When Vincent Kompany broke through Leicester City s stoic resistance with a long-range rocket launched in hope more than expectation, Liverpool fans began to accept their title hopes were over.

Fast forward 24 hours, however, and the mood had suddenly and spectacularly changed. A miraculous Champions League recovery against Barcelona at Anfield secured a second successive final appearance in Europe s major club competition, meaning an outstanding campaign may yet end with a trophy.

Yet this season does not require silverware to define it as a success. What this squad has achieved should not be undermined simply because of their final position in the table.

Liverpool ran a valiant race in the league, clearing plenty of tricky hurdles along the way but, in th…

Spain s Sergio Busquets said their re-match of the 2010 World Cup final with the Netherlands is a new challenge for the champions.

Since Spain triumphed 1-0 in Soccer City, Johannesburg, the Dutch outfit has seen several changes to their on-field artillery and also the notable switch in coach from Bert van Marwijk to Louis van Gaal.

Van Gaal will lead the Dutch into battle on Friday against the World Cup holders, for their Group B curtain-raiser in Salvador.

No matter the outcome of their fortunes in Brazil, the Netherlands will again have a new coach for their bid to make the finals in 2018 with Van Gaal bound for Manchester United after their Brazil campaign.

Busquets said while the crux of Spain s side had largely remained from four years back, including boss …

As if making it to Week 15 in your NFL survivor pool wasn’t already tough enough, now the pandemic is raging across the league and multiple teams have been hit hard, leaving their health for this week’s slate up in the air.

Perhaps the best advice I can give when it comes to making your Week 15 survivor pool picks is to maintain patience. Wait until closer to kickoff to lock in those selections, as you’ll know who is in and out. On top of that, have a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C just in case your favorite pool pick suddenly has an outbreak. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have the liberty of waiting until the weekend to put out my weekly survivor pool picks, so double-check the injury reports and COVID lists before pulling the trigger on an…

NFL Week 9 is the meat and potatoes for situational handicappers, with the first half of the schedule wearing on teams and the second half stealing focus. If you’re a fan of NFL spot bets, November is your favorite month on the calendar. 

I take a look at the Week 9 slate and size up the potential spots to watch with my top letdown, look-ahead, and schedule angles to consider when capping the NFL odds.

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The Carolina Panthers are set to host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in a Week 15 odds clash at Bank of America Stadium. The Falcons are in a three-way race for first place in the NFC South with a 6-7 record, while the Panthers currently hold the league’s worst record at 1-12.

Despite a sizable gap between these teams in the standings, the NFL odds for this NFC South duel aren’t too far apart, with the Falcons installed as 3-point road favorites. Here are my best free NFL picks for Falcons vs. Panthers on December 17.

Falcons vs Panthers odds

Falcons vs Panthers predictions

As if this wasn’t going to be an ugly enough contest between the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, the weather could make things e…

NFL moneyline betting is the simplest way to wager on pro football, asking bettors to pick which team they believe will win the game.

Betting the NFL moneyline doesn’t require a team to win or lose by a certain number of points, keeping things neat and tidy – especially for those new to betting on football odds. A 30-point blowout or a one-point squeaker all count the same.

We run you through how NFL moneyline betting works, what the moneyline odds mean, and some essential tips and tactics for betting moneylines in the NFL.

How betting the NFL moneyline works

As mentioned above, betting football moneylines is very straightforward: bet on the team you think will win the game.

Moneyline odds appear in hundred…

Gary O Neil believes one victory is all it will take to provide lift-off for Wolves season, as the Premier League s bottom side prepare to visit Brentford on Saturday.

Wolves have taken just one point from their first six matches of the season, having last failed to win any of their first seven games of a top-flight campaign when they finished bottom in 2003-04.

They fell to a 2-1 defeat to leaders Liverpool at Molineux last week and have also faced Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Aston Villa in a daunting start to 2024-25.

O Neil believes their performances have warranted better results and insists his team retain the backing of supporters, saying: The lads always show that they re not a group that can t bounce back.

When we lost to Arsenal, we …

Just when you thought that Euro 2008 was going to be an excellent but predictable tournament a game comes along that throws the whole thing wide open.

Up until day six, Germany, Portugal, Holland and Spain were beginning to look invincible. The game against Croatia looked like a relatively tough one for the pre-tournament favourites Germany, but was surely not a game that they could lose.

As an England fan I was totally behind Croatia because if they could do well it would make me feel better about our abysmal failure to beat them in our unsuccessful qualification campaign. The somewhat tepid performance they had produced in beating Austria the other day didn’t look too good for them. Germany, on the other hand, had looked pretty impressive in their win…

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi s storied rivalry provided another chapter as Real Madrid and Barcelona battled again for LaLiga supremacy in 2016-17.

For the first time since 2012, it was Ronaldo s Madrid that lifted the league title as the Portuguese scored in a 2-0 win at Malaga to leave Zinedine Zidane with a LaLiga winners medal after his first full season as head coach, while Los Blancos also have a Champions League final on the horizon.

But it was Messi that came out on top individually as he took home the coveted Pichichi award for finishing as the league s top scorer the fourth time he has done so compared to Ronaldo s three, although the Argentina star made five more league appearances.

Using Opta stats, we take a look at how Messi and Ronaldo com…

Mexico have won the Gold Cup for the fifth time following a very convincing 5-0 win over the United States in the final. All goals were scored in the second half.

The first half at East Rutherford s Giants Stadium wasn t quite as eventful but the second half more than made up for it, as the Mexicans completely stunned their arch rivals.

The opening goal came in the 56th minute when Heaps pulled down Giovanni dos Santos in de penalty area, for captain Gerardo Torrado to score from the penalty spot.

Six minutes later, Dos Santos himself made it 2-0. Sabah first had an effort saved by keeper Perkins but the Ipswich youngster then netted on the rebound.

Another five minutes had been played when Carlos Vela chipped Perkins after receiving a pass from Dos Sant…