Tom Maston

Bayern Munich secured a narrow lead in their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid as goals from Luis Diaz and Harry Kane secured a 2-1 first-leg win for the Bundesliga leaders in the Spanish capital. Vincent Kompany's side were well worth their victory despite Kylian Mbappe pulling one back for the hosts, with the tie very much up for grabs heading into the return fixture.

When Barcelona travelled to take on Atletico Madrid on Saturday, they did so in the knowledge that securing victory would be a giant step towards defending their title in La Liga. Real Madrid had lost at Mallorca earlier in the day, meaning a seven-point gap could potentially be opened up on Los Blancos at the summit.

When Sporting CP signed Viktor Gyokeres, they took quite the gamble on a striker whose only consistent form in front of goal had come outside of the top-flight. Having failed to make the grade at Brighton, Gyokeres had proven to be a menace for Championship defences, scoring 43 goals for Coventry City over the course of two-and-a-half seasons with the Sky Blues.

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.

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.

The World Cup is now just two-and-a-half months away, with teams currently making their final preparations for the finals, while others look to book the final few spots in North America during the March international break. Once the tournament does eventually get under way, the stage will be set for a whole host of players to make themselves national heroes, including some of the most exciting youngsters in the game today.

England will head to the World Cup this summer as one of the favourites to lift the trophy after a run of strong tournament showings by a still relatively young core group of players. Football, though, moves fast, and soon there will be new stars who come along and usurp those established names. Fortunately for the Three Lions, the production line is showing few signs of slowing down.

Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Sydney Schertenleib are the winners of NXGN 2026 after coming out on top in GOAL's annual lists of football's top teenagers (players born on or after January 1, 2007). It marks the second straight year that Barca have provided the No.1 player on both lists, following Yamal and Vicky Lopez's triumphs in 2025.

The annual NXGN lists are back for 2026, as GOAL ranks the world's top teenage talents in men's and women's football, crowning winners that will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Vicky Lopez in being recognised as the best young footballers on the planet.

Despite the painfully protracted league phase running through the first five months of the season and the play-off round providing some drama, for many the Champions League doesn't truly begin until the last 16 gets underway. If you are one of those fans, then you likely loved the past week or so of European action.

Barcelona eventually cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League as they ran riot in the second half against Newcastle to win the second leg of their last-16 tie 7-2, earning an 8-3 aggregate victory. Raphinha was heavily involved in six of the goals, scoring two himself, while Robert Lewandowski also netted a brace, with Marc Bernal, Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez all on the scoresheet to boot.

Liverpool missed the chance to climb into the Premier League's top four as they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Tottenham on Sunday. Dominik Szoboszlai's fourth direct free-kick goal of the season looked set to be the match-winner for Arne Slot's side, but Richarlison popped up in the final minute of normal time to steal a point for Spurs.

Manchester United came up short in Sunday's Women's League Cup final, losing 2-0 to Chelsea after a catastrophic Dominique Janssen error gifted Lauren James the opening goal. Marc Skinner's side did have plenty of the play in Bristol across the course of the 90 minutes, but their hopes of a fightback were extinguished by substitute Aggie Beever-Jones in the second half.

Manchester City's march towards the Women's Super League title was stalled somewhat on Sunday as the runaway leaders were held to a 0-0 draw by Aston Villa. Andree Jeglertz's side struggled to create chances against the most porous defence in the division, and if not for some excellent Khiara Keating saves, they may well have fallen to just a third defeat of the campaign.

Errors from goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen helped condemn Chelsea to a 5-2 loss in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain. Goals from Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez looked to have earned the Blues a deserved draw in the French capital, only for Jorgensen to gift the ball to the defending champions on the edge of his own penalty area, which Vitinha took advantage of before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added two further late goals.

Arsenal left it late to salvage a 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie as Kai Havertz came back to haunt his former club. The Germany international netted from the penalty spot after Robert Andrich had given the hosts the lead as the Gunners earned a result that their overall performance barely deserved.

Antonin Kinsky's name will live in Tottenham and Champions League infamy for ever more. The Spurs goalkeeper was thrust into the line-up for Tuesday's last-16 first leg at Atletico Madrid, only to last just 17 minutes after twice gifting goals to Diego Simeone's side in what will go down as one of the worst goalkeeping performances in the history of Europe's premier club competition.

Newcastle were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Barcelona on Tuesday. Eddie Howe's side looked on course to record a famous victory when Harvey Barnes gave them the lead in the 86th minute, only for Malick Thiaw to concede a stoppage-time penalty which Lamine Yamal converted with the final kick of the game.