Birmingham’s unbeaten start to the season ended at St Andrew’s as slick Cardiff strode to a 3-1 victory and passage into the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2014.

It took the Bluebirds just three minutes to open the scoring as Karlan Grant burst away from Marcel Oakley down their right. The former West Brom man rolled a pass into Rubin Colwill’s path and the 21-year-old stroked home first time.

Blues’ best moment of the first period came in the 24th minute when Andy Rinomhota was booked for bringing down Juninho Bacuna from behind. The Curacao international picked himself up and curled the free-kick over the wall only to see Alex Runarsson superbly tip on to the bar.

The hosts’ task became even more difficult in the 56th minute w…

Benoit Badiashile scored the opening goal as he made his first appearance of the season in Chelsea’s 2-0 Carabao Cup victory over Blackburn at Stamford Bridge.

The France defender had not started a Blues match since he was injured in their draw with Nottingham Forest in May and got himself involved at both ends of the pitch in a game that also saw Reece James return to the starting XI.

Raheem Sterling fired home after the break, and while the visitors had defended well, they never looked close to coming back into the contest.

Chelsea have now reached their 24th quarter-final in 33 attempts, and are one step closer to lifting a first League Cup since 2015, when Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of runners-up Tottenham.

Backburn had not played …

Leandro Trossard scored a hat-trick to earn a 3-3 draw for Brighton and Hove Albion in a Premier League thriller against Liverpool at Anfield.

Trossard s double in the opening 17 minutes put the visitors in command in head coach Roberto De Zerbi s first game in charge.

Liverpool hit back through Roberto Firmino before the break and the Brazil striker equalised early in the second half of a pulsating Premier League encounter.

Adam Webster s own goal put Liverpool ahead for the first time, but Trossard completed his treble with seven minutes of normal time remaining to give Brighton a deserved point.

3 Leandro Trossard has become just the third opposing player to score a Premier League hat-trick at Anfield, after Peter Ndlovu and Andrey Arshavin. Trio.

…

Prediction: Atletico Madrid to win 3-1

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La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid and Sevilla will lock horns with each other in the Copa del Rey this week. The quarter-final tie between Colchoneros and Los Nervionenses will be held at the Metropolitano Stadium and is scheduled to kick off at 8 pm UK time on Thursday.

Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid are one of the biggest clubs in Spain who tend to challenge for the La Liga title and also compete in the UEFA Champions League. Although things have not been particularly great for the Madrid outfit this season, they could still have a very good chance of having a successful campaign.

Diego Simeone’s side are fourth in the La Liga table at the moment with 41 points from 20 matches. The…

South Korea, Australia and Japan all chalked up commanding wins to move towards the third round of the AFC s World Cup qualifying section on Thursday.

Uli Stielike s South Korea now boast a five-point advantage at the top of Group G after dispatching Myanmar 4-0 at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.

Lee Jae-sung and Koo Ja-cheol netted first-half goals either side of Jang Hyun-soo missing a penalty, although the Guangzhou R F man managed to get his name on the scoresheet before Nam Tae-hee completed the scoring.

The battle for second place – where the best four runners-up from the eight groups join the first-place teams in progressing in the qualifying section as well as a guaranteed Asian Cup spot – in Group G is set to be a battle between Kuwait and Lebanon after…

Best Odds: 8/15

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Looking to mark their return from October’s international break with another statement, Tottenham will welcome Fulham to north London on Monday night.

Tottenham

Starting with the hosts, only continuing on what has been a remarkable rise since they appointed Ange Postecoglou over the summer, Tottenham mark their return on Monday night in the midst of a real purple patch. Heading into October’s international break leading the chase at the top of the Premier League table, Spurs will be desperate to lay down another statement of intent here. Last seen earlier in the month claiming a gritty 1-0 win away at Luton, the former Celtic boss finds the mood in his camp at a red-hot high. Signing off September with that hugely controversial 2-…

UEFA has confirmed that teams competing in this year s delayed Euro 2020 tournament will be allowed to select a 26-man squad instead of the usual 23.

The change has been rolled out to ease the burden on players following a compressed club season and to help national teams in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.

UEFA s executive committee approved the proposal on Tuesday and announced teams can make unlimited changes to their squad up until their first game in the event of a serious injury or illness.

The new regulations will also allow goalkeepers to be replaced before each match in case of physical incapacity , even if two other keepers from the initial list are still available.

However, while teams can now name 26-man squads, only 23 of those can be selec…

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore has urged his side to “embrace the moment” as the build-up to their Sky Bet League One play-off final continues.

The Owls reached Monday’s final in dramatic circumstances following a remarkable comeback against Peterborough in the semi-final, which saw them overturn a four-goal deficit in the first leg to then win 5-3 on penalties.

Their victory sets up a clash against Barnsley at Wembley with promotion to the Championship the prize and Moore is looking forward to the occasion between the South Yorkshire rivals.

He told a pre-match press conference: “Having two clubs so close together, it’s a Wembley final, two teams from Yorkshire competing for that final spot to get up into the Championship, it bodes well for a…

Ajax have tied highly rated Brazilian attacker David Neres down to a new four-year contract, the Dutch club have announced.

Neres, a former Brazil Under-20 international, joined Ajax in January 2017 after emerging as a promising prospect at Sao Paulo.

Although he took a few months to properly find his feet, Neres – still just 21 – has established himself as a key figure in Amsterdam, making 32 Eredivisie appearances last term.

The attacker, who was already contracted until 2021, is likely to prove even more essential to Ajax following the pre-season departure of Justin Kluivert to Roma.

Signing newssss! 

David Neres: !

— AFC Ajax (English) (@AFCAjax_EN)

Neres has been linked with a host of big European clubs, with Ajax …

Real Zaragoza are interested in signing Ander Herrera in the summer transfer window, according to . Herrera is out of contract at Athletic Bilbao at the end of the month, and Spanish rivals Zaragoza are reportedly keen on snapping up the former Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder on a free transfer.

Herrera joined Bilbao in 2022 after leaving PSG. It was for the second time that he moved to Athletic, having initially joined the Basque club from Zaragoza in 2011. In 2024, the 34-year-old midfielder switched to Manchester United before making the move to PSG in 2019.

The midfielder made 10 starts and 13 substitute appearances in La Liga for Bilbao last season. He gave three assists in those games. During the 2022-23 season, Herrera made nine starts and ei…