Chelsea completed the signing of center back Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli on Saturday. The Premier League club paid a fee reported to be 40 million euros ($40 million) for the 31-year-old Senegal international, who arrives at Stamford Bridge following the departures of defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Koulibaly, who signed a four-year contract, joined his new teammates in Las Vegas for their preseason tour of the United States. Koulibaly played eight seasons with the Italian club, making 317 appearances and scoring 14 goals. He began his career with Metz in France and moved to Belgian club Genk for two seasons before joining Napoli. “Chelsea came first to get me in 2016 but we didn’t make it,” Koulibaly said. “Now when they came to me I accepted it because they really wanted me to come to the Premier League to play for them.” Koulibaly will play in front of Senegal teammate and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Koulibaly is Senegal’s captain and this year led the team to its first African Cup title.   Read: Sterling bids farewell to City, edges closer to Chelsea Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly described Koulibaly as “one of the world’s elite defenders... A great leader and an exemplary team player, Kalidou brings a wealth of experience and attributes that will benefit our squad and the club as a whole.”

Barcelona is set to sign Poland striker Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich in a bold move by the debt-ridden club to acquire a world-class scorer who can finally help fill the void a year after Lionel Messi’s exit last summer. The two European clubs have reached an agreement in principle for Lewandowski’s move to Camp Nou, Bayern president Herbert Hainer said Saturday. “We have come to a verbal agreement with Barcelona. It’s good to have clarity for all parties,” Hainer said on Bayern’s official Twitter account. “Robert is an incredible player and he won everything with us. We are incredibly grateful to him.” Spanish media reports that the transfer would cost Barcelona some 50 million euros ($50.4 million). The 33-year-old Lewandowski, one of soccer’s most prolific scorers of the past decade, would greatly boost Barcelona’s chances of rebuilding a competitive team after winning nothing last season following the departure of Messi, its all-time top scorer. Lewandowski scored 312 goals in 384 Bundesliga games for Bayern and previous club Borussia Dortmund. He hit 35 goals in 34 appearances last season to become the Bundesliga’s leading scorer for the seventh time overall. Barcelona’s top scorers were Memphis Depay and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with 13 goals each last campaign. Barcelona also gets a proven winner. Lewandowski helped Bayern win the 2020 Champions League, after it humiliated Barcelona 8-2 in the quarterfinals. He also scooped up 10 Bundesliga titles, four German Cups, and a Club World Cup with the Bavarian powerhouse. Only the dominance of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has likely stopped Lewandowski from receiving more individual accolades. Read: Barça reaches deal with Man U for reluctant De Jong But Lewandowski said in late May that “my story with Bayern Munich is over” after contract extension talks with Bayern broke down. He had one more season left on his contact with Bayern. He will now join a team coached by Xavi Hernández that relied on Aubameyang and Ferran Torres for its goals after they joined last winter as Depay was injured and lost his starting job as striker. He will have Spain’s young and gifted midfielders Pedri González and Gavi Páez to set him up. Barcelona is mired in debt mostly due to the huge transfer fees and salaries paid out by its previous president and board. In order to make signings this summer, current president Joan Laporta had to sell 10% of the team’s Spanish league television rights for the next 25 years in exchange for 207.5 million euros ($207.5 million). That infusion of cash also helped it secure the transfer of Brazil winger Raphinha and sign Ousmane Dembélé to a new contract last week as its hopes to challenge Spanish and European champion Real Madrid in the upcoming season. Local media said Barcelona agreed to play Leeds nearly 60 million euros ($60 million) plus add-ons for the 25-year-old Raphinha. Now, with a veteran like Lewandowski soon to be on board, the club is clearly betting on winning titles again in the short term. Last season, Barcelona finished a distant second in Spain to Madrid and failed to advance beyond the Champions League group phase. To compensate the spending, Barcelona said this week that it had reached an agreement with Manchester United to potentially send Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong the Premier League club for 75 million euros ($75 million) plus another possible 10 million euros in variables. That move, however, would have to be approved by De Jong, who has no interest in leaving Barcelona according to media reports. The sale allows Bayern to cash in on a player turning 34 next month who would have become a free agent next year and had made clear his desire to leave. Read: Dembélé signs new contract with Barcelona through 2024 If the fee is confirmed, it would be a club-record sale fee for Bayern, exceeding the 40 million euros ($40.3 million) the German champion received from Juventus for Douglas Costa in 2018. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is Bayern’s typical backup for Lewandowski but rarely starts, while other forwards like Sadio Mané, Leroy Sané, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry are primarily wide players.   So replacing a player who was Bundesliga top scorer for each of the last five seasons — and who set the league record of 41 goals in 2020-21 -- will be no easy task.

