If recent reports are to be believed, Liverpool have identified Michael Olise as the ideal replacement for the outgoing Mohamed Salah. However, wanting to sign the France forward and actually managing to do so are two very different things altogether. Bayern's bid to sign Florian Wirtz last summer may have been blown out of the water by Liverpool - but they have absolutely no intention of selling Olise to the Reds at the end of the current campaign.
GOAL reviews the major takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, including Aaronson delivering a crucial moment for Leeds in their dramatic penalties win over West Ham.
Arsenal crashed out of the Women's FA Cup on Sunday, suffering a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Brighton. The Gunners came into the game in flying form, winning 11 of their last 12 games, with that defeat coming last time out in a Champions League quarter-final second leg at Chelsea in midweek that didn't stop them progressing into the last four. But the Seagulls showed no fear, starting fast against the reigning European champions before making their chances count after the break, as goals from Madison Haley and Caitlin Hayes put them into the FA Cup semi-finals.
The fact that Tom Bischof and Lennart Karl turned FC Bayern’s match in Freiburg around was remarkable, but not particularly surprising. What they said about it afterwards, however, certainly was. What this might mean for the upcoming fixture against Real Madrid.
Pep Guardiola insisted last month that Real Madrid were not his biggest rivals during his time at Manchester City, instead giving that particular honour to Liverpool. He did at least clarify that he meant Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, which is just as well after Arne Slot's Reds failed to cause Guardiola any stress while he watched his side run out 4-0 winners in Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final from the comfort of his seat in the stands.
Inter Miami needed late heroics from Luis Suarez to salvage a point after being largely outplayed by Austin FC in a mixed inaugural showing at their brand new stadium. Lionel Messi, inevitably, grabbed a goal, but the visitors created the better chances throughout and Miami were fortunate to walk away with a 2-2 draw on opening night.
Barcelona moved one step closer to defending their La Liga crown as Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to net a late winner in Saturday's 2-1 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid. Marcus Rashford had earlier got himself on the scoresheet for the Blaugrana as they moved seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table following Los Blancos' loss to Mallorca earlier in the day.
Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship outfit Southampton on Saturday, losing 2-1 at St Mary's. The pressure was on the Gunners to book a return to Wembley having been beaten by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final a fortnight ago, but their hopes of winning a domestic cup competition were dashed for another season in dramatic circumstances.
Chelsea put a week filled with controversy to one side to destroy Port Vale in their FA Cup quarter-final tie, prevailing 7-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to avoid a cup upset. The Blues were plunged into crisis after head coach Liam Rosenior confirmed vice-captain Enzo Fernandez had been suspended for two games for comments made about potentially joining Real Madrid, while Marc Cucurella was also reprimanded for similar sentiments about Barcelona and criticising the club hierarchy's blueprint for success.
Real Madrid weren't clinical enough at one end and were exposed at the other as they fell to a shock, 2-1 defeat against Mallorca on Saturday that lands a massive blow to their La Liga title hopes. Kylian Mbappe had chances aplenty, but the Mallorca defence held firm. Madrid's backline, by contrast, did not, which proved to be the difference on the day - and might be decisive in the title race, too.
Erling Haaland scored his first hat-trick of the season as Manchester City demolished Liverpool 4-0 in a practically perfect FA Cup quarter-final tie at the Etihad Stadium. Haaland bagged a penalty late in the first half and soon followed it with a header to complete a wonderful team move from Pep Guardiola's side, who stormed into the FA Cup semi-finals for an eighth consecutive season.
Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup on Saturday as they fell to a 4-0 quarter-final defeat at Manchester City that heaps more pressure on manager Arne Slot. Despite playing some nice football at times, the Reds were undone in the space of 18 minutes either side of half-time as a hat-trick from Erling Haaland and an Antoine Semenyo strike sealed City's spot in the semi-finals.
There were just a few minutes to go in the first half of Brazil's friendly with France last week when Raphinha began to experience what Carlo Ancelotti called "mild discomfort" in his right thigh. However, the mere fact that he failed to re-emerge for the second period at the Gillette Stadium immediately put Barcelona's medical team on red alert and they promptly reached out to the winger, desperately hoping to receive reassurance that he hadn't aggravated an issue that had already sidelined him twice this season.
Sophia Wilson is back with the USWNT after stepping away for motherhood, saying the journey has left her feeling more balanced, grounded and ready for the next chapter.
With Christian Pulisic going through a dry spell and Folarin Balogun needing to get his goalscoring touch back, it is poised to be a busy weekend for Americans Abroad.
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