Champions League

Former Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta celebrated the 11th anniversary of his famous Champions League semi-final strike against Chelsea by calling two children conceived after his tie-clinching goal.

Barcelona were two minutes from being eliminated from the Champions League in a tense second leg at Stamford Bridge on May 6, 2009, when Iniesta collected a pass from Lionel Messi and stroked the ball into the top corner from outside the box.

One of my most unpopular opinions is that PSG’s 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of their 2016-17 Champions League Round of 16 tie was more impressive than La Remontada. In the face of what happened at the Camp Nou, everyone forgets just how devastating PSG was three weeks prior at the Parc des Princes.

FIFA has proposed that teams should be allowed to make up to five substitutions per match, instead of the usual three, as a temporary measure to help cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

Football has been at a standstill since mid-March but many leagues and federations are still hoping to complete the season but to do so they would have to cram fixtures into a shorter period than usual once play re-starts.

European football, currently at a standstill because of the coronavirus, is focusing on a restart in July and August with clubs and leagues being told that stopping competitions should "really be the last resort." 

UEFA indefinitely suspended the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 qualifying playoffs on Wednesday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA posted on its website that "all national team matches for men and women due to be played in June 2020 are postponed until further notice. This includes the playoff matches for UEFA EURO 2020 and qualifying matches for UEFA Women's EURO 2021."

Some clarity on how soccer leagues in Europe plan to complete seasons that have been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic is expected this week but there is likely to be a mixed bag of solutions with countries tugging in different directions.

Meetings set for the next few days will study how to resume the suspended campaigns, even though it will be difficult to come up with a definitive roadmap while the continent remains in the grip of the fast-spreading virus.

ROME — The head of European soccer's governing body said that the current season could be "lost" if it is unable to re-start by the end of June, although he did not rule out extending it into the next season.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that there were a number of options for concluding the season, which has been brought to a halt around Europe by the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the great joys (unless you’re Juventus president Andrea Agnelli) of European competition is the annual group of overachievers that disrupts the established rule while playing some of the best football on the planet. In recent seasons, the leading examples have been Ajax (2018-19), Roma (2017-18) and Monaco (2016-17). 

This year, that title belongs to Atalanta, the team with Italy's 12th-highest wage bill. 

This season's Champions League, Europa League and women's Champions League finals scheduled for May have been formally postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Tuesday.

All three competitions are currently suspended along with almost every European domestic league because of the coronavirus while UEFA last week postponed the Euro 2020 tournament until next year. 

Jan Vertonghen's family was robbed at knifepoint in their London home while the Tottenham Hotspur defender was on Champions League duty against RB Leipzig in Germany on Tuesday night, the BBC reported. The report said police had confirmed that four men wearing balaclavas forced their way into the house while Vertonghen's wife and children were inside.