England

Well, that was eventful. A game that promised buckets of narrative delivered and then some. Leicester, led by interim manager Craig Shakespeare came out guns blazing and Liverpool, um, liverpool came out like they normally do against relegation-threatened sides.

You can sort of see where this is headed.

Crystal Palace fans thought they were being tricky when they spray-painted the bus that had carried Middlesbrough to their match with Palace on Saturday. The fans sprayed "Crystal Palace FC" on the bus to show Middlesbrough who exactly they were dealing with. What a hilarious prank! One problem: it was Crystal Palace's bus.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s quest to win trophies for Manchester United is being realized with stunning proficiency. After scoring late for Man United in their FA Community Shield victory over Leicester City to mark his Red Devil Wembley debut, Zlatan has continued his act by scoring twice, including an 87th minute winner, to lift United over Southampton in the EFL Cup final, 3-2.

Earlier this week, BBC Sport reported that five-year-old Bradley Lowery is set to be England's mascot at an upcoming World Cup qualifier against Lithuania on March 26, 2017. He will lead the team out onto the field ahead of their game.

Lowery is a huge fan of the Premier League's Sunderland football club, and he appeared as a mascot for Sunderland in their away game against Everton Saturday.

Claudio Ranieri was fired yesterday after leading Leicester City to the Premier League title last season and the Champions League group stage this season. It was very sad, and even more sad is this statement from Ranieri regarding his time at Leicester:

Here is the statement from Claudio Ranieri, released to @PAdugout #LCFC pic.twitter.com/5u6ZrfEENE

For better or for worse, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken every competition seriously this campaign. You could say for better because it’s resulted in United reaching the EFL Cup final, the FA Cup quarterfinals and the Europa League round of 16.

You could say for worse because with the Red Devils holding a 3-0 advantage over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League, Mourinho elected to field a strong side in the second leg, resulting in injuries that will rule both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick out of Sunday’s EFL Cup final.

So that’s that then. The man who led Leicester City to their greatest achievement in 133 years of existence, who, against 5,000-1 odds, reminded us that football is important because it provides moments of proof as to the ability to ascend over the bleak status quo — that we are surrounded by possibilities rather than dictated by a torrent of cruel fate, has been stabbed in the back by his club a day after declaring that “the dream is alive”.

Claudio Ranieri, the man who inspired Leicester City to its geatest season and orchestrated the biggest surprise in Premier League history, has been sacked less than a year after hoisting the EPL trophy. 

The Daily Mail first reported that, in the middle of a relegation fight (but with the team still alive in the Champions League knockout stage. The Champions League! Leicester!), Ranieri had been let go.

Free-scoring Monaco met Pep Guardiola’s equally attack-minded Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, and then all hell broke loose. Fox Sports guaranteed us goals on FS1, and they didn’t lie to us.

Goals guaranteed as Man City host high-flying Monaco in the @ChampionsLeague Round of 16!