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In addition to the shortlist presented, it is announced on UEFA’s official site that the shortlist for UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and Women’s Player of the Year will be announced two weeks before the UCL Group Stage draw, which will take place in Monaco, on Thursday, August 29th. All awards will be presented on the same day as that of the group stage draw. Last year, Luka Modric won the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah....

But some teams, namely Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid are proving to be giving a run in Europe’s most elite competition. With the rise of Inter Milan to the competition after a while and their newfound dominance in the Serie A makes them the underdogs for this year as well. Let’s take a look at the teams which are capable of being UEFA Champions League contenders in the coming years....

The two sides were also drawn into the same group in the 2013-14 season where Madrid won their home tie 2-1 and the reverse fixture saw the teams playing out a 2-2 draw. They faced each other in the semi-finals of the 2014-15 season in which Juventus beat Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate. It is also a repeat of last year’s final in which Madrid ran out 4-1 winners to claim the prize....

Also read: UEFA Euro 2016 fixtures: Dates, group, schedule, time and venues for the tournament, PDF Download Germany have two in Bayern Munich and VFL Wolfsburg. France and Portugal have one each in Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica respectively. Having entered these final rounds, the geographical aspects that used to divide teams – no two teams from the same country can play each other – no longer comes into effect and its because of this, we kick the evening off with a mouth-watering clash between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid....

With the trio of Juventus, Bayern Munich and Paris St. Germain having already qualified for the knockout round on Matchday 4, only eight berths in the Round of 16 are now up for grabs. Ahead of the final Matchday of group-stage fixtures in two weeks’ time, let us find out what the qualification scenario in each of the eight groups is, and which teams are in contention to qualify for the knockout round....

This is the first time in UEFA European Championship history that two brothers will play each other with two countries. Granit is a midfielder – and a good one at that for Switzerland – while his brother is a defender for Albania. The two of them shared a dressing not too long ago at Basel. Granit posted an emotional message on Facebook outlining his respect for his brother and what it would mean to play him in an opposition team....

The co-main event saw Ronda Rousey defend her Bantamweight Championship once more. This time against Alexis Davis, who like Rousey was a veteran of Affliction and was undefeated in her three UFC fights. However, Davis was no match for Rousey. It took the champion just 16 seconds to dispatch of her challenger with a right hand, hip throw and unanswered punches. When you watch performances like this from Rousey, you struggle to see how she could ever have been beaten....

Frankie Edgar is slowly turning into one of the UFC elites and had already held the UFC Lightweight Championship back in 2010 before moving to the featherweight division in 2012. However, Max Holloway is fresh from his title defense at UFC 218 and will be looking to extend his UFC Featherweight streak to a record 13 wins. The current card features two more bouts. A middleweight bout sees C.B. Dollaway being pitted against Hector Lombard, with the latter looking to shake off his 4-fight losing streak and resuscitate his career in the UFC....

Whittaker showed why he’s the champion, defeating Romero by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) in a non-title affair. Sporting News scored it 48-47 for Whittaker. “I busted my hand,” Whittaker told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. “I cannot feel it up to here. He hits like a truck.” For the first two rounds, Whittaker made it look easy. But with his right eye nearly swollen shut, Romero came barreling at Whittaker and blasted him with a left, sending him to the mat....

The main event features Stipe Miocic defending the heavyweight championship for the fourth time against current light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier. The co-main event was supposed to be featherweight champion Max Holloway defending his belt against No. 1 ranked Brian Ortega. But on Wednesday, Holloway got pulled from the fight after being sent to the hospital for concussion-like symptoms. The new co-main event, in heavywight action, No. 1 ranked Francis Ngannou battles No....

The “Double Champ” retained his heavyweight title and made it look easy, trapping “The Black Beast” in a rear-naked choke to which Lewis tapped out to at the 2:14 mark of the second round before 17,011 fans at Madison Square Garden. With the win, Cormier (22-1) became the first in UFC history to carry two titles (heavyweight and light heavyweight) simultaneously and defend both. MORE: Fighters and celebrities react to Daniel Cormier’s submission of Derrick Lewis to retain heavyweight title...

