Samuel Chukwueze struck a dramatic decisive late goal as Villarreal secured a 2-1 aggregate victory that sent Bayern Munich crashing out of the Champions League.

The Nigeria international climbed off the bench to make it 1-1 on the night two minutes from time in the second leg at the Allianz Arena to send the Yellow Submarine through to their first semi-final since the 2005-06 season.

Robert Lewandowski had levelled the tie early in the second half with his 13th Champions League goal of the campaign.

But there was a dramatic twist, as Chukwueze ensured Unai Emery would not be prevented from progressing beyond the last eight of this competition for the first time in his managerial career.

World number one Novak Djokovic explained that he could just not get up to the level of sharpness required in his shock defeat at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Djokovic slumped out in the second round on Tuesday when he lost 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 to world number 46 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The Serbian's status as an unvaccinated player has limited his ability to compete on the ATP Tour this year and he has played in just one tournament so far, getting to the quarter-finals in Dubai. 

Yet his preparations for the French Open, which starts at the end of next month, hardly got off to a good start as he made 51 unforced errors in what was still, despite his rustiness, a surprise defeat.

"I didn't like the way I felt physically in the third. I just ran out of the gas completely," Djokovic told the media. 

"Just couldn't really stay in the rally with him. I mean, if you can't stay in the rally, not feeling your legs on the clay, it's mission impossible.

"I'm going to look with my team into reasons why that was the case and go back to the drawing board. Hopefully next week will be better in Belgrade."

Though Djokovic has won twice in Monte Carlo, it has not been a happy hunting ground for him in recent years. He has not advanced past the quarter-final stage since 2015.

He added: "It's going to take some time for me to really feel my best on the clay.

"That's historically always been the case. [I have] never played very well in the opening tournaments of the clay season.

"But it's okay. Obviously it is what it is. I have to accept the defeat and keep working."

While unhappy with his own performance, Djokovic had nothing but praise for his opponent. 

"I would like to congratulate Alejandro. He was the better player," Djokovic said. "He managed to find a better rhythm I think in the first two sets. I was hanging on the ropes the entire match. I was really chasing the result constantly.

"I always believed that I could come back and win the match, and I stayed there even though a lot of things were against me in terms of how I felt on the court. Game-wise, physically I was just far from my best.

"I expected this match to be [a] really tough match, [a] physical battle, and that's what it was. Unfortunately I'm on the shorter end of the stick, and my week ends here."

Djokovic's defeat also means a mouthwatering contest with teenager sensation Carlos Alcaraz, who he might have met in the quarter-finals, will not be taking place.

Diego Simeone sees no issues with Atletico Madrid's more conservative approach in the big games, suggesting his tactics will be similar in the second leg against Manchester City.

Atleti are aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit when they welcome the Premier League leaders to Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday in their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Kevin De Bruyne's second-half strike settled last week's first leg at the Etihad Stadium, where Simeone employed an extremely defensive system.

Atleti had just 29.5 per cent of possession, while only playing 297 passes to their opponents' tally of 696 as they failed to have a single effort or even win a corner.

It was the first time since 2012 that any side had not managed to have one shot in a Champions League game, while City had 15 attempts, albeit only two of them were on target.

Former Atleti coach Arrigo Sacchi criticised Simeone while City boss Pep Guardiola appeared to question his counterpart, saying that since "prehistory" it had been difficult to break down a team defending so deeply with two lines of five.

However, Simeone refused to bite, insisting he prides himself on demonstrating respect.

"I have been coaching since 2005, and I always say the same thing: I never do [comment], I am never disrespectful with colleagues of mine," he said.

"I put myself in the position of the coaches I compete against, and I understand that there are different ways of expressing what you feel as a coach.

"When someone does not appreciate a colleague, I don’t share that. Others' opinions, press, ex-players, people who haven't been in the game a long time have opinions and talk. Words are free, and we can all express an opinion. 

"There are ways of acting among colleagues and I have one: respect others always, always, always."

While sticking by his ideas of how to get the best out of his team against City, Simeone did concede he is looking for more cutting edge in attack.

He added: "I am not going to get far away from what we believe in. [But] hopefully, we can combine better – have better, faster transitions, be more precise in our counter-attacks – that our most significant players can have a fantastic night. 

"We will try to take the game to where we think we can hurt them. In a football match, anything can happen."

Speed is a highly valued asset in the NFL and if you needed any reminder of the premium the league places on wide receivers who can create separation with raw acceleration, it arrived during perhaps the wildest offseason in history.

