Santos Laguna beat Monterrey 2-1 in the second leg of the Mexican Primera Division final to win the clausura on an aggregate score of 3-2. Last month, it was Monterrey who beat Santos on a 4-3 aggregate score in the CONCACAF Champions League final, so these two sides have played four matches with the titles on the line in about as many weeks.

West Ham beat Cardiff on an aggregate score of 5-0 in their Championship playoff semifinal as they try to make a quick return to the Premier League. Russell Brand was in attendance for their successful second leg at Upton Park and so was the man holding the sign in the above photo.

Apparently confident that West Ham wouldn't blow their first-leg lead, this man brought a sign breaking the news that he wouldn't be serving as best man at his pal Chris' wedding due to a conflict with the Hammers' trip to Wembley for a final against Blackpool or Birmingham City on May 19.

By Chris Wright

An 89th minute Fernando Llorente toe poke was enough to see Athletic Bilbao through to the Europa League Final in Bucharest on 6th May, overturning Sporting's 2-1 lead from the first leg in Lisbon last week.

A rip-snorting first half saw Athletic open the proceedings through Markel Susaeta, Llorente bringing down a cross with his chest and stepping aside for the little winger to lash home.

Bayern Munich will play a Champions League final at home against Chelsea after missing fewer penalties than Real Madrid in a shootout that would probably be best described as "wacky."

With two early goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (including a penalty), Real Madrid beat Bayern 2-1 in regular time of their semifinal second leg to put the aggregate score at 3-3 and away goals even at two for each side.

Chelsea advanced to the Champions League final after a second-leg match against Barcelona that can only be described as bananas. Absolute bananas. Though Chelsea won on a 3-2 aggregate score, the second leg finished 2-2, which means there is really just one question left for us to ask.

Everyone said Chelsea would have to play two perfect matches to beat Barcelona in their Champions League seminfinal. They patiently waited in defense and held on for a 1-0 win at home in the first leg. In the first half of the second leg, Gary Cahill went off with an injury, Sergio Busquets equalized for Barcleona, John Terry got himself sent off to put Chelsea down to 10 men after just 37 minutes, Andres Iniesta put Barcelona ahead against a team with just 10 men and no centerbacks and then Ramires lobbed in a beauty to give Chelsea the advantage on away goals.

Real Madrid won their match pretty clearly in the champions league against APEOL with an aggregate score of 8-2. Ronaldo scored two goals and one of them was an absolute screamer of a goal from a free kick and man what a great free kick it was. Kaka also scored a stunner of a goal. He also came close to scoring another stunning goal just minutes later but was denied by the post.

Toronto FC were 45 minutes away from making history, 45 minutes from not only shocking CONCACAF but from taking a giant step forward that would benefit all of MLS.
Then the bottom fell out.
Santos Laguna scored four second-half goals to down the Canadians by 6-2 on Tuesday and won their CCL semifinal series by an aggregate score of 7-3.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Real Madrid and Chelsea are through to the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League after holding on to first-leg advantages with home victories.

Chelsea were able to book their date with Barcelona despite long stretches of poor play in a 2-1 win over Benfica resulting in a 3-1 win on aggregate.

Barcelona beat Milan 3-1 in yet another controversial Camp Nou Champions League result, while Bayern finished off Olympique Marseille with another 2-0 victory, for an aggregate score of 4-0.

Wednesday, April 4 (both kickoffs at 2:45pmET):

Chelsea vs Benfica: The match to watch on Wednesday.

Chelsea's caretaker coach Roberto Di Matteo is confident that his team can make it to the semi final of the the Champions League for the first time since 2009, when they were controversially knocked out by Barcelona.

The rivalry between the two teams dates back to the 2004/2005 season when Chelsea under Mourinho at the time felt aggrieved by the referees decision to send Didier Drogba off after his side had taken a shocking lead at the Nou Camp.

After a dismal first half, Manchester City made an impressive comeback to win the second leg of their Europa League tie against Sporting 3-2 on Thursday. They still lost on away goals with a 3-3 aggregate score because Joe Hart's nearly amazing last-second header was tipped just wide of the goal by Sporting keeper Rui Patricio.

The CONCACAF Champions League semifinals are set after another rout capped off the latest round.

Pumas UNAM, which entered Thursday night's second leg against Isidro Metapan in a 2-1 hole, unleashed an 8-0 beating on its Salvadoran counterpart to become the third Mexican team to qualify for the tournament semifinals.

