APRNEWS - Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé was named the best player of Ligue 1’s 2018-19 season on Sunday, after which the young striker hinted that he was open to changing clubs.

APRNEWS - Antoine Griezmann's decision to leave Atletico Madrid has plunged the club into chaos and fired the starting gun for a summer scramble among Europe's elite.

Top scorer in each of his five seasons, Griezmann was the stardust of Atleti, offering spontaneity and craft in a team renowned for discipline and grit.

APRNEWS - Zinedine Zidane stood for 29 minutes fielding questions but all of them really came down to two: Why now? And, what next?

In a packed auditorium in the belly of the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday night, Raul and Roberto Carlos took their seats in the front row while journalists squeezed up against the walls, an hour and a half after the official announcement.

APRNEWS - There might have been two clubs toasting Athletic Bilbao signing Ibai Gomez from Alaves on Thursday -- Athletic for one, but also Real Madrid.

APRNEWS - Hundreds of thousands of ecstatic French fans celebrated the return of their World Cup-winning team yesterday, jumping and chanting “We Are The Champions” as their bus paraded down the Champs Elysees before a special presidential reception.

GUARDIAN - Zinedine Zidane has told Liverpool his Real Madrid team are hungrier than ever to win the Champions League, despite clinching the title in three of the last four years.

Real are gunning for an unprecedented third consecutive success in the competition on Saturday while Liverpool have reached the final for the first time since 2007.

AFP - Real Madrid and Karim Benzema have each endured rather underwhelming seasons so far by their own high standards but both know how to rise to a big occasion.

REUTERS - Barcelona were given a testing tie against Valencia in Friday’s draw for the semi-finals of the King’s Cup while Leganes were handed a marginally more comfortable tie against Sevilla after dumping Real Madrid out of the competition.

REUTERS - Real Madrid visit third-placed Valencia on Saturday in the middle of a deepening crisis with pressure mounting on coach Zinedine Zidane following their King’s Cup elimination at the hands of local rivals Leganes.

AFP - Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday dismissed media speculation linking superstar Cristiano Ronaldo with a move away from the Bernabeu.

"I can't imagine a Madrid without Cristiano," said the Frenchman, a World Cup winner as a player.