Unai Emery claimed a record-breaking fourth UEFA Cup/Europa League title after Villarreal upstaged Manchester United for their first major European crown.
Villarreal conquered United in the Europa League final following a marathon 11-10 penalty shoot-out in Gdansk, where the match finished 1-1 after extra time.
Gerard Moreno s first-half opener was cancelled out by United star Edinson Cavani in the 55th minute and the showdown was decided on penalties.
United goalkeeper David de Gea missed the only penalty of a lengthy shoot-out as Emery became the first head coach to win either the UEFA Cup or Europa League four times, surpassing Giovanni Trapattoni.
4 Unai Emery has become the first manager to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League four times (2013-14, 2014-15,…
With all eyes falling on Munich on Friday night, Germany opened this summer’s European Championships with a thumping 5-1 victory against a sorry Scotland.
The tone was set in an electric Allianz Arena after just 10 minutes as Bayern Leverkusen ace Florian Wirtz waltzed on to the ball to steer in the opener.
Jamal Musiala’s ferocious strike almost punctured Angus Gunn’s net, as well as the hearts of the mass of stunned Scots behind the goal, just nine minutes later.
With the flood gates firmly open from the start, Kai Havertz slammed in the third from the penalty spot with Ryan Porteous’ red card leaving Scotland with the tallest of mountains to climb.
With a huge gulf in class from the opening whistle, Julian Nagelsmann’s men didn’t take thei…
Ralf Rangnick is convinced Manchester United s season is not over despite Tuesday s 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid dumping them out of the Champions League.
United claimed a commendable – albeit fortunate – 1-1 draw in Madrid last month as they looked to reach the quarter-finals for only the third time since finishing as runners-up in 2010-11.
While they were dominant over Atletico in the return leg at Old Trafford, United found their visitors immensely difficult to break down.
A Renan Lodi header just before half-time ultimately proved decisive and left United with little to play for over the rest of the season.
While they are not out of the hunt for a top-four spot in the Premier League just yet, the Red Devils trail Arsenal by a point and …
Stefano Pioli explained that his Milan side avoided discussing Inter s earlier win ahead of facing Genoa.
Milan claimed a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Rafael Leao and Junior Messias in San Siro on Friday.
Their game came hot on the heels of Inter s 3-1 victory at Spezia, a result that had seen the reigning champions briefly move into top spot in Serie A.
However, Milan got the job done, winning for the first time in three games to restore their two-point advantage with five matches left, though Inter do have a game in hand.
Milan are attempting to win their first Serie A title since 2010-11 and Pioli noted that although he knew Inter had won, his side had not discussed the possible ramifications.
I knew their result, but we didn t talk a…
Xavi will not be on a revenge mission when Barcelona face Inter in a very important Champions League showdown at San Siro on Tuesday.
Head coach Xavi was in the Barca side knocked out of the Champions League by Inter at the semi-final stage in 2010.
The Blaugrana were beaten 3-1 in the first leg in Milan and failed to overturn that deficit, crashing out after winning 1-0 at Camp Nou against Jose Mourinho s men, who went on to lift the trophy.
Xavi returns to San Siro with the two sides both having picked up three points from their opening two Group C games, with Barca beaten 2-0 at leaders Bayern Munich last month.
And the former Spain midfielder is motivated by the prospect of qualifying for the last 16 rather than having a score to settle.
He sa…
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City s acquisition of Erling Haaland demonstrates that the Premier League champions are one of Europe s elite destinations.
City reportedly saw off competition from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich to sign the striker in a £51.2million (€60m) deal in May, and Haaland has started brightly, scoring three goals in his first three league games.
The Norway international is just the third player to score on both of his first two away trips in the Premier League for City, after Emmanuel Adebayor and Emile Mpenza, having followed up his opening-game double at West Ham with a goal in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle United on Sunday.
City s all-time record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, meanwhile, is the only other player …
Luchi Gonzalez admits his team need to learn the difference between competing and winning as they aim to bounce back against Austin FC on Saturday.
The Earthquakes currently sit bottom of the Western Conference with 10 points, having won just three games this season.
Gonzalez highlighted his team has no trouble competing with their opponents and is optimistic they can turn leads into actual wins soon.
The result of the last game [against Austin], we didn t get the job done there at the end even though we thought we were about to, but we re competing consistently in any competition, he said.
We ve had the lead in eight out of [14 MLS games]. That does show you that we re ready, we re prepared and we compete. Competing and winning are two different things…
Cristiano Ronaldo has reached 100 Premier League goals after netting for Manchester United against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.
The 37-year-old bought up his Premier League century over 19 years after his debut in the competition when he swept home from Nemanja Matic s cross.
Ronaldo s goal hauled United back into the contest after they had found themselves 2-0 down following goals from Nuno Tavares and Bukayo Saka.
It came at the end of a difficult week for Ronaldo, who confirmed the loss of his baby son on Monday and subsequently missed United s defeat to Liverpool a day later.
Having hit all of those goals in United colours, Ronaldo becomes just the fourth player to reach the landmark for the club, along with former team-mates Wayne Rooney, Paul Scho…
Poland became the fourth nation to confirm their participation at Euro 2020 thanks to a 2-0 win over North Macedonia on Sunday.
Jerzy Brzeczek s Poland looked as though they were going to finish the day frustrated, but eventually scored the first goal 16 minutes from time in the Group G fixture.
Przemyslaw Frankowski got on the end of Robert Lewandowski s shot and prodded home to send Poland on their way to victory in Warsaw.
Lewandowski was involved again a few moments later, nudging the ball to Arkadiusz Milik while appearing to be fouled and the Napoli man made the most of the advantage.
Euro 2020 will be Poland s fourth successive appearance at the tournament.
They join Italy, Belgium and Russia in wrapping up qualification.
qualifi…
Wales welcome Turkey to Cardiff for their final Euro 2024 qualifier on Tuesday.Rob Page’s side must win and hope Croatia do not beat Armenia in order to secure automatic European Championship qualification and avoid the play-offs in March.
Here, the PA news agency studies some of the main talking points surrounding the game.
Favour needed
Croatia move into a qualification spot in Group D on their penultimate matchday
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024)
Wales’ disappointing 1-1 draw in Armenia on Saturday took automatic qualification out of their hands heading in to the final round of matches.
Croatia seized advantage by winning 2-0 in Latvia to move in to the box-seat and claim the second spot behind Turkey.
The mathematics for Wales ar…