Holders Porto crashed out of the Europa League after a 4-0 thumping at Manchester City completed a 6-1 aggregate win for the English Premier League leaders on Wednesday.
Chelsea led a trio of English clubs into the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday after Tottenham Hotspur survived a thrilling Inter Milan fightback to advance on away goals and Newcastle United got a late winner.
New Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens rekindled memories of leading the Germans to 1997 UEFA Cup glory with an easy 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa in the second round of Europa League group matches on Thursday but favourites Paris St Germain lost.
The race for Premier League places in next season's Europa League warmed up on Sunday when Aston Villa and Everton fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw and Fulham came from behind to win 3-1 at Manchester City.
Real Sociedad will join Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and LaLiga champions Barcelona in Europe's elite club competition next season.
Manchester United's Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a goal in each half as their team comfortably outclassed Ajax Amsterdam to win an emotional Europa League final 2-0 and qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund snatched a late goal at Atalanta to progress with a 1-1 draw, while AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, both with three-goal leads from the away legs, completed the formality of qualifying with 1-0 wins at home on Thursday.
Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka scored his first goal for the club as they beat 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0, while Manchester United's 17-year-old Mason Greenwood secured a 1-0 win over FC Astana as the Europa League group stage began on Thursday.
Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made a mockery of his two-month exile from the starting lineup with a superb individual effort, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured an easy win that banished memories of their earlier group stage struggles.
If two or more clubs are level on points at the end of the group stage, a number of criteria will be taken into consideration to decide the qualifiers for the next round, starting with the head-to-head record among the teams in question. It then goes to superior goal difference and then goals scored in those matches.
Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero proved too classy a double act for Fulham in Wednesday's Europa League final, the two South Americans combining to earn Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win and a first major European trophy in 38 years.
Benfica kept alive their dream of a first European trophy in 52 years after a goalless draw with Juventus in Turin on Thursday helped the newly-crowned Portuguese champions win their Europa League semi-final 2-1 on aggregate.
Valencia turned the tables on a stunned Basel side to reach the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday with a 5-0 win after extra time thanks to a Paco Alcacer hat-trick as they recovered from a three-goal first-leg deficit.
Italian teams Juventus and Sampdoria were knocked out of the Europa League on Wednesday and holders Atletico Madrid were staring at an early exit after a 3-2 home defeat by Greek side Aris.
La Liga leaders Real Madrid cruised to a 4-0 home win over relegation-threatened Celta Vigo on Sunday to restore their seven-point lead at the top of the table with a dominant display.
Holders Atletico Madrid won for the first time in the Europa League this season, beating Rosenborg 3-0, while Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Manchester City beat Lech Poznan 3-1.
Manchester United conceded two late own goals to allow Sevilla to snatch a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Juventus were astonishingly held to a 3-3 home draw by Lech Poznan as the Europa League group stage kicked off on Thursday while holders Atletico Madrid began the defence of their crown with a 1-0 defeat at Aris Salonika.
Javier Zanetti made his 800th appearance for Inter Milan in the Italians' 2-0 win at Romania's Vaslui in a Europa League tie on Thursday.
Manchester City celebrated their Premier League title on Sunday, beating Chelsea 1-0 with an early goal by Julian Alvarez in the team's home finale at a sun-drenched Etihad Stadium.
Barcelona will begin their Spanish league title defence away to Getafe on Aug. 13 while Real Madrid visit Athletic Bilbao the same weekend.
Kevin de Bruyne struck twice to inspire Manchester City to a dominant 4-2 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday and move the champions level on points with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Jim Ratcliffe pledged to invest $300 million in Manchester United to try to revive its fortunes.
Fernando Torres will face his former club Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-finals after scoring twice to help Liverpool beat Benfica 4-1 at Anfield on Thursday.
Two goals by Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo helped Benfica to a 4-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Tuesday to clinch a place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Images from UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Holders Manchester City will take on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Group G.
Red Star, who won the European Cup in 1991 and reached the latter stages the following season, finished second in Group H behind Arsenal who crushed BATE Borisov 6-0.
Tottenham Hotspur's Erik Lamela scored a stunning 'rabona' goal to light up Thursday's Europa League ties, wrapping his left boot round the back of his right leg 20 metres out and blasting the ball into the top corner.
Andrea Pirlo kept Juventus on course for a home Europa League final after his superb free kick settled their battle with Italian rivals Fiorentina to send the Serie A leaders into the quarter-finals on Thursday.
'Players like Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard -- they've been brought up in this city. Paul Pogba was brought up in the city from the age of 14. They will find if difficult'
Champions Manchester City's 12-match winning streak in the Premier League came to an end as Julio Enciso's stunner earned sixth-placed Brighton and Hove Albion a 1-1 draw.
Wayne Rooney's Everton homecoming ended in a 1-0 win over Slovak side Ruzomberok with the former Manchester United striker having a quiet return to Goodison Park in the Europa League, third qualifying round, first-leg on Thursday.
Liverpool handed their fiercest rivals a painful lesson on Thursday with a dominant 2-0 win over Manchester United in the first leg of a Europa League last-16 clash.
Rattled by embarrassing domestic defeats, Chelsea looked jittery before Olivier Giroud settled their nerves with a close range tap-in shortly after halftime at StamfordBridge following good work by N'Golo Kante and Willian in the build-up.
Europa League favourites Manchester United secured a 1-1 draw on a threadbare pitch at Rostov, while Olympique Lyonnais beat AS Roma 4-2 helped by a fine individual goal from Nabil Fekir in their last 16, first leg ties on Thursday.
Fiorentina fell behind to a spectacular scissors-kick goal from Pandurii's Eric Pereira before hitting back in the last five minutes to win 2-1 on Thursday and lead a charge of teams into the Europa League knockout stages.
New Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp made it three wins from his last three matches with a 1-0 success at Rubin Kazan in Russia that left them second in Group B, two points behind Swiss club Sion on Thursday.
David De Gea has left Manchester United following the end of his contract after 12 seasons with the Old Trafford side.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances