Europe

France and Croatia face a rematch of the World Cup final after being drawn together in their Nations League group for the second edition of the UEFA tournament. The pair are in Group 3 in League A, along with defending champion Portugal and Sweden.

England face a fresh encounter with Iceland, which eliminated it from Euro 2016, in Group 2, which also features Belgium and Denmark.

Germany has a tough task in Group 4 where it faces Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told European football's administrators on Tuesday that they can be proud to be in charge of the most popular, wealthiest and best football in the world.

In a surprisingly blunt message, the Slovenian told his organisation's annual congress that they should not be ashamed of the success of tournaments such as the Champions League and the Euros — nor the huge amount money they generate.

Per reports from Spanish media outlet Marca, rumors are Gonzalo Higuain is linked with Athletic Bilbao for the 2020-21 season.  

Higuain has spent the last seven years in Italy with a couple of loan spells with Milan and Chelsea in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Most players receive only a few red cards in the course of a career. Red cards can be a last ditch effort for a referee to control a game after it becomes unhinged. Typically, the events that lead up to a red card are unintentional - almost humorous. (We can all thank Fellaini for this comical exchange with Sergio Aguero during the Manchester Derby.)

Chelsea's progress has been severely dented this season due to a number of injury setbacks and several senior players will be unavailable for Tuesday's FA Cup fifth-round clash with Liverpool, manager Frank Lampard said on Monday.

Players such as influential midfielder N'Golo Kante have had a stop-start campaign while others like Antonio Rudiger have either returned from injury recently or been sidelined like winger Christian Pulisic.

The fifth round of the FA Cup kicked off with Arsenal visiting League One side Portsmouth on Monday. Because rules makers in England are about as smart as blade of grass, just three of the eight matches this round will feature a VAR. The lunacy of this decision was highlighted by a horrific Lucas Torreira injury that went unpunished.

Former Liverpool and England striker Daniel Sturridge has been suspended from all football-related activity until June 17 after he was found guilty of breaching betting rules, English football's governing body (FA) said on Monday.

Sturridge became a free agent earlier on Monday after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract with Turkish side Trabzonspor.

He had been charged by the FA in July with 11 alleged breaches of its betting rules, nine of which were dismissed by an independent regulatory commission, and banned for six weeks — four of which were suspended.

For 70 minutes it looked like we’d ultimately have to praise the goalkeepers following today’s LaLiga match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. With all due respect to the position — I love you, I admire you, I know your inner strength — thank god that’s not the case.

No one wants the “Greatest Show on Earth” to be dictated by positional killjoys, and this season’s second El Clásico finally got the goal(s) it deserved.   

The Serie A season runs the risk of not finishing if more matches are postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, Inter Milan's chief executive Giuseppe Marotta said on Sunday. Inter's match at Juventus, which was to have been played later on Sunday, was one of five which were postponed by Serie A on Saturday. 

With the biggest clubs resting their starters until the later rounds of the competition, the League Cup is effectively England’s litmus test for who has the deepest squad of them all. It’s an opinion that’s supported by the fact that Manchester City has now won the competition five of the last seven years, including three straight.