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Messi Nets Brace to Win in First Match after Argentina Exit

Inter Miami's Argentine forward Lionel Messi scored two goals in his club's 4-0 MLS victory over DC United. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP
Inter Miami's Argentine forward Lionel Messi scored two goals in his club's 4-0 MLS victory over DC United. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP
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Messi Nets Brace to Win in First Match after Argentina Exit

Inter Miami's Argentine forward Lionel Messi scored two goals in his club's 4-0 MLS victory over DC United. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP
Inter Miami's Argentine forward Lionel Messi scored two goals in his club's 4-0 MLS victory over DC United. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

Lionel Messi scored twice to help Inter Miami rout DC United 4-0 on Saturday, taking a victory in his first match since saying farewell to the Argentina national team.

Four nights after scoring in his final match for the Albiceleste in a victory over Benin, the 39-year-old South American superstar struck in the 47th and 60th minutes as defending MLS champion Miami won for only the second time in their past 11 league matches.

A first-half brace by Luis Suarez staked the Herons to the lead as they improved to 13-5 with 10 drawn for 49 points, jumping from third to second in the Eastern Conference

Messi hopes to make Miami the first team to win back-to-back MLS crowns since the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2011-12.

Messi, the top point producer in the league with 23 goals plus assists on 13 others, seeks a third consecutive MLS Most Valuable Player award.

Uruguayan striker Suarez scored in the third minute to give Miami the lead, blasting a left-footed shot from the heart of the box into the top left corner.

Suarez struck again in the 39th for his 16th goal of the campaign, assisted like his first of the night by German Berterame.

Messi blasted home a left-footed shot off an assist from Suarez to give Miami a 3-0 lead and evaded three defenders to add another goal 13 minutes later as the pink-clad hosts pulled away to stay.

In other games, Scottish striker Lewis Morgan and American Djordje Mihailovic scored in second-half stoppage time to rally Toronto for a 2-1 home victory over Montreal.

The visitors grabbed the lead in the Canadian clash on a goal by Mexican forward Daniel Rios in the 52nd minute.

Toronto, however, battled back for the equalizer by winger Morgan, obtained last month from San Diego, in the third minute of stoppage time, his first regular-season MLS goal in two years.

Former Montreal standout Mihailovic struck for the decider in the fifth minute of extra time.

"Now I've scored on both sides of this derby," he said. "It feels good."

Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak to pull within a point of an East playoff berth.

At Chicago, Swiss forward Maren Haile-Selassie scored in the 87th minute to give the 10-man Chicago Fire a 2-1 triumph over New York City.

Austrian midfielder Hannes Wolf gave City the lead in the 19th minute and Chicago dropped to 10 men when Ivory coast midfielder Dje D'Avilla received his second yellow card in the 43rd minute.

Swede Anton Saletros equalized for Chicago in the 55th minute, setting the stage for the decider.

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Sports

Coventry Savor First Home Premier League Win in 25 Years

October 12, 2026 Coventry City manager Frank Lampard celebrates with Brandon Thomas-Asante after the match. (Reuters)
October 12, 2026 Coventry City manager Frank Lampard celebrates with Brandon Thomas-Asante after the match. (Reuters)
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Coventry Savor First Home Premier League Win in 25 Years

October 12, 2026 Coventry City manager Frank Lampard celebrates with Brandon Thomas-Asante after the match. (Reuters)
October 12, 2026 Coventry City manager Frank Lampard celebrates with Brandon Thomas-Asante after the match. (Reuters)

Coventry City appear ‌to have found their feet in the Premier League after claiming their first home win of the season with a thumping 4-1 victory over Newcastle United on Monday, while the visitors were left with more soul-searching.

An early Jack Rudoni penalty was followed by goals from Sidiki Cherif, Ellis Simms and Stephen Mfuni as Coventry made it two wins from two following a difficult start to the campaign and a first ‌home win in ‌the topflight for 25 years.

"Very, ‌very ⁠satisfying. It's so ⁠hard to win," Coventry manager Frank Lampard said. "We played like the team that we want to be. There is so much spirit and energy in the group and we know we are going to have to suffer a lot this season.

"The work ethic of ⁠the boys and the belief, you get ‌what you deserve, which is ‌great finishes. We haven't quite had that rub of ‌the green this season that would help us nick ‌more points.

"It was a complete performance. We have to keep our feet on the ground. It's a great feeling for the players."

There might be euphoria in Coventry, but for ‌Newcastle it was a poor showing in which they missed chances and looked frail ⁠at ⁠the back.