Everyone was anticipating a solid start to the 2021-2022 Champions League season after a spectacular summer transfer window 2021. The first round of Europe's most prestigious club tournament kicked off right after the international break. There was some concern about players' stability because all of the key footballers had just returned from an international break. A number of exciting matches were witnessed in the Champions League 2021-2022 first round. There were a few surprises and a lot of goals scored in the first round as well. The results of the first round of the Champions League are discussed in this article.   First-round Results: Champions League 2021-2022 The results of the first round for each group of the current Champions League season are given below. Group A Results: Man City 6-3 Leipzig, Club Brugge 1-1 PSG Last season's finalist Manchester City faced RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, while star-studded PSG met Club Brugge away from home. Manchester City defeated Leipzig 6-3 in a goal-fest encounter, putting Pep Guardiola's side atop the Group A points table. Leipzig's Nkunku scored a hat-trick. On the other hand, PSG drew with Club Brugge despite grabbing an early lead thanks to Andrea Herrera. Read: UEFA Champions League Football 2021-22: Group Stage draw and fixtures Group B Results: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Porto, Liverpool 3-2 Milan Atletico Madrid and FC Porto played to a 0-0 tie at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. French striker Antoine Griezmann returned to Atletico Madrid in the second half but was booed by the crowd. Liverpool came out on top against AC Milan in a 3-2 thriller at Anfield.  Group C Results: Besiktas 1-2 Borussia Dortmund, Sporting CP 1-5 Ajax In Group C, Borussia Dortmund defeated Besiktas 2-1 due to a first-half injury-time goal by young sensation Erling Haaland. Four-time champion Ajax destroyed Sporting CP in Portugal. The home team was thrashed 5-1. Haller scored four goals for Ajax in this encounter.    Read Lionel Messi’s Charity Work: Exemplary philanthropy of legendary Argentine Footballer Group D Results: Sheriff 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan 0-1 Real Madrid   Sheriff defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 at home, while Real Madrid defeated Italian Serie A Champion Inter Milan thanks to a late equalizer by Rodrygo. Sheriif are in the first place due to a superior goal difference. Group E Results: Dynamo Kyiv 0-0 Benfica, FC Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich In Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv were held to a 0-0 draw with Benfica in a tense match played in front of a packed stadium. FC Bayern Munich beat Barcelona 3-0 at Camp Nou in the other group encounter. Bayern had little problem defeating Barcelona in a thoroughly one-sided encounter. Read FIFA Women's Friendly Football: Bangladesh, Nepal play out goalless 2nd match Group F Results: Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United, Villareal 2-2 Atalanta   Manchester United had an early lead over Young Boys thanks to Portuguese sensation Cristiano Ronaldo, but the home side began to dominate after Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off in the 35th minute for a bad tackle. In the second half, Young Boys equalized twice to secure a historic win over Manchester United. On the other hand, yellow submarine Villareal drew 2-2 with the Italian team, Atalanta, in front of a home crowd. Group G Results: Sevilla 1-1 Salzburg, LOSC 0-0 Wolfsburg The host Sevilla failed to seal a victory over a comparatively weaker opposition Salzburg in group G. They had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the champion of the Austrian football league. German team Wolfsburg drew 0-0 with Ligue 1 champion Lille in the other match of the group.   Manchester City vs Chelsea: Who will win the Champions League final Group H Results: Malmo 0-3 Juventus, Chelsea 1-0 Zenit Saint Petersburg Despite a poor start to the season, Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus came out on top (3-0) against Sweden’s Malmo FF. This victory will undoubtedly boost their confidence to play well in Serie A. On the other hand, Chelsea defeated Zenit Saint Petersburg 1-0 at Stamford Bridge courtesy to a goal from their mercury summer signing Romelu Lukaku in the 69th minute. Bottom Line Each team tried to display their strength in the first round of the UEFA Champions League 2021-2022 season. As predicted, the majority of the big clubs won their matches and placed first in the group. However, some big teams surprisingly lost or drew. Teams that did not achieve their goals will strive to improve to the next round. The Champions League's second round of the group stage will be staged on September 28 and 29.      Read Ronaldo scores 2 goals on glorious United return

