Atletico Madrid have won the European Super Cup after beating Real Madrid in extra time.

How big a loss would this be for Real?

If an unambitious, uninspiring Manchester United performance at Anfield said little about their Premier League title credentials on Saturday, the same could be said of Romelu Lukaku’s status as the most productive striker in the English game.

Jose Mourinho admits that Manchester United remain adrift of the continent’s elite ahead of his side’s Champions League return.

Jose Mourinho admitted a gap remains to the continent's elite ahead of Manchester United's Champions League return.

 knows a thing or two about winning the Premier League and has already seen enough to be confident of a Manchester United title challenge this season.

Jose Mourinho returned from the UEFA Super Cup feeling chipper despite admitting it is "game over" in Manchester United's pursuit of Gareth Bale and his team losing to Real Madrid.

Jose Mourinho is hopeful of winning the Uefa Super Cup despite Manchester United’s absentees, the stifling Skopje heat, and Real Madrid’s quality.

Luis Suarez scored twice to help Barcelona to a 4-1 win over Espanyol in the clash of the Catalans at the Camp Nou last night.

Ken McGrath and Conor Phelan were part of the Waterford and Kilkenny panels that contested an All-Ireland semi-final in 2004. McGrath captained Waterford to that season’s Munster title. Then a student at Waterford Institute of Technology, Phelan now works there as GAA development officer. Both men have also suffered serious health issues. They chatted hurling and heart problems...

With Kevin De Bruyne set to enhance Manchester City’s forward line, there’s also an interesting line to be drawn from the Belgian attacker’s departure from Chelsea through to the present: Jose Mourinho initially sold De Bruyne to sign Mohamed Salah and complement Andre Schurrle, and then sold Schurrle and loaned out Salah to sign Juan Cuadrado.

Gareth Bale returned to his native Cardiff on Tuesday night as star-studded Real started the new campaign as they finished the last one – with a trophy.

Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long looks set for a surprise move £12 million (€15m) to Southampton — just seven months after joining Hull City from West Brom.

Gareth Bale wants the attention to be on securing silverware rather than any sentimental homecoming when he lines up for Real Madrid in today’s UEFA Super Cup clash against La Liga rivals Sevilla.

Legia Warsaw boss Henning Berg vowed his side will appeal against their Champions League exclusion after seeing Celtic advance at their expense.

Germany boss Joachim Low has backed Bayern Munich to follow up their startling Bundesliga triumph by ruling Europe again in the Champions League and paving the way for a World Cup triumph.

Some teams have a tendency to make you reach for the catechism of cliché, and perhaps inevitably the word that comes to mind about Bayern Munich is blitzkrieg.

Who is Jose Mourinho, if, as he stated last summer, he is no longer The Special One? Football’s most famous epithet has come back to haunt the Portuguese coach, who announced on his return to Stamford Bridge last summer that he was now The Happy One.

El City — No! was the headline in El Mundo Deportivo before the Champions League draw yesterday.

Everton 1 Chelsea 0

Bayern Munich midfielders Mario Gotze and Bastian Schweinsteiger will miss Germany’s World Cup qualifiers against Austria and the Faroe Islands due to injury.

SUPER CUP FINAL:

Willian is thrilled by the prospect of playing under Jose Mourinho after the final loose end in his £32m transfer to Chelsea was tied up today.

Chelsea have completed the signing of Willian from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, the Barclays Premier League club have announced on their website.

Jose Mourinho branded Fernando Torres his “20 and a half” million pound man after the Chelsea manager left the club’s record signing on the bench for last night’s goalless draw with Manchester United.

Losing at home to a team battling relegation is not the ideal preparation for a Champions League final, but it’s been that sort of a season for Borussia Dortmund.

No disrespect to the Premier League but there has been a distinct lack of wailing and gnashing of teeth elsewhere in Europe at the absence of English clubs from the Champions League quarter-finals.

“A 36-year-old insurance agent from Istanbul knocked United out of Europe.”

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes the Europa League will be given the respect it deserves when his side face Lyon in the last 32 of the competition.

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes the Europa League will be given the respect it deserves when his side face Lyon in the last 32 of the competition.

Reigning European champions Chelsea will face Sparta Prague in the last 32 of the Europa League.

The prospect of Ireland hosting games at a radically reshaped Euro 2020 will be raised tonight in discussions between FAI chief executive John Delaney and Uefa President Michel Platini.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho admits his side deserved to lose against Sevilla yesterday as they slipped eight points behind Barcelona in the Primera Division.

Reading boss Brian McDermott is hopeful that the Royals’ can kickstart their Premier League campaign at the Madejski Stadium this weekend when they host Tottenham.

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill revealed his frustration after the Blues were humiliated by Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.

Chelsea captain John Terry will be able to play from the start of the Blues’ Champions League campaign after having his three-match ban reduced on appeal by Uefa.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has confirmed his interest in Brazil starlet Lucas Moura as he attempts to strengthen his squad for the new season.

Frank Lampard today refused to rule out this being his final season at Chelsea.

New Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova is still coming to terms with life without Pep Guardiola but is warming to the reality of leading the Catalans this season.

Tomas Brolin, the man widely regarded as the worst signing ever made by a Premier League club, has lifted the lid on his disastrous spell at Leeds United in the mid-1990s.

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of public funds in the town of Marbella, Spain.

Barcelona have been fined €110,000 for “various offences” during the European Super Cup in Monaco this summer.

LAST time around, we had to wait until the very last game of the season for confirmation of what we had long suspected: Manchester United are not in the same league as Barcelona.