Real Madrid News

A clinical Real Madrid extended their perfect start to the La Liga season when they beat city rivals Atletico 2-1 at the Metropolitano on Sunday.

Despite being second best for large periods of the first half, Carlo Ancelotti’s side were ruthless in front of goal as strikes from Rodrygo and Federico Valverde put them in a commanding position.

Mario Hermoso pulled a goal back for the hosts late on but they were unable to find an equaliser, with the defender sent off in injury time.

Diego Simeone’s side started brightly and went close through defender Felipe and Yannick Carrasco but found themselves behind when Rodrygo emphatically finished the visitors’ first attempt on target on 18 minutes.

They doubled their lead with their next effort on goal when Valverde fired in from close range after Vinicius’s shot had rebounded off the post.

Atletico set up a grandstand finish through substitute Hermoso’s header seven minutes from time, before being sent off for a second bookable offence in injury time and Real held on to take the points.

Victory means Real return to the top of the LaLiga table on 18 points from six games, two ahead of Barcelona in second. Atleti are seventh, eight points behind their neighbours.

Juventus, Inter beaten | Mourinho sent off in Roma defeat

Monza earned a surprising but deserved 1-0 home win over Juventus – their first Serie A victory of the season – as the visitors struggled after being reduced to 10 men.

Angel Di Maria’s return from injury was cut short after being sent off five minutes before the break after placing his elbow in Armando Izzo’s chest.

Juventus had half-chances in the first half but newly-promoted Monza smelled blood in the second half and pressured the opposition defence to make mistakes, while Massimiliano Allegri’s side tried to look for possibilities of a counter-attack.

Substitute Christian Gytkjaer became the hero when he slid in the winner from Patrick Ciurria’s cross in the 74th minute.

Roma coach Jose Mourinho will miss the match against his former club Inter after being sent off in a 1-0 defeat to Atalanta.

Mourinho was shown a red card in the 57th minute after going onto the field to remonstrate with referee Daniele Chiffi, who had awarded a free-kick to Atalanta rather than what Mourinho thought should have been a penalty for his side.

Mourinho became even more infuriated and had to be held back by a member of his staff.

Teenage defender Giorgio Scalvini scored the only goal of the match at the Stadio Olimpico, firing into the bottom right corner in the 35th minute.

Udinese continued their strong start to the season as they recorded their fifth straight win, beating Inter Milan 3-1.

Nicolo Barella curled in a fantastic free-kick in the fifth minute to get Inter off to the perfect start but Udinese leveled when Roberto Pereyra’s free-kick went in off Milan Skriniar.

Udinese hit the post before Jaka Bijol headed in a corner with three minutes remaining and Tolgay Arslan made sure of the points in stoppage time with a diving header.

A brilliant header by Napoli striker Giovanni Simeone helped his side to seal a 2-1 win at AC Milan and return to the top of the Serie A table.

Simeone headed home in the 78th minute almost from the edge of the six-yard box following a superb Mario Rui cross.

Winger Matteo Politano had scored a penalty in the 55th minute following a foul by Sergino Dest on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Olivier Giroud fired in an equaliser in the 69th minute from Theo Hernandez’s cross.

Messi on target as PSG edge Lyon

Paris Saint-Germain opened a two-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 after Lionel Messi’s early goal earned the French champions a 1-0 win at Lyon.

Messi scored his fourth league goal of the season in the fifth minute to put Christophe Galtier’s side on 22 points from eight games.

Lyon, who have now lost their last three matches, are sixth on 13 points.

Union Berlin return to top of Bundesliga

Jordan Pefok and Sheraldo Becker scored again on Sunday to fire Union Berlin back to the top of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg.

Becker set up Pefok to open the scoring in the 55th minute, then the Suriname forward raced clear to seal the win later on, giving Union a two-point lead over Borussia Dortmund after seven games.

Lionel Messi created Champions League history by scoring for the 18th consecutive season in the competition as PSG won 3-1 at Maccabi Haifa.

Messi was on target as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to make it two victories from two games.

Tjaronn Chery hinted at an upset by giving the hosts the lead after 24 minutes.

But Messi equalised before the break, scoring against a 39th different opponent in the competition – another record.

Kylian Mbappe and Neymar scored second-half goals as PSG punished their Israeli hosts with some clinical finishing.

Benfica also have two wins in Group H following a 2-1 victory at Juventus.

Arkadiusz Milik put Juventus ahead after four minutes, but Joao Mario levelled from the penalty spot and David Neres scored Benfica’s winner.

Reigning champions Real Madrid left it late to beat RB Leipzig 2-0 at the Bernabeu.

