Champions League

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City started the process of withdrawing from the breakaway European Super League on Tuesday less than 72 hours after agreeing to join, with Chelsea also reported to be quitting in a major blow for the proposed new competition.

City confirmed they wanted to pull out while fellow English club Chelsea were reported by local media to be preparing the paperwork to leave a project backed by U.S. investment bank JP Morgan and headed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

In the wake of 12 of Europe's major soccer clubs planning an independent Super League we look at a selection of previous sporting breakaways and how they turned out.

A History Of Breakaway Leagues Across Sports

WORLD SERIES CRICKET

Late Australian media mogul Kerry Packer changed the face of world cricket in 1977 when he secretly recruited top players for a series of day-night matches for his Channel Nine Australian TV network.

Following Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Leeds United in Premier League action on Monday, we finally got down to business. Despite there being no official word on the start date of the newly formed European Super League, we do know that the league is now official and our worst dreams have been realized.

The cat is out of the bag as 12 “leading European clubs” have thrown it all away in pursuit of securing the most gluttonous bag in the history of football. It’s difficult to see these historic institutions — Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan among them — as football clubs at this point; they’re self-serving vehicles of greed that operate as welfare for billionaires. We should amend the “FC” abbreviation on these clubs’ names accordingly.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you're aware of the biggest disgrace in the history of this sport. 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs announced plans to create their own European Super League.

Fans, former players and others vehemently denounced the situation with some seeing the move as the beginning of the end for the sport.

MANCHESTER, England - European soccer's governing body UEFA on Monday said clubs and players joining a proposed breakaway Super League could be banned from all of its competitions and the World Cup as it condemned a "disgraceful and self-serving proposal.”

Addressing an emergency meeting the day after 12 of Europe's top clubs announced the breakaway, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin upped the ante, describing the Super League plan as a "spit in the face" of all football lovers.

Following are the ownership details and Champions League records of the 12 top European clubs who announced on Sunday the launch of a breakaway Super League, and similar details on Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich, two major European clubs not taking part in the Super League:

Who Would Be In European Super League?

ARSENAL

Paris Saint-Germain ended Lyon’s five-year reign as European champions as they progressed to the women's Champions League semifinals on away goals after securing a 2-1 win on Sunday.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg in Paris, Lyon doubled their advantage inside four minutes when Catarina Macario found the net from close range, before PSG midfielder Grace Geyoro equalized in the 25th minute.

Macario goal, Cascarino assist pic.twitter.com/odmoTqUY0O

Manchester City's Phil Foden has parted ways with a social media company handling his accounts after they posted a controversial tweet calling out Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe when both teams qualified for the Champions League semi-finals.

Foden sealed victory with a late goal in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund as City progressed to the semifinals where they will meet PSG, who knocked out holders Bayern Munich on away goals a day earlier.

Porto scored the goal of the competition during Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg. If you’re looking for the other Chelsea vs. Porto highlights, I’m afraid to tell you that there isn’t much to see. 

The Blues advanced to their first Champions League semifinal in seven years despite Porto winning 1-0 on the night. Chelsea advanced 2-1 on aggregate. 

To provide a taste of how riveting the affair was, here’s a highlight of the first shot on target … in the 64th minute.