to end his final season at the helm with just February s EFL Cup triumph to show for his efforts, with Carragher declaring Liverpool s title hopes to be over on Wednesday.

He also believes K…

Euro 2016 Diary: Lille highs, training-ground Lows and a Spanish mover and shaker

WALES SCALING NEW HEIGHTS IN LILLE

Ahead of their quarter-final clash with Belgium, Wales players and coaching staff alike had described their first ever European Championship quarter-final as the biggest game in more than 50 years.

Not to be outdone by their heroes on the pitch, two intrepid fans braved the crowds and gravity to show their support in Lille.

The duo clambered above a brasserie outside the main train station before climbing up the front of Hotel Londres, in order to hang some flags for the hundreds of fans gathered below.

Given that they pipped England to first place in Group B, their choice of location was either an amusing coincidence or an inspired selection.

Just like the team, fans scaling new heights in Lille. Something of …

Martino ´won´t take risks´ but expects Messi to play this weekend

Gerardo Martino is expecting Lionel Messi to play for Inter Miami at home to D.C. United this weekend, though he emphasised he would not take any risks .

Messi was absent as Miami were held to a 0-0 draw away at Orlando City last time out with what Martino described as a bit of a niggle .

The goalless draw, combined with FC Cincinnati s win over Atlanta United, means Miami s lead at the top of the Eastern Conference has been closed to just a point ahead of this weekend s fixtures.

As Miami look to get back to winning ways this weekend, Martino believes Messi will be able to return, though he will not rush the former Barcelona man back onto the field.

The fact is that he felt some pain in his movements and, given that we re on a run of three games in the …