Jeonbuk Motors visit the K.League s record champions Seongnam as fellow contenders Suwon Bluewings renew the country s fiercest rivalry.
A six-game undefeated run – coupled with stumbling form from Pohang Steelers – has sent Jeonbuk five points clear at the summit with four rounds remaining before the league splits.
Lee, the division s leading marksman, will now attempt to sink the club he joined Jeonbuk from in 2009.
Seongnam, who have won an unprecedented seven crowns, are in danger of relegation for the first time.
Just one point clear of second-bottom Sangju Sangmu, Seongnam have lost their last two meetings with Jeonbuk without scoring a goal.
Second-placed Pohang Steelers will be expected to keep pressure of Jeonbuk by winning at home to…
Alphonso Davies revelled in Canada s first ever Copa America victory, insisting he and his team-mates will savour their narrow 1-0 win over 10-man Peru.
Jonathan David scored the only goal in Kansas as Jesse Marsch s side boosted their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages from Group A.
The Lille striker struck 16 minutes from time to move the Canucks up to second place behind reigning champions Argentina, who beat them 2-0 in their opener, with 26 of his 27 international goals coming in competitive matches.
It gave Canada only their third victory over a South American opponent, and first since a 2-0 win over Colombia in the 2000 Gold Cup final.
They also kept their first clean sheet against a team from the CONMEBOL region since holding Brazil to a …
Sebastian Larsson is desperate to ensure Sunderland s impressive five-game winning streak in the Wear-Tyne derby continues against Newcastle United on Sunday.
The local rivals have struggled since the start of the Premier League season, winning a combined one match out of a possible 18.
That positive result came for Newcastle last week, when they thrashed Norwich City 6-2 at St James Park to move off the foot of the table and leave Sunderland, who have recently appointed Sam Allardyce as manager, as the only remaining winless team.
Allardyce lost at West Brom in his opening match and now faces a hugely important derby against his former club, who he managed for less than a year between 2007 and 2008.
One plus point for the Sunderland boss will be their ex…
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk accepts they were lucky not to have Ibrahima Konate sent off in the 2-0 Merseyside derby win over 10-man Everton.
Mohamed Salah scored twice late in the second half after Ashley Young was dismissed for a second bookable offence just before the interval but the hosts were fortunate referee Craig Pawson did not deem the already-cautioned Konate’s tackle on substitute Beto to be worthy of another yellow.
Manager Jurgen Klopp’s decision to immediately substitute the France international to avoid a fifth red card of the campaign was almost an admission of guilt and Van Dijk believes they may have finally had some fortune with the officiating after a number of decisions going against them this season.
“Definitely. He (Pawson) cou…
Following Barcelona s 3-1 UEFA Champions League final victory over Juventus, Opta run us through some of the key figures and statistics:
30 Juve s starting XI had an average age of 30 years and 156 days, the second oldest in the history of the Champions League final, beaten only by Milan in 2007 (31 years and 34 days).
3 Ivan Rakitic s strike was the third-quickest goal in a Champions League final. The only two that were quicker were Paolo Maldini (Milan v Liverpool in 2005 – first minute) and Gaizka Mendieta (Valencia v Bayern Munich in 2001 – third minute).
1 The goal was Barcelona s first from open play without a Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez or Neymar goal/assist since February 28.
3 Andres Iniesta became the first player to assis…
Frank De Boer is confident Ajax are ready for their first competitive game of the new season as they enter the UEFA Champions League at the third qualifying round.
The four-time winners travel to Austria for the first leg of their clash with Rapid Vienna on Wednesday, the Dutch side one of three former champions in at this early stage.
Celtic and Steaua Bucharest will also make their bow in the 2015-16 competition this week, the former hosting Qarabag while the latter welcome Partizan to Romania.
Ajax are looking to plot their way to a sixth-successive appearance in the Champions League group stages this year, and De Boer has been pleased with their pre-season.
The preparation has been good, he told the club s official website. Especially as we had only…
Manchester United star Juan Mata believes Antonio Valencia will hold the key to a Champions League victory against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.
The Ecuador winger scored the only goal of the game when United last visited the home of the current Russian Premier League leaders in the group stages of the 2009-10 season.
With Louis van Gaal s side having lost their opening away game against PSV last month, Mata hopes Valencia can offer some insight into inflicting a first home defeat on Leonid Slutsky s side this term to take them to six points from three games.
We have three points after the first two weeks and the game in Moscow could be crucial, Mata wrote in his blog. Defeating CSKA would give us momentum ahead of the last three games.
I ve been told that …
If Thomas Tuchel is after any advice on how to deal with the Romelu Lukaku issue, the Chelsea head coach could do worse than to have a brief word with the man he will come face-to-face with on Wednesday.
Under now-Tottenham boss Antonio Conte across two seasons with Inter, Lukaku enjoyed the best form of his career, scoring and assisting a combined 81 goals in 95 appearances.
Lukaku has not been as prolific since returning to Stamford Bridge in August, finding the net seven times in 18 games, and already his future at Chelsea has been called into question following an explosive interview in the Italian press that was published last week.
The Belgium international was subsequently dropped for Chelsea s crucial clash with Liverpool on Sunday but is in line return f…
Koke has conceded that Spain may need to bring The Red Fury back into their style of play if they are to retain their European Championship title.
Though Spain became renowned for their attractive passing game dubbed tiki taka as they won three consecutive major tournaments between 2008 and 2012, they failed to reach the knockout stages at the 2014 World Cup and a 2-1 defeat to Croatia saw them finish second in Group D at Euro 2016.
Prior to that period of success, Spain had been nicknamed The Red Fury to signal their fiery on-field tone, and midfielder Koke believes a middle ground between the two styles would boost their hopes of defending their European title.
Tiki-taka has done great things for us and brought us a lot of success, he told AS.
We c…
Market: Wrexham win
Odds: 4/11 @
Two sides who find themselves battling it out at opposite ends of the National League table, Wrexham will host Gateshead on Tuesday night.
Starting with the hosts, after stunningly crashingly out of the play-offs last season, it is no secret that Wrexham are desperate to go one step further this time around. Once again tipped as a standout pick in this year s promotion chase, Phil Parkinson s men have enjoyed an eye-catching start to the 2022/23 campaign. Last seen over the weekend picking up an action-packed 3-2 victory away at Woking, the Dragons have lost just one of their opening five National League contests. Likewise, now racking up eight strikes in their back-to-back fifth-tier wins, the ex-Sunderland boss will be calling …