Madrid are five points clear of second-place champions Barcelona, who host Getafe on Sunday.

Liverpool stretched their perfect Premier League start to maintain their stranglehold of the Merseyside derby with a 2-1 win over Everton and open up a six-point lead at the top of the table.

Bangladesh were handed a 12-0 drubbing against defending champions Iran in their opening match of their maiden campaign in the AFC Futsal Cup -- which is also their first official match in futsal ever -- in Kuantan, Malaysia, on Saturday.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim said not even the pope could make him deviate from playing with a back three despite mounting pressure following a dismal run, adding that abandoning his preferred formation would undermine him in his players' eyes.

Real Madrid have made a perfect start to life under new coach Xabi Alonso and are aiming to extend that run on Saturday in LaLiga when they host an Espanyol side who have also begun the season in impressive form.

In a repeat encounter of last season’s Challenge Cup fixture, Federation Cup winners Bashundhara Kings thrashed Bangladesh Premier League champions Mohammedan by 4-1 in the curtain-raiser of the new football season at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla yesterday..

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca faces the daunting task of ending a 12-year drought at Old Trafford when his side visit Manchester United, with the Italian insisting on Friday that there is never a good time to face them despite their early-season struggles.

Former Germany defender Jerome Boateng, who won the World Cup in 2014, formally announced his retirement from the game on Friday.

Bangladesh are set to play their first official futsal match when they square off against 13-time champions Iran in a Group G encounter of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup Qualifiers in Kuantan, Malaysia, today.

Zidane’s son switches allegiance to Algeria and looks to play in World Cup

Bashundhara Kings began the new season in style as the 10-man side thrashed Mohammedan 4-1 to lift the Challenge Cup at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium on Friday.

Rashford was still looking for his first Barcelona goals following his July loan move from Manchester United.

Haaland became the quickest player in Champions League history to hit 50 goals in what was his 49th appearance in Europe's elite competition.

The venue and a few fresh faces are the only changes from last season, when Kings came from behind to beat Mohammedan 3-1 in a match that was halted for 10 minutes after flares were thrown onto the Bashundhara Kings Arena pitch.

The men in red and green, two-time champions, dominated from start to finish to all but secure a semifinal spot.

Portuguese club Benfica have appointed Jose Mourinho as manager for the second time, their President Rui Costa said on Thursday.

The Bangladesh women's squad is mainly made up of U-17 players who recently competed in the SAFF U-17 Women's Championship, while the Chinese team features footballers from two universities, dominated by Yunnan Minzu University.

Matchday 1 of the Champions League group-stage resumes on Thursday with another round of high-profile clashes across Europe. Manchester City’s meeting with Napoli and Newcastle’s showdown against Barcelona headline the night, while elsewhere Sporting CP host Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty and Frankfurt face Galatasaray. Early kick-offs see Club Brugge welcome Monaco and Copenhagen take on Bayer Leverkusen

The squad has been carefully formed, with players drawn from different football academies including BKSP and Shams Ul Huda Academy.

Among the top guns, Portugal moved up to fifth, pushing Brazil down a spot, while Italy re-entered the top ten.