A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Liverpool opens its Premier League campaign at promoted Fulham with a revamped attack following the departure of Sadio Mane, although manager Jurgen Klopp remained coy on whether new signing Darwin Nunez will start up front.
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Sadio Mane of Senegal has been named African player of the year for the second time.
The Bayern Munich forward won the Confederation of African Football award at a ceremony in the Moroccan capital on Thursday night.
MONACO (AP) — French league club Monaco signed attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino on a four-year deal from Liverpool on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Japan international scored 14 goals in 55 games overall for Liverpool after joining from Red Bull Salzburg.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool has reached an agreement with Benfica for the signing of Uruguay striker Darwin Núñez for an initial fee of 75 million euros ($79 million), the Portuguese club said Monday, in a transfer that would further shake up Jurgen Klopp's attacking options.
LONDON (AP) — Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is in contention to win English football's Player of the Year award for the third straight season.
De Bruyne was on a six-man shortlist for the award announced Wednesday, alongside Liverpool trio Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Tottenham striker Harry Kane and Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told Thibaut Courtois that he would take him to the Champions League final, then he would have to win it.
The goalkeeper did just that, with amazing save after amazing save to help the Spanish club win its record-extending 14th European title on Saturday.
PARIS (AP) — Yet another Champions League title for Real Madrid, the undisputed king of Europe.
Yet another showpiece European soccer game tarnished by chaotic crowd issues and disorder.
Madrid became European champion for a record-extending 14th time — double the number of any other team on the continent — after beating Liverpool 1-0 in a final that started 37 minutes late because of disturbing scenes outside the Stade de France on Saturday.
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Liverpool and Aston Villa started building for next season by announcing the signings of highly rated youngsters on Monday.
Fabio Carvalho, a 19-year-old Portuguese forward who has just helped Fulham gain promotion to the Premier League, will join Liverpool on July 1.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Only a few minutes remained in a tension-filled first half at Anfield when the chant from Liverpool’s fans swept around the stadium.
“Steve Gerrard, Gerrard,” they sang with gusto, and increasing optimism.
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Liverpool has ensured the Premier League's thrilling title race will stretch into the final week of the season.
A come-from-behind 2-1 win at Aston Villa, sealed by a 65th-minute header by Sadio Mane, showed Liverpool's heart for the fight and moved Jürgen Klopp's team level on points with Manchester City on Tuesday.
LONDON (AP) — The tame back pass from John Stones trickled toward Zack Steffen. Just a simple clearance was needed by Manchester City’s backup goalkeeper with Liverpool already leading.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — A place in the Champions League semifinals secured. The dream of an unprecedented quadruple of trophies still intact. Key players rested amid a hectic schedule.
Liverpool is in a good place entering the home straight of what could turn out to be the club’s greatest ever season.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City retained its one-point lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premier League after a thrilling 2-2 draw between the title challengers on Sunday.
Kevin De Bruyne put the defending champions into the lead in the fifth minute at the Etihad Stadium but Diogo Jota leveled eight minutes later for Liverpool.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool won its seventh straight game in the English Premier League by beating West Ham 1-0 to move within three points of leader Manchester City on Saturday.
Sadio Mane swept in the only goal at Anfield in the 27th minute, converting from close range after a shot was driven across the face of goal by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool hasn’t been this close to Manchester City since Christmas Day.
The gap is now down to three points in the Premier League title race — which once looked heavily in favor of City — after Liverpool demolished Leeds 6-0 on Wednesday.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool trimmed the gap on Premier League leader Manchester City to just three points after clinically dismantling Leeds in a 6-0 thrashing on Wednesday.
Mohamed Salah converted two penalties in the first half — either side of a rare goal from center back Joel Matip from open play — to take his tally to 27 for the season, and 19 in the league.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Sadio Mane scored a brilliant overhead kick and Mohamed Salah added his 150th goal for the team as Liverpool came from behind to beat Norwich 3-1 and keep the pressure on Manchester City in the Premier League title race on Saturday.
BURNLEY, England (AP) — Liverpool isn’t letting up in its pursuit of Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
A 1-0 win over last-place Burnley in challenging conditions at Turf Moor returned second-place Liverpool to within nine points of City on Sunday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
Liverpool will look to trim the deficit to league leader Manchester City back to nine points with a win at Burnley. Sadio Mane is back in the squad after a few days off celebrating Senegal's triumph at the African Cup of Nations.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:
ENGLAND
Liverpool will look to trim the deficit to leader Manchester City back down to nine points with a home win over Leicester in the Premier League.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane won't have much time to celebrate, lament or rest after the African Cup of Nations final.
The Liverpool teammates are due back in time for the team's next English Premier League game on Thursday, when the squad renews its pursuit of league-leading Manchester City.
LONDON (AP) — Liverpool reduced the gap at the top of the Premier League to nine points after a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored in the first half but Patrick Vieira’s side reduced the deficit through Odsonne Edouard's goal after the break.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:
ENGLAND
Arsenal hosts Liverpool in the second leg of the League Cup semifinals with the teams locked at 0-0 after last week's first leg at Anfield.
