The FA have handed Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla an eight-match ban that will be applied with immediate effect, following an investigation into alleged racist comments made to Charlton Athletic's Jonathan Leko in September.

Following a lengthy investigation, the Spaniard has been found guily.

"Leeds United acknowledge that Kiko Casilla has been found guilty of breaching FA Rule E3 during our Sky Bet Championship game with Charlton Athletic in September 2019," a statement from the club started.

"Casilla has been banned for eight games following the verdict from the FA.

"We would like to make it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination within our football club and we are a leader in the fight against discrimination within our wider community.

"However, it is important to recognise that Kiko has always denied making any racist comment.

"The FA panel have based their decision on the balance of probability rather than proving Kiko to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt, which we have always believed is the more appropriate burden of proof."

The independent regulatory commission's explanation will be published in the coming week.

La Liga and the Premier League have both been dealt a setback in their plans to stage games overseas, after the FIFA voiced their opposition to the idea.

Hosting Spanish top flight matches abroad has been the subject of much discussion since the idea was proposed by Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu last year.

The ​Premier League have also floated the concept, with Richard Scudamore first suggesting a 39th game that would be held overseas in 2008.

However, it seems unlikely that either league’s plans will get the go ahead after FIFA criticised the idea at a meeting on Thursday.

A statement from the organisation’s Football Stakeholders Committee (via ​Rob Harris) backed the Council’s previous opposition to non-domestic based games.

“Official domestic matches should take place on the territory of the member association concerned,” they stated.

Barca are in favour of overseas games but they have been opposed by the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) as well as by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

La Liga have had proposal for games to be played in the United States ​turned down in each of the last two seasons. Most recently plans to stage Atletico Madrid’s meeting with Villarreal in Miami were scrapped in November of last year.

Bartomeu suggested in February last year (via ​BBC) that they should considered allowing three overseas games a year in order to challenge the Premier League’s popularity across the globe.

“If we want ​La Liga to be strong, we are to play in these games,” he said.

“At Barca we have sometimes been talking to La Liga and have been telling them that if you want to promote La Liga more and more, then we should have three games of the year outside – one in America, one in the Middle East and one in Asia.”

Odion Ighalo scored his first goal for Manchester United as they cruised into the Europa League last 16 at the expense of Club Bruges with one of their best performances of the season.

Bruno Fernandes scored his second United penalty in a week after Simon Deli was sent off for a ludicrous handball to block Daniel James' shot.

The Portuguese, who was at the centre of everything, had a hand in the second as he lifted a pass over the top to Juan Mata, who squared for full debutant Ighalo to tap in from six yards.

And Scott McTominay, making his first start following an injury, side-footed in a third to wrap the tie up before half-time.

Fred scored his first two goals of the season in the final 10 minutes as United got the big scoreline their performance deserved.

Club Bruges brought thousands of noisy fans to Old Trafford to help with a good atmosphere - but their players could not match their efforts and created nothing of note.

The draw for the last 16 takes place on Friday at 12:00 GMT - with United able to face any of the other teams left, including Wolves and Rangers.

Ighalo goal highlight of dominant United display
If United were to draw up a blueprint for the perfect half, it would probably have been something like "goals for the January signings and the hometown favourite on his full return from injury. Oh, plus a red card so we only have to play the second half against 10 men".

United were excellent - although Bruges did not look as dangerous as they did in the 1-1 first-leg draw - with the Old Trafford faithful appreciating what they were watching.

The undoubted turning point of the game was when Deli dived to stop James' effort with his hand - even though goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was diving behind him.

He was sent off - a decision upheld after a long VAR delay which did not seem necessary - and Fernandes kept his composure to stroke home his penalty with a stuttered run-up, just as he did against Watford.

Boyhood United fan Ighalo, a January loan signing from Shanghai Shenhua, made his first start because of an injury to Anthony Martial and took advantage by scoring into an empty net.

The biggest cheer of the night was probably for McTominay, who guided the ball home from 20 yards following Fred's cutback. It was his first start after two months out with a knee injury.

The game seemed to be drifting to a close until Fred stepped up to score twice - first converting Jesse Lingard's cross from close range and then scoring from the edge of the area from Tahith Chong's pass.

Can United go all the way?
The fans sang manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's name as United blew Bruges away.

