Liverpool’s first victory at Old Trafford in seven years left them knowing that winning their last three games will give them a great chance of breaking into the top four at the end of a disappointing season. Liverpool moved above West Ham United into fifth place on 60 points.
* Everton's faint hopes of a top-four Premier League finish were all but extinguished following a goalless draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park on Thursday. Everton failed to create any clear chances late in the game and the result left the Merseyside club eighth in the table, eight points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.
* Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has praised Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for putting his faith in youngsters at Old Trafford and getting the results.
* Real Madrid swatted aside Granada 4-1 on Thursday to ensure the La Liga title race will go down to the wire. Real moved into second place on 78 points, two behind leaders Atletico Madrid with two games left to play.
* La Liga and ESPN have reached an eight-year broadcasting rights deal that the sides said will bring the Spanish league's action to millions more fans across the increasingly soccer-hungry United States. Beginning in August, live matches from across the league, which includes global giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, will be available on streaming service ESPN+ with select matches being aired across ESPN networks each season.
* Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland scored two goals apiece to crush RB Leipzig 4-1 and lift the German Cup on Thursday. It was Dortmund's fifth German Cup triumph and their first since 2017 while Leipzig missed out again on winning their first silverware.
* Uruguay has been chosen to host the finals of South America’s two premier club competitions this year because of its advanced COVID-19 vaccination program, the South American Football Confederation said on Thursday. The Copa Libertadores, the continent’s equivalent of the Champions League, will be held at Montevideo's Centenario stadium on Nov. 20, while the Copa Sudamericana, much like the Europa League, will take place there on Nov. 6.
* Australia goalkeeper Mitch Langerak has ended his international career over travel concerns during the COVID-19 crisis, the 32-year-old announced on Thursday. Former Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart keeper Langerak, who currently plays for Nagoya Grampus in Japan's top flight J-League, said that he preferred to stay with his family for the duration of the pandemic.
* English fans attending the Champions League final in Porto between Manchester City and Chelsea will have to fly in on the day of the match and will need to stay in a 'bubble' before flying back straight after the game, the Portuguese government said on Thursday. European soccer's governing body UEFA confirmed on the same day that the game had been moved from original host Istanbul to Porto in order to ensure that English fans could attend.
* Swiss Gino Maeder claimed his maiden grand tour victory when he prevailed at the end of a long-range breakaway on the sixth stage as Egan Bernal underlined his title credentials again on Thursday. Bernal took second place, 12 seconds off the pace with Ireland's Dan Martin and Belgian prospect Remco Evenepoel.
* British rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will fight their world heavyweight unification title fight in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 14 in a specially-built stadium, promoter Eddie Hearn said on Thursday.
* Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is yet to shake off a minor muscle issue and will miss Friday's Premier League clash with Newcastle United, manager Pep Guardiola said on Thursday. De Bruyne did not feature in City's 2-1 defeat by Chelsea last weekend because of the problem, but the Premier League champions are hopeful he can recover ahead of this month's Champions League final against Chelsea.
* Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce said on Thursday he expects to be in charge of the Premier League outfit next season unless told otherwise and is already having conversations about recruiting new players. Bruce, who has a contract until June 2022, steered Newcastle clear of relegation, with the club sitting 16th on 39 points from 35 matches ahead of Friday's meeting with champions Manchester City.
* English Premier League soccer clubs have renewed their existing UK broadcast deals with Sky, BT and Amazon for another three years, avoiding an auction process that could have lost them money due to a drop in competition between broadcasters. The deals for the 2022-23 to 2024-25 seasons will be concluded at the same overall value as the current arrangements, the league said, around 5 billion pounds (US$7 billion) in total.