A frenzy of blockbuster trades was capped off last month by the Miami Dolphins parting with first and second-round picks in this year's draft, two fourth-round selections and a 2023 sixth-rounder to acquire Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Miami subsequently made Hill the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL by signing him to a four-year, $120million contract extension, including $72.2m guaranteed.

The price teams are prepared to pay for speed receivers of Hill's calibre is an extremely promising harbinger for wideouts in this month's draft who share his ability to take the top off of a defense. 

Among another uber-talented class of players at the receiver position, one man stands above the rest in possessing that specific trait, Alabama's Jameson Williams.

His hopes of going in the first round took a huge hit when Williams tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the National Championship Game in January, ending a sparkling sole season with the Crimson Tide after he transferred from Ohio State.

Yet between the significant advancements in ACL recovery - giving Williams a chance of making an impact in his rookie year - and how desperate NFL teams are for big-play receivers who can flip the field in an instant, it still appears likely he will hear his name called on night one in Las Vegas.

A first-round draft status would be the least Williams deserves, with the advanced metrics and his Alabama tape combining to paint a picture of a receiver who is not only the top deep threat in the draft, but also has an extremely compelling argument for being considered the best all-round receiver in this deep class.

Belated big-play impact

His injury meant Williams was unable to take part in any pre-draft athletic testing but, while teams have not had the chance to put a 40-yard dash time next to his name, the impact of his speed was obvious during a brief but ultra-productive stay with Alabama.

Having made only 15 catches in two seasons at Ohio State, where he played behind two receivers expected to go in the first round in Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, Williams took full advantage of his opportunity to shine down in Tuscaloosa.

Williams racked up 79 catches for a team-high 1,572 yards, with his 15 touchdown catches tied for third in the FBS.

Nine of Williams' 15 touchdown catches were for 40 or more yards, while no player in the FBS produced more than his nine receptions of at least 50 yards, four more than the wideout who stepped into his third receiver role at Ohio State, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Landing with college football's modern-day juggernaut undoubtedly helped his cause, but the 2021 season was one in which Williams' established himself as the premier downfield weapon in the FBS by separating more consistently and more dramatically than any of his peers near the top of this year's receiver draft board.

Feel the burn

Blending elite speed with lower-body flexibility that enables him to be a substantial threat on double moves, Williams thrived running post-corner and corner-post routes downfield during his time with Alabama, with his proficiency in creating substantial separation going deep reflected by his burn rate.

Burn rate measures how often a receiver wins his matchup with a defender on a play where he is targeted. Williams did so on 74.6 per cent of his targets in 2021.

Williams' burn rate was superior to that of Wilson (71.6 per cent), Olave (69.9), USC's Drake London (71.3) and Arkansas star Treylon Burks (64.8).

He comfortably led the way in burn yards per target, his average of 19.34 nearly five full yards better than that of his nearest challenger, Cincinnati's Alec Pierce (14.74), and was also the cream of the crop in burn yards per route (4.9).

In other words, none of the other receivers anticipated to be in the first-round conversation came close to generating as much separation as Williams, who was the class of this field when it came to defeating his defender's coverage.

Yet in the endless quest for mismatches that is the NFL in 2022, it is not just Williams' success in separating that makes him such an intriguing prospect, it is the varied nature of a skill set ideally suited to where modern passing games are going.

Slot machine

There has arguably never been a better time to enter the NFL as a receiver who can win because of that extra gear at their disposal.

Hill coalesced perfectly with Patrick Mahomes during their time together in Kansas City and, as quarterbacks blessed with Mahomes' extraordinary arm talent become the archetype in the league, there figures to be an increasing demand for receivers who can get behind the secondary along with wideouts with the size and catch radius to mitigate inaccurate throws.

Williams may not have an intimidating frame at 6ft 2in and 189 pounds, but he does possess outstanding ball tracking ability and the body control to turn off-target throws into completions.

Elite receivers of all moulds - from route-running aficionados Cooper Kupp and Davante Adams to yards after catch monsters like Deebo Samuel and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' physically imposing duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin - are spending an increasing amount of time playing, and thriving, from the slot.

Winning inside and out is a prerequisite for top-tier wideouts at the NFL level, and that is a box Williams checks emphatically.

