data-mm-id=”_190tkxqyg”>The Big Ten was supposed to be top-heavy this year with the best of the conference as good as any other team in the country. Half of that equation has played out early on, as Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, and Maryland all enjoyed time in the top five of the rankings. But the bottom half of the conference has shown to be quite formidable early on, with Penn State beating the Terrapins, Illinois rolling the Wolverines, and Minnesota shocking the Buckeyes. As a result, 12 of the conference's 14 teams are tied with a 1-1 conference record. Only Michigan State at 1-0 and Northwestern at 0-1 are separated from the field. And wouldn't you know it? The Spartans travel to Evanston on Wednesday night. It's the next conference game on the schedule. A Wildcats' upset would leave everyone knotted at 1-1. As prophecy foretold!Look, I went to MSU but would be lying if I said I wasn't secretly rooting for this chaos. Like, what will happen? Will it be like the end of Ghostbusters or more like the spicier stuff in Revelations? Will the entire Midwest take to the streets, wander into the nearest Kroger or Meijer and start pillaging? Will some of the East Coast journalists doing their 29th Rust Belt safari be tasked with writing a think-piece about how this phenomenon forecasts the 2020 election?I don't have the answers. But freaky stuff could be on the horizon should Tom Izzo's team look lost. Please prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally.
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Paris Saint-Germain let slip a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 against Rennes in their first away Ligue 1 outing of the season on Sunday.
Penalty shoot-out winners when these sides met in the Coupe de France final last season, the hosts produced another shock result over the top-flight champions thanks to goals either side of half-time at Roazhon Park.
Edinson Cavani profited from a defensive error to put Neymar-less PSG into the lead, but M Baye Niang pulled one back a minute before half-time and Romain Del Castillo headed Rennes in front early in the second half.
PSG, who triumphed when these sides met in the Trophee des France two weeks ago, have now lost five of their last six away matches in the league.
Cavani sent a glancing header crashing off the woodw…
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has more strings to his bow than Bayern Munich legend Michael Ballack and can excel for England against Panama, says former Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson.
Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek played under Hodgson during a loan spell at Crystal Palace last season, scoring twice in 24 top-flight appearances as the Eagles recovered from an awful start under Frank de Boer to finish 11th in the Premier League.
The 22-year-old made his World Cup bow in an impressive cameo off the bench in England s opening 2-1 win over Tunisia in Group G and is set to play from the start against Panama with Dele Alli struggling with a thigh injury.
Hodgson, who oversaw England s group-stage exit in Brazil four years ago and the dismal last-16 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016…
Sergio Aguero felt something before he was substituted during the second half of Manchester City’s 2-0 win at Fulham, but Pep Guardiola is hopeful his first-choice striker is not injured.
The Argentine provided the assist for Bernardo Silva’s fifth-minute opener at Craven Cottage before scoring his 19th Premier League goal of the season just before the half-hour mark.
With City firmly in control, Aguero was replaced by Gabriel Jesus after 57 minutes and Guardiola confirmed the switch was made only as a precaution.
Tomorrow we have the real assessment, Guardiola told reporters.
He [Aguero] says he felt something but he is not injured. As a precaution he decided not to continue.
Hopefully it’s nothing serious.
PEP The perfor…
Manchester City 2-0 Borussia Monchengladbach (4-0 agg): De Bruyne and Gundogan on target for sparkli
Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan scored excellent first-half goals as Manchester City beat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 to book a place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Back at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, which also hosted Gladbach s initial home leg, City repeated the scoreline from the first encounter to seal a 4-0 aggregate triumph.
De Bruyne scored City s 100th goal of the season with a venomous left-footed strike and Ilkay Gundogan followed that forcefulness with some finesse shortly afterwards.
Gladbach, now winless in nine matches under outgoing head coach Marco Rose, continued to be summarily outplayed by a City side showing their best form for a few weeks to stay in the hunt for four major honours
Yann Sommer was alert to keep out Phil…
Canada continued their impressive run under Jesse Marsch after their Copa America exploits, beating the United States 2-1 in a friendly at Children s Mercy Park.
