The La Liga season restarts Saturday, September 12, and Real Madrid will again be heavy favorites for the title. Los Blancos used a late surge to overtake rivals Barcelona and win the league by five points.
The final 2019-20 La Liga table pic.twitter.com/RBzufwDvDQ
— Goal (@goal) July 19, 2020
Sevilla’s quest for a record-extending sixth Europa League crown continues after LaLiga’s fourth-place finisher defeated Manchester United 2-1 on Sunday. United took an early lead through Bruno Fernandes’ customary penalty, but Sevilla overturned the deficit with goals from the unlikely duo of Suso and Luuk de Jong.
On paper, Manchester United was the heavy favorite in its Europa League quarterfinal tie against FC Copenhagen on Monday. The Red Devils' attack included big names like Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba, as well as teenage sensation Mason Greenwood.
Yet for 90-plus minutes, United was held at bay by a 30-year-old Swedish goalkeeper named Karl-Johan Johnsson.
DUISBERG, Germany — Sevilla midfielder Lucas Ocampos headed a late goal to snatch a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as they reached the Europa League semi-finals on Tuesday after the English side paid the price for an early penalty miss.
Ocampos rose to direct a cross from fellow Argentine Ever Banega past goalkeeper Rui Patricio in the 88th minute of the single leg match and earn five-times winners Sevilla a last-four clash with Manchester United.
Inter Milan's Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku scored and tormented the Bayer Leverkusen defense as he led his side into the Europa League semifinals with a 2-1 win on Monday.
Nicolo Barella put Inter ahead after 15 minutes, driving the ball home after Lukaku's shot was blocked, and six minutes later the Belgian got on the scoresheet when he displayed his strength by holding off defender Edmond Tapsoba before firing home.
Talk about right place, right time
Despite having one of the best left-backs in the world in Andy Robertson, Liverpool was not afraid to add more fullback talent through the transfer market. After completing his medical, Greek left-back Konstantinos "Kostas" Tsimikas was announced as Liverpool's newest signing Monday afternoon.
Welcome to Liverpool, Kostas Tsimikas!
— Liverpool FC (Premier League Champions) (@LFC) August 10, 2020
Raúl Jiménez’s goalscoring exploits for the 2019-20 season began back on Aug. 1, 2019, with a brace against Crusaders in the Europa League second qualifying round. Fast forward more than a year and Jiménez has added a further 25 goals across all competitions, including a penalty in today’s 1-0 (2-1 aggregate) win over Olympiacos in the Europa League Round of 16.
FC Copenhagen made history on Wednesday by becoming the first Danish club to advance to a European quarterfinal since 1996 after defeating Turkish champion Istanbul Basaksehir 3-0 (3-1 aggregate). Two things were learned from the match: Copenhagen isn’t to be taken lightly and CBS posts 16-minute long highlight videos.
161 days since punching their respective tickets to the Europa League Round of 16 (and 322 days since the group stage began), Sevilla and Roma returned to the pitch in Duisburg, Germany, on Thursday in a match that exemplified the strangeness of European football’s return.
This tie was one of two that failed to play a first leg back in March, so a single-leg format at a neutral venue in Germany (where the remainder of the tournament’s matches will be played from the quarterfinals on) was used to determine this one.
MANCHESTER, England — Former Europa League winner Manchester United booked a quarterfinal spot in the tournament after their second-string side laboured to a 2-1 home win over LASK Linz on Wednesday to seal a 7-1 aggregate rout of the Austrian side.
United's reward is a clash with FC Copenhagen in Cologne on Monday after the Danish side beat Istanbul Basaksehir 3-0 at home earlier on Wednesday to wipe out a 1-0 first-leg deficit.