English Clubs

LONDON — Villarreal held out for a 0-0 draw on a nerve-jangling night at Arsenal on Thursday to reach the Europa League final 2-1 on aggregate as visiting manager Unai Emery returned to haunt the London club that sacked him in 2019.

The Spanish side, who had lost their four previous European semi-finals, one to Arsenal in the 2005-06 Champions League, protected their first-leg advantage with a disciplined display.

English football club Ipswich Town may have fallen on hard times but they are hoping a new shirt sponsorship deal with singer Ed Sheeran will make them the "A Team" with the ginger-haired crooner's fans.

Ipswich, nicknamed The Tractor Boys, was FA Cup winners in 1978 and won the UEFA Cup, forerunner of the Europa League, in 1981 but now finds itself in the third-tier League One.

MADRID — Real Madrid has long prided itself as the king of the Champions League, but its resounding defeat to Chelsea in Wednesday's semifinal second leg laid bare the need for a rebuild to reclaim its place among the continent's elite.

Zinedine Zidane's side may only have lost 2-0 on the night but there was no hiding from the fact they had been outplayed in both legs by Chelsea and had gotten away lightly with a 3-1 aggregate defeat.

The greatest Premier League title of them all (2015-16 with Leicester City), another with Chelsea (2016-17), the FA Cup (2017-18), the World Cup (2018), the Europa League (2018-19) and now a chance at the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League crown: N'Golo Kanté is one win away from putting the finishing touch on one of the most illustrious personal trophy cabinets in football history.

Operating alongside Jorginho in what frequently looked like a Chelsea 3-4-3 against Real Madrid on Wednesday, Kanté put in a monstrous performance on both ends of the Stamford Bridge pitch.

An American will win the men’s UEFA Champions League. It’s a bit unbelievable to type, read or say, but it’s true after a Christian Pulisic assist vs Real Madrid means Chelsea will face Zack Steffen’s Manchester City in the UCL final on May 29 in Istanbul. 

No USMNT player has ever taken part in a Champions League final, and either Steffen or Pulisic will lift the big-eared trophy in just over three weeks. 

How cool is that?

Just a couple guys from Pennsylvania vying to become champions of Europe.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino says a new Women's Club World Cup is being planned as part of a plan to "revolutionize" the female game.

In an interview with French sports newspaper L'Equipe, Infantino said he was looking forward to the first edition of the already agreed new 24-team men's Club World Cup but said a women's version was in the pipeline too.

"My dream is also to see the birth of the very first Women's Club World Cup. It’s coming very soon. And it will really revolutionize women's football," he said.

Pep Guardiola was widely praised for putting on his “de-thinking cap” in Manchester City’s Champions League first-leg semifinal win over PSG, which basically meant that he stuck with the starting lineup that’d delivered Premier League and League Cup glory this campaign before holding his nerve (not doing anything) despite Paris