Everton linked with Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips

Spain s triumph at Euro 2008, which started their greatest ever period on the international stage, was built using a real mix of club components.

They won the final 1-0 against Germany, courtesy of a goal from Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, set up by Barcelona midfielder Xavi. Players from Real Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal and even Real Mallorca all appeared in that match in Vienna.

Two years later, when they won the World Cup by the same scoreline, the influence of Pep Guardiola s Barcelona was clear. Seven of the starting XI played their club football at Camp Nou, although one, David Villa, was a new signing and yet to play a game; the rest were from Madrid, and one, Joan Capdevila, from Villarreal.

By the time of their successful European Championship def…

While Manchester United might have gone about it the hard way on Sunday night, Erik ten Hag s side eventually punched their FA Cup semi-final ticket thanks to a 3-1 victory against Fulham.

Falling to a shock 1-0 deficit as Serbian ace Alexandar Mitrovic opened the scoring just five minutes after returning from the half-time break, the Reds were certainly helped by some late Fulham madness.

With both Mitrovic and former Chelsea star Willian shown their own separate red cards in the space of just a few seconds, United certainly put their foot on the accelerator.

With Bruno Fernandes converting from the spot moments before Bayern Munich loanee Marcel Sabitzer completed a quickfire turnaround, the Premier League giants eventually breezed their way to the semi-finals…

Anderson Talisca scored a late winner for Besiktas as the Group G winners won 2-1 at 10-man RB Leipzig, the result sending Ralph Hasenhuttl s side into the Europa League.

Leipzig needed to better Porto s result against Monaco to stand any chance of Champions League progression, but it was not going to plan from the moment Alvaro Negredo gave the visitors an early lead from the penalty spot.

The hosts peppered the Besiktas goal but were frustrated by the outstanding Tolga Zengin in goal. Captain Willi Orban hit the post while Timo Werner and Jean-Kevin Augustin both had goals chalked off for offside on a frustrating night for the hosts, who also had Stefan Ilsanker sent off.

Naby Keita briefly restored hope after firing a low shot past Zengin with just three …

Mikel Arteta did not view Pep Guardiola s touchline ban as an excuse for Manchester City s listless 2-1 Champions League defeat to Lyon and he was not about to cite chucks of empty seats at the Etihad Stadium as a factor.

Nevertheless, it was hard not to detect a hint of weariness over the situation being familiar. City were some bookmakers favourites for a tournament their fans struggle to view with similar enthusiasm.

We had this type of crowd in the Champions League before and we were able to win the game, first-team coach Arteta told a news conference after 40,111 attended the match at a 55,000 capacity stadium.

The ideal scenario is to have a full stadium every time and have people supporting the team like crazy. Some weeks that doesn t happen but I don …

Carlo Ancelotti has no concerns over Kylian Mbappe s start to life at Real Madrid, having failed to score in his first two LaLiga fixtures.

Mbappe, who joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain in June, has failed to kick on from his debut goal against Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup two weeks ago.

It would be Los Blancos other summer arrival, Endrick, who stole the show in their last league fixture, scoring on his Bernabeu debut against Real Valladolid.

During that encounter, Mbappe contributed an expected goals (xG) of 0.99 to Madrid s 2.14 total from his three shots on target.

The Frenchman also recorded the joint-most touches in the opposition box (eight, along with Arda Guler) as well as completing four of his five attempted dribbles.