Lionel Messi’s time at Barcelona appears to be over. Barcelona announced Thursday that Messi will not stay with the club, saying that the Spanish league’s financial regulations made it impossible to sign the Argentina star to a new contract. He is leaving after 17 successful seasons in which he propelled the Catalan club to glory, helping it win numerous domestic and international titles since debuting as a teenager. Barcelona said in a statement that a deal for a new contract had been reached but financial “obstacles” made it impossible for the player to remain with the club. Also read: Ballon d'Or 2021 Predictions: Lionel Messi in Pole Position to Win the Coveted Award “Despite club and player reaching an agreement and their clear intention to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles,” the club said. It blamed “Spanish league regulations” for not allowing the club to sign a new contract with the player. His previous one had ended on June 30. “As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona,” it said. “Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled. “FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandizement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life,” the statement said. Messi had asked to leave Barcelona for free at the end of last season but had his request denied by then-president Josep Bartomeu. Joan Laporta took over the presidency and appeared to have convinced Messi to stay. But Laporta had said recently that the club was struggling to fit the player’s salary — even with hefty reductions accepted by the player — into the league-controlled salary cap. Also read: Messi’s Argentina beats Brazil 1-0, wins Copa America title In Messi’s previous contract, signed in 2017, he reportedly earned 138 million euros ($163 million) per season. The league had announcement on Wednesday that it secured $3.2 billion in private equity funding to help the clubs, which appeared to pave the way for Barcelona to re-sign the Argentina star. But the deal with Messi fell through after club officials met with the player’s representatives in Barcelona on Thursday. Some local reports said it was Messi who had changed his mind about staying, while others said it was the club that got upset with new demands made by the player’s staff. Barcelona was one of the clubs hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The league slashed its salary cap last season and the club had been trying to clear cap space by releasing some of its players. It had only signed free agents this summer — including Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia — to avoid paying transfer fees. The league has worked hard over the years to create stability through strict economic control that kept clubs from going into heavy debt. President Javier Tebas had said earlier that the league would not take a huge hit by losing a player like Messi, noting that it continued to thrive after Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid to Juventus a few years ago. It was unclear whether Messi was already in talks with other clubs, but he has previously been linked with cash-rich Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. The Argentine made no immediate public statement. Club president Laporta was going to address the media on Friday. Barcelona removed Messi from its squad list on the club’s website shortly after the announcement, and posted a video on its Twitter accounts thanking the player. Messi will be leaving after having won 35 titles. He helped the club win the Champions League four times, the Spanish league 10 times, the Copa del Rey seven times and the Spanish Super Cup eight times. While with the club, Messi earned himself a record six Ballon d’Or awards as the world’s top player. He is the team’s all-time scorer with 672 goals in 778 appearances, and the top scorer in the Spanish league with 474 goals in 520 matches. He also is the player with most matches with the club. He was the top scorer in the Spanish league in eight seasons, and the top scorer in the Champions League on six occasions. His 26 goals against Real Madrid are a record for the “clásico” matches against Barcelona’s fiercest rival. Messi arrived at Barcelona at age 13, when he and his family came to Spain to try his luck at Barcelona’s youth academy. He made his official debut on Oct. 16, 2004, and two years later helped the club win its first Champions League in a squad led by Ronaldinho.