Able to win with patient and intelligent footwork at the start of his route and through varying his route speeds, Williams' physical gifts have seen him develop into a substantial threat to pick up yardage after the catch on underneath routes that can be run from the slot, with his advanced metrics when lined up inside nothing short of astonishing.

Williams ran 132 routes from the slot in 2021 and was targeted 40 times. His burn rate from the slot was 77.5 per cent compared to 73 per cent when he lined up as an outside receiver.

He averaged 26.53 burn yards per target and 8.04 burn yards per route from the slot, while he produced a big play on 59.7 per cent of slot targets.

Those numbers dwarf his still impressive statistics as an outside receiver - 15.46 burn yards per target, 3.62 burn yards per route and a big play rate of 41.7 per cent - though that disparity is largely a product of Williams running a lot of his deeper routes from the slot.

Indeed, Williams' average depth of target from the slot was 19.3 yards, compared to 11.5 yards from the outside.

Such a gulf is unlikely to exist in the pros. In a league so heavily influenced by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay and their offensive system, Williams should expect to see his speed utilised to stretch the field horizontally as much as vertically at the next level. The Dolphins' aggressiveness in trading for Hill despite Tua Tagovailoa's arm paling in comparison to that of Mahomes perhaps foreshadowed that teams whose quarterbacks cannot so easily access downfield throws may still be interested in pursuing a burner of Williams' talents.

But, with the Green Bay Packers - who traded Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders and lost their deep threat, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, to Kansas City - and the Chiefs both possessing two picks in the second half of the first round, Williams could yet find himself catching passes from either Aaron Rodgers or Mahomes and executing the best-laid gameplans of Matt LaFleur or Andy Reid. 

The college football world only got a fleeting glimpse of what Williams could do when given a featured role for a dominant program. More prolonged pain for NFL defenses will come if he ends up landing with a team that can claim to have one of the NFL's best arms and a sharp offensive mind in their employ.

Novak Djokovic suffered a stunning defeat in his first ATP Tour match since February, the world number one losing in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Djokovic's status as an unvaccinated player has limited his ability to compete on the tour this year. He missed the Australian Open in January after a saga surrounding his visa eventually resulted in his deportation on public health grounds, while laws around vaccination against COVID-19 in the United States prevented him from playing at Indian Wells and Miami.

Despite his inactivity, the Serbian - whose sole appearance on tour this year came during a run to the quarter-finals in Dubai - was expected to prevail on the clay against his Spanish opponent after receiving a bye in the first round.

But there were evident signs of rust in a mistake-riddled display against the world number 46, who remarkably emerged victorious to set up a meeting with either Dan Evans or David Goffin.

The tide looked to have turned in the second set tie-break, when an exquisite whipped forehand from Djokovic sent the match to a decider.

However, Djokovic, who committed 51 unforced errors, immediately surrendered the momentum by dropping serve in the first game of the third and he was broken twice more as Davidovich Fokina powered to a 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 victory in just under three hours.

"I knew that Nole hasn't had that confidence because he didn't play a lot," Davidovich Fokina said.

"This win is so special for me. I look at him every tournament. Here in Monte Carlo, full people [capacity], against the number one, I enjoy every moment."

Earlier, Evans saw off Benjamin Bonzi while Goffin, fresh off his triumph in Marrakech, came through against Jiri Lehecka to set up their second-round meeting.

Tenth seed Taylor Fritz defeated Monegasque wild card Lucas Catarina in three sets and 16th seed Lorenzo Sonego saw off Ilya Ivashka in straight sets. Laslo Djere, a semi-finalist in Marrakech, also progressed to the second round.

Kim Clijsters has called time on her latest tennis comeback, announcing her retirement from playing in official tournaments.

The Belgian surprisingly stepped away from the sport in 2007, before returning in 2009 to win back-to-back US Open titles in 2009 and 2010 before being crowned the 2011 Australian Open champion.

Clijsters retired again after the 2012 US Open, where she was beaten in the second round, before returning in February 2020 at the age of 36.

The former world number one's first match in over seven years came at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing in straight sets to Garbine Muguruza, while her last official match was in October, when she was defeated by Katerina Siniakova in the first round at Indian Wells.

Clijsters took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce her decision, posting: "I want to share with you that I have decided to no longer play official tournaments. I can't wait to see what new adventures will cross my path. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past two years!"

Mother of three Clijsters revealed stepping away from tennis again had "been on my mind for a while."

