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Erling Haaland is ready to face Liverpool in Manchester City’s Premier League top of the table clash on Saturday, sources have told ESPN, after returning to training following an injury setback on international duty.

Haaland, who leads the Premier League goal charts with 13 this season, injured his ankle during Norway’s friendly victory against the Faroe Islands last Thursday and was forced to withdraw from the squad for the Euro 2024 qualifier against Scotland due to the problem.

The Norway team doctor said that Haaland was in “so much pain” with the injury, which aggravated a similar problem sustained while playing against Bournemouth earlier this season.

But after returning to City for treatment at the beginning of this week, Haaland returned to training on Thursday to give manager Pep Guardiola a selection boost ahead of the meeting with second-placed Liverpool this weekend.

City’s official X account has this evening posted a picture of Haaland in action at the club’s training ground to highlight the 23-year-old’s return to fitness.

Guardiola is expected to give an update on Haaland’s recovery when he holds his prematch press conference on Friday.

Manchester City scored two goals barely a minute apart to beat Manchester United 3-1 and spoil the home side’s night at Old Trafford in the Women’s Super League derby on Sunday.

City climbed over United into third in the WSL standings on 13 points after seven games, six points behind leaders Chelsea, while United have 12 points.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The crowd of 43,615 smashed United’s previous attendance record of 30,196 for a WSL game at Old Trafford set in 2022 against Aston Villa.

Captain Katie Zelem put United ahead with a penalty in the 21st minute after Alex Greenwood’s handball, but Jill Roord and England international Lauren Hemp scored in the 34th and 35th minutes in a breathless first half.

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United gifted City a goal when England keeper Mary Earps hesitated to meet a soft pass back from Maya Le Tissier. Earps’ attempted clearance ricocheted off an onrushing Khadija Shaw and into the net, leaving United’s keeper angrily yelling about the error.

City were reduced to 10 players in the 72nd minute when Laia Alexandri was shown a second yellow for a foul on Lucia Garcia, and while United dominated with a flurry of chances in the final few minutes, City held strong and their fans were singing “Blue Moon” by the final whistle.

Arsenal beat Brighton earlier on Sunday for their fifth successive WSL victory with goals from Stina Blackstenius, Caitlin Foord and Frida Maanum. Arsenal climbed to within three points of leaders Chelsea.

Chelsea, the only undefeated team, had moved six points clear atop the table on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Liverpool that featured a Lauren James hat-trick amid their quest for a fifth successive WSL title.

England international Rachel Daly scored in added time to lift Aston Villa to a thrilling 3-2 victory at West Ham United. Anna Patten and Canadian international Adriana Leon also scored before Daly hooked in the winner from inside the box for Villa, who are ninth with just two wins.

Celin Bezit scored a second-half equaliser to ensure Tottenham left the King Power Stadium with a point in a 1-1 draw against Leicester City. Tottenham are fifth, two spots ahead of Leicester.

Amalie Thestrup scored in the 82nd minute to salvage a 2-2 draw for Bristol City at Everton. Everton are 10th in the table, two spots ahead of bottom side Bristol City.

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane scored twice in their 4-2 victory over Heidenheim on Saturday to lift them provisionally into top spot in the Bundesliga while extending his own record-breaking scoring run in Germany.

Kane, who has now bagged 21 goals in 15 matches in the Bundesliga and the Champions League for Bayern, opened his account in the 14th minute with a superb turn and shot in the box.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The England captain then struck again with a powerful header a minute before the break to become the first player in Bundesliga history to score 17 goals in the first 11 matchdays of a season.

He is now the first player in Bundesliga history to score 17 goals in the first 11 matchdays of a season.

Kane had scored back-to-back hat-tricks in the league against Darmstadt 98 and last week’s 4-0 demolition of Borussia Dortmund before netting twice more in their mid-week Champions League win over Galatasaray.

He now has more league goals after 11 league matches than last season’s top Bundesliga scorers had in the entire 2022-23 campaign, with questions about whether he can break the league record of 41 goals now almost inevitable.

“Good question, I’ll probably be asked about that all season,” Kane said. “But there’s still a long way to go.