By Chris Wright

With the aggregate score tied at 3-3 and Sporting Lisbon going through on away goals, Man City sent everybody up for one last 'Hurrah' in the 95th-minute with the very last grain of sand about to fall through the Boggle timer of fate.

Nigel de Jong pumped a long ball to the back stick, where Joe Hart (a goalkeeper by trade, may we remind you) ran in behind, out-muscled Daniel Carrico and plonked a header back across goal, only for Rui Patricio to get a fateful finger on it and send the ball bobbling past the post.

Besiktas vs Atletico Madrid 0-3 Highlights 2012 Europa League BJK Goals Adrian Falcao Salvio Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Besiktas vs Atletico Madrid 0-3 Highlights 2012 Europa League BJK Goals Adrian Falcao Salvio Video is a post from Soccer Blogger.

The pitch at the Santiago Bernabeu momentarily betrayed Cristiano Ronaldo during Real Madrid's 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals on a 5-2 aggregate score. Ronaldo scored two goals, but the pitch was either unable or unwilling to support his brilliance in this moment, prompting him to respond with physical abuse.

Yesterday provided plenty of Revs-related news for us to relay to you. Today, well, not so much. But here at the Bent Musket we strive to bring you the most up-to-date and relevant New England Revolution news, even when there's not all that much to bring you. Today we have a little of that, but also lots of news from around MLS.

Though Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has largely shed his reputation as a diver over the last few years, old habits returned during Wednesday night's Champions League round of 16 second leg match against Napoli.

Drogba, who scored the first goal in Chelsea's 4-1 extra-time win that allowed them to advance to the quarter finals on a 5-4 aggregate score, feigned getting hit in the face by Salvatore Aronica and fell to the ground clutching his face.

Chelsea's caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo has revealed the secret to winning all three matches since Andre Villas-Boas was sacked after just seven months in charge. The former assistant under Villas-Boas has sparked new life in an aging side that was showing its age a few weeks ago, resulting in wins in the FA Cup, Premier League and, most recently, a 4-1 extra-time win over Napoli in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie that allowed Chelsea to advance on a 5-4 aggregate score.

By Alan Duffy

Chelsea, under the temporary stewardship of Roberto Di Matteo, looked to have a massive task ahead of them on Wednesday night, with visitors Napoli taking a 3-1 advantage to Stamford Bridge from the first leg of the last 16 Champions League tie.

On Saturday, Bayern Munich beat Hoffenheim 7-1 -- an impressive showing and a very well timed one at that. Yet, it left Basel manager Heiko Vogel unimpressed going into the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie with a 1-0 lead against Bayern.

From the Guardian:

"The margin of victory does not impress me.

Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie has hit back at suggestions that the atmosphere at the club's football stadium is not good enough, arguing that supporters at home games have been critical to any success that the Gunners have had.

While the Gooners who travel to away games have been praised consistently for their intensity, those at the Emirates Stadium have been questioned for going silent for long intervals and also jeering some of their own players (most notably former right-back Emmanuel Eboue and most recently winger Theo Walcott).

Barcelona ran riot in the Champions League tonight, coming out 7-1 winners against Bayer Leverkusen at the Nou Camp, giving them an aggregate score of 10-2 and a place in the quarter finals.

Five of the goals were scored by Lionel Messi, who is so good this season that he is making the majority of human beings feel utterly unaccomplished by comparison.

Lionel Messi single-handily destroyed Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 at the Nou Camp. Messi was at his mesmerizing best, scoring five goals as Barca showed the rest of Europe that they will not give up their Champions League trophy without a fight.

Messi became the first man to score four goals in a game twice in the Champions League and then he set a new record, becoming the first player to score five goals in a game, when he scored his fifth with six minutes to go.

There are games where even a defeat feels like a win. Then there are those where victory can't quite overcome the feeling of losing out. On a rare occasion though, one gets to experience both these contradicting sentiments at the same time! Arsenal's heroic effort against Milan will surely fall into that exceptional category.

Manchester City pounded Europa League defending champions Porto 4-0 on Wednesday to advance on a 6-1 aggregate score. Porto defender Nicolas Otamendi got the worst of the team's misfortunes on the day when teammate Maicon went to kick a high ball that Otamendi was trying to head away in the 63rd minute, resulting in a boot to the face for Otamendi.