"I still love to hit the ball," she told the WTA website. "With my schedule, three, four days was enough to keep my rhythm under control but definitely not good enough if I decided to play another tournament. Say, if I picked Australia, it's three, four weeks. That's just not possible at this stage in our family life.

"Life just sort of takes over, right?"

Clijsters won three US Open singles titles in all, as well as her Australian Open crown, and in 2003 won both the French Open and Wimbledon doubles titles with Ai Sugiyama.

She became world number one on four separate occasions, winning 41 overall titles and boasting a career match record of 523-131 (80.0 per cent).

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has said he and his team-mates "want to win everything" ahead of a busy period that could see them end the season with an unprecedented quadruple.

The Reds have already won the EFL Cup and are a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race as well as still participating in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Liverpool will have 13 more games left to play between now and the end of May should they reach the finals of both those competitions, but Alisson is confident the team can deal with the hectic schedule.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Benfica, a tie in which they lead 3-1, the Brazilian stopper was asked about the physical demands of being in so many competitions.

"At this level we need to be prepared for that and we are," he said. "We have great fitness staff, we are training every day for that. We have targets, all the finals, all the games, as many games as is possible for us in the season.

"We want to win everything, so we are ready for that. Of course, it's not easy, sometimes we feel tired, but you need to put in your mind that you have energy enough to deal with every challenge."

Alisson has played 41 games for Liverpool in all competitions this season, keeping 22 clean sheets, and paid tribute to the players in front of him.

"It's massive [having a strong defence as a goalkeeper]. I have top players playing in front of me. No matter who is playing, they are always performing to the highest level possible, so I am really happy to be part of this team," he added.

The former Roma goalkeeper acknowledged the strength of Benfica ahead of Wednesday's second leg at Anfield.

"It was a tough game," Alisson admitted. "They have quick strikers, they have a strong striker as a number nine [Darwin Nunez]. I know Everton as well from Brazil, I know his qualities, how good he is.

"They gave us a lot of work to do, but we are ready to face them, we are ready and prepared to face that match to achieve our goals."

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City cannot be "tired" as they continue to compete on multiple fronts for silverware, with the prizes too big for them to falter in the final weeks.

The Premier League champions travel to face Atletico Madrid at Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, with Kevin De Bruyne's goal having given them a 1-0 aggregate lead.

It is a match that comes sandwiched between two encounters with domestic rivals Liverpool.

The Premier League title challengers played out a thrilling 2-2 draw on Sunday and will meet in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Saturday.

That hectic schedule is more of a badge of honour for Guardiola however, who explained that his side will not be sluggish when there are a trio of trophies at stake in the final few months of the campaign.

"We are close to the end of the season, where you have to be grateful to be here," he told his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

"I would love to have more time, but in that moment, you are not tired. When you are so close to reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, or the FA Cup, you are not tired."

Atleti failed to attempt a shot in the first leg. Since 2003-04, when Opta began collecting such data, the fewest shots recorded by a team across two legs of a Champions League knockout tie is four, by Shakhtar Donetsk against Bayern Munich in 2014-15. 

However, Guardiola knows his side will likely need to remain on the offensive and expects to face a different proposition to the defensively taut team that visited the Etihad Stadium last week.

"It will be slightly different," he added. "They play at home, and they create momentum.

"With the passion [that] all the fans [and] all the history that they have, there will be moments they will be aggressive and create problems."

Guardiola has faced Atleti away from home on six previous occasions as a manager (W3 L3), with the most recent of those being a 0-1 defeat in the Champions League while in charge of Bayern Munich in 2015-16.

It will be City's 100th game in the Champions League – they have won 55 of their first 99, which is already the most by an English side through a century of games in the competition. Overall, only Real Madrid have won more of their first 100 games in the competition (57).

Pep Guardiola was caught off guard after Fernandinho said he will not renew his Manchester City contract.

Fernandinho has been a pivotal figure for City since his arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013.

He has helped the club win four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and the EFL Cup six times.

However, at the age of 36, he is now back-up to Rodri in Guardiola's midfield, while the Brazilian is also able to fill in at centre-back if required.

Fernandinho has made 23 appearances across all competitions this season, though only 12 of those have been starts and on Tuesday, he suggested he will not be signing a new deal, with his contract due to expire at the end of 2021-22.

"I don't think so," he told a news conference when asked if he would be extending his stay in Manchester.

"I want to play regularly. I will go back to Brazil. I decided with my family, which is the most important for me."

Guardiola, however, was taken by surprise.

