List of All Articles with Tag 'f'

Unai Emery urged Aston Villa to finish the job after they booked their spot in the Europa Conference League knockout stages. The manager wants to seal top spot in Group E following Thursday’s 2-1 win over Legia Warsaw. Alex Moreno’s winner – on his first appearance since May following a hamstring injury – earned victory after Moussa Diaby’s opener was cancelled out by Ernest Muci in the first half. Victory came after Legia fans clashed with police before the game – injuring three officers – which saw the supporters barred from Villa Park. Villa moved above Legia at the top of the group and need a point in Mostar, the final group game, next month to guarantee their last 16 spot. Emery said: “I’m really happy because we started this competition losing in Warsaw. We wanted to show how we have improved after that match and we played well. “We were professional, feeling good, feeling strong and we want to finish first. It’s not complete yet but we are close to it. “This competition is very important, it’s a trophy and trying to get minutes for some players. Alex Moreno has come back, Jacob Ramsey, Jhon Duran got 90 minutes and as a team we had to get performances with every player.” Diaby struck after four minutes when he was sent scampering down the right by Youri Tielemans before cutting inside and finding the corner. Jhon Duran went close to adding a second before Legia cashed in on a terrible error by Boubacar Kamara after 20 minutes. The midfielder received the ball from Robin Olsen on the edge of the box but passed straight to Muci, who found the top corner. Encouraged, Legia settled and went close three minutes into the second half when Gil Dias’ header hit the bar. But it sparked Villa back into life and, after Kacper Tobiasz denied Diaby, Moreno netted a 59th-minute winner when he volleyed in Douglas Luiz’s free kick. Legia, who beat Villa 3-2 in the opening game in September, are three points behind and are now facing a last 32 tie against a side dropping down from the Europa League in February. Boss Kosta Runjaic said: “It’s the expected result but we faced it in a pretty good way. Villa have a lot of power at home and are unbeaten since February. “The first half was equal, we tried to play with courage and scored a fantastic goal. Villa played a good game but we could have defended their free-kick better and in the end it was a deserved win for Villa. “Now we have one game left, we will be well-prepared.” Read More You’ve got to dream big: Lewis Dunk eyes Europa League glory with Brighton David Moyes urges West Ham to finish the job and top Group A Five bad weeks do not define a team – England’s Ben Duckett Daniel Levy ‘proud’ as report reveals Tottenham’s investment in local community Wales call on Chris Coleman in bid to boost Women’s Nations League hopes The key talking points ahead of England’s Women’s Nations League double-header

Vans owner VF Corp said on Thursday it has laid off about 500 employees as it aims to

A fresh slate of NFL rumors as Shaq Leonard's free agent timeline is revealed, a Packers legend gets a fresh start, and the Steelers deal with more WR drama.

President Joe Biden has gotten his turn at bringing the holiday spirit to Washington

Investors in Tiger Global Management’s biggest venture fund were sitting on an 18% paper loss at the end

SAO PAULO Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem is facing a new 1 billion real ($203 million) lawsuit over damages

By Daniel Wiessner A Wells Fargo & Co employee filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing the bank of

Ulta Beauty on Thursday raised the lower end of its full-year profit and sales forecasts helped by buoyant

Liverpool cruised into the Europa League knock-out stages with a match to spare as a 4-0 victory over LASK confirmed their place as group winners. Early goals from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were enhanced by a second-half Mohamed Salah penalty – his 199th goal for the club – and an added-time strike by Gakpo as Toulouse’s draw with Union Saint-Gilloise means a dreaded round-of-32 play-off was avoided. That mere fact alone will have delighted manager Jurgen Klopp, whose pre-match press conference had been littered with references to the intense December period ahead, but a club-record 12 points in the group stage shows how dominant the tournament favourites have been. The Reds’ 100 percent home record was extended to 10 games and a third successive Anfield clean sheet for the first time since October 2022 means they have only conceded four times in front of their own fans while scoring 30. In reality, that record was never in danger as the Austrians are the weakest side in the group and that frailty was exposed twice inside three minutes early on by a home side registering nine changes, with only Salah and left-back Kostas Tsimikas retained from the weekend draw at Manchester City. A move which started on the left ended up on the right from where Joe Gomez crossed for Diaz to stoop and power home a twisting header. The second goal came from the same flank as Salah, teed up by Diaz, picked out Gakpo at the far post for the simplest of close-range volleyed finishes. Tsimikas smashed a fierce drive against the crossbar and the overwhelming confidence of the hosts was exemplified by Gomez, who has never scored in eight years at the club, drilling a 25-yard shot just wide. Much of the half appeared to revolve in getting Salah to his double century as the team tried to pick him out at every opportunity, whether he be menacingly poised on the shoulder of the last defender or inside the penalty area. Two chances went begging when his angled shot turned into more of a cross but still evaded Gakpo before he fired tamely at the goalkeeper. Six minutes into the second half Salah finally found the net but he owed it all to Gakpo. The Netherlands international’s short through-ball to Diaz missed his intended target but the Dutchman was alert enough to chase his own pass and somehow get there before goalkeeper Tobias Lawal, who brought him down. Lawal showed a similar lack of reaction in watching Salah tuck the penalty into the corner of the net without even attempting a dive. That was enough to put the result beyond doubt but the feeling was there were more goals to be had as Gakpo hit the base of a post from outside the area, although the Dutchman eventually got a deserved second in added time. The arrival of Darwin Nunez, and to a lesser extent Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, livened up proceedings, with the former putting in one of his now typical all-action hit-and-miss performances. It erred more towards the latter as, after Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot was repelled by the goalkeeper’s legs as he dived the other way, the Uruguay international had one effort diverted wide and then shot straight at Lawal from eight yards. Marin Ljubcic blazed over the visitors’ best chance with only Caoimhin Kelleher to beat and the Liverpool goalkeeper, set for his longest run in the side due to Alisson Becker being sidelined for a fortnight with a hamstring injury, did not have anything to do until the last 20 minutes. When he was called upon he was not flustered, coming out to smother Ibrahim Mustapha, repelling Moses Usor’s shot and producing a reaction stop from LASK’s top scorer Robert Zulj, but even Sunday’s shot-shy visitors Fulham – scorers of only 13 goals in as many games – will provide a sterner test. Read More Alex Moreno stars as Aston Villa progress in Europa Conference League You’ve got to dream big: Lewis Dunk eyes Europa League glory with Brighton David Moyes urges West Ham to finish the job and top Group A Tomas Soucek snatches late winner for West Ham in Serbia Joao Pedro penalty sends Brighton through to Europa League knockout stages Five bad weeks do not define a team – England’s Ben Duckett

Over the course of his illustrious career, George Michael gave the world many gifts. One that keeps on giving is “Last Christmas,” the 1984 holiday classic by Wham!, Michael's pop duo with Andrew Ridgeley.

Federal officials say they will give investigators a better tool for understanding accidents and close calls between planes

South Koreans are celebrating after the yen fell to its lowest level against the won in 15 years.