The Youth Panorama

Chelsea's José Mourinho, right, and David Luiz takes the questions before the Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid. Photograph: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images José Mourinho is confident Fernando Torres will be able to cope with the conflicting pressures of leading his Chelsea attack at the Vicente Calderón stadium against Atlético Madrid, a club where El Niño – now decisively morphed into El Hombre – remains something of a folk hero. In the absence of Samuel Eto'o, who did not travel to Madrid, Torres seems almost certain to start in the first leg of Champions League semi-final. "The Champions League is a big motivation for every player," Mourinho said. "I'm not saying Torres will start. But I will say he never hides when we speak about Spanish football that he is a big supporter [of Atlético]. But he is a professional. I have no doubt that in the minutes that he is on the pitch he will give everyth...

Sergio Agüero celebrates scoring Manchester City's second goal against West Brom at the Etihad. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA There is a song that can be heard on nights like these at Manchester City and it takes its tune to the words "we'll fight to the end". They were true to its theme two seasons ago – right to the very last kick of the season and that throaty commentary of Sergio Agüero's moment – and now they are clinging to the hope that something similar might be possible again. They will almost certainly need Chelsea to win at Anfield on Sunday against a Liverpool side that have won 11 games on the bounce and it would be stretching the truth to say there was any real sense here that City's crowd might be witnessing another spectacular comeback in the making. For now, however, they are doing their bit, seeing off West Brom with first-half goals from their Argentinian contingent and emerging unscathed from a more prosaic...

Tottenham Hotspur's Younès Kaboul, left, scores his team's third goal against Fulham in the Premier League match at White Hart Lane. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA Nowhere in the survival manual is there the provision for unmarked opponents on set-pieces two or three yards from goal. As Fulham passed up another shot at salvation, they could reflect upon not one, but two glaring defensive oversights. You need not look very far to see why Fulham are living in fear. Seventy-seven goals conceded tells a grisly tale and the devil here was in the detail. From two whipped Christian Eriksen free-kicks, Fulham singularly failed to pick up first Paulinho and later Younès Kaboul, and the Tottenham Hotspur players meted out the punishment. The home team's other goal, headed in by Harry Kane, hardly came in the face of rock-solid defending, and Tottenham could enjo...

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a fourth term in office with 81.53 percent of the vote, Algerian officials say. The 77-year-old incumbent’s main rival, Ali Benflis, received 12.18 percent in an election which saw 51.78 percent of Algerians cast their ballots, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz told a news conference on Friday. The result comes after a three-week election campaign that saw a spirited effort by Benflis and his supporters. Benflis criticised the election as marked by “fraud on a massive scale” after polls closed on Thursday. He has vowed to contest the results. Official figures for turnout were down from the 75 percent turnout for Bouteflika’s last win in 2009. The figures have been described by activists and opposition politicians as inflated. The youngest candidate, Abdelaziz Belaid, came third with 3.03 percent of the vote, followed by the only female candidate Louisa Hanoune, who ustered 1...

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has lashed out at Europe’s “homosexual nonsense”, condemning the refusal of its leaders to accept his grip on power. The 90-year-old ultimate leader of Zimbabwe said this in front of thousands of citizens who gathered at Harare stadium to mark 34 years since the country's independence from Britain. “The Europe of yesterday is gone, we have a Europe of today which has no principles at all. “What is natural is made unnatural. And what is unnatural they want to say it is natural,” he said in the speech, which lasted an hour and a half. Mugabe, who once declared gays and lesbians were worse than pigs and dogs, repeated his claims that Europe is trying to force gay rights on Africa: “If you pass a law that rejects homosexual marriages we will punish you like they are doing to Uganda and us. “Let Europe keep their homosexual nonsense there and not cross over with it here.” It would be noted that Robert Mugabe is the sole Zimbab...

The Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho holds back his assistant coach, Rui Faria, during a dispute during the 2-1 defeat by Sunderland. Photograph: Philip Brown/Reuters Chelsea's title challenge has petered out with a snarl after José Mourinho suffered his first Premier League home defeat over his two spells at the club and made his frustrations clear post-match at the performance of the referee, Mike Dean. Sunderland inflicted the Portuguese's first league loss at Stamford Bridge in his 78 matches courtesy of a controversial penalty, flagged for by the assistant referee eight minutes from time, with the spot-kick converted by Fabio Borini, a former Chelsea player on loan on Wearside from Liverpool. The Italian's parent club can move five points clear at the top by beating Norwich City on Sunday lunchtime ahead of their meeting with Chelsea at Anfield next Sunday, with the initiative in the title race now very much with those on Merseys...

Chelsea's Willian challenges Fabio Borini of Sunderland, right, during thePremier League match at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters Fabio Borini may never eclipse this contribution as a Liverpool player. The Italian loanee edged up to the penalty, awarded harshly against César Azpilicueta eight minutes from time and with those on the home bench still seething, to throw Mark Schwarzer off balance before easing the ball into the net. With that one conversion, while breathing life into Sunderland's desperate attempt to avoid relegation, the Italian simultaneously handed his parent club the initiative in the title race. The Premier League title is Merseyside's to claim. This was a twist few had foreseen in a campaign that has already defied logic. José Mourinho's 77-game unbeaten league sequence in this arena had been curtailed by the division's bottom club, a team without a win in the elite since early February...