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Croatia have been charged over the crowd disturbances that marred the latter stages of their Euro 2016 match against the Czech Republic on Friday. Flares were thrown on the pitch and fighting broke out in the Croatian end during their 2-2 Group D draw. The referee Mark Clattenburg was forced to stop the game with four minutes left while a steward was almost hit by a firecracker, as was Croatian goalscorer Ivan Perisic. Croatia’s coach, Ante Cacic, described the individuals responsible for the trouble as “sports terrorists” and European football’s governing body has now confirmed the opening of disciplinary proceedings...

As Euro 2016 moves into its second week, we pick out three players to watch in Friday's fixtures… Italy's win over a star-studded Belgium sees them sit top of Group E going into their second group game, while their opponents, Sweden, began the tournament with a draw against a spirited Republic of Ireland. The Czech Republic, meanwhile, will be aiming to bounce back from their narrow defeat by Spain when they take on Group D leaders Croatia, who secured a 1-0 win over Turkey in their opening game, courtesy of a stunning strike from midfielder Luka Modric. The day's action...

The decision to expand Euro 2016 to a 24-team tournament suggested that the group stage would be somewhat cagey, particularly in the first matches, but the opening round of fixtures has met expectations. Who would have thought that Hungary would be the only team with more than a single-goal lead going into added time at this stage? There haven’t been many goals but a number of players have caught the eye. Here is our statistically calculated team of the round:

Dozens of Russian 'ultras' clashed with England fans chanting 'We hate Russia' during a fresh round of violence in the centre of Lille today. French police used pepper spray as two groups of supporters squared up in the northern French city – just hours after a separate flare-up at a bar. Punches were thrown during the brawl in the early hours of this morning after England fans had left a nearby pub. Russia's 'hyper violent' thugs had earlier ignored UEFA's threat to ban their country from Euro 2016 as they attacked English and Welsh supporters near the city's train station.

If Iceland ever want to turn their fairytale run to Euro 2016 into a movie, they can ask goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson, a part-time film director responsible for the video for his country’s Eurovision Song Contest entry four years ago. Just don’t expect veteran manager Lars Lagerback to buy into the Hollywood schmaltz. The 67-year-old former Sweden and Nigeria coach has brought more attention to Iceland’s first ever appearance at a major championships by criticising the play- acting of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Real Madrid team-mate Pepe.

A top football official in Moscow has praised the Russian fans involved in violence over the weekend in Marseille, saying they had defended their country’s honour and should be forgiven. “I don’t see anything wrong with the fans fighting,” Igor Lebedev wrote on Twitter. “Quite the opposite, well done lads, keep it up!” Lebedev, who sits on the executive committee of the Russian football union, is an MP from the nationalist Liberal Democratic party and the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament. “I don’t understand those politicians and officials who are criticising our fans. We should defend them, and then...

BASTIAN Schweinsteiger marked his return from injury by sealing Germany’s 2-0 win over Ukraine in in the world champions’ opening game at Euro 2016 on Sunday. Schweinsteiger, who suffered his second serious knee injury of the year in training on March 22 and hadn’t played since, came on in the last minute. He scored in the second minute of injury time when Mesut Ozil crossed for him to rifle in a volley on a counterattack.

There is not much more brutal in football than a last-minute goal and, for England, it was a numbing sense of disappointment at the final whistle. They have waited an awfully long time to win their opening match of a European Championship and the clock had ticked into its third minute of stoppage time when their chance to end that long run, stretching back to 1980, was wrenched from their grasp. What followed was shocking in the extreme, with hundreds of Russian troublemakers storming the adjacent section of England fans, and Uefa will be under serious pressure to take action...

...Anything that isn’t bolted down is being used as a weapon by fans on both sides of the clash.

French riot police have charged with batons and fired teargas on England fans in the old port of Marseille, in the third day of violence ahead of Saturday evening’s tie with Russia. After a relatively peaceful morning, violence erupted around 3pm. Around 60 riot police marched on fans as they congregated outside bars and hotels on the harbour. It was unclear what sparked the tactic, but some fans responded by hurling bottles at the advancing police. One man, believed to be English, appeared to have been knocked unconscious. A witness said that the victim had been kicked repeatedly in the...

Excitement is building among Russian soccer fans ahead of the UEFA 2016 European Championship in France, which begins on June 10. Leonid Slutsky’s men open their Group B campaign on June 11 against a talented young England side at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome. 

Russian bookmakers are clearly not especially optimistic about their team’s chances of beginning the tournament with three points, with Russia at 4-6 to emerge victorious and group favorite England at 1-9 on to win. “It’s clear that this team [England] is one of the favorites for Euro 2016,” Slutsky told Sport Express on June 4, adding that while...

The opening game of the 2016 European Championship gets underway on Friday night in Paris, with hosts and favorites France taking on relative European minnows Romania. France are expected to kick off the tournament with a victory and, given the crop of world stars at their disposal, could turn on the style and set down a marker for their rivals. France captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris faced the media on Thursday and admits he and his teammates are facing the most important tournament of their careers. “I won’t hide the fact, this morning, we felt something different because we left...

The work stoppages have extended to refuse collections. Police removed blockades outside rubbish collection depots around Paris, but workers inside subsequently walked off the job. As rubbish piled up on the streets of several cities one Parisian restaurant owner said: “Customers can smell this rubbish, so they avoid the place. Can you imagine drinking coffee around this stink? They just walk away.” A woman driver said she saw a plague of “huge rats.”

Iceland have just a two in 1,000 chance of being crowned victors of the imminent UEFA Euro 2016 football finals, according to a new statistical model by Goldman Sachs economists. Using such factors as previous match performance, goals scored and conceded, and current international rankings, the economist team has put together a ‘stochastic’ analysis of how likely each competing country is to reach certain stages of the competition.