Europe

The Armenian Football Federation (FFA) suspended the country's second tier with immediate effect and disqualified five teams after receiving "undeniable evidence" of their involvement in match-fixing.

About 45 people, including club owners, players and coaches, have been handed with life bans and another 13 were banned for different periods for being involved in manipulation of matches, the FFA said.

Local media reported that club owners with Russian passports, Russian players and coaches, as well as Ukrainian, Latvian and Belarusian footballers were among those banned.

Kazakhstan’s league was suspended on Friday for a second time after the government implemented another 14-day lockdown due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

The Kazakh top flight resumed on Wednesday after a three-and-a-half-month break due to the pandemic though the recent surge in infections forced some coaches to field weakened teams.

Five matches were played without spectators. Kazakh teams Tobol and Caspiy played with second-string sides due to a number of positive COVID-19 tests.

Álvaro Cervera arrived in Cádiz after a three-year spell with Tenerife. It was mid-April when he took the job as manager, the season nearly over. Cervera was able to guide Cádiz CF to a fourth-place finish and promotion to the Spanish second division after six arduous years in the third tier. Four years on, El Submarino Amarillo is on the brink of a return to the promised land of LaLiga.

FC Augsburg has wasted no time in adding to its squad this summer. The Bavarian side has completed some remarkable business by adding midfielders Daniel Caligiuri from Schalke and Tobias Strobl from Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz from Union Berlin. All three were signed on free transfers as their contracts at their previous clubs were due to expire at the end of June. 

Tobias Strobl
Daniel Caligiuri
Rafał Gikiewicz

An important game in the LaLiga relegation picture beckons as 18th-place Mallorca takes on 17th-place Celta Vigo on Tuesday.

Mallorca is still winless since the restart, having faced a tough stretch on the schedule which pitted the side against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The Balearic Islands-based team, co-owned by retired basketball player Steve Nash, has taken just one point since play resumed in a draw against fellow basement dwellers Leganes. 

I remember when, back in the fall of 2017, Andrés Iniesta put pen to paper on a lifetime contract with Barcelona. A part of me immediately understood that it was, in theory, merely symbolic (he would move to Vissel Kobe come summer), but there was a part of me that really wanted to learn that the contract was actually practical: Why not keep Iniesta in Barcelona’s midfield until the age of 76?

Barcelona coach Quique Setién has said he does not always see eye-to-eye with his squad as their LaLiga title bid threatens to unravel following Saturday's 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo.

Second-placed Barça trail Real Madrid by two points with six games to go and face a grueling match at home to third-placed Atlético Madrid on Tuesday which they need to win to stay in close contention in the title race.

"It's true that you often have arguments with players as you do in everyday life and that's nothing new," Setién told a virtual news conference on Monday. 

Real Madrid's Karim Benzema produced an audacious back-heeled assist for Casemiro to score as they beat Espanyol 1-0 away on Sunday to capitalize on Barcelona's slip-up a day earlier and move two points clear at the top of LaLiga.

Brazilian midfielder Casemiro slid to the ground to guide the ball home on the stroke of halftime after being played in by a stroke of genius from Benzema, who dragged the ball through the legs of the defender marking him to find his team mate.

Substitute Luis Muriel rifled in two long-range goals as irrepressible Atalanta beat Udinese 3-2 away on Sunday for their third straight win since restarting the Serie A campaign.

The league's most prolific team took their tally to 80 goals in 28 games, including 10 in three matches since the resumption, as they stayed fourth and on course for a Champions League spot.