Ahead of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, Tom Bischof received special praise from manager Vincent Kompany. He also brought back fond memories for Joshua Kimmich.
Khadija Shaw's early strike helped Manchester City set up a blockbuster FA Cup semi-final clash with Chelsea, as the Women's Super League leaders defeated second-tier table-toppers Birmingham 1-0 on Monday evening. The Cityzens had never lost to lower-tier opposition in the competition and while their in-form hosts gave a good account of themselves, when Shaw broke the deadlock after just eight minutes, that record rarely looked in danger of changing.
From Lionel Messi's Inter Miami having their homecoming spoiled to Julian Hall leading the way for the Red Bulls, MLS delivered another compelling weekend of football
Hannah Hampton's blushes were spared by Veerle Buurman's wonderstrike as Chelsea beat Tottenham 2-1 on Monday to reach a sixth successive FA Cup semi-final. The Blues were on track for a place in the last four after Sam Kerr's first-half header until Hampton completely misjudged Eveliina Summanen's free-kick in a rare lapse. But just as extra-time was looming, up stepped the impressive Buurman, who rolled past one defender before unleashing a brilliant strike that flew into the top corner to break Spurs hearts late on.
Borussia Dortmund’s next match is against Bayer Leverkusen. Just over 15 years ago, a wild incident occurred within the BVB camp in the run-up to this fixture. Right at the heart of it all: Kevin Großkreutz.
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.
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.
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