Europe

Due to Paris St German's dominance of French football over the years, Ligue 1 has become one of the least competitive competitions in Europe. Since the club's Qatari takeover in 2011, PSG has won seven of the last nine Ligue 1 titles — nearly all of them by 10 points or more.

This season though has brought a welcome change to the Ligue 1 landscape. PSG has played slightly below its standards domestically (its eight league losses, including five at home, are the most in a decade), while the competing sides have noticeably improved, making for a scintillating title race.

GLASGOW - Rangers were knocked out in the Scottish Cup quarterfinals with a 4-2 defeat on penalties after St Johnstone keeper Zander Clark set up a last-gasp extra-time equalizer and saved two penalties in the shootout to end the Glasgow side's hopes of winning the double.

With the match ending 1-1 after the extra period, James Tavernier missed Rangers' first penalty in the shootout at Ibrox and Kemar Roofe spurned the final one while St Johnstone converted all their kicks to join Hibernian and Dundee United in the last four.

After a six-month spell at the top of LaLiga, Atlético Madrid has ceded control of the division to Barcelona with only five matches remaining (although the two clubs meet on May 8). 

On Sunday, Atlético slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Athletic Club at the San Mamés following Iñigo Martínez’s dramatic 86th-minute winner. After an early stretch of 15 wins in 16 games that made Atlético’s title look almost certain, Los Colchoneros have won only five of their last 12 to allow Barça (15 wins in 17) the chance to go top on Thursday against Granada.

Sevilla kept itself in the LaLiga title race by defeating Granada 2-1 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on Sunday, although Spain’s fourth-place side had to withstand late pressure following Roberto Soldado’s penalty and hold out for not one, but two full-time whistles. 

Ivan Rakitić gave Sevilla a 1-0 lead from the spot in the 16th minute, and Lucas Ocampos made it 2-0 in the 53rd off a feed from Papu Gómez. However, in the 90th minute, the VAR spotted a Marcos Acuña handball and Soldado said game on with four minutes of stoppage time to play.

LONDON - Manchester City claimed a record-equalling fourth successive League Cup triumph as Aymeric Laporte's late header sealed a deserved 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Spurs had soaked up intense City pressure for most of the game to somehow stay in contention at Wembley Stadium. But City finally made the breakthrough in the 82nd minute from an unlikely source as defender Laporte met Kevin de Bruyne's free kick and headed past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

It was a massive Sunday for USWNT players abroad as Alana Cook’s PSG hosted Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal showdown, while over in England Christen Press’s Manchester United continued its push for a place in next season’s tournament by welcoming Tottenham.

After knocking out eternal rival Lyon in the quarterfinals, PSG was sent crashing back down to Earth in the 13th minute after Jennifer Hermoso opened the scoring for Barça. 

England's football authorities have joined forces to announce a social media boycott next weekend in response to continued online racist abuse of players.

The boycott will take place across a full fixture programme in the men's and women's professional game from 3 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Friday to 11.59 p.m. on Monday May 3.