LONDON (AP) — Wiping out Manchester City's 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League looks an onerous task. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is at least gaining hope from a season with so many sudden variables.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool found the goalscoring alternatives needed in the absence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane as their stand-ins stepped up in a 3-0 Premier League win over Brentford on Sunday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
Liverpool will look to reduce the gap to Premier League leader Manchester City to 11 points by beating Brentford at home.
If Granit Xhaka getting sent off came as no real surprise, Arsenal holding out with 10 men at Anfield certainly was a shock.
Liverpool failed to take advantage of Xhaka’s 24th-minute red card for a chest-high lunge on Diogo Jota and was held to a 0-0 draw by Arsenal in the first leg of the English League Cup semifinals on Thursday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:
ENGLAND
A week later, Arsenal and Liverpool finally get to meet in the League Cup semifinals — but in a different stadium than initially scheduled.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — The African Cup of Nations will finally open in Cameroon on Sunday, three years later than planned and after two delays.
The first postponement was a result of the host country's own faulty preparations, and the other because of a global pandemic that organizers and everyone else had hoped would be in retreat by now.
A growing coronavirus outbreak among players and staff led to Liverpool's English League Cup semifinal match against Arsenal being postponed, adding to the backlog in English football caused by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s national soccer team was forced to delay its flight to the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon after three more players and six members of the backroom staff tested positive for the coronavirus.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool has requested the postponement of Thursday's match against Arsenal in the English League Cup semifinals because of more suspected COVID-19 cases at the club.
First-team training was canceled at Liverpool on Tuesday after more positive tests among players and staff.
LONDON (AP) — The only winner Sunday was Manchester City. And Romelu Lukaku certainly lost out.
What a pulsating, entertaining encounter for Lukaku to miss — not out of his own choosing — as Chelsea recovered to draw 2-2 with Liverpool without the temporarily exiled striker.
LONDON (AP) — Christian Pulisic completed Chelsea's fightback against Liverpool to claim a 2-2 draw in the Premier League on Sunday.
The American struck in the 45th minute for only a third goal from 11 league appearances this season, three minutes after Mateo Kovacic’s first-time volley from the edge of the penalty area began the recovery.
Manchester City's grip on its Premier League title hasn't been this strong all season.
A 1-0 win at Brentford on Wednesday, coupled with Chelsea conceding a stoppage-time goal to draw 1-1 against Brighton, left the defending champions with an eight-point lead heading into the new year.
Losses for Liverpool are about as rare as penalty misses by Mohamed Salah.
Both happened on Tuesday and, even at the halfway stage of the season, it could cost Jürgen Klopp's team the Premier League title.
LEICESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool lost 1-0 at Leicester in a big blow to its Premier League title hopes after Mohamed Salah missed a first-half penalty on Tuesday.
Ademola Lookman's 59th-minute goal consigned Liverpool to its second loss in the league — and in all competitions this season — and left the Reds six points behind leader Manchester City after 19 games of the 38-round season.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool turned up the pressure on English Premier League leader Chelsea by coasting to a second successive 4-0 victory at Anfield, with Southampton the overpowered team this time.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool handed Arsenal a harsh reality check Saturday by tearing through the Gunners in the second half for a 4-0 win in the Premier League.
A resurgent Arsenal side had the chance to climb above Liverpool in the standings with a win, but Juergen Klopp's side gave the visitors a reminder that there is still a big gulf in class between the teams.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Brighton came the closest of any opponent in six months to ending Liverpool’s 24-match unbeaten run by recovering from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Mohamed Salah weaved through player after player, resisting challenges and bamboozling the defense before coolly placing the ball in the corner of the net.
“It is pure world class," Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said.
PORTO, Portugal (AP) — Two goals from Mohamed Salah. A double as well from Roberto Firmino. All with 20-year-old midfielder Curtis Jones playing a part for Liverpool.
The only Liverpool goal without a direct role for Jones came from Sadio Mane in a 5-1 victory at Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Sadio Mane scored for the ninth straight time against Crystal Palace and reached 100 goals for Liverpool to set his team on its way to a 3-0 win in the English Premier League on Saturday.
LEEDS, England (AP) — Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal to set Liverpool on its way to a 3-0 win over Leeds that was marred by a serious ankle injury to Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott on Sunday.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool marked its first game in front of a capacity crowd at Anfield in nearly 18 months by beating Burnley 2-0 on Saturday, with goals by Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane earning their team a second straight win to open the season.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Even though the Premier League finale produced oscillating fortunes in the chase for the Champions League, a chaotic season ended fairly predictably on Sunday.
Liverpool and Chelsea squeezed out Leicester to secure top-four finishes that seemed out of reach at times in a pandemic-compressed season that stretched squads to the limit.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — No trophy to celebrate this year but clinching Champions League qualification proved a welcome consolation prize for Liverpool.
Fans were allowed back into Anfield for the first time in 2021 in time to see Sadio Mane's double clinch a final-day 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Add an upset player to Jürgen Klopp's list of team problems as Liverpool scrambles for a Champions League qualification spot.
The Liverpool manager said Friday that he plans to talk with Sadio Mane after the Senegal winger declined to shake his hand as they left the field following Liverpool's 4-2 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday.