The Spanish press were this morning reflecting on Barcelona’s shock exit from the Champions League against Chelsea, pointing out the Catalans’ bad luck and the “three darkest days” of coach Pep Guardiola’s four-year reign.

THE visit of Barcelona would dominate thoughts at any time but when the memory of last season’s meeting with the Catalans is still raw in the memory, there can be no surprise that Wednesday’s Champions League meeting dominated Arsenal’s thoughts on Saturday.

Midfielder Javier Mascherano has shied away from committing his future to Liverpool in the wake of the club’s Champions League exit.

THE corpse of Manchester United’s European dream is still warm but already the post-mortem is well under way. And there could be further casualties resulting from Wednesday’s night’s crushing loss to Barcelona in Rome, as fresh doubts are raised about the Old Trafford futures of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

Wayne Rooney admitted Manchester United were beaten by the better side in Rome last night.

IT WAS supposed to be Beauty versus the Beast at the Camp Nou last night but no one expected that it was Beauty who would lack teeth.

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri today insisted striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is going nowhere.