“We showed a great reaction after their equaliser. I’m just enjoying playing with the team,” he added. “My body is used to the strain from the Premier League, but it was a tough week.”

Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel was not happy, though, with his team’s sloppy defending which allowed Heidenheim to roar back in the second half and score twice in four minutes to draw level.

Tim Kleindienst cut the deficit after Bayern were caught napping on a Heidenheim counter attack and Jan-Niklas Beste equalised after yet another defensive error in the 70th.

But Raphael Guerreiro quickly restored the hosts’ lead in the 72nd and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting headed in their fourth goal in the 85th to lift them into top spot on 29 points.

Kane’s performance also earned praise from Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt, Germany’s longest serving club coach.

“He has unusual quality, you saw it today,” Schmidt said. “Just the way he plays, his game is that of a great player.”

Second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, on 28, host embattled Union Berlin on Sunday. VfB Stuttgart are third on 24 after a 2-1 victory over fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund, who have 21 points.

Alejandro Garnacho has avoided a disciplinary sanction by the English Football Association (FA) for an Instagram post directed at Manchester United teammate André Onana, but the player has been warned about his use of social media.

Argentina winger Garnacho posted a picture of Onana accompanied by two gorilla emojis after the goalkeeper saved a stoppage-time penalty against FC Copenhagen which sealed a 3-2 Champions League Group A win last month.

Garnacho’s post prompted widespread criticism on social media and led to calls for the player to be charged by the FA for using a racial stereotype in his post about Cameroon international Onana, who quickly defended his teammate by saying he had not been offended by the message.

The FA has in the past issued suspensions and fines to former United forward Edinson Cavani and Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva for their use of what was judged to be racially-loaded language on social media.

But after studying the post and communicating with Garnacho, the FA has now confirmed that no action will be taken against the player.

“We have concluded an investigation in relation to a recent post on Alejandro Garnacho’s social media. We sought the player’s observations as part of our investigation, and he explained that the use of two gorilla emojis was intended to highlight the strength and power of his teammates — specifically André Onana and Harry Maguire — following the pivotal roles that they played in Manchester United’s win over FC Copenhagen,” an FA spokesperson said.

“We are satisfied with Alejandro Garnacho’s explanation and the context that it provides, so we will not be issuing disciplinary proceedings on this occasion.

“However, we have reminded the player of his responsibilities around social media posts and the use of emojis in particular which can be interpreted in different ways.

“We also intend to liaise with Kick It Out and the PFA to discuss other potential issues around the use of emojis and similar forms of messaging, and education that can be provided about them.”

Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior vowed to keep speaking out against racism in world soccer after receiving the Socrates Award on Monday at the Ballon d’Or ceremony for his contribution off the field.

Vinícius, who has been racially abused repeatedly in LaLiga games over the last two seasons, was recognized for starting a foundation that is building schools in impoverished areas and investing in education in Brazil.

“I will remain strong in the fight against racism,” said the Brazilian, who received the award from the Prince of Monaco. “It is a very sad thing to talk about racism nowadays, but we have to continue in the fight so that people suffer less.

“Very happy to receive this award and to help many children in Brazil. I had little chance of getting where I have coming from where I came so it is a pleasure for me to help as many kid as I can so they can have a chance.”

The 23-year-old was the only Brazilian in the top 10 of the ranking for this year’s Ballon d’Or after scoring 23 goals in all competitions for Madrid last season.

The forward was also part of an emotional tribute to Pelé, the Brazil great who died in December last year at the age of 82.

“Pele is a god for me and if I am here today, it is thanks to him. He put Brazil on a different level and people respect Brazilian players thanks to the great legacy he left,” Vinicius said.

The Vini Jr. Institute, created in 2020, aims to use the popularity of football to help innovations in teaching and learning in Brazilian public schools.

The project claims up to 15 schools and 10,000 students will benefit by the end of 2023, with more than 500 teachers employed.

LONDON — England booked their place at Euro 2024 on Tuesday night with the sort of victory that suggests they might soon be ready to clear the final hurdle in their path to tournament glory.

Perhaps the last challenge Gareth Southgate has to overcome in ending the Three Lions’ 58-year wait for a major trophy next summer is consistently beating the best sides in world football.

