Mauricio Pochettino singles out Cole Palmer for praise after Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Brentford.

The disconsolate trudge is becoming a disconcertingly familiar sight. Kevin De Bruyne has limped out of grander games than the curtain raiser to a Premier League. He has made an early exit from bigger occasions this summer. His Champions League final, like his evening in Burnley, came to a premature conclusion. A focus on De Bruyne’s body can concentrate on the remarkable right foot he uses to unlock defences, to pass and cross with an ability most can only envy. It may switch to his increasingly fragile hamstrings. For De Bruyne, Inter Milan may be bracketed alongside Burnley in the memory. His last two starts, two months apart, ended with him hamstrung. “He was injured again, unfortunately. A problem in the same position, he said to me as in the final of the Champions League,” rued Pep Guardiola. “It depends on the magnitude of the injury but it will be a few weeks out.” There will be no De Bruyne against Sevilla in the European Super Cup or against Newcastle in the first major test of Manchester City’s defence of their Premier League title. He could sit out the start of their Champions League campaign. A summer sandwiched by injuries suggests De Bruyne was rushed back. He had said after the Community Shield he was way ahead of schedule; he had targeted the Super Cup for his comeback. “It’s a pity because he had recovered well,” Guardiola said. “Maybe it was my mistake [to pick him] but if he is injured after 15-20 minutes it is not something wrong, when it is 65 or 70 it is the fatigue of the muscle. We have to talk with the doctors and him.” His plan, he had said, was to give the Belgian 50 or 55 minutes, rather than the cameo he had at Wembley. Which, as that culminated in the penalty he slammed against the underside of the bar in the shootout, has completed an ill-fated start to the season. “He is disappointed but he is strong and will be back,” added Guardiola. Yet for how long? De Bruyne may be increasingly injury prone. For a player who has never looked like a natural athlete, a red-faced figure who can seem a throwback to earlier eras, he has shown great durability. He has won 99 caps for Belgium – he would have brought up a century in the summer but for injury – and this was the 587th game of his club career. His 32nd birthday only came in June but to play almost 700 matches by that stage means he has plenty of miles on the clock. Or miles on the hamstring. He revealed after the Champions League final he had played for two months with the risk it could snap. By the time he is fit again, he will have spent the vast majority of six months with a hamstring problem of some description. It has prompted fears it will be a constant for the rest of his career. A reunion with City’s other talismanic Belgian could illustrate it. Vincent Kompany, a colleague for club and country, still made huge contributions in the latter years of his time at the Etihad Stadium but did not make 30 appearances in any of the last four campaigns. He played his final game at 33. De Bruyne should show greater longevity but his appearances will have to be rationed. All of which could create a problem, even in a squad as gifted as City’s. De Bruyne is a unique talent – “what a player he is,” gushed Kompany – and, as his total of 29 assists last season shows, reaches extraordinary levels of creativity. He is Erling Haaland’s supplier-in-chief and the shifting dynamics in the City squad has rendered his qualities perhaps still more significant. The departures of Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan have stripped them of two of the likeliest providers of goals and assists amid the band of attacking midfielders and wingers. Mateo Kovacic won’t deliver as many as the German; should Lucas Paqueta arrive, another able technician won’t replicate Mahrez’s contribution in the final third. De Bruyne is irreplaceable in various respects: no one is a like-for-like alternative and, as he ventures further into his thirties, City will have to ponder the question of who his long-term successor is. In the short term, they can console themselves with memories of Phil Foden’s impact when he came on for De Bruyne in the Champions League final and that, when he was sidelined for much of the 2018-19 campaign, they did a domestic treble. But now each injury comes with the sense that it will not be the last, but that De Bruyne is nearer the end. A man who has illuminated many a game may miss more and more. Read More Kevin De Bruyne faces ‘a few weeks out’ after suffering another hamstring injury Pep Guardiola reveals extent of Kevin De Bruyne’s hamstring injury Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City kick off new campaign in style

Mohamed Salah explains why Roberto Firmino was so important to Liverpool & why he will be remembered as an all-time Anfield great.

The winner of the PGA Championship will be getting $3.15 million

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi is lionised by those around him, who admire his determination and cunning.

Black Sea fleet commander Viktor Sokolov has appeared in a second video aired on Russian TV, days after Ukraine claimed he was killed in a missile strike on Sevastopol. A TV station run by Russia’s defence ministry showed an interview with the commander on Wednesday saying the fleet was performing successfully, although it was unclear from his comments whether the clip was filmed after Ukraine’s missile strike on 22 September. Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that Mr Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in the missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Crimea. The new video comes after Russia’s defence ministry released another clip on Tuesday, appearing to show Mr Sokolov on a video conference call with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu. It also remains unclear when this video was recorded. Ukraine is now saying it is working to “clarify” earlier reports that he had died. Russia has not yet directly confirmed or denied the claims. Read More Viktor Sokolov seen for second time in newly emerged video as he claims Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ‘performing successfully’ New video of ‘dead’ Russian Black Sea fleet commander raises doubts over Ukraine’s claim Hillary Clinton mocks Putin over Nato expansion: ‘Too bad, Vladimir. You brought it on yourself’ Ukrainian forces ‘enjoy success’ near Bakhmut as Putin deploys reserves

The stunning visual palette of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" soared in 2018, combining that eye-popping animation with an abiding love of the comics and plenty of goofy humor. Coming almost five years later, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" spins a much denser web, padding on about 40 minutes that make this exercise heavier and considerably less nimble.

XQc dramatically collapsed on the field leaving fans worried about his health

Carlos Correa’s flare to right field evaded a sliding Teoscar Hernández and scored automatic runner Donovan Solano as the Minnesota Twins won their second straight game in extra innings, beating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in 10 innings

PRINCETON, N.J. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 25, 2023--

Texas A&M University reached a $1 million settlement with a Black journalism professor who said her tenured position offer fell apart after backlash to her work on diversity and equity efforts, the university announced Thursday.

Chris Watts received around 60 letters from total strangers in just a few weeks in prison, expressing both love and hatred