By Tim Stannard

1) Platini to resign presidential position at UEFA

With the Court of Arbitration for Sport only reducing the ban on Michel Platini for taking part in any kind of football activity to four years rather than overturning it completely, there was only two options left for the former French player to fulfill those terms: take over Yaya Toure’s role at Man City or resign as UEFA President.

Platini has opted for the latter on Monday, with the once presumptive heir to the FIFA throne now banned from even attending matches at Euro 2016, a tournament in his own country. The suspension from FIFA was reduced by two years from six by CAS but Platini is still suffering the consequences of must have seemed like an innocuous $2 million payment between Sepp Blatter and himself in 2011. "I take note of today's decision from CAS but I see it as a profound injustice,” said Platini in a statement, who feels that the punishment was the result of a conspiracy against him from shady members of the FIFA Illuminati.

The UEFA Executive committee is set to meet next week in Basel to discuss the replacement of Platini, with elections expected to find a new UEFA head in September. One name that has already thrown his hat into the ring is longstanding Spanish Federation president, Angel Villar, according to Spanish sports daily ‘AS’.

2) Lucas Vazquez doubt for Champions League final as Barcelona begin early summer recruitment early

Yet more injury concerns for Real Madrid’s forward line. The club has had to suffer continuing absences of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, and for a short time Cristiano Ronaldo. But now Lucas Vazquez has caught the bug and looks set to miss the final run-in of the season, including the Champions League final, due to a knee injury picked up against Valencia in Sunday’s 3-2 win.  

Over in Barcelona, it is transfer speculation ahoy for the resurgent Ben Arfa with the Nice midfielder set to celebrate his about-to-be-out-of-contract status with a move to Barcelona. French and Spanish media sources claim that the 29-year-old playmaker arrived in Barcelona on Monday morning to continue talks, although another has just denied it. So who really knows what’s going on, as always.

3) Zlatan hints at summer return to San Siro

King Zlatan is still being coy over his immediate future. The PSG striker is out of contract with the French champions at the end of the season and admitted on Sunday that he did not yet know where his next playing port of call would be. However, a strong hint was delivered that it could well be a return to San Siro with AC Milan a team the Swede left in 2012. “I didn't want to leave Milan. My exit from Milan is the past and this is the future. Let's see what happens."

Another possible PSG departure is Edison Cavani with longstanding links to Juventus refusing to die down, despite the Uruguayan forward having a contract with the Ligue Un outfit till 2018. Indeed, even Juventus themselves are open to the possibility of a move with club director, Giuseppe Marotta, suggesting that incoming players could be possible if other were to leave. Like Alvaro Morata. To Real Madrid.

4) Casillas laments no fans farewell at Real Madrid

On-the-pitch celebrations for RB Leipzig, newly promoted to the Bundesliga, went a little array on Sunday, when manager Ralf Rangnick injured his hamstring whilst running away from a pursuing footballer carrying a very large glass of beer. “He definitely tried to run from me, which isn’t a good idea - I caught him up, I won the race,” beamed David Selke who admitted that he was now in hiding from his boss.

Those festivities arranged for the probably departing Alvaro Arbeloa went just fine with the Real Madrid fullback getting a dose of the bumps on the Santiago Bernabeu pitch. A fond and boisterous farewell is something that Iker Casillas did not receive, last year, and the former Madrid captain is still clearly a little rattled by this, posting a recorded message on social media noting that “every player that plays at Real Madrid deserves these kind of goodbyes, with their teammates, with the fans.” That was something that Casillas himself did not receive last summer, when departing for Porto.

5) Andy Murray parts company with coach

A traumatic couple of days for Andy Murray in a sporting sense. The world number three lost out to Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Madrid Open final on Sunday and a day later has announced the mutually agreed conclusion of the relationship with his coach, Amelie Mauresmo. "Dedicating enough time along with the travel has been a challenge," admitted Mauresmo in a joint statement.