David Beckham has targeted one final fling in the European Champions League before hanging up his boots once he leaves Los Angeles after five-and-a-half years.
Defender Kolo Toure believes Liverpool can recover from Sunday's painful League Cup final shootout defeat against Manchester City at Wembley and rescue their season by winning the Europa League. Juergen Klopp's side, seeking their first trophy in four years, face bitter rivals Manchester United this month in the last-16 of the continent's second tier competition. "You have to learn to lose sometimes before you win. We learn as a team together. The Europa League can save the season and the Premier League is not over yet," Toure told British media. Liverpool, who are ninth in the table, can quickly avenge Sunday's defeat when they host fourth-placed City in the Premier League on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet said it was important for the five-times European champions to bounce back quickly from their Wembley disappointment.
West Ham United were knocked out of the Europa League in the third qualifying round on Thursday after a 2-1 defeat at Romanian side Astra Giurgiu.
The Champions League rule which has denied Tottenham Hotspur a place in next season's competition because Chelsea won Saturday's final could be reviewed by UEFA's executive committee, president Michel Platini said on Wednesday.
European soccer's governing body has so far resisted implementation of the VAR system, which allows key incidents to be reviewed with the use of video replays and was used at the World Cup in Russia this year.
Crashing out at the group stage again would be a huge blow to Barcelona's finances, whose perilous state led the club's board to sell a stake in their TV rights and agree to the sale of their audio-visual division.
Eden Hazard scored twice and created a third to steer Chelsea to a 4-1 victory over London rivals Arsenal in the Europa League final in what looks likely to be the Belgium winger's final game for the Blues.
Cristiano Ronaldo says he will be "100 percent" in Saturday's Champions League final as he attempts to fire Real Madrid to a record-extending 11th European Cup and further torment their city rivals, Atletico.
Chelsea will face Dynamo Kiev at home in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, while London rivals Arsenal will travel to Rennes following Friday's draw in Nyon, Switzerland.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League
Lionel Messi led Barcelona to a 3-1 win at home to Napoli for a 4-2 aggregate victory which took the club into the Champions League quarter-finals, where they face Bayern Munich.
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved an early penalty and James Milner's shot was deflected into his own net by Havard Nordtveit for the English Premier League side's second goal in an end-to-end match.
Manchester United pull off one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history.
Neeraj Chopra said it was a dream come true to win the World Championships gold medal.
Luis Enrique is no fan of playing matches without spectators Yet he did admit that having live sport to watch on television would provide relief to millions of people who are confined to their homes for most of the day due to lockdowns imposed by governments to fight the spread of the virus.
Free from the extra burden of European football, Liverpool have a strong chance to win the Premier League this season under a "ruthless" Juergen Klopp, according to Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. Liverpool, who finished eighth in the league standings last season, are fourth in the table this campaign, having beaten Arsenal, Chelsea and champions Leicester City in their opening seven games.
Following Bayern Munich's brilliant 7-4 (on aggregate) win over FC Porto in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, here's a look at a few memorable come-from-behind victories in Europe's premier football competition.
Former European Cup winners Celtic and Ajax Amsterdam safely negotiated tricky Champions League third-round qualifying ties on Wednesday to move one step away from the lucrative group stage.
Fancied teams from England, Italy and Spain didn't make it to this year's Champions League final, which was contested by two German sides. But who would make up an All Stars Champions League team? Check out Siddhanta Pinto's Dream XI.
The Champions League group stages took on a less predictable look after Thursday's draw, helped by UEFA's decision to tweak the seeding system.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Marcus Rashford's penalty and a deflected strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 to claim the Champions League title on Saturday thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar in an entertaining final at the Olympic Stadium.
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has dispatched 300 club jerseys to supporters in his home village of Bambali in Senegal ahead of Saturday's Champions League final against Real Madrid.
The Champions League is part of Real Madrid's folklore and it is the nature of the Spanish side to always set their sights on Europe's most prestigious club tournament, having won it more times than any other team, winger Gareth Bale has said.
Lionel Messi didn't enjoy his time with the Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain.
Chelsea lost for the sixth time in six games in all competitions since interim coach Frank Lampard replaced Graham Potter last month, a dismal run for a club who were crowned European champions as recently as two years ago.
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
Holders Real Madrid chased away some of their early-season blues when Gareth Bale scored the pick of the goals in a 5-1 rout of FC Basel in their Champions League Group B opener on Tuesday.
Mohamed Salah is keen to make a decisive contribution in Saturday's Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur and help lay to rest the demons of Liverpool's nightmare defeat by Real Madrid a year ago.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagging four goals, while Juventus and Bayern Munich preserved their leads and FA Cup holders Arsenal were dumped out of the competition.
Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann struck twice as the Spanish side outclassed hapless Olympique de Marseille 3-0 on Wednesday to win the Europa League for the third time.
Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties on Thursday to set up an all-English Europa League final with local rivals Arsenal in Baku on May 29.
'After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it was time to go to the US league to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day.'
Luka Modric pulled one back for Zinedine Zidane's shellshocked side with a brilliant strike from distance early in the second half before substitute Vinicius Jr reduced the deficit to one goal.
Five-time European champions Liverpool are in the quarter-finals of this year's competition
The first legs will be on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 April, with the returns on May 1 and 2.
Real Sociedad will join Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and LaLiga champions Barcelona in Europe's elite club competition next season.
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