The Question: Should the away goals rule be scrapped? is a post from: Just Football

by Jake Miller

Since 1969 the European Cup has used the away goals rule to separate sides that have drawn on aggregate. The tie-breaker, applied after 180 minutes in UEFA Competitions, gives extra weighting to goals scored away from home (as the name suggests) in an attempt to encourage teams to be more adventurous on their travels, but is it still applicable?

Yesterday was quite an afternoon of football, with two compelling Cup matches. Turns out there's more today another Copa del Rey quarterfinal second leg, another Coppa Italia quarterfinal, and this just in from our Uruguayan buddy it's time for Copa Libertadores again. Click thru for livesoccertv's TV listings and match previews:

Coppa Italia quarterfinal – Milan vs Lazio - 8:45pm CET / 2:45pmET / 7:45pm GMT (USA: GolTV, ESPN3.

Like many Americans of my generation, I fell in love with football at age 14 during the 1994 World Cup.
Prior to 1994, I did not even realize that you could play football professionally. I figured it was something to do for fun. It was nothing more than a PE activity to do in between American football and basketball seasons.

"Se mira y se toca" Copa Sudamericana glory for Universidad de Chile is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's man in Chile, Santiago Irribarra reports on an historic continental cup triumph for Universidad de Chile:

In June, when Universidad de Chile lost the first leg of the Apertura final to bitter rivals Universidad Católica 2-0, everybody expected Católica, Copa Libertadores quarter-finalist and building on last year's title-winning form, would have no trouble sealing the win in the second leg, especially when they'd have to lose the second leg by three goals to not win the tournament, in accordance with new rules favouring the higher play-off seed.

As expected the Supporters' Shield winner will host MLS Cup, a welcome and long overdue change.

But the top five in each conference - Montreal joins the now 10-team Eastern Conference while the nine-team Western Conference remains the same - will now qualify for the playoffs. The fourth and fifth place teams will play a single game to determine who advances to play the conference champion in the two-game aggregate score semifinals, while the second and third place teams faceoff in the other semi.

Article by Jon Parker
Seeing as we are the home of MLS in the UK, we thought it only fitting to write an article about arguably Britain's most beloved player, following his exploits during the MLS Playoff season. I speak of course about the second most capped England player of all time, David Beckham.

Sporting Kansas City beat the defending champion Colorado Rapids 2 - 0 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in the second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal. With an aggregate score of 4 - 0, Sporting KC advances to face the winner of Philadelphia Union and Houston Dynamo Sunday at LIVESTRONG. Full gallery Jimmy celebrates.

Soccer can be a cruel game. Sometimes you can do everything right and fall short of victory. That was the case for the Carolina Railhawks in their final match of the season. The stage was set for an incredible night of drama and both teams delivered. The second leg of the NASL semi-final between Carolina and Minnesota was one for the history books.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

For the second consecutive year, the Carolina Railhawks scored four goals in the return leg against the NSC Minnesota Stars. Only this time, it wasn't enough.

Minnesota advanced to the NASL championship series on penalty kicks despite losing a wild 4-3 game in Cary on Saturday.

photo by Victor Palkaninec

By FRANCO PANIZO

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Puerto Rico Islanders won't soon forget the name Brian Shriver.

A week after scoring the final goal in the Fort Lauderdale Strikers' 3-1 road win against Puerto Rico, Shriver bagged a brace in the second leg of the NASL semifinals series to give the hosts a 2-1 victory in front of 4,233 fans at Lockhart Stadium on Saturday night.

A few weeks ago, the Manchester United FB Page asked the question 'Still thinking about the 8-2?'. I said hell yeah. What else was there to think about? The international break had most inconveniently followed, and I've never translated my United fandom to following England (for Roon one could argue, but now practically the entire right wing) or hating them (for Lumplard, Cashley and the likes).

On the 9th April 2002, a particularly catastrophic tactical decision by Gerard Houllier robbed Liverpool FC of the chance to participate in what would undoubtedly have been the game of the century.
On the night in question, Liverpool faced Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.

On the 9th April 2002, a particularly catastrophic tactical decision by Gerard Houllier robbed Liverpool FC of the chance to participate in what would undoubtedly have been the game of the century.
On the night in question, Liverpool faced Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.

The 2011 Recopa Sudamericana (South American Super Cup) was won by Brazilian side Internacional on Wednesday night. The 2010 Copa Libertadores champions were 2-1 down from the first leg to 2010 Copa Sudamericana winners Independiente before they turned it around in the return fixture with a 3-1 win.