Europe

West Brom may have only finished Saturday’s EFL Championship game with 30% possession, but that’s all they needed after two early Daryl Dike goals vs Middlesbrough was enough for a 2-0 victory.

Dike’s pair of goals came just two minutes apart as he bested fellow American goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the 8th and 10th minute.

Daryl Dike goals vs Middlesbrough

The first goal for Dike came at the end of a great sequence of passes from West Brom. His darting run into the middle gave him enough space to slip the ball past Steffen.

Leeds United States of America have won a game. Thank goodness. Leeds defeated Southampton 1-0 on Saturday in what was a battle between the two teams bottom of the Premier League.

American fans will be pleased with new Spanish manager Javi Garcia. In his first game in charge Garcia started all three American players (Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson). This was the first time the trio of USMNT players have started for Leeds together.

France captain Wendie Renard said on Friday that she will not play at this year's Women's World Cup to preserve her mental health, with fellow internationals Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani following suit.

Renard, who is widely considered to be one of the best defenders in women's football, played for France in international games against Norway, Denmark and Uruguay earlier this month.

She has 142 caps for France and plays for French side Olympique Lyonnais.

A bizarre Fiorentina disallowed goal vs. Braga confused just about everyone on Thursday when a VAR decision overruled goal line technology.

The introduction of technology to soccer has come with its problems, but most fans can agree the sport is in a better place now. Long past are the days of “no era penal” and Frank Lampard’s ghost goal vs. Germany. Goal line technology and VAR has seen to it that mistakes like those are incredibly rare nowadays.

I've been actively losing sleep due to feeling bad for Rennes defender Jeanuël Belocian. A freak Belocian own goal vs. Shakhtar Donetsk in the 119th minute of Thursday’s Europa League playoff match tied the aggregate score at 3-3 and sent the two teams to penalties.

Shakhtar would win the penalty shootout 5-4.

MANCHESTER, England - It was Groundhog Day for Barcelona at Old Trafford on Thursday as Manchester United fought back to earn a 2-1 win that knocked the Spanish side out of the Europa League, leaving the Catalans licking their wounds after another continental failure.

Last season they also ended up in the Europa League playoffs after finishing third in their Champions League group and were knocked out of Europe's second tier competition in the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.

Heading into Thursday's Europa League playoff between Sevilla and PSV at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, the Spanish side simply needed to protect the 3-0 advantage they'd earned at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán last week while the Dutch club needed its own remontada.

PSV supporters willed their side forward, but the opening 45 minutes passed without much goalmouth incident. Sevilla's strategy was clear as early as the 33rd-minute when Marcos Acuña was booked for time-wasting over a throw-in.

Ángel Di María scored all three of Juventus’ goals in the Italian side’s 3-0 victory vs. Nantes to advance to the Europa League Round of 16. The Argentine was unstoppable and set the tone five minutes in.

In the fifth minute an insane Di María goal put Juventus ahead 2-1 on aggregate. Look at the curve on this shot.

Di María goal vs. Nantes

ÁNGEL DI MARÍA STOP THAT. pic.twitter.com/NgYfrwUJLf

MADRID - Spain's most capped player Sergio Ramos announced his international retirement on Thursday after being told by new coach Luis de la Fuente that he was not part of his plans.

The 36-year-old Paris St Germain defender, who won the World Cup in 2010 as well as two European Championships, has not played for Spain since March 2021, yet said he should have been given the chance to show he could still be of service to his country.

We haven't seen Christian Pulisic in action since his latest injury setback at Chelsea on Jan. 5 when the American hurt his knee against Manchester City with "a couple of months" out prescribed as the recovery tonic.