By Tim Stannard

1) Zizou under attack for blowing big decision

In this current heated election climate, poor Coach Zizou has been accused of the worst insult you can currently throw at anyone – being political.

That’s certainly the damning message from the front page of Spanish sports daily ‘AS’ on Thursday, with the paper suggesting that the Real Madrid boss was all with the chicken by choosing to play both Alvaro Morata and Karim Benzema rather than making a big call to pick just the one.

A tactical imbalance is being seen as the root cause of Madrid blowing a 2-0 lead to end up scrabbling about for an equalizer in what was ultimately a 3-3 draw against Legia Warsaw in the Champions League. “We’re not happy with the result,” revealed Gareth Bale who scored Madrid’s early opener after just 57 seconds, on a team that has only kept one clean sheet in 14 matches.

2) Party boy Aubameyang’s Italian adventure

Madrid’s misery was doubled with group rivals – and now leaders – Borussia Dortmund beating Sporting in a narrow 1-0 win. The biggest sigh of surprise though, was the sight of superstar striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang watching the match from the stands, whilst suffering a club ban imposed for “internal reasons.” It has since surfaced on Thursday – according to the ‘Daily Mirror’ anyway - that the forward was being plonked onto the naughty step for an unsanctioned trip to a party in Italy on Monday night. The Gabonese goal-grabber is expected to return for the weekend’s Bundesliga clash against Hamburg, a bit of a must-win with Dortmund eight-points off the top of the table.

3) Mourinho picks on new player ahead of Turkey tussle

It’s Europa League time! No, don’t run away!

The light of the end of the tunnel is almost upon us with just two matches left from the group stages when the competition will be whittled down to just 650 teams and then whittled back up again with 160 joining from the Champions League, in UEFA’s almost communist system of rewarding losers.

The least depressing of the matches involves Manchester United – simply because of the walking headline, Jose Mourinho – who are in Turkey to take on Fenerbahce. So of course, the maverick manager decided to gee up his players by insulting one of the them. This time, it was a new target in the form of Phil Jones.  “I almost don't remember when Phil Jones had a good run of matches for United.”

But Jose did admit that his previously dismissive attitude to the competition has brightened a little when remembering that the winner is offered a spot to the Champions League – something that probably isn’t an option in the Premier League at the moment for a flagging United. Catch all the highlights of that game and many others on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

4) Cannavaro says no to Inter Milan

One of the aforementioned Europa League matches will be involving Inter Milan, who are in England facing Southampton with an interim coach in charge.

According to reports in Italy that youth team manager, Stefano Vecchi, will be in charge over the weekend as well. Fabio Cannavaro has reportedly turned down a job offer to take over, leaving former Villarreal boss, Marcelino, and ex-Lazio manager, Stefano Pioli, as the front runners. A final decision is not expected until Sunday or Monday.

5) Cilic seals season-ending deal with Paris win

In the world of tennis, the seventh and penultimate spot in the season-closing ATP World Tour Finals has been secured by Marin Cilic, who won at the Paris Masters on Thursday to secure the points needed to end up at the jamboree in London. The Croatian will be joined by Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils. The final place will be a toss-up between Dominic Thiem, Tomas Berdych or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

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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.