"Oh, I didn't know. You give me the news," City's manager said when it was his time to face the media.

"I didn't hear it. We will see what happens. I don't know what will happen. He is so important. I'll ask him.

"At the end of the season we talk, maybe it's because of his family. I would love it. We will talk."

Expanding on his appreciation of Fernandinho, Guardiola added: "The role he plays this season, I like the people who behave behind the scenes.

"I know what he has done, he handles many of our players and stars for the benefit of the team. I praise him and he was here when I arrived.

"We know him well, from day one to now always here. An incredible player for Man City. There are things nobody knows but I know exactly."

City face Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, holding a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has once again taken aim at the Premier League and broadcasters for their scheduling of games.

The Reds have five fixtures remaining in a busy April across three competitions, with a potential sixth game if they get past Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Liverpool remain a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race after their 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, with a repeat fixture against Pep Guardiola's men to come in the FA Cup semi-finals next weekend.

Klopp was particularly unhappy with the decision to schedule his team's trip to Newcastle United on Saturday April 30 for a 12:30 (BST) kick-off, as it would be the next game after a potential Champions League semi-final first leg.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of the game against Benfica at Anfield, Klopp was asked about the potential of winning four trophies, having already claimed the EFL Cup earlier this season.

"The only game I am concerned about is tomorrow night, Benfica," he said. "Then, because of the success we had so far we play Saturday, City.

"Then we play [Manchester] United [on Tuesday, April 19], then we play Everton [on Sunday, April 24], then if we get through tomorrow night we have the [Champions League] semi-final, then BT and the Premier League give us Newcastle away at 12:30.

"It's just not okay. If we play a Champions League semi-final, if you find another league in the world and another broadcaster where they put one team who is in the semi-final, might be two, might be three English teams, on a 12:30...What? What are you doing? Why would you do that?

"So that's why it's so difficult [to win four trophies], but nothing happens because nobody cares."

The German coach insisted his line-up against Benfica will not be influenced by Saturday's FA Cup semi-final being on the horizon, despite having a 3-1 advantage heading into the second leg.

"The next game has absolutely no influence on the line-up for tomorrow night, but the last game [against City] has, so we have to see. Obviously we have a really super intense schedule.

"There is nobody injured as far as I know, but we have to have a look who is fresh enough for this game.

"We see it as a super important game. We tried so hard last year to get qualified for the Champions League, and now we can make it to the semis, which is incredible and that's what we want to show tomorrow night, that it really means a lot to us."

Klopp was also asked for his thoughts on Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, who scored Benfica's goal in the first leg in Lisbon last week.

"Extremely good-looking boy," he joked. "Really good, really good. He played pretty much in front of me, with his tough battles with Ibou Konate. Physically strong, quick, was calm with his finish.

"If he stays healthy, it's a big career ahead of him."

Stephen Pagliuca has pledged to keep Chelsea out of any new plans for a European Super League should his bid for the club prove to be a success.

Pagliuca is one of the interested parties in buying Chelsea, with the club up for sale after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday, it was reported that NBA chairman Larry Tanenbaum and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin had agreed to back Pagliuca's bid, which is one of four proposals to have made a final shortlist, with the deadline for final offers to be made set for April 14.

Pagliuca had not previously commented publicly on his move to purchase the club but has now outlined his intentions for Chelsea in a statement released to Sky News.

High up in his statement, Pagliuca made specific reference to turning down any offer to be in a Super League, with Chelsea having been one of the 12 sides involved in the breakaway proposal in April 2021.

"Throughout my life and career, my ethos has always been to operate quietly, with integrity, and let my actions and results speak loudly," the statement read.

"However, it is imperative to clarify and assure supporters about our bid group and its commitments, to emphasize how seriously we take our potential responsibility to Chelsea.

"Our first focus and goal is to make strategic investments to continue competing for championships and trophies.

"We will support our players and managers to make sure that Chelsea are habitual winners and title contenders, whether in the Premier League, Champions League or the Women's Super League, the only Super League we intend competing in, for the record.

"In addition, we will continue to invest in the youth academy to develop the stars of the future and we would not be in this process if we did not have an exciting and inclusive vision for Chelsea."

Pagliuca also stressed that there would be no plans to alter Chelsea's colours, name or logo, while suggesting a new stadium - or the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge - would also be on the agenda.

"Chelsea is a world-class team, in a world-class city, with world-class fans: it deserves a world-class stadium," he said, before emphasising the importance of the club's community endeavours.