A Villarreal fan throwing a banana at Barcelona’s Dani Alves last weekend may have – inadvertently – helped the battle against a deeply-rooted problem of racism in Spanish football.

Porto 1 Braga 0

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.

Liverpool 0 Braga 0 (Braga win 1-0 on aggregate)

Liverpool’s record signing Andy Carroll has been named on the bench and is set to make his Europa League debut for the Reds in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Braga.