Spain

Mauricio Pochettino once said he would rather return to his ranch in Argentina than coach Barcelona, yet he is now the top candidate to be their next manager as they look to the future after Friday's 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich.

Quique Setien is certain to be sacked after Barca were humiliated in the Champions League quarter-final, a result which completed a miserable season, as for the first time since 2014 they failed to win a major trophy.

LISBON — For the first time in 13 years, there is no Spanish team in the semifinals of the Champions League and the way in which Barcelona were dumped out, with an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich, emphatically ended the era of LaLiga supremacy.

There was one basic similarity in the way that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid exited Europe this season — they simply looked too slow.

It is not that their players individually lack speed but that their styles of play lack the intensity and dynamism, the relentless pressing of the top German and English teams.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said radical changes were needed from top to bottom after his side were annihilated 8-2 by Bayern Munich on Friday to exit the Champions League in one of the Catalan side's darkest ever nights.

"We feel devastated, although shame is the real word I'm looking for. We cannot afford to compete like this because it's not the first, the second or the third time that something like this has happened," a tearful Pique told reporters after the quarter-final drubbing, their worst ever result in Europe.

It’s impossible to forget Germany’s epic six-goal beatdown of Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. But for those who missed it, the first half of the Barcelona-Bayern Munich Champions League quarterfinal on Friday was a pretty good reenactment.

Bayern Munich relentlessly breached Barcelona’s vulnerable defense en route to a 4-1 halftime lead in Lisbon, stunning a Blaugrana side not used to facing such an onslaught.

The18’s Prodigal Son returns. Five years, two months and 19 days since Norway’s mischievous sprite sent Cristiano Ronaldo to the substitutes’ bench with a tender hug, Martin Ødegaard is set to the return to the Bernabéu with Zinedine Zidane ready to hand him his second LaLiga appearance for Los Blancos.

Atlético Madrid's fears of further disruption to their trip to the Champions League 'Final Eight' tournament in Lisbon have been eased after the rest of the squad tested negative for COVID-19, following two positives the previous day.

The club's morning training session was postponed due to the positive cases and their plans to travel to Lison were put on hold, but the club said in a statement they would have one final session before flying out on Tuesday, a day later than planned. 

Julian Nagelsmann is the youngest head coach to take a team to the Champions League quarterfinals but any suggestion he or his RB Leipzig players will be out of their depth against Atletico Madrid should be quickly dismissed.

The 33-year-old will take the German upstarts into new territory on Thursday and admits a meeting with Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone will be a tough proposition.

Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Napoli on Saturday was a throwback to Barça’s more controlled days with Ivan Rakitić deputizing smartly for the suspended Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong going from strength to strength in midfield.

Napoli couldn’t get close to the 23-year-old Dutch maestro, who hardly put a foot wrong while completing 94% of his passes in the attacking third and going three-for-three in take-ons. He also had a would-be assist contemptuously chalked off after the ball grazed Lionel Messi’s upper arm.

Barcelona coach Quique Setien says he is not worried that Saturday's Champions League last-16 second leg at home to Napoli could be his last game in charge of the team.

Setien, 61, saw his side surrender the Spanish title to Real Madrid last month, while the tie with Napoli is on a knife edge after the 1-1 draw in Italy back in February.

161 days since punching their respective tickets to the Europa League Round of 16 (and 322 days since the group stage began), Sevilla and Roma returned to the pitch in Duisburg, Germany, on Thursday in a match that exemplified the strangeness of European football’s return.

This tie was one of two that failed to play a first leg back in March, so a single-leg format at a neutral venue in Germany (where the remainder of the tournament’s matches will be played from the quarterfinals on) was used to determine this one.