Europe

MADRID - Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema will leave Real Madrid as a free agent in the close season after 14 trophy-laden years, the LaLiga club said on Sunday, with the striker set to move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad.

Saudi Arabia's state-run Al Ekhbariya television station reported that Al Ittihad had reached an agreement with Benzema on a two-year contract, with club officials in Madrid to hammer out a "record deal" with the striker.

RB Leipzig defended their German Cup title with a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on Saturday, with Christopher Nkunku scoring one second-half goal and setting up Dominik Szoboszlai for the other.

After an entertaining but even first half, in which Leipzig's Timo Werner spurned an early golden opportunity, Frankfurt looked to be on top but were stunned when Nkunku's strike took a huge deflection off Evan Ndicka in the 71st minute.

After losing last year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final to Lyon, Barcelona redeemed themselves with a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory vs. Wolfsburg on Saturday to claim their second-ever UWCL crown.

The Barcelona players must of thought they were having déjá vu of last year’s final when they once again conceded early goals. Last time against Lyon the Catalan club got scored on in the sixth and 23rd minute.

On Saturday Wolfsburg scored in the third and 37th minute.

LONDON — Manchester City moved to within one victory of completing a momentous treble as they beat Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final thanks to Ilkay Gundogan's double on Saturday.

City captain Gundogan entered the record books by scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup final history as he crashed home a stunning volley 12 seconds after kickoff.

Gundogan FA Cup final goal

GUNDOGAN SCORES THE FASTEST GOAL EVER IN AN FA CUP FINAL

Szymon Marciniak will fulfill his role as the referee for the Champions League final after the Pole apologized for participating in an event associated with an extreme-right movement, Europe's soccer governing body UEFA said on Friday.

UEFA were investigating his presence at an event organized in Katowice on Monday, saying they "abhor the values that are promoted by the group", but kept him on as the referee after an apology and clarification from an anti-discrimination body.

With a sell-out crowd of over 35,000 confirmed, free Women's Champions League Final streaming on YouTube and a historic matchup between Barcelona and Wolfsburg — two true giants of the competition — it doesn't get any better than the 2023 UWCL Final in Eindhoven.

José Mourinho couldn’t keep his perfect record in European finals intact on Wednesday as his Roma side fell to Sevilla 1-1 (4-1 on penalties) in the Europa League final.

Mourinho has now won five of the six European finals he’s managed in.

Roma opened the scoring in the 34th minute through Paulo Dybala. The Argentine was a surprise start after missing the last seven weeks with injuries, most recently an ankle issue.