England have reached a semifinal, a final and a quarterfinal in Southgate’s three tournaments as manager, but his critics frequently point out that defeats to Croatia, Italy and France to end those runs are symptomatic of a longstanding problem in imposing themselves on the elite.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Southgate’s record against sides currently ranked in FIFA’s top 10 prior to Tuesday’s 3-1 triumph over Italy was as follows: 27 games, seven wins, nine draws, 11 losses equating to a win rate of just 26%.

In that context, then, this was a performance that can have England fans daring to dream of what might be possible in Germany next summer, a deserved success coming from behind against the current European champions.

Of course, any talk of revenge was fanciful given the differing stakes, but this will nevertheless contain a cathartic feel for England, beating Italy two years on from their delayed Euro 2020 penalty shootout defeat in the final, Marcus Rashford scoring at the end after he missed one of the decisive spot-kicks.

Eight of that starting lineup began the game here — only Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling were absent — but it was Jude Bellingham who stole the show with an all-action performance encapsulated by England’s second goal.

It will be a further fillip to England’s self-belief that they recovered from a shaky start, conceding to Gianluca Scamacca’s well-worked 15th-minute opener. In reply, Bellingham was brought down by Giovanni Di Lorenzo for Harry Kane to convert a 32nd-minute penalty before he produced one of those game-changing moments for which he is rapidly earning such a lofty reputation.

The 20-year-old — yes, still just 20 — won the ball before collecting Phil Foden’s pass with the sort of surge forward associated with Paul Gascoigne, watching on among the 83,194-crowd, in his prime before releasing Rashford, who cut inside and thrashed a low shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Kane added a third with the sort of assured centre-forward play that provided yet another reminder he has few modern-day peers, registering his 61st international goal with a wonderfully assured finish.

Southgate enjoys chipping away at England’s historic millstones. After beating Italy in Italy for the first time since 1961 back in March, England secured their first victory over the Azzurri on home soil since 1977.

These are not decisive achievements by themselves but nevertheless serve as a reminder England have not been as good as they would have liked for a long, long time, and Southgate, steeped as he is in Three Lions history, knows progress is a capricious animal. For a team that failed to even reach Euro 2008, securing qualification as comfortably as this should not be taken for granted. Nights like this are tangible proof England are evolving toward something like the finished article they need to be to triumph in Germany, collecting positive experiences that must help them execute their game plan when the pressure becomes most acute next summer.

England have looked at their most exhilarating in recent times when unleashing a new talent on the world stage — think Michael Owen in 1998 or Wayne Rooney in 2004 — and Bellingham has the capacity to make the same impact, even if the cat is well and truly out of the bag given his remarkable form for Real Madrid this season.

Southgate has reshuffled his midfield to give him the platform to affect games from something approximating a No. 10 position, a decision that looks increasingly justifiable with each passing week.

Just as Bellingham excelled against Scotland, so he did against better opposition here, quietening any prematch grumbles over the inclusion of Kalvin Phillips as part of that platform despite 167 minutes of first-team action at Manchester City this season. Phillips was fortunate not to be sent off here, picking up an early yellow card for an agricultural challenge on Davide Frattesi before escaping a second despite a late tackle on Nicolò Barella. He was substituted for his own good, and the 70 minutes he played here means he now has more time on the field for England (188 minutes) than his club since August. Jordan Henderson received a mixed reception, yet again, as his replacement.

Yet England’s attacking play benefitted from the Phillips-Declan Rice axis in central midfield. Kane ended the evening as England’s record goal scorer at Wembley — surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton with 24 goals at this iconic venue — and his influence stretching back over such a sustained period is profound: the 30-year-old has been directly involved in 33 goals in his past 30 appearances for England (27 goals and six assists), including either scoring or assisting in each of his past 10 games.

Rashford, Bellingham and Foden floating around him looked dangerous all evening following that slow start. Bukayo Saka will come back from injury while Jack Grealish and James Maddison sat unused on the bench.

Excitement will now build if Southgate has the majority of these players fit and available next summer. The ultimate question remains whether they can put it together against the very best, but wins like this engender fresh hope.

Poland invited some of their fans who had made the trip for the team’s 2-0 Euro 2024 qualifier victory over Faroe Islands to fly home with the team after bad weather delayed flights out of the country.

