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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola defended back-up goalkeeper Zack Steffen, saying he should keep his place despite an error that led to Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinal.

M’Bala Nzola has been defeated by an earring. 

The 25-year-old Spezia forward enjoyed a brief 10-minute cameo during a 3-1 defeat to Inter Milan on Friday. The Angola international was subbed on in the 60th minute. Soon thereafter, the referee spotted he wearing earrings and told the player to take them off. By the 70th minute, Nzola was subbed off, apparently unable to remove his earrings. It was Spezia’s fifth and final substitution of the night.

Fran Kirby, two-time Women’s Player of the Year in England, is taking an indefinite leave from the game. The Chelsea and England star forward/midfielder missed full year with a heart condition in 2019-20 and will again step away from the sport to focus on her health.

Kirby, 28, made the announcement on social media on Friday evening after Chelsea coach Emma Hayes had ruled her out of the Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal against rival Arsenal. 

Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann opened up at a press conference on Friday about the hatred and threats he received after his side fell to underdog Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Nagelsmann death threats on social media are abhorrent and the evil “fans” leaving these comments went as far as threatening his mother. 

Nagelsmann said the threats certainly don’t make his job and life easy.

Burnley sacked manager Sean Dyche, the Premier League club said on Friday, ahead of a tight end-of-season run-in as it looks to avoid relegation.

Burnley has struggled this season and sits in 18th place in the standings, four points from the safety zone. But the decision was unexpected, given Dyche's track record of maintaining the Lancashire club's status in the top division on a relatively modest budget.

He was the longest-serving English top flight manager having been in charge for nine-and-a-half years.

Barcelona is out of the Europa League. What could have been a consolation prize in Xavi’s first year as Barça manager has turned into another embarrassment for a club in transition after Lionel Messi’s exit. More importantly, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Colombian striker Rafael Borré scored one of the goals of the tournament with a 30-yard worldie before paying tribute to Cafeteros legend Freddy Rincón, who tragically died just hours earlier.