Real were forced to wait until the 80th minute to break the deadlock, Federico Valverde curling home a left-footed shot.

Substitute Marco Asensio sealed the points in stoppage time with an immaculate finish from Toni Kroos’ cutback.

The other Group F game saw Celtic draw 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk in Poland.

AC Milan top Group E after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 at the San Siro. Olivier Giroud, from the penalty spot, Alexis Saelemaekers and Tommaso Pobega were on target for Milan, with Mislav Orsic replying for Dinamo.

In the same section, Graham Potter’s first game as Chelsea manager ended in a 1-1 draw with RB Salzburg at Stamford Bridge.

Erling Haaland came back to haunt former club Borussia Dortmund as Manchester City served up a late Champions League show to win 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

Copenhagen and Sevilla fought out a goalless draw in the other Group G game, giving City a three-point lead in the section after two games.

Ten-man Rangers suffered a 3-0 defeat to Napoli at Ibrox, where penalties proved the turning point of the game.

EA Sports has released its much anticipated list of the 23 highest ranked players in the new FIFA 23 game – and a new name has taken the No 1 spot.

After a season in which he scored 44 goals in 46 games to help Real Madrid win the Champions League and La Liga, Karim Benzema has moved up 13 places to become the leading player in FIFA 23.

The 34-year-old replaces Lionel Messi, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s rating drop from 93 to 91 seeing him fall from first to fifth in the rankings.

Cristiano Ronaldo has also seen his stock slide, falling from third to eighth despite scoring 24 goals for Manchester United in the 2021/22 campaign – his first back at Old Trafford.

Robert Lewandowski has retained his status as the second-best player in FIFA 23, while Kylian Mbappe rounds off the top three after moving up from fifth.

Kevin De Bruyne’s rating of 91 makes him the best Premier League player in the game, while Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk – the highest rated defender – both make the top 10.

Also in the top 10 is Thibaut Courtois, who is the highest ranked goalkeeper, but there is no place for Harry Kane or N’Golo Kante, who were both part of that exclusive club in FIFA 22.

Kane has fallen nine places to become the 17th-ranked player in the game, while Kante has slipped nine places to 19th.

There is no place in the top 20 for Erling Haaland, who has scored 12 goals in just eight games since joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund.

The 22-year-old is now ranked 21st after moving up eight places.

The award for most improved player player goes to PSG forward Hugo Ekitike, who has risen from a rating of 62 in FIFA 22 to 77 in the latest game.

The 20-year-old earned a summer move to the French giants after scoring 11 goals in 27 games for Reims last season.

The second most improved player in FIFA 23 is Southampton full-back Tino Livramento, whose rating has gone from 61 to 75.

Also among the highest risers are Aaron Ramsdale, who has gone from 74 to 82, and Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Gordon, who are now rated 75 after previously being 67.

FIFA 23 is released on September 30 in the UK and will be the final title in the long-running series after EA Sports and FIFA ended their licensing agreement.

From next season, the developers will release a new franchise called EA Sports FC, which it says will retain league, player and stadium naming rights.

FIFA 23: The top 23

1. Karim Benzema – 91
2. Robert Lewandowski – 91
3. Kylian Mbappe – 91
4. Kevin De Bruyne – 91
5. Lionel Messi – 91
6. Mohamed Salah – 90
7. Virgil van Dijk – 90
8. Cristiano Ronaldo – 90
9. Thibaut Courtois – 90
10. Manuel Neuer – 90
11. Neymar – 89
12. Heung-Min Son – 89
13. Sadio Mane – 89
14. Joshua Kimmich – 89
15. Casemiro – 89
16. Alisson – 89
17. Harry Kane – 89
18. Ederson – 89
19. N’Golo Kante – 89
20. Jan Oblak – 89
21. Erling Haaland – 88
22. Toni Kroos – 88
23. Marquinhos – 88

Real Madrid came from behind to beat Mallorca 4-1 at the Bernabeu in La Liga on Sunday and continue their perfect start to the season.

A solo effort from Federico Valverde on the stroke of half-time levelled the scores after Vedat Muqiri had stunned the home crowd by nodding the visitors ahead. Vinicius Jr put the hosts in front before Rodrygo and Antonio Rudiger completed the rout.

Real returned to the top of the table, two points ahead of second-placed Barcelona.

A much-changed Real initially struggled to gain a foothold and sorely missed injured talisman Karim Benzema in attack throughout a below-par first half.

Muqiri, who was denied by Thibaut Courtois inside the opening 40 seconds, headed in unmarked at the back post after 35 minutes and it appeared the champions would go in trailing at the break for the first time this campaign.

