Mainz midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger said Thursday s loss to Asteras Tripolis in the UEFA Europa League was pure disappointment .
Tripolis trumped Mainz 3-1 in Greece to claim a 3-2 aggregate victory in the third round of Europa League qualifying, as the Bundesliga club failed to reach the group stage of the competition for the third straight attempt.
Mainz had previously lost to Romania s Gaz Metan Medias in qualifying for the 2011-12 Europa League, while they fell to Sevilla in the 2005-06 campaign.
But Thursday s loss appeared even harder to take for Mainz, as they were leading on away goals in Tripoli until Pablo Mazza struck his second goal of the game for the hosts with just four minutes remaining.
This is pure disappointment but it s our own fau…
Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder scored in the second half to earn Sevilla a deserved 2-0 victory over Barcelona, who rested Lionel Messi, in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final.
Messi came off the bench to help Barca beat Leganes in LaLiga at the weekend, but Ernesto Valverde left his captain out entirely at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan on Wednesday, handing a debut to shock signing Kevin-Prince Boateng in attack instead.
Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho came on as substitutes but, if Barca are to win the Copa del Rey for a fifth year in a row, they will have to overturn a first-leg deficit as they did in the last round against Levante.
Sarabia struck to capitalise on a period of Sevilla dominance with Ben Yedder adding a late second, …
Denis Suarez has posted a farewell message to Barcelona ahead of his anticipated loan switch to Arsenal.
The 25-year-old is expected to be announced as an Arsenal player on Thursday, a day after Barca confirmed the deal before removing the statement from their website.
In the announcement Barca stated Suarez would spend the rest of the season on loan in the Premier League, while also revealing he had penned a contract extension until 2021.
That update was swiftly taken down and official confirmation has yet to come from Arsenal.
However, Suarez s latest Twitter post hints there will be no doubt about the switch after Thursday s deadline.
Sois un grupo increíble! Gracias por tanto, hasta pronto. Sort y Força Barça Sempre
You’re a group…
Bruno Fernandes hopes to harness his creative genius to help Portugal team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo become the record international goalscorer.
Ronaldo scored twice against Sweden earlier this month to move on to 101 goals for his country, putting him eight behind Ali Daei.
Naturally, the Juventus star has his sights set on overtaking the Iran legend and Fernandes, who on Friday was named Manchester United s player of the year, is on hand to help.
For me, and I think for most of the people now, it s normal, he told United Review of Ronaldo surpassing a century of goals in Portugal colours.
You see when someone watches the games, if he doesn t score, for everyone, it is a bad game because, normally, he always scores.
You wait for a goal from him o…
Burnley claimed a vital win in their bid to escape the Premier League relegation zone as goals from Chris Wood and Dwight McNeil saw off West Ham 2-0.
Following three successive defeats, including a 5-1 loss to Everton last time out, goalkeeper Joe Hart took the hit for Burnley s torrid form, with Tom Heaton coming in for a first Premier League start since September 2017.
And that change paid dividends, with Burnley s solid foundation setting the stage for Wood to open the scoring 15 minutes in before McNeil netted his first goal for the club.
Wood and Ashley Barnes wasted gilt-edged opportunities to wrap up the points, but their misses did not prove costly as the Clarets eased some of the mounting pressure on Sean Dyche.
Burnley could have been ahead ea…