Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate)

Benfica 0 Chelsea 1

It is apt that the venue where Chelsea will attempt to stave off the darkness that is threatening to envelope both their present and future is called The Stadium of Light.

Manchester United are sweating over the fitness of Wayne Rooney ahead of their Barclays Premier League clash with Newcastle.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S Achilles’ heel, a defence that has displayed uncharacteristic flaws in Europe and at home so far this season, again cost Alex Ferguson dear following 80 potentially disastrous seconds that leaves them facing the possibility of Champions League elimination.

Manchester United 2 Benfica 2

ALEX FERGUSON praised goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard’s performance in the 1-1 Champions League draw with Benfica as United came from behind to salvage a point.

Benfica 1 Man Utd 1

BENFICA will take a slight advantage into the second leg of their all-Portuguese Europa League semi-final following a deserved victory over Braga at the Estadio da Luz.

AIDEN McGEADY’S dream of playing in the Europa League final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium is in tatters after his Spartak Moscow side crashed 5-1 at Porto in last night’s quarter-final first leg tie.

Liverpool 4 Benfica 1 (Liverpool win 5-3 on aggregate)

FRUSTRATED Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez hopes none of his players were injured in the battering handed out by Benfica.

Benfica 2 Liverpool 1

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez is wary of the threat posed by Benfica having previously been dumped out of Europe by them.

Valencia striker David Villa felt a Europa League quarter-final against fellow Primera Division side Atletico Madrid was scant reward for their hard-fought last-16 win.

Benfica 5 Everton 0

Argentina 2 Peru 1

Benfica will unveil Pablo Aimar later on Thursday after wrapping up a deal to sign the Argentinian playmaker from Real Zaragoza.

THE last time Liverpool confronted a European exit, their disappointment was laced with acrimony.

Uncapped Independiente goalkeeper Oscar Ustari has beaten River Plate’s German Lux to the third goalkeeping berth in Argentina’s World Cup squad but the omission of Internazionale defender Javier Zanetti and Bayern Munich midfielder Martin Demichelis is the biggest talking point.

GERMAN playmaker Michael Ballack’s move to Chelsea is “set in stone”, according to Bayern Munich director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Andy Mitten meets Barcelona wonder kid Lionel Messi.

BARCELONA’s grip on the Spanish title shows little sign of loosening after another classy display saw them cruise past Real Mallorca 3-0 last night.

AN 85th minute winner from Raul secured a 2-1 win for Real Madrid over Cadiz in their opening La Liga match of the season last night.

Brazil 4 Argentina 1

LOADED with glamour teams, the Confederations Cup has few friends outside FIFA. The tournament, a warm up for next year’s World Cup in Germany, prevents weary players from taking a summer break.

PRESSURE increased on UEFA yesterday to include Liverpool in the Champions League next season after G14, the grouping of elite European clubs, called for the Reds to be allowed to defend their trophy.

Manchester United full-back Gabriel Heinze has been named in a 26-man Argentina squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Brazil.

REAL MADRID are within seven points of La Liga leaders Barcelona after an impressive 3-1 victory over Mallorca last night.

Managers Rafael Benitez and Harry Redknapp promised transfer window activity after Liverpool struggled to a scrappy 1-0 win over Southampton.

Liverpool tonight received confirmation that striker Milan Baros will be out of action for at least three weeks with a hamstring injury.

Liverpool legend John Barnes has welcomed the imminent return to action of Steven Gerrard this weekend – but feels another raid on La Liga for Fernando Morientes and Pablo Aimar could solve the club’s current striking crisis.

Carlos Bianchi has rejected an offer to take over as Argentina boss and Jose Pekerman is now the favourite to succeed Marcelo Bielsa.

CHELSEA striker Hernan Crespo has been dropped by Argentina for next month’s Copa America in Peru.

AC MILAN won the Italian league title yesterday after beating Roma 1-0 at the San Siro.

David Beckham was sent off late in the game as Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final.

Argentine striker Hernan Crespo is relaxed in London and invigorated by the Chelsea revolution.

AS ROMA and AC Milan leapfrogged Juventus to the top of Serie A with comfortable wins over Lecce and Modena respectively.

AC MILAN and Roma joined Juventus at the top of Serie A after securing comfortable 3-0 victories at home to Lecce and Ancona, respectively.

JUVENTUS began the defence of their Italian league title in style with a thumping 5-1 home win over Empoli yesterday.

Four first-half goals saw the Czech Republic inflict a crushing 4-0 defeat on Turkey in one of tonight's international matches.

Valencia 2 Inter Milan 1 (Inter go through on away goals)

Inter Milan have qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League despite losing at the Mestalla Stadium to Valencia tonight.

Argentina's Pablo Aimar has equalised for Valencia in the second leg tie at the Mestalla Stadium tonight.