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The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Rodrigo Muniz's last-gasp strike rescues point for Fulham at Brighton
A season opener with rustiness abounding was heading Brighton's way. Then came echoes of last season, when 22 points were conceded from winning positions. Once Matt O'Riley had slotted a penalty after Sander Berge's ill-judged challenge, Fulham had to wait for the 95th minute for a genuine chance. Volleyed wide by an aghast Kenny Tete it would not be the last, Rodrigo Muniz smashing in a Harry Wilson corner to equalise. The ball had been allowed to travel to the second-half sub on the back post. Muniz, one of many strikers linked with Newcastle, and this week linked with Atalanta and Champions League football, chested down to crash home. The delighted away fans implored the Brazilian to stay. 'He's very strong,' said Marco Silva, the Fulham manager. 'Rodrigo created something with the fans that is not easy to do.' For transfer devotees, the other major news had been Carlos Baleba starting in Brighton's midfield; the expectation is he stays, give or take a steeple-high offer Tony Bloom cannot refuse. Within an aggressive midfield battle, Baleba's quality was often a cut above. His defensive work was missed once subbed off in the second half. 'Good against the ball, he needs to be better in possession,' was Fabian Hürzeler's verdict. 'We are very pleased he is a Brighton player, we want to go with him to the next step, he can be very important for us this season.' While the Premier League's upper class lavish huge sums, there was just one new signing in either of these two members of the squeezed middle's starting teams. Maxim De Cuyper, the left-back signed via Brighton's regular Belgian trade route, completed the 90. 'Very mature,' said Hürzeler of the new man. For Fulham where only the reserve goalkeeper, Benjamin Lecomte, was a new face, novelty was offered by Josh King, 18, showing high promise. 'A very good performance,' said Silva. 'He's a top talent player, I didn't have any reservations on picking him.' The teenager showed off impressive ball-carrying chops while both teams were otherwise rushed in attempting to create opportunities. The best chance of the first half came when O'Riley whipped the ball for Kaoru Mitoma to head over, the type of chance a centre-forward like Danny Welbeck, on the bench, might gobble up. Georgino Rutter was playing the role vacated by João Pedro's sale, with O'Riley assuming penalty duties. On the sidelines, Silva kept his usual morose vigil while Hürzeler anxiously split his time between bench and technical area. Hürzeler is 32 but is a young man in a hurry, his summer pursuits including Spanish lessons. 'For sure it feels painful,' he said, happy enough with his team's performance until those fateful final seconds. 'It's really important to take the positives away. We played well and defended good. We should score the second goal and I think the game would be over. That's football.' Silva is in the final year of his Fulham contract with barely concealed irritation at the 'passive', to use his word, lack of arrivals, but was happy enough with the team he fights on with. 'I think it's a fair result,' he said. 'The only difference before we came back again was the penalty.' Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Brighton broke the deadlock after Rutter was allowed far too much space to surge into the box; Berge was unduly clumsy. O'Riley swept low and left, Bernd Leno offered no answer to a player linked with Juventus. As Brighton increasingly looked to the counter, Silva was in the process of throwing on three changes, including Muniz, when Yankuba Minteh blazed over a chance, created by Mitoma's speed, that might have clinched victory. That hastened Brighton's changes, Baleba off for Diego Gómez. The Paraguayan showed considerable attacking prowess while struggling to meet the defensive detail. James Milner, who hits 40 in January, also arrived, and was unable to stem the Fulham flow. Silva threw on Emile Smith Rowe for King, departing to an ovation. It was Smith Rowe who forced the corner from which his team equalised. As 90 minutes arrived, another sub, Brajan Gruda, blew the latest decent Brighton chance, caught in two minds, a familiar moment they would come to regret.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Baggies loss shows quality of Championship
George Dobson feels Wrexham have been fully exposed to the ruthless nature of the Championship having suffered back-to-back defeats in the division at the start of the 2025-26 Parkinson's side were beaten 3-2 by West Bromwich Albion at the Stok Cae Ras to ensure they remain without a point having fallen to a 2-1 loss to Southampton a week after Parkinson criticised the "soft" goals his side conceded against the Baggies, Dobson admitted Wrexham are being emphatically punished for small mistakes in the second tier."It just showed the quality of the level - if you don't take your chances, you do get punished," said the midfielder."It's definitely not a panic stations type situation but we know there's a couple of things we need to be a bit better at. "It's definitely the fine margins of being punished. Any sort of mistake or not doing your job quite right seems to get punished."As they were at Southampton in the season opener, Wrexham were competitive for the majority of the contest with Ryan Mason's while they lost for the second league fixture running, Dobson feels Wrexham can pick up positive results if they improve defensively given their attacking talents."I'm not sure how many shots we had but I feel like we looked like scoring," added Dobson."We've just got to get the solid base back of getting clean sheets and not conceding too many chances and I'm sure the results will turn because the character of the group is so strong."It's a great learning curve for us."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Man arrested after Bournemouth player reports racial abuse at Liverpool match
A 47-year-old man has been arrested after a Bournemouth player reported being racially abused during his team's match against Liverpool on Friday, police have said. A second arrest over racist abuse was made at a separate game on Saturday at the University of Bradford Stadium, Bradford City AFC said. The man from Liverpool was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and has been taken into custody to be interviewed, Merseyside police said. During Friday's fixture, Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo reported being racially abused by a spectator, prompting the match referee, Anthony Taylor, to stop play in the 29th minute during the first Premier League fixture of the season. A 47-year-old man was ejected from the stadium. Ch Insp Kev Chatterton, the match commander for the Liverpool v Bournemouth game, previously said: 'Merseyside police will not tolerate hate crime of any form. 'We take incidents like this very seriously, and in cases like this we will be proactively seeking football banning orders, with the club, against those responsible.' He added: 'There is no place for racism and it is vital that anyone who witnesses such an offence reports it to stewards, or the police immediately, so we can take the necessary action like we did this evening. 'As with all matches, we work very closely with both Liverpool and Everton FC to ensure the safety of the public, and the players.' A spokesperson for Liverpool FC said: 'Liverpool Football Club is aware of an allegation of racist abuse made during our Premier League game against Bournemouth. 'We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms; it has no place in society, or football.' The match referee, Anthony Taylor, spoke with the managers Arne Slot and Andoni Iraola after Semenyo reported being abused. On Saturday, Bradford City AFC said West Yorkshire police had made an arrest during a game at the University of Bradford Stadium. The club said: 'Bradford City AFC is aware of an allegation of racist abuse from an individual in the away section towards one of our players during today's Sky Bet League One game against Luton Town. 'Bradford City AFC strongly condemns racism and discrimination in all forms. We have a zero tolerance policy to such unacceptable behaviour.' In an interview, Bradford's manager, Graham Alexander, said there was no place in football for racism, adding: 'We saw it last night at the Liverpool game – it has to be zero tolerance. There's no excuse for it, at all.'
