For the past 20 years, Bayern Munich has enjoyed a near-monopoly of the Bundesliga title.

For all the superlatives rightly thrown in the direction of Joe Schmidt’s team the past couple of days, one aspect of Soldier Field has probably still not been fully appreciated.

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia.

There is no limp as Shane Long walks into the Complexe Sportif Montbauron.

Bayern Munich strengthened their grip on a fourth straight Bundesliga title with a 3-0 win over Schalke which put the ball back in Borussia Dortmund's court in the two-team race for the title.

Young refugees accompanied Bayern Munich players onto the pitch and took centre stage to the applause of 75,000 fans before a Bundesliga game on Saturday.

Louis van Gaal claims David de Gea bears little resemblance to the goalkeeper who rescued so many points for Manchester United last season.

Atletico Madrid’s players firmly believe they will hit back from a first-leg deficit and beat Bayer Leverkusen to stay alive in the Champions League tonight.

Werder Bremen piled the misery on Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund with a 2-1 Bundesliga win at the Weserstadion today.

EURO 2016 Group D Qualifier

FEW teams marry style and substance like ‘Die Mannschaft’, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Schalke have appointed Roberto Di Matteo as their new coach after relieving Jens Keller of his duties on Tuesday morning.

It is almost too cliched to seem possible; the manager of the American national side spending his free time driving a VW camper van driving from beach to beach, looking for the perfect surf spot.

Stephen McGuinness, secretary of the Players’ Football Association of Ireland (PFAI), is adamant that serious barriers have to be broken down to facilitate players coming out as gay.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has challenged his side to invoke the spirit which saw them beat Bayern Munich when they take on Borussia Dortmund at their Westfalenstadion fortress tonight.

Mick McCarthy’s hopes of becoming Ireland manager may be fading and he was fully focused on his current side Ipswich last night.

Real Madrid took centre stage on the final day of the summer transfer window as two Galacticos departed to make way for the most expensive player in the history of football.

Sevilla will face Polish side Slask Wroclaw in the Europa League play-off round as they attempt to make another push for silverware.

Pep Guardiola will make his competitive debut as Bayern Munich manager on July 27 as the reigning Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB Pokal holders face Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup.

The Champions League final traditionally ends the football season across Europe, but it doesn’t feel that way this year.

Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Dortmund 1

The emotions had calmed and the mood was one of utmost respect between the two clubs in the Wembley press room — which is why it was all the more surprising Jupp Heynckes couldn’t resist one last dig in Borussia Dortmund’s direction.

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller is not panicking about the prospect of further Champions League final shoot-out misery at Wembley tomorrow.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL:

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.

Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes has indicated he will retire from coaching at the end of the season.

Bayern Munich warmed up for next week’s Champions League showdown with Barcelona by thumping Hannover 6-1 in the Bundesliga.

Swedish coach Erik Hamren has warned that Ireland will set out to be party poopers in Stockholm when the countries meet in a World Cup qualifier on Friday week.

Lazio are facing the prospect of playing a home Europa League tie behind closed doors after UEFA charged their supporters with offences of a racist nature for the fourth time this season.

Manchester United striker Federico Macheda is joining Stuttgart on loan for the remainder of the season.

For the Irish football fan, this time last year was full of dreams, songs to sing and camper vans to source.

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.

Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has today denied he has been in contact with Blackburn about the vacant managerial role at Ewood Park.

Germany rode their luck to beat Austria 2-1 and continue their perfect start to World Cup qualifying Group C in Vienna.

Real Madrid registered their first Primera Division victory of the season after a comfortable 3-0 win over Granada at the Bernabeu — but an unhappy Ronaldo suggested all is not well within the camp.

Tottenham and Liverpool were both handed Italian jobs after being paired with Lazio and Udinese in today’s Europa League group-stage draw.

Reading are one of several English clubs in talks with Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, according to his agent.

A QUESTION: has an Irish team ever gone into a game as bigger outsiders than the one Giovanni Trapattoni will send into action against Spain here in Gdansk tonight?

After Borussia Dortmund won the league title last season, their coach Jurgen Klopp was determined that nobody should get carried away.

Given the — justifiable — excitement over Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic Bilbao at the moment, it would be easy to overlook just how significant a part Schalke 04 played in their thrilling meeting in the Europa League last Thursday.

Fulham 5 Wolves 0

Four goals from Lionel Messi put third-placed Valencia to the sword on a night when Barcelona could have scored a dozen but for the efforts of visiting goalkeeper Diego Alves.