Europe

A steady rain fell in Nailsworth, England on Sunday afternoon for the second leg of the League Two playoff semifinal between Forest Green Rovers and Newport County. The deluge began well before the opening kickoff and continued after the sky darkened and the floodlights illuminated the New Lawn Stadium.

At times, the constant downpour obscured the television camera lens with magnified droplets of water, giving viewers at home the impression that they were wearing a rain poncho alongside the 1,200 home supporters in the partially-covered stands.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of the best midfielders in Europe during the 2020/21 season with Roma. The attacking midfielder’s 28 goal contributions (15 goals and 13 assists) was the second highest among midfielders in Europe sitting only behind Bruno Fernandes.

Statistically, the 2020/21 season was Mkhitaryan’s most productive in half a decade. That’s why it came as such a shock to him that he would be sitting out of future national team duty. 

Mkhitaryan expressed his frustrations on Twitter after receiving the news that he’d been snubbed.

ROME — A Serie A season like no other heralded a changing of the guard at the top of Italian football.

In his second year in charge of Inter Milan, Antonio Conte masterminded a superb league campaign that ended his club's 11-year wait for the title.

| SIAMO NOI

Buonanotte così, #InterFans pic.twitter.com/dmW1WPy1OV

MADRID — Spain coach Luis Enrique left captain Sergio Ramos out of his squad for Euro 2020 on Monday, meaning that there will be no Real Madrid players representing Spain at a major tournament for the first time in the club's history.

The closest they have come previously to not being represented by Spain was at the 1950 World Cup, when just one Real squad member - Luis Molowny - was called up.

Spain's 24-man Euro 2020 squad by club

The 2020-21 season was a banner year for Americans abroad. USMNT players have been winning trophies all over Europe, including regulars at Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund; in a week, we’ll see an American win the Champions League for either Chelsea or Manchester City. But Saturday was not a great day for keeping U.S. internationals in Europe’s top flights, with a number of Americans relegated to lower tiers or unable to gain promotion. 

WOLVERHAMPTON — Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo is to leave at the end of the season, the club said on Friday.

The 47-year-old has been in charge since 2017, guiding Wolves back to the Premier League in his first season at the helm and then enjoyed consecutive seventh-placed finishes.

TAKE A BOW, NUNO

FC Barcelona Femení continued its monstrous season with a casual 8-0 victory against Athletic Club on Wednesday. This was the sixth time this season that Barcelona scored seven or more goals in a single game.

This Barcelona team is putting up statistics unheard of in the soccer sphere. After 27 league games, the Catalan side has won all 27, scored 136 goals and conceded five. Those are like video game numbers put up by an expert gamer who put the difficulty setting on amateur.