Al Hilal star Neymar making good progress from knee injury, says Brazil doctor

Brazil striker Rodrygo said he had received racist messages on social media accounts following an argument with Argentina captain Lionel Messi before the teams' World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

BARCELONA: Spanish prosecutors are seeking a nine-year jail term for former Brazil star Dani Alves who is accused of raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022. Prosecutors have also demanded the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain full-back, who has been in jail in Spain since his arrest in January, pay his alleged victim 150,000 euros ($163,500) in compensation, according to a copy of his indictment seen by AFP on Thursday. A date for his trial had not yet been set. The 40-year-old has maintained that he had consensual sex with his accuser. “I have a really clear conscience regarding what happened that night in the bathroom of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub,” he told Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia in an interview published in June, his first since his arrest. “What happened and what didn’t happen.

BERLIN: Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel on Thursday hit out at the crowded fixture list, saying it was “not for the good of the game and not for the good of the players.” Bayern play at Cologne in the Bundesliga on Friday, just 24 hours after some of their first XI, including Canada’s Alphonso Davies and South Korea’s Kim Min-jae, returned to Munich following the international break. While confirming injured players Jamal Musiala and Matthijs de Ligt would be missing on Friday, Tuchel said members of his squad were “tired mentally and exhausted physically.” “It’s about television rights and the TV stations can choose their teams. We were talking about it, it’s the second time we play Friday away,” he said. “Alphonso and Min-Jae are returning today from very long journeys and it’s obviously very unfortunate scheduling. “It will be spoken of as an excuse but if you’ve heard Jurgen Klopp, they’re playing on Saturday at 12:30 against Man City, we are playing tomorrow (Friday) away. “It’s borderline, or maybe even over the line already.” Bayern also faced league leaders Bayer Leverkusen on a Friday immediately after an international break in September, drawing 2-2 — one of only two occasions in the league this season where the German champions have dropped points. Bayern and Borussia Dortmund both had five players in the Germany squad for the recent round of friendlies, the most of any clubs. Besides tiredness, Bayern’s Germany contingent return having lost both friendlies, 3-2 to Turkiye in Berlin and 2-0 to Austria in Vienna. Bayern midfielder Leroy Sane was given a straight red card for pushing an opponent to the ground in Tuesday’s loss to Austria and Tuchel said: “I could see it coming. “That’s what I told Leroy.

Argentina defeated Brazil 1-0 on Tuesday in an ill-tempered 2026 World Cup qualifying clash marred by pre-match crowd trouble that forced kick-off to be delayed at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. A video from the game is going viral on social media in which Argentina's attacking midfielder Angel Di Maria could be seen spitting at Brazil fans after they threw drinks over him and his teammates. The incident occured when Argentina players were entering the tunnel at the stadium.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Until this year, Brazil’s national soccer team had never lost three games in a row. The Selecao had never lost a World Cup qualifying match at home.