That changed, however, in added time at the end of the half when Valverde ran the length of the pitch before firing home a left-footed shot from the edge of the box.

After the break the hosts monopolised the ball, but were fortunate when Antonio Sanchez fired wide from six yards out with the goal gaping on a rare foray forward from the Balearic Islanders.

Rodrygo’s mazy run fed Vinicius 18 minutes from time and the Brazilian forward netted for a fifth consecutive game to put Carlo Ancelotti’s side in front, before Rodrygo, who capped off a delightful run with a perfect finish, and a first goal in Madrid colours for Rudiger added late gloss to the scoreline.

Union Berlin top of Bundesliga for first time in history

Union Berlin went top of the Bundesliga for the first time in their history thanks to a 1-0 victory at Cologne.

An early own goal by Timo Hubers was enough to reach the summit, although they squandered the chance to double the lead soon after when goalkeeper Marvin Schwabe saved Jordan Siebatcheu’s penalty.

Cologne’s Luca Kilian was sent off for a second yellow card nine minutes from time.

Union’s place at the top was secure after Freiburg had to settle for second place following a goalless draw at home to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Celtic passed up early chances as they marked their Champions League return with a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid in front of a sell-out crowd.

Captain Callum McGregor watched his shot crash off the post with Liel Ababa and Reo Hatate denied by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois as the hosts impressed in the first half.

As Ange Postecoglou’s side tired in the second half, the champions of Europe showed their class as Vinicius Jr and Luka Modric scored in quick succession to go 2-0 up.

Eden Hazard scored a third to wrap up the victory for Carlo Ancelotti’s team and hand Celtic defeat in their first Champions League group match for five years.

Real. who lost Karim Benzema to injury in the first half, join Shakhtar Donetsk at the top of Group F after they defeated RB Leipzig.

Celtic travel to Warsaw to face the Ukrainian side next Wednesday in their second group game.

Celtic suffer defeat on Champions League return

A banner in the Celtic standing area declared they were ‘back with a bang’ and the hosts had a great opportunity to take the lead inside 30 seconds of their first Champions League group game in five years. The ball fell for Abada inside the box but Courtois pushed the Israel international’s shot wide at full stretch.

Vinicius was breaking well down the left for Real and Cameron Carter-Vickers blocked Modric’s shot but Celtic continued to press and Abada soon spurned an even better opportunity.

Jota’s first-time pass sent his fellow winger clear after Celtic took a quick free-kick on the edge of their box, but Abada shot straight at the goalkeeper.

The Scottish champions kept up the pressure. Courtois parried Reo Hatate’s powerful volley before McGregor’s first-time strike shook the frame of the goal but bounced to safety off the inside of the post.

Federico Valverde fired one close from 20 yards at the other end just before injury forced off Benzema, who was replaced by Hazard.

Real dominated possession in the latter stages of the half and Hazard stabbed wide from six yards after getting on the end of a Modric cross.

The Belgian soon sent Vinicius clear despite major suspicions of offside but Joe Hart did well to block.

Maeda replaced Abada at the break but missed the best chance yet within two minutes when he scuffed an effort straight at Courtois from six yards following Josip Juranovic’s cross.

Celtic paid the price for the misses in the 56th minute. Valverde made space down the right wing and spotted Vinicius cutting in from the left. Juranovic could not make up the ground to cut out the low cross and the 22-year-old slotted into the corner.

The double whammy was complete after Hazard broke clear following Carter-Vickers’ challenge to leave Celtic outnumbered. He fed Modric, who cut inside and stroked the ball into the corner of the net with the outside of his boot.

Real had taken the sting out of the game and Kyogo Furuhashi’s introduction in the 72nd minute lifted the home crowd.

Hazard soon silenced them, briefly at any rate, when he scored from six yards after Dani Carvajal had cut the ball back following a deep cross.

Furuhashi, Jota and substitute Sead Haksabanovic went close to rewarding the Celtic support’s incessant backing with a goal but their appreciation of their team at full-time was further evidence they still believe they can make their mark on the tournament.

Celtic’s remaining Champions League fixtures

September 14: Shakhtar Donetsk (A) – kick-off 5.45pm

October 5: RB Leipzig (A) – kick-off 5.45pm

October 11: RB Leipzig (H) – kick-off 8pm

October 25: Shakhtar Donetsk (H) – kick-off 8pm

November 2: Real Madrid (A) – kick-off 5.45pm

What’s next?

Celtic are back in Scottish Premiership action next as they host Livingston on Saturday in a 3pm kick-off.

Real Madrid continue their La Liga title defence with a home game against Real Mallorca on Sunday at 1pm.