Pele was said to be stable in a Sao Paulo hospital on Saturday amid international concern about the health of the three-time World Cup winner.

It was reported, though not officially confirmed, that the 82-year-old had been moved to palliative care as he was no longer responding to chemotherapy treatment.

He was hospitalised on Tuesday, though his daughter said a day later there was no surprise or emergency , with Pele also saying it was a monthly visit .

However, a report from newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said Pele was now receiving pain-relieving measures in an end-of-life care ward.

Pele underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his colon last year, and has been in and out of hospital since.

The Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein issued a short …

Shakhtar Donetsk captain Darijo Srna says he will not play again until he clears his name after reportedly failing a doping test.

The 35-year-old former Croatia captain revealed he had been informed by Ukraine s anti-doping body that he reportedly failed an out-of-competition test on March 22 this year.

Srna insists he has never knowingly taken a banned substance and is cooperating fully with authorities in a bid to clear up the matter.

In a statement released via Shakhtar s official website on Friday, he said: On September 18 2017, I was notified by the National Anti-Doping Centre of Ukraine (NADCU) that a prohibited substance was reportedly found in an out-of-competition sample I had provided on March 22 2017.

Firstly and most importantly, I would like…

Germany legend Lothar Matthaus has hailed Bayern Munich s imminent signing of Sadio Mane as fantastic for the entire Bundesliga .

The Senegal international is poised to move to Bavaria for a fee of €40.7 million (£34.1m) and the move is expected to be tied-up on Wednesday with an official confirmation made.

Mane s move to Germany may well have a knock-on effect in the transfer market, with Robert Lewandowski keen to leave Bayern and heavily touted for a move to Barcelona.

Any departure for Lewandowski would leave Mane with a significant void to fill but Matthaus believes it s not just Bayern who will benefit from the addition of the 30-year-old forward.

The signing of Sadio Mane is fantastic – not just for FC Bayern, but for the entire Bundesliga, h…

Barcelona s Samuel Umtiti could be set for a shock move to Girona, with the newly promoted LaLiga outfit refusing to rule out signing the defender.

Umtiti, a 2018 World Cup winner with France, joined Barcelona from Lyon in 2016 and was originally a first-team regular, but the 28-year-old has been continually linked with an exit after suffering a spate of injuries over the last few seasons.

He played just one league game last term as Xavi led Barcelona to second place in LaLiga after taking over from Ronald Koeman, having made a total of 40 such appearances across the three previous campaigns combined.

Amid Barcelona s financial woes, Umtiti agreed a three-year contract extension containing a salary reduction in January, allowing the Catalan giants to meet their l…

Manchester City continued defending their Premier League title in a strong way this weekend. Following a 0-3 thrashing of newly promoted Burnley at Turf Moor in the opening round, they ve now beaten fellow Champions League participants Newcastle at the Etihad. The only goal of the game was the work of Julian Alvarez in the 31st minute, a fine shot from just inside the box that went straight into the top corner, leaving Nick Pope powerless to stop it.

City still superb

It ll be almost impossible to top 2022/23 for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola led his team to the Premier League title, the FA Cup trophy, and eventually Champions League glory, and only the Carabao Cup somehow got away from them.

The summer transfer window saw very important players, like Ilkay Gundogan a…

Liverpool are continuing their offensive to sign Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund in the summer and according to multiple sources, their confidence in the transfer going through is steadily growing despite the fact that Real Madrid and Manchester City remain serious contenders for the midfielder s signature. As put by Florian Plettenberg of Sky Germany, a move to Anfield would offer Bellingham a chance to become the new Steven Gerrard a hero of the Merseyside club.

The talks between Liverpool and Bellingham s entourage, namely his father, are ongoing, but at this point no promise has been made and Bellingham himself is yet to speak to Jurgen Klopp, another man whose name connects the two clubs.

If they win this race in term of convincing the 19-year-old to pick th…

Kieran Gibbs took strength from the pushback against the racism aimed at Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka after England s penalties heartbreak.

Former England defender Gibbs, who was speaking at his Inter Miami presentation, believes the fallout from the Euro 2020 final highlighted the best and worst of society in his home country.

Saka said on Thursday that he knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive , and called on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to tighten up controls over content on their platforms.

Sancho and Rashford have also spoken out powerfully this week. A mural of Rashford s image in Manchester was defaced before it became a positive focal point in the local community, with messages of praise, sympathy and solidarity po…

Paris Saint-Germain will not rush into the transfer market even after losing striker Goncalo Ramos to injury, head coach Luis Enrique pledged on Thursday.

Ramos injured his ankle in last week s 4-1 win at Le Havre and is expected to be out for up to three months in a major blow to the French champions, who were already believed to be in the market for attacking reinforcements after losing Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid.

Luis Enrique, however, says PSG will not be pressured into paying over the odds for any player, with Ousmane Dembele, Lee Kang-in, Randal Kolo Muani and Bradley Barcola now the forward options at his disposal.

It s a shame, it s always sad when you lose a player, but it doesn t change anything, Luis Enrique told reporters ahead of Friday s clash wi…

Toni Kroos has hit out at UEFA and believes it is only a matter of time before a European Super League is launched.

New plans for a continental Super League including up to 80 teams were laid out this month.

There would be at least 14 matches per season for the clubs involved in a multi-division format, with no permanent members and teams still participating in their domestic leagues.

A proposed breakaway European Super League collapsed in April 2021 soon after plans were announced, but Real Madrid midfielder Kroos is in no doubt a new competition will go ahead.

The former Germany international said on his podcast Einfach mal Luppen: I think we will see the Super League. And I believe so for several reasons. The idea of the Super League has changed and de…

Manchester United don t want to be in the Europa League, though they have become a little more familiar with UEFA s second-tier competition in recent years.

Nevertheless, this is the first time since the 2019-20 season that they ve entered the Europa League in the group stage and there were positives to take from that campaign.

Those positives generally revolved around United being able to give young players the chance to impress.

Tahith Chong, Axel Tuanzebe, Angel Gomes, Brandon Williams, James Garner, Largie Ramazani, Ethan Galbraith, D Mani Mellor, Dylan Levitt, Ethan Laird and Di Shon Bernard all got opportunities to play in that group stage, with many of them making their debuts.

Granted, a scan of that list doesn t show many players who ve gone on t…