On Tuesday afternoon, the promotion announced that Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya will square off in an interim title at UFC 236, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 13 at an as yet undetermined location. Join DAZN and watch Bellator 217 plus more than 100 fight nights a year Gastelum was scheduled to face Whittaker for the middleweight title less than two weeks ago in Melbourne before “The Reaper” was rushed to the hospital with a collapsed and twisted bowel and internal hernia, while Adesanya’s bout with former champ Anderson Silva was promoted to the main event of the Sunday, February 10 fight card at Rod Laver Arena....

The show will be headlined by arguably the promotion’s biggest draw right now in Jon Jones (if you discount the supposedly-retired Conor McGregor) and it also has a second title fight underneath as Amanda Nunes faces Holly Holm. It’s also the first time since 2013 that the UFC hasn’t supplemented their big July pay-per-view with an extra Fight Night or TUF Finale the night before – so the bonus is that all eyes should theoretically be on this one....

The event got an updated headliner Monday in Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje. Ferguson was previously scheduled to face Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Nurmagomedov is stuck in Russia amid the world health crisis. Ferguson and Gaethje will fight for the interim lightweight title. UFC 249 also announced its full fight card Monday, which includes Yorgan De Castro vs. Greg Hardy and Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price. MORE: Parker up for Fury musical collaboration...

Thankfully, Ubisoft appears to be stepping in to provide some launch day games with a few more following shortly after launch for a total of eight games to add to the growing list of 3DS titles. Below is the current list of the games that Ubisoft has in development for the 3DS. There are the usual suspects in Ubisoft’s lineup like Rayman and Splinter Cell, along with a few new properties such as James Noir and Combat of the Dinosaurs....

Opening batsman Udawatte, who has represented his country in limited-overs cricket, joins fellow newcomers Kasun Rajitha, Jeffrey Vandersay and Asitha Fernando in the tourists’ 17-man selection. Dimuth Karunaratne (fractured finger), Dushmantha Chameera (back) and Nuwan Pradeep (hamstring) remain sidelined. Angelo Mathews and Suranga Lakmal have been included despite potentially being short of full match-fitness. Chief selector Graeme Labrooy told ESPNcricinfo: “Mathews and Lakmal are not unfit as such. “In fact they are fit, but we wanted to see if they were match-fit....

The English club’s official twitter account soon confirmed the Egyptian’s absence, with a full report of his injury, to which the LaLiga giants responded by sending their well wishes to the player, in what can be described as a classy act. In case you didn’t know… Salah leads the race for the Golden Boot in the Premier League, with 22 goals this campaign and with only one match left in the English top flight, he looks certain to retain his title, after netting a record-breaking 32 goals last year....

Leonardo Jardim’s team are the leading goalscorers across Europe’s top six leagues and have netted 43 goals thus far this season in all competitions. On the back of a 4-0 rout over Marseille, Jardim and co. secured the club’s progress to the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Tottenham guaranteeing top spot in the group heading into the knockout stages. Also Read: Twitter roasts Tottenham Hotspur as they crash out of the Champions League...

Gabriel Jesus and Nicolas Otámendi both hit the woodwork in the first half as Pep Guardiola’s side reacted quickly after Andrej Kramaric’s penalty strike. But the hosts needed some brilliance from an in-form Leroy Sané either side of half-time to ensure all three points. Lyon drew with Shakhtar Donetsk in Group F’s other fixture, meaning Lyon will join the Citizens in the competition’s knockout rounds and Shakhtar will be playing UEFA Europa League football in the new year....

Goal: Olivier Giroud 85' Amidst a crazy atmosphere, Arsenal had to toil hard to gain victory against a well-drilled Red Star Belgrade side. In their second away game in the Europa League, the Gunners had to wait until the 85th minute to guarantee all three points. And what a goal it was! Olivier Giroud added another chapter in his stunning goals galore with an overhead finish to score the winner for Arsenal....