Jose Mourinho chose his words very carefully after seeing his Real Madrid side fall just short of an amazing comeback in the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Two goals in the final eight minutes from Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos brought Madrid to the brink of the final after being hammered 4-1 in Dortmund last week, but after going out for a third consecutive season in the last four, whether Mourinho will hang around for a fourth try with the Spanish champions is highly doubtful.

Croatian First Division side Hajduk Split on Monday sacked coach Miso Krsticevic because of a run of poor results and replaced him with former international defender Igor Tudor. Tudor will be Hajduk's 28th coach since 2000, with none of his predecessors completing two full campaigns. "We estimated that at this moment our qualification for Europe was at risk ... and opted for changes," the club's president Marin Brbic said.

Serbia's defending champions Partizan on Monday sacked coach Vladimir Vermezovic in a late bid to halt a series of poor results. Former Partizan player and the club's youth coach Teleoptik, Vuk Rasovic was appointed as his replacement with five matches of the season remaining. After a defeat and two draws, Partizan, seeking a sixth successive title, have seen their 11-point advantage over Red Star Belgrade reduced to just two points. str-ks/nr

Southampton were more sinners than Saints on Saturday as they slumped to a 3-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion, ending up with nine players in a stormy encounter which also saw their rivals have a man sent for an early bath. The rot set in for the hosts, still not entirely out of the relegation picture with this loss, after just six minutes, as Marc-Antoine Fortune drove in from close range.