The convincing victory will get supporters wondering whether they can win the trophy they lifted in 2017 - and the Champions League place that comes with it.

They are only three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea but this does give them a fallback plan.

A European trophy for Solskjaer to add to his Norwegian titles with Molde would be welcome too.

Based on this performance against a smaller team, and some of United's showings against the big boys under Solskjaer, there is no reason for them to fear the likes of Inter Milan, Roma, Sevilla or Bayer Leverkusen.

Who is left in the Europa League?
Rangers
Shakhtar Donetsk
Roma
Inter Milan
Wolfsburg
Manchester United
LASK
Olympiakos
Basel
Sevilla
Bayer Leverkusen
FC Copenhagen
Istanbul Basaksehir
Getafe
Wolves
Red Bull Salzburg or Eintracht Frankfurt

Man of the match - Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)

Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed a glaring chance with the last kick of the match as Arsenal crashed to a shocking Europa League defeat at the hands of Olympiakos.

Aubameyang, so often the Gunners' saviour, looked like he had once again rescued his side from an abject showing when his superb scissor kick - which cancelled out Pape Abou Cisse's opener - put them in the driving seat with seven minutes left of extra time.

But the visitors punished awful set-piece defending for a second time on the night as Youssef El Arabi poked home in front of their raucous travelling fans.

And there was still time for the unmarked Aubameyang to somehow screw wide from five yards out and condemn Mikel Arteta's side to their first defeat of 2020.

For large periods of a flat game a full-strength Arsenal XI were frustrated, frustrating and feeble in front of goal - with their first shot on target not arriving until the 77th minute.

Olympiakos were hardly buccaneering in their approach, especially considering they had lost the first leg in Athens, but carried out their gameplan perfectly to steal a famous win and progress to the last 16.

Limp Gunners lose route to Champions League
Arteta had talked in the build-up of having three routes into Europe for next season but this competition was surely his best bet of an unlikely seat at the Champions League top table.

To go out in such limp fashion will leave the manager livid - and for most of the night he was the most animated member of the Arsenal contingent.

Familiar failings were their undoing as the Greek side twice scored from set-pieces.

First, Aubameyang allowed 6ft 6ins centre-back Cisse a totally free header from a corner, and then David Luiz appeared to leave a cross from a half-cleared 120th-minute corner and gift El Arabi a lunging tap-in.

Olympiakos came to defend deep and in numbers, to frustrate Arsenal and then to hopefully score from a corner. It was a strategy they pulled off impeccably.

But they must have expected an Arsenal forward line of Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe - recruited at a cost of around £215m - to cause more problems.

The four managed just one shot on target between them before Aubameyang's brilliant late goal that briefly had Arsenal progressing.

Ozil's cross was nodded on by substitute Gabriel Martinelli and the Gabon striker rearranged himself masterfully to crack an acrobatic effort into the back of the net.

The home fans, who greeted the full-time whistle with apathy rather than anger, roared into belated life but it was the supporters at the other end who will now have their eyes on Friday's draw.

'We had a lot of intentions in this competition'
Arsenal looked to have done the hard part last week when they ground out a 1-0 win in Greece. After all, the club had progressed from all 17 of their European ties when winning the first leg away from home.

But from early on they looked short of ideas and moved the ball so slowly across midfield.

For all the money spent up front the most likely route to goal all night looked like coming through teenage left-back Bukayo Saka, a constant outlet, but when he did provide a beautiful cross at the end of Arsenal's best move of the game, Lacazette was offside as he converted from close range.

Saka and Pepe - a deeply frustrating figure to watch - both put in nine crosses but they were easy to defend.

Arteta could point to decisions that did not go his side's way - a yellow card shown to Ousseynou Ba for a foul on the edge of the area could have been red, and an offside flag that could have been raised in the build-up to Olympiakos' winner.

But the truth is Arsenal just did not create enough to win. Arsenal had won three in a row coming into the game and this was their first defeat in 11, but there is still much to be done.

"It hurts a lot. We had a lot of intentions in this competition," Arteta said.

"We were in control but conceded a set-piece to put us in a difficult position. We created a lot of chances and got ourselves in a good position. If you concede four goals from set-pieces in two games it makes it very difficult."

To add injury to insult, Arsenal also lost defender Shkodran Mustafi to a hamstring problem.