Spain

LONDON — Villarreal held out for a 0-0 draw on a nerve-jangling night at Arsenal on Thursday to reach the Europa League final 2-1 on aggregate as visiting manager Unai Emery returned to haunt the London club that sacked him in 2019.

The Spanish side, who had lost their four previous European semi-finals, one to Arsenal in the 2005-06 Champions League, protected their first-leg advantage with a disciplined display.

MADRID — Real Madrid has long prided itself as the king of the Champions League, but its resounding defeat to Chelsea in Wednesday's semifinal second leg laid bare the need for a rebuild to reclaim its place among the continent's elite.

Zinedine Zidane's side may only have lost 2-0 on the night but there was no hiding from the fact they had been outplayed in both legs by Chelsea and had gotten away lightly with a 3-1 aggregate defeat.

The greatest Premier League title of them all (2015-16 with Leicester City), another with Chelsea (2016-17), the FA Cup (2017-18), the World Cup (2018), the Europa League (2018-19) and now a chance at the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League crown: N'Golo Kanté is one win away from putting the finishing touch on one of the most illustrious personal trophy cabinets in football history.

Operating alongside Jorginho in what frequently looked like a Chelsea 3-4-3 against Real Madrid on Wednesday, Kanté put in a monstrous performance on both ends of the Stamford Bridge pitch.

The 2020-21 UEFA Futsal Champions League came to a dramatic conclusion in Zadar, Croatia, on Monday night with 2019 winner Sporting CP playing 2020 champion Barcelona.

Barça advanced to the final behind the play of two-time Best Player in the World Ferrão. The 30-year-old Brazilian scored a hat-trick in the club’s semifinal win over Kairat Almaty, adding to the goal he scored against Dobovec in the quarters.

VALENCIA, Spain - Lionel Messi scored a 50th free kick goal for Barcelona as he led his side to a quick-fire comeback to win 3-2 at Valencia on Sunday and keep the pressure on LaLiga title rivals Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid.

With coach Ronald Koeman serving a touchline ban, Barça fell behind in the 50th minute when Valencia defender Gabriel Paulista headed home from a corner after keeper Marc-André ter Stegen had stumbled in his attempt to come for the ball.

Lionel Messi’s Instagram account recently reached 200 million followers. The account mostly just tweets out ads for the biggest brands in the world, such as adidas, Pepsi, Gatorade and SpaceScooter.

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann combined for a super sexy give-and-go goal that deserved its own writeup on Thursday. But like a phone call from your mother as you’re trying to be romantic with your partner, Granada poured cold water on Barcelona with an impressive 2-1 win at an empty Camp Nou on Thursday. 

Early against Real Madrid, Christian Pulisic put the ball on a platter for Timo Werner to score, but his German teammate hit it too close to Thibaut Courtois, whose lanky legs denied Chelsea an early goal. Not long later, Pulisic learned his lesson and opted not to pass, and in doing so put his team in front in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday in Madrid. The Pulisic goal vs Real Madrid was the opener in a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the UCL semifinals. 

If you could be anywhere in the world right now (Maradona willing), where would you go? Let me tell you why Zadar, Croatia, is the right choice.

First off, look at this obscenely beautiful city on the Adriatic Sea.