The Football Association has charged Burnley striker Andre Gray with misconduct after homophobic posts from his Twitter account were widely circulated.
The tweets, posted in 2012 and shared across social media last weekend after he scored in Burnley s surprise 2-0 Premier League win over Liverpool, included the remark: Is it me or are there gays everywhere? #Burn #Die #Makesmesick .
Gray issued an apology in which he claimed he was now a wholly different person and did not hold the beliefs written in those tweets whatsoever .
But the FA has nonetheless issued a charge of misconduct as a result of the comments, which it deemed to be abusive and/or insulting and included an aggravating factor relating to sexual orientation.
Burnley s Andre Gray has been ch…
Arsenal are determined to exploit their second chance as they head to Monaco fighting to save their UEFA Champions League season.
Arsene Wenger takes his side to former club Monaco on Tuesday with a 3-1 deficit from the first leg of their last-16 tie.
After being ripped apart on the counter at home, Wenger hopes to utilise all his nous and experience in big occasions to guide Arsenal into the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010.
He said: Monaco are in a very strong position but we have experience, and the desire and belief that we can do it. So we are here to do it.
We will have to play on full power, focusing on our offensive and defensive games. The desire is there.
I am confident. The odds are stacked against us, but we will give …
that AS Roma are hot on the trail of Sassuolo stars Gregoire Defrel and Lorenzo Pellegrini.
The Giallorossi have been trying to bring the French forward to Stadio Olimpico for quite some time, and they are hoping to agree a loan deal with an option to buy until the end of the winter transfer window.
Defrel’s arrival would help compensate for the absence of Mohamed Salah, who is away on Africa Cup of Nations duty, with the Frenchman impressing to score 6 goals in first 19 league fixtures this season.
At the same time, AS Roma seem to have regretted selling talented midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini to Sassuolo as they now want him back.
The 20-year-old has been in fine form ever since he joined the Neroverdi and the Giallorossi now hope to cut their losses…
West Ham United are keen on signing Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, .
The Hammers want to bolster their striking options after suffering back to back Premier League defeats and have identified the former Arsenal and Manchester City man as their top target.
Adebayor has been left out of the match-day squads for all three of Spurs’ games so far this season, and made just nine league starts in the 2014/15 campaign.
The 31 year old moved to White Hart Lane initially on loan in the summer of 2011, and has made one hundred and six appearances for the North London club in all competitions, scoring forty-one goals.
The Togo international, who is in the final year of his current deal, had been also linked with a move to Aston Villa thou…
Barcelona officially opened the new Johan Cruyff Stadium, which will host games for Barca B and their women s teams.
The new 6,000-seater stadium – located at the club s training ground in the suburbs of the city – pays tribute to the legendary Cruyff, who played for the Blaugrana between 1973 and 1978 before coaching them between 1988 and 1996.
Cruyff died in 2016 and is widely credited with laying the foundations for the unprecedented success the club has enjoyed over the past 15 years.
Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets were among the Barca stars in attendance at the opening, which hosted a friendly between the club s Under-19s and a youth side from another of Cruyff s former teams, Ajax.
The opening followed on from Monday s unveilin…
Paris Saint-Germain head coach Unai Emery says Javier Pastore s comments about wanting to leave the club do not reflect his own conversations with the player.
Pastore told the media he is considering a move to Inter in a bid for more first-team football to boost his chances of being included in Argentina s squad for the World Cup.
Emery disciplined Pastore when he returned late from Ligue 1 s winter break, but the PSG coach is keen to keep the playmaker, who has scored four league goals this term.
I spoke to Pastore and the things he told the press is not what he told me, Emery told a news conference on Monday.
My opinion? I want him to stay because he s an important player. But he wants to play more for the World Cup.
Last year he was often …
Bernardo Silva was relieved to end his Premier League goal drought as Manchester City earned a late 2-0 win over Aston Villa to go top.
The Portugal international superbly scored a disputed first Premier League goal of the season 11 minutes from time.
Villa boss Dean Smith was sent off for his protests after he felt Silva s strike should have been ruled out for offside against Rodri, who won the ball back from Tyrone Mings in the build-up.
The Spain international was in a clear offside position when Mings received possession but the officials allowed the goal to stand because, under the current interpretation of the law, a new phase of play began after the Villa centre-back touched the ball.
Ilkay Gundogan s last-minute penalty sealed the points to e…
Harry Kane has time on his side to chase Wayne Rooney s England goalscoring record, says manager Gareth Southgate, who believes team success matters more to the Tottenham striker.
Kane is set to win his 50th cap for the Three Lions on Sunday when England visit Belgium in the Nations League.
The Spurs star already has 32 goals to his name for his country, putting him 21 behind Manchester United legend Rooney.
Still only 27, Kane has a lot of international football ahead of him, giving him a clear opportunity to overhaul Rooney and cement his place as England s greatest ever goalscorer.
In terms of what s possible, I think the goalscoring record is the real interesting one, Southgate told a media conference.
His strike rate for us is quite phenome…
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has demanded his team win at last in Serie A as they bid to avoid their worst five-game start to a season for 66 years.
Allegri takes Juve to Spezia on Wednesday, having snatched just two points from his first four league games in charge, a far cry from what he was looking for on his return to the top job.
Juventus have only once begun a Serie A season without winning any of their opening five fixtures, and that was in the 1955-56 season.
This is the fourth time they have strung together four without a victory at the start of a campaign, and Allegri called on his players to make sure the wait goes on no longer.
Our technical qualities will have to come out in the long run, Allegri said. We have to win, and then we will …
Lionel Messi revelled in his maiden goal for Paris Saint-Germain as the superstar helped take down Manchester City 2-0 in the Champions League.
Messi scored his first goal for PSG, who gained some revenge for their 2020-21 Champions League semi-final loss to Pep Guardiola s City on Tuesday.
After Idrissa Gueye broke the deadlock inside 10 minutes, Messi opened his PSG account with a sublime strike 16 minutes from the end in the French capital.
Messi savoured his first goal for PSG, the 673rd of the six-time Ballon d Or winner s illustrious club career as the Ligue 1 giants took their tally to four points from two matchdays.
It was a perfect night against a great opponent, Messi, who joined PSG on a free transfer at the conclusion of his Barcelona contrac…