"That's hard. That's punishment in this league. We controlled many phases but it's not enough," Newcastle manager Matthias Jaissle told BBC Sport.

"In the boxes the games are decided. In both boxes we were not clean. It's something we need to learn fast.

"The momentum was there. We have a young squad but that shouldn't be an excuse. It was a tough game in general.

"Today if you see the whole picture, it was not the worst game. But I apologize to fans because they deserved a different result."

Sports

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli Defeats UAE’s Al-Wasl 3-1 in AFC Champions League Elite

Trincao celebrates his goal against Al-Wasl. (Ali Khamaj)
Trincao celebrates his goal against Al-Wasl. (Ali Khamaj)
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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli Defeats UAE’s Al-Wasl 3-1 in AFC Champions League Elite

Trincao celebrates his goal against Al-Wasl. (Ali Khamaj)
Trincao celebrates his goal against Al-Wasl. (Ali Khamaj)

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli defeated on Monday hosts Al-Wasl of the United Arab Emirates 3-1 in Dubai in the second round of the AFC Champions League Elite.

Roger Ibanez opened the scoring for Al-Ahli in the 20th minute. Pedro Malheiro equalized for Al-Wasl in the 48th minute, before Francisco Trincao restored Al-Ahli’s lead in the 58th minute. Feras Al-Brikan sealed the victory with a third goal in the 92nd minute.

The win took Al-Ahli to four points, while Al-Wasl remained without a point.

Sports

Man City Charges Cloud Hangs over Premier League Season

Erling Haaland scored in Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool. Paul ELLIS / AFP
Erling Haaland scored in Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool. Paul ELLIS / AFP
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Man City Charges Cloud Hangs over Premier League Season

Erling Haaland scored in Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool. Paul ELLIS / AFP
Erling Haaland scored in Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool. Paul ELLIS / AFP

Manchester City emerged unscathed from a hostile reception at Anfield in their first match since a guilty verdict on widespread financial impropriety, but a 3-0 win over Liverpool highlighted the uncertainty that now surrounds the Premier League season.

Enzo Maresca's men are sitting pretty at the top of the table with six consecutive wins, including statement away victories at their two biggest rivals after also beating Manchester United last month, AFP said.

Yet those points could count for nothing unless City are successful in their appeal against the findings of an independent commission, that found them guilty of over 100 Premier League charges.

No sanction has yet been decided. But if City's appeal fails then a severe points deduction that could lead to relegation or even expulsion from the English top-flight is on the table.

There is even the prospect of three Premier League titles City won between 2009 and 2018, the period to which the charges relate, being stripped.

For a league that frequently boasts of its huge global audience, the prospect of an appeal process dragging on for months, leaving a question mark over every City result and what it means for other Premier League clubs, is a damaging one.

"This is not good for the Premier League right now. That's what I've just recognized today," former Manchester United captain turned pundit Gary Neville told Sky Sports.

"This is really bad for the Premier League and it's going to continue for a few months."

Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola stressed that "the uncertainty is not good for anyone".

Defeat leaves the Reds nine points behind City, down in ninth in the table.

Even if Liverpool turn out to be not strong enough to challenge for the title, the three points lost on Sunday could be vital in the battle for a place in the Champions League.

The potential sanction against City could also have an impact on the battle for relegation.

"That today, what does it mean going forward?" Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports.

"This has to be done before the end of the season. There's no way this can carry on to the end of the season because we're all getting kidded."

- Liverpool scorned -

Liverpool feel scorned by the revelations of City's wrongdoing more than most having finished second to them three times in the past 12 years.

City's rivals believe that the illegal spending during that 2009-2018 period also built the foundations for a golden era that continues to bear fruit.

The Premier League leaders splashed out a record £460 million ($609 million) in one transfer window just a few months ago with immediate reward.

Liverpool were toothless without the injured Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo on Sunday, forcing Andoni Iraola to give 21-year-old Lewis Koumas his Premier League debut up front.

By contrast, Maresca had the luxury of bringing Jeremy Doku off the bench early in the second half in a substitution that transformed the game.

Moments later the Belgian winger provoked a second yellow card for Ryan Gravenberch and Liverpool never recovered.

Doku had a hand in the first and third City goals, scored by Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki, either side of his own sumptuous strike into the top corner.

That strength in depth has been fundamental in City's rise to becoming the dominant force in English football since an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover in 2008.

As chants, banners, flags and scarves at Anfield showed, City now stand accused of cheating their way to the top.

But the ripple effect has left the rest of the Premier League also stuck in stasis, waiting for a case that began eight years ago to finally be over.