MANCHESTER, England - It was Groundhog Day for Barcelona at Old Trafford on Thursday as Manchester United fought back to earn a 2-1 win that knocked the Spanish side out of the Europa League, leaving the Catalans licking their wounds after another continental failure.

Last season they also ended up in the Europa League playoffs after finishing third in their Champions League group and were knocked out of Europe's second tier competition in the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.

Jamie Carragher should probably be fired as an analyst after questioning Real Madrid's manifest destiny in the Champions League.

The 14-time winners appeared to live a charmed existence during last year's run to the title — coming back from 2-0 down in the final 30 minutes against PSG, coming back from 4-3 down in the final 10 minutes against Chelsea and coming back from 5-3 down in the final mere minutes against Manchester City before Thibaut Courtois' heroics in the final — but those are probably best analyzed as simply "Real Madrid things."

Valencia's season plummeted to historically low depths on Monday after a 1-0 defeat at Getafe left Los Che on just 20 points from 22 matches, good for 19th-place in LaLiga and two points from safety.

LIVERPOOL, England - Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp conceded that he had not been able to bring himself to rewatch last season's Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid until this past weekend, insisting reliving the experience was "torture."

The Reds won their first three matches against Real in European competition, between 1981 and 2009. Since then, however, they are winless in six games against them, with five of those ending in defeat.

Barcelona signed Mexican defender Julian Araujo from MLS side LA Galaxy in a deal until 2026, both clubs said on Friday.

Barcelona missed out on signing Araujo on transfer deadline day as they were 18 seconds late in registering the paperwork, and said they would appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to get the player registered.

Araujo has signed a three and a half year contract until the end of the 2025-26 season, Barcelona said, adding that the 21-year-old will join the club's B team.

Christian Pulisic will leave Chelsea this summer if a team makes the right offer confirmed soccer guru and journalist Fabrizio Romano.

While Pulisic’s Chelsea contract runs until June 2024, the London club is ready to let him go and could ask for a transfer with a price tag in the $35 to $40 million range.

The replacement for Captain America is already in the squad as Chelsea signed Ukrainian left winger Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk for around $75 million in January. Had it not been for a knee injury, Pulisic likely would have been sold in January.

BARCELONA - Barcelona fought back to earn a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in a pulsating Europa League knockout round playoff first leg on Thursday.

United were the better side for large parts of the game and controlled the tempo but were denied by goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen who made three outstanding saves in the first half.

Another huge save from Marc-André ter Stegen. pic.twitter.com/2HI7Wdzm9c