Defending champions Qatar survived a scare to beat Palestine 2-1 and advance to the Asian Cup quarter-finals thanks to goals from Hassan Al-Haydos and Akram Afif at Al Bayt Stadium on Monday.

Bangladesh women’s team footballer Sanjida Akhter today, on her Facebook page, posted a picture of herself in front of pictures of East Bengal Football Club’s overseas heroes – pointing her finger to a special picture of Sheikh Mohammad Aslam, Late Monem Munna and Rizvi Karim Rumi – three of the biggest stars of Bangladesh football who played for the cross-border club in the 1990s.

Alisher Shukurov buried the final spot-kick in Doha to send the Central Asians -- ranked 106th in the world -- into a showdown with either Jordan or the 2007 champions Iraq.

Klopp was greeted by an emotional rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" before kick-off and banners of thanks in the first match since the German announced his decision to leave at the end of the season.

Ten Hag, whose side are languishing in eighth place in the Premier League and have been eliminated from the Champions League, explained Rashford's absence from the team by saying he had "reported ill".

Argentina forward Martinez glanced home the decisive goal in the 14th minute of an action-packed contest in Florence in which Nicolas Gonzalez wasted a late penalty for the hosts, who had Inter on the back foot for much of the game.

Atletico Madrid climbed third, above struggling champions Barcelona on goal difference, with a comfortable 2-0 win at home against Valencia.

A tense last-16 clash finished 1-1 after extra time with Meschack Elia scoring on 37 minutes for DR Congo and Mostafa Mohamed equalising in first-half added time from a penalty.

Only a few months after lifting the Spanish title, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez dramatically announced he would walk away from the club at the end of the season.

Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro hailed "fantastic" Victor Osimhen for the African footballer of the year's tireless performance as the Super Eagles beat Cameroon 2-0 at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday.

The fixture was stopped in the 16th minute in honour of Maignan's shirt number while a famous King quote was displayed on the San Siro's big screens.

Bayer Leverkusen were held to a goalless draw at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday as their lead over injury-hit Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga was cut to two points.

Barcelona's title defence was derailed as Villarreal romped to a sensational 5-3 victory in La Liga on Saturday with three late goals.

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said he will quit his "cruel and unpleasant" job at the end of the season after his struggling team were beaten 5-3 by Villarreal on Saturday in La Liga.

In a first of its kind initiative, the Bangladesh Football Federation has given recognition to Alamgir Sarkar as the best referee for the month of December, and hailed the initiative as a step towards motivating referees to do a better job.

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso on Friday played down speculation he could replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool in the summer, saying: "what comes next, I don't know".

Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen will leave Napoli this summer and join "either Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain or an English club", the Italian club's president and owner Aurelio De Laurentiis said on Friday.

Abdur Razzak, a local coach who holds an AFC A level certification, was involved with the selection process in all three talent hunt programmes and accompanied the four promising players in Brazil as coach. The 55-year-old, who has been in the coaching profession for 23 years, spoke with The Daily Star’s Anisur Rahman about what happens in such overseas training programmes and why have the budding footballers not been able to make it big after returning home.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said he will "sleep a bit better" after his "biggest rival" Jurgen Klopp rocked the football world with his shock decision to leave Liverpool at the end of this season.

In July of 2020, at a time when Bangladesh like the rest of the world was battling the coronavirus, an image of a young man wielding a broom started making rounds in the country’s social media.