By Tim Stannard

1) Barca continue madcap year in world of sport

Luis Suarez, Leo Messi, Neymar and Sergi Roberto. Yes, Sergi Roberto.

Four Wednesday night goal-scorers and four footballing horsemen of the apocalypse who are continuing our New World Order where up is down, down is up and Justin Bieber is no longer completely unlistenable. Just.

Barcelona’s 6-1 comeback against PSG to knock the hapless – and spineless – French outfit out of the Champions League is dominating Thursday’s agenda and continues the End of Days chaos theme in the modern world from the Patriots comeback to the victory of He Who Shall Not be Named – but Tweets a lot.  The press in Spain are largely rubbing their eyes in disbelief, whilst the French are oiling up the Guillotine in preparation for the ref-blaming Unai Emery.

The victory completes an incredible three weeks for Barcelona which began with a 4-0 loss to PSG in Paris, continued with Luis Enrique stepping down, but has ended up with the side at the top of La Liga and back in the game to win another treble this season. It’s a shame for Barca fans that the world might well have ended by the time that the three trophies can be slotted into the Camp Nou trophy room.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM for a huge look back on the morning after the night before for Barcelona.

2) Man Utd try to be pitch perfect in Rostov

The competition that has to follow the Camp Nou drama is the Europa League. Good luck with that. The second-string European contest is now slightly out of synch with the Champions League and is just starting the first legs of the last-16 round.

Manchester United have travelled about 36,000 miles to take on Russian outfit, Rostov, only for Jose Mourinho to get there and moan about the state of the pitch. Better hope it’s not too bad as winning the Europa League might be the best chance of the Old Trafford outfit qualifying for next year’s Champions League.

The good people of Canada are able to catch APOEL against Anderlecht live on beIN SPORTS from 1PM ET / 10AM PT followed by the very glamourous clash between Lyon and Roma. Tune into the XTRA to catch the best highlights of the day.

3) Wenger admits fans could set his future

Barcelona’s remarkable football activities managed to shove aside the other big football story of the week – what to do with Arsene Wenger?

And the story developed a little more on Thursday with the club breaking a traditional silence by releasing a statement detailing the future of the French manager whose contract runs out this summer.

However, the short comment from Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick suggest that a brand new one will be handed out for Arsenal to go fourth into the future once again.

“We respect that fans are entitled to their different individual opinions but we will always run this great football club with its best long-term interests at heart.”

Wenger himself also spoke at a press conference and did admit that the reaction and support of fans would play a part in whether he was to stay at the club for years to come.

4) Allegri bigs up Serie A title chase

Even Juventus boss, Max Allegri, has been jumping on the Barcelona bandwagon but to give hopes to title rivals in Serie A that the chase for the Scudetto is still alive and kicking for the likes of Napoli and Roma.

“We have an eight-point lead but the League is not over,” opined the leader of the Old Lady ahead of a clash against Milan on Friday that is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS from 2:40PM ET / 11:40AM PT.
 

Tune into the XTRA today for a full preview of a classic encounter in Serie A.

5) Xabi Alonso to say farewell at the end of the season

Hot on the heels of Philipp Lahm – or rather slow on the heels considering the age – and Xabi Alonso is a second Bayern Munich footballer to announce his retirement at the end of the season, confirming a rumor that snuck out a few-weeks-ago.

"I always thought it would be better to quit sooner rather than later. I still feel good, but I believe this is the right moment," said the former Real Sociedad, Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder who won two Champions League titles and also a World Cup. Which ain’t bad.

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The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.