Goals in either half from Jacob Shaffelburg and Jonathan David handed Canada the advantage, with Luca de la Torre s goal proving a mere consolation in another dominant display from the visitors.
A frenetic start to proceedings was rewarded in the 17th minute as Johnny Cardoso s loose touch allowed David to tee up Shaffelburg to finish beyond Patrick Schulte.
Canada restricted their opponents to just one shot in the first-half but were unable to build their lead despite registering 11 attempts, five of which were on target.
But they got the goal their performance merited after the break, again …
Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale wants to join Tottenham Hotspur in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho has spoken to the Wales international winger and has explained his plans for him, with the North London outfit keen on securing the services of the 31-year-old on a loan deal this summer.
Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett, has told that although there is a long way to go in negotiations, he is confident that a deal will be struck, and that Bale will join Tottenham on loan. The Wales international joined Madrid from Spurs back in the summer of 2013, and has won La Liga twice and the Champions League on four occasions.
Bale has had injury problems during his time at Madrid, and the Welshman also struggled…
Barcelona are boiling in a sporting crisis following their Champions League humiliation, says their former defender Javier Mascherano.
Bayern Munich thrashed Barca 8-2 at the Estadio da Luz on Friday, handing the Catalan giants their biggest defeat in Europe and heaviest loss in any competition since 1946.
It capped a disappointing end to the 2019-20 season for the Blaugrana, who took a two-point lead at the top of LaLiga into the hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic but ended up being dethroned by Real Madrid and finishing five points adrift of the new champions.
Head coach Quique Setien, who replaced Ernesto Valverde when the team were top of the league in February, has been sacked, while sporting director Eric Abidal has been relieved of his duties.
…
The relentless brilliance of Robert Lewandowski could see Bayern Munich enjoy a very successful season, according to former striker Luca Toni.
A double in the 4-0 Bundesliga win over Cologne on Saturday took Lewandowski to nine goals in just five league appearances in 2019-20.
The 31-year-old, who signed a new contract through to 2023 in August, had reached 200 in all competitions for Bayern when he struck in the 3-0 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade last week.
Lewandowski s future had been unclear prior to the announcement of his new deal, but Toni now hopes to see the Poland star bring trophies to the Allianz Arena this season.
He is one of the best. I like him so much because he lives in the box and scores a lot of goals, Toni told Omnisport…
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone could not hide the enthusiasm brought on by Saturday s 1-0 win over Barcelona, though he dismissed the idea that he can see similarities with his 2013-14 title-winning team.
Los Colchoneros produced a solid display at the Wanda Metropolitano to defeat Ronald Koeman s misfiring Barca and go up to second in LaLiga, only behind Real Sociedad – who have played a game more – by virtue of scoring two goals fewer.
That victory extended Atletico s unbeaten run to 24 games in LaLiga and opened up a nine-point gap between themselves and Barca.
With defending champions Real Madrid also failing to inspire much confidence, having rarely impressed this season and been held by Villarreal earlier on Saturday, Atletico look like many people…
Antonio Conte praised the attacking display of his Inter side in their 5-2 win over Benevento but conceded they must find the right balance after conceding two more goals.
Inter followed up their dramatic 4-3 victory over Fiorentina on the opening weekend of the Serie A season with another high-scoring win in Wednesday s clash at Stadio Ciro Vigorito.
Romelu Lukaku got the ball rolling inside 28 seconds and doubled his tally after Roberto Gagliardini had put the visitors 2-0 up.
Achraf Hakimi enjoyed an impressive debut and was also on the scoresheet, as was Barcelona-linked striker Lautaro Martinez, with Gianluca Caprari netting twice for Benevento.
Inter s return of nine goals from their opening two top-flight matches is the most they have managed si…