Buoyed by their crushing 157-run victory in the fourth Test at The Oval on Monday, a confident Indian team will seek to continue their winning momentum in the fifth and final Test against England at Manchester.
Manchester United, Sevilla and Celtic led a parade of clubs with continental pedigree to book the first places in this season's Europa League knockout stage.
Portugal's Nani is poised to make his 99th appearance for his country in a crunch clash with Hungary on Wednesday and has been an automatic choice for the Selecao for a decade, yet there is a feeling the forward has not fulfilled his dazzling potential. Nani, blessed with searing pace, mesmerisingly quick feet and more tricks than a children's entertainer, will turn 30 in November and Euro 2016 could give the Fenerbahce star the platform for a transfer back to one of Europe's elite leagues. Scorer of Portugal's sole goal at the tournament - a neat finish in a 1-1 draw with Iceland - Nani has so far outperformed his captain and former Manchester United team mate Cristiano Ronaldo although he should have added to his tally of 18 international goals in Saturday's stalemate against Austria.
"...This club is built on what they did. It's built ... on (Bill) Shankly, (Bob) Paisley and (Joe) Fagan and all the others, but on these players... Steven Gerrard -- this club's built on, in the last 20 years, on Stevie's legs..."
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Former India skipper Saurav Ganguly has thrown his weight behind under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is facing criticism for his slow-paced knocks in the ongoing World Cup, saying the stumper will definitely succeed because of his experience and ability.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
English Premier League leaders Liverpool will need to maintain their excellent recent record against Everton in Sunday's Merseyside derby if they are to hold their advantage over second-placed Manchester City.
England begin their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign against Czech Republic on Friday at Wembley Stadium
India will square off against arch-rivals Pakistan at Old Trafford, Manchester on June 16.
De Bruyne out for up to six weeks due to injury, says Guardiola.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
Bayern edge closer to Bundesliga title after win at Arminia
Kane rolled his ankle painfully just before the hour mark after a hefty tackle on City defender Fabian Delph.
Lionel Messi scored his maiden goal for Paris St Germain in Tuesday's 2-0 Champions League victory against Manchester City.
Striker Ibrahimovic and defender Rojo are back training with the first team after suffering serious knee ligament injuries last season while midfielder Pogba has shaken off a hamstring problem that has kept him out of the side since September.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
Watford's hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a double blow on Tuesday when they were thrashed 4-0 at home by Manchester City and then slipped into the Premier League relegation zone after fellow strugglers Aston Villa beat Arsenal in the late game.
Eriksen punctured Brighton's armour from Tottenham's 29th goal attempt -- 21 of which were from outside the penalty area.
'The pandemic has caused football to change a lot, and for the worse. You can see it in the matches, and I hope this all ends soon and we can get fans back into the stadiums and return to normality.'
Liverpool started the ball rolling with a convincing 4-1 win at home to promoted Norwich and City responded a day later with an even more emphatic 5-0 victory at West Ham United.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola congratulated local rivals Manchester United on securing the services of striker Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal even though the Chilean international has not formally completed his transfer.
Tottenham moved up to seventh place with 36 points from 22 games
All the action that transpired on and off the football field
Even as Mumbai returns to work after the summer vacation, Bollywood is still on holiday.
Federico Valverde finished off a stunning move in extra time to give Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Barcelona
Soccer highlights from across the globe.
I tried to reason in my mind that wouldn't beating Pakistan again and again -- in the league matches and in the knockouts if they made it -- be a better tribute to our martyred soldiers? A revealing excerpt from Vinod Rai's Not Just A Nightwatchman: My Innings In The BCCI.
Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, failing to make it past the group stage of the competition for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
A fixture that once enjoyed the cachet of a heavyweight title fight -- and often resembled one on the pitch as England's preeminent teams slugged it out -- has been relegated in status with United fifth and Arsenal sixth in the Premier League.
England named an unchanged squad for first match of the three-Test series against Pakistan that begins on August 5 in Manchester, the country's cricket Board (ECB) said on Wednesday. England beat West Indies 2-1 in the first international Test series since the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the sport in March, winning the third match by 269 runs on Tuesday.
A summary of Wednesday night's action in the UEFA Champions League.
RB Leipzig scored twice in the opening 13 minutes but had to survive a late comeback from Manchester United to cling on to a 3-2 win on Tuesday that sent them into the Champions League knockout stage and eliminated the English side.
He increasingly looks like a manager unable to cope with the modern tactical realities of football. His display of a fear of failure has been appalling to watch. But Mourinho getting the sack at this juncture will hardly solve the problem, says Dhruv Munjal.
Mourinho singled out midfielder Nemanja Matic, who created the first goal for Romelu Lukaku and added the second himself with a late header, as one of the few players he was satisfied with.
Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said being confined to home due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown can become depressing and wants some cricket activities to resume soon even if the matches have to take place behind closed doors with proper safety barriers. Misbah said he would love to see some cricket activities resume at the international level and has no problems in playing in empty stadiums.
Elite sport in Britain returned without fans last month after a near three-month shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the government is set to allow spectators at carefully selected trial events from late July to early August.
Lampard must re-energise the team to even hold onto Chelsea's tag as best of the rest behind Premier League champions Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool.
