Sunderland have confirmed the impending departures of Titus Bramble and Matt Kilgallon.

Left-back Ashley Cole returned from a hamstring injury for Chelsea in tonight’s Europa League semi-final first leg with Basle at St Jakob Park.

Andre Villas-Boas’ hopes of lifting the Europa League for a second time hang in the balance thanks to a woeful defensive performance and a serious-looking injury to Gareth Bale.

Swansea have completed the signing of Valencia winger Pablo Hernandez for a club record fee of £5.55m.

Andre Ayew scored with the last touch of Marseille’s Champions League clash to inflict a fourth straight defeat on Inter Milan and pile the pressure on coach Claudio Ranieri.

MANCHESTER UNITED crashed out of the Champions League following defeat in Basle last night.

REAL MADRID took a giant step towards the knock-out stages of the Champions League last night after defeating AC Milan 2-0 thanks to two quickfire goals at the start of the match.

ROY HODGSON hailed Bobby Zamora’s match-winning performance after Fulham booked their place in the knockout stages of the Europa League with a 3-2 win at Basle last night.

BRAZILIAN officials are insisting security won’t be a problem for the 2016 Olympics, despite drug-gang violence that plunged Rio de Janeiro into a day of chaos just two weeks after it was picked to host the games.

Authorities in Rio de Janeiro defended the city’s ability to control violence ahead of the World Cup and Olympic Games after drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter, killing two officers.

ITALY’S stuttering World Cup campaign showed no sign of improvement last night as they struggled to an unconvincing Pool C win over brave Portugal at the Parc des Princes.

Celtic 1 Basle 0

Locked doors prevented or slowed the escape of supermarket shoppers in Asuncion, Paraguay, from a fast-spreading fire that killed well over 300 people and injured hundreds more, survivors said.