Football

Leganés were still on the Bernabéu pitch close to midnight, long after Real Madrid players and their fans had departed head down and in silence. There were a few hundred of the visiting supporters still in the stadium, joining them in celebration of reaching the Copa del Rey semi-final for the first time in their history – and against the European champions. Zinedine Zidane’s side, already 19 points behind Barcelona in the league, are out of the cup too. Pressure builds and Paris Saint Germain approach: all or nothing on Valentine’s Day.

Marco Asensio had scored a last-minute winner at Butarque in the first leg which gave Madrid an advantage that it was difficult to imagine them relinquishing but a 2-1 defeat saw them knocked out on away goals. They were without Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane rotating as tends to be the case in the cup, but that was no consolation and no excuse either.

Arsenal started the post-Alexis Sanchez era in style on Wednesday, coming from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 on aggregate and set up a mouthwatering League Cup final against Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s City reached the Wembley showpiece the previous evening by beating Championship side Bristol City 3-2 in the second leg of their tie and 5-3 over the two legs, staying on course for an unprecedented quadruple.

After a goalless first leg, the visitors took an early lead at the Emirates through Eden Hazard but Arsenal were level soon afterwards via a bizarre Antonio Rudiger own goal and scored the winner in the second half through Granit Xhaka.

Arsene Wenger has an outstanding record in the FA Cup with Arsenal but in more than 21 years in the job he has never won the League Cup, which he has often used to blood young players.

Equatorial Guinea head coach, Rodolfo Bodipo, has blamed the centre referee, Abou Coulibaly, for their 3-1 loss to Nigeria on Tuesday in Agadir, insisting that the arbiter made two wrong calls in favour of the home-based Super Eagles in the final Group C game at the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Equatorial Ginuea scored their first goal of the tournament courtesy of a header from Nsi Eyama in the 40th minute, but second half goals from Anthony Okpotu, Dayo Ojo and a penalty goal from substitute Rabiu Ali cancelled out the curtain raiser to send Nigeria through to the quarter-finals.

Javier Mascherano is set to leave Barcelona this week after spending and eventful seven-and-a-half seasons at the club. A message on the club's website confirmed his departure, saying the 33-year-old will be given "an institutional farewell on Wednesday at 11 am". The message reads;

Chelsea will be without their striker Alvaro Morata and Cesc Fabregas when they travel to Emirate on Wednesday night for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg match. The crucial encounter is coming after both sides played a goalless draw at Stanford Bridge about two weeks ago. As important as the game is, Chelsea would be missing their two starters due to injury.

Marca reports that Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is keen to reinforce his forward line with Alvaro Morata misfiring and they are closing in on Roma's Edin Dzeko. Although Morata started well, his recent goal drought has seen Chelsea scour the market with Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch some of the players to be linked. Roma's Edin Dzeko appears to be the chosen option though, with Chelsea ready to offer Michy Batshuayi in exchange for the Bosnian.