Among the supporters was Andrzej Bobowski, known as “the king of Polish fans,” who has attended the last 12 World Cup tournaments but could easily have been stranded and missed Poland’s game with Moldova on Sunday without the intervention of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN).

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

After Poland beat the Faroe Islands they were due to fly back on Friday, but poor weather put paid to their plans.

Their charter flight eventually departed on Saturday, and with a group of supporters facing further delays and cancellations, the PZPN invited them to join the team on the flight back to Warsaw.

Bobowski is usually easy to spot at Poland’s games, wearing his king costume complete with crown, but he dressed in everyday clothes for the trip home.

With no direct flights from the Faroe Islands to Poland an already difficult journey for the fans could have turned into a nightmare if not for the PZPN charter flight.

“As always, PZPN book a private charter flight for the team for travel to away matches,” the PZPN press office told Reuters.

“We departed from Faroe Islands at 10:30 local time and we invited around 10 fans to join us on the flight.”

Poland will train at a later time on Saturday and Moldova agreed to change their own scheduled session, after the Polish team’s flight landed in Warsaw after 2pm local time.

Chelsea are willing to listen to offers for defender Marc Cucurella ahead of a possible January transfer move, sources have told ESPN.

The £62 million ($75.5m) signing from Brighton made his second appearance of the season in Wednesday’s 1-0 Carabao Cup fourth-round win against his former club but is yet to play a single Premier League minute since Mauricio Pochettino became head coach in July.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Cucurella told ESPN as part of an exclusive interview in July that he wanted to stay at the club and fight for his place but a lack of regular minutes in the coming months will likely force a rethink.

Chelsea were ready to allow the 25-year-old to join Manchester United on loan this summer but the deal collapsed after Cucurella played in the club’s previous Carabao Cup tie against AFC Wimbledon.

FIFA regulations stipulate that a player cannot represent three clubs in a single season and given United wanted to insert a break clause in any deal to allow them to return Cucurella to Chelsea, talks broke down.

Reports in Spain have linked Real Madrid with a possible loan bid in January and the prospect of returning to the country of his birth is thought to appeal to Cucurella. United are unlikely to re-enter the running given they signed Sergio Reguilón on loan from Tottenham after switching their attentions from Cucurella.

Chelsea would prefer a permanent transfer to help balance the books after another summer of spending which took Chelsea’s total outlay on transfers past the £1 billion mark since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover of the club last May.

Gareth Southgate has labelled criticism of Harry Maguire as a “a joke” and claimed the “ridiculous treatment” of the Manchester United defender is “beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

Maguire came on for the second half of Tuesday’s 3-1 friendly win over Scotland at Hampden Park and was jeered throughout by the home supporters.

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England were leading 2-0 through strikes from Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham before Maguire scored a 67th-minute own goal to prompt further ironic cheers.

Harry Kane settled the contest with his 59th international goal nine minutes from time as England supporters continued to chant Maguire’s name in response to sustained abuse.

Maguire was also cheered by Arsenal fans when appearing as a substitute for Manchester United at Emirates Stadium earlier this month and Southgate believes the negativity is the product of unfair coverage.

“From a Scotland fan’s point of view, I get it and I have absolutely no complaints with what they did,” began Southgate. “It is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly. I think our fans recognised ‘OK, there might be a bit of heat from our own supporters but we’re not going to have it from others getting into him.’

“But it’s a joke. I’ve never known a player treated like he is, not by the Scottish fans but by our own commentators, pundits whatever it is. They’ve created something beyond anything I’ve ever seen. He’s been an absolute stalwart in the second most successful England team in decades.

“He’s been an absolutely key part of that. I’ve talked about the importance of our senior players, he’s been crucial amongst that. Every time he goes on the field, the resilience he shows, the balls he shows is absolutely incredible. He’s a top player, we are all with him and our fans were brilliant with him tonight.”

Asked how Maguire was, Southgate continued: “He’s good, he’s great. We’ve had a good win. He’s been a big part of that. He’s gone and spoken with the media because that’s the sort of lad he is. He’s fronted up as he always does. Enormous credit to his character.”