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Mourinho and Deschamps lose Pogba   I n Turkey, matters went from bad to worse for Manchester United in the Europa League , first succumbing to a wonder goal from Fenerbahce's Moussa Sow little after the opening whistle and then more importantly, Paul Pogba having to walk off injured. A knock to his thigh, the French midfielder looks as if he may miss France's upcoming international matches, as well as leaving Jose Mourinho short-handed in an already thin position. The extent of the injury is still yet to be determined, with the player awaiting further tests.

Lyon fait match nul à Turin (1-1) et reste en course L'Olympique Lyonnais reste en vie. Grâce à un coup de tête de Corentin Tolisso (84e), le club rhodanien a ramené un point de Turin et n'a pas encore perdu tout espoir de disputer les huitièmes de finale de la Ligue des champions. Ce sera compliqué alors que les hommes de Genesio (3e) comptent quatre longueurs de retard sur la Juventus (2e). Le FC Séville, vainqueur de Zagreb (4-0), est en tête.  

Bale's spectacular finish in under a minute F resh off a new contract with Real Madrid , Gareth Bale continued a good week by scoring an incredible goal for Los Blancos in the early stages against Legia Warsaw in Wednesday night's Champions League clash. A masterful volley with his left foot was rocketed into the upper corner, and before Legia could even blink, they were already behind. His fifth of the season, Bale also scored in the first minute against Real Sociedad in Week 1 of LaLiga.  

Pepe contract renewal given go-ahead F resh from securing the futures of a host of first-team stars, Real Madrid have stepped up the second part of their raft of contract negotiations, with Pepe the next high-profile name to enter into discussions over an extended deal. Talks are said to be progressing well between the defender and Los Blancos officials, and a two-year renewal with the option of a further season appears to suit all parties. As such, Pepe is soon expected to become the latest first-team star to commit his future to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu outfit after Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Lucas Vázquez all already signed new deals with the Champions League holders. Real Madrid's aim is clear; to secure a number of their key individuals to extended contracts, and with that in mind, Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and Dani Carvajal are the other names in line to receive improved terms in the coming months.  

Cristiano Ronaldo targets huge Real Madrid centenary   L egia Warsaw welcome Cristiano Ronaldo to Poland on Wednesday night with the rare privilege of being yet to receive a goal from the Real Madrid star, who may have to remove that honour in the pursuit of a bigger crown. A hat-trick against Alaves, his 31st for Los Blancos, put Ronaldo on 99 matches of scoring at least two goals. That figure includes 61 braces across all competitions, five four-goal hauls, and a further two matches in which he's bagged five times; against Espanyol in September 2015 and Granada in April of the same year. However this season has been his worst in Madrid since joining in 2009 and the 31-year-old is tied with Alvaro Morata at the top of the club's scoring charts having played more than the Spaniard. Those alarm bells will be silenced in the strange hush of an empty Polish Army Stadium on Wednesday if Ronaldo can make it 100 games where he's scored more than one goal, which woul...

Real Madrid look to complete swift qualification against lifeless Legia   I n 2016/17, Real Madrid are a team of spurts; be it their rampant start to the campaign that kept up the winning streak from last year or the self-doubting spate of draws that struck in late September. Luckily for Zinedine Zidane, that stalemate spell has given way to a series of confident thrashings in recent weeks - despite the absence of Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Sergio Ramos - as Real Betis, Cultural Leonesa, Alaves, and Legia Warsaw were all put to the sword. It's the latter who are on the agenda once again on Wednesday night in the return fixture of their Champions League Group F campaign, although the circumstances are somewhat unique. Polish Army Stadium will be empty due to a UEFA stadium closure order , depriving Legia of their vociferous fans that coach Jacek Magiera remarked as their life and soul. Of course, for Real it merely increases the need for a professional job as group st...

Guardiola the pragmatist overcomes Barcelona   T he idea that a Pep Guardiola side will finish a game with just 40 percent of possession is rather obscene given the Catalan's ruthless approach to the game, and yet it proved enough to claim a stunning victory against Barcelona , of all sides. Controlling the game for large parts of the first-half, the Blaugrana looked to be at their best against a haphazard Manchester City side devoid of penetrative threat. Their 4-0 defeat at the Camp Nou appeared to be vivid in the Citizens' minds, and yet they hauled themselves out of the mire to win 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium. Luis Enrique's men bossed the possession statistics, making 519 passes to City's 315, with goalkeeper Willy Caballero even instructed to kick the ball long as part of Guardiola's counter-attacking plans. Having stated his desire to stick to his guns when arriving in Manchester, it appears that a topsy-turvy spell in the English side's dugo...

Atletico through to last 16 with Rostov win   A 2-1 win over Rostov on Tuesday evening was enough to secure Atletico Madrid's passage to the knockout rounds of the 2016/17 Champions League. It required a stoppage time Antoine Griezmann winner, a goal that was slightly controversial as there was confusion as to whether or not it had been awarded, but it - correctly - stood. Griezmann had also been the man to open the evening's scoring, before a Serdar Azmoun equaliser, but the No. 7's second of the evening allowed Los Rojiblancos to maintain their 100% record. Right from the off, Atletico asserted their dominance, but couldn't craft any chances in the first ten minutes despite their probing. Then in the 11th minute, Fernando Torres was a whisker away from connecting with a ball into the box, before Yannick Carrasco saw a shot blocked inside the area. Just before the half hour mark Los Colchoneros finally took a well-earned lead, with Griezmann ending his f...

Gundogan double downs Barcelona P ep Guardiola will be delighted with the second half performance from his Manchester City team as Ilkay Gundogan struck either side of the break to put the Premier League team back into Group C contention. Lionel Messi put Barcelona ahead 21 minutes into the first half as the Blaugrana were in impervious form, but Gundogan ushered a revitalised City team in at half-time, and with Guardiola making a few tweaks to his side, City dominated his former team in the second half. First a Kevin De Bruyne freekick, then Gundogan's second ensured City emerged victorious and are now two points behind group leaders Barcelona. A scrappy opening to the game saw both sides give away a number of free kicks, though it was the Spanish champions who settled quicker and asserted their dominance on Pep Guardiola's men. There was early controversy as Samuel Umtiti looked to have tripped Raheem Sterling in the penalty area, but referee Viktor Kassai booke...

Zidane: Never keeping a clean sheet bothers me The debate between whether Karim Benzema or Alvaro Morata deserves to start for Real Madrid has kicked up a gear recently but Zinedine Zidane is refusing to change his approach. Preferring the more experienced striker for the majority of his line-ups, Zidane has found Morata to be a very capable option off the bench with the Spaniard now pushing for a first whistle call up. "I know they're two important players," the Frenchman told his pre-match press conference. "Both will get their chance and I know that your concerns are always the same, well my answers are always the same. "I cannot say anything else, I know what you want and regardless of that everybody plays, the same with these two and the whole group." Taking on the Polish side with Legia under a stadium closure order, Real will find themselves in a very different scenario to the 80,000-strong arenas that usually host their European fi...