Kylian Mbappe was linked with an alleged incident of rape and sexual assault which is said to have taken place during the Real Madrid forward's visit to Sweden in October

It was a mixed round for Europe’s biggest clubs. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action Real Madrid: Are the serial champions finally stirring? The holders have been sleepy and tetchy amid the new format as the problems of assimilating Kylian Mbappé play out in public. But in a vital 3-2 away win over Atalanta, Mbappé played his part, scoring a fine goal before leaving with an injury. That left the stage open for Real’s other modern Galácticos, with Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham scoring the goals that took the game away from last season’s Europa League winners. Mateo Retegui’s late effort had Madrid’s hearts thumping but it flew wide, and was probably offside anyway. To automatically qualify in a top-eight place Madrid need to rediscover the belief that winning games at this level is their right. Their final two assignments, against Salzburg and Brest, look very winnable, although Real sit 20th, four points off the automatic qualifying spots. If they qualify, the knockouts are where the Madrid machine can kick into action. Continue reading...

A Manchester derby at a bad time for both teams, managers with shared values and Forest’s European dream Sean Dyche may be struggling to find reasons for optimism before his Everton side travel to Arsenal. The Toffees used to be tricky opponents for Mikel Arteta, earning wins under Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benítez. Dyche enjoyed a 1-0 win at Goodison in his first meeting with Arsenal as Everton manager, but has lost their three encounters since. Everton’s only win on the road this season came at Ipswich in October – also the last time they scored away from home – while Arteta’s side are on a 14-game unbeaten run at the Emirates. Dyche can be forgiven for having one eye on the January transfer window, saying on Thursday that the Friedkin Group’s proposed takeover “is looking very possible … but, until it’s done, it’s not done.” Whatever the result on Saturday, we can expect set-piece goals. Arsenal have scored a league-high 23 goals from corners since the start of last season, while 57% of Everton’s goals this term have come from set pieces. Arsenal v Everton, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT) Liverpool v Fulham, Saturday 3pm Newcastle v Leicester, Saturday 3pm Wolves v Ipswich, Saturday 3pm Continue reading...

Chelsea cruised to a 14th straight victory in all competitions with a crushing win over Twente in the Women’s Champions League. There were six different home goalscorers at Stamford Bridge as Catarina Macario, Oriane Jean-François, Mayra Ramírez, Erin Cuthbert, Sjoeke Nüsken and Eve Périsset ensured the Blues remained ahead of Real Madrid in Group B with one game to play. With qualification to the quarter-finals already secured thanks to victory over Celtic last time out, Chelsea knew another win would go some way to helping them secure top spot. Continue reading...