Carlo Ancelotti has denied there's any rift behind the scenes at Real Madrid, saying he will discuss his future with the club at the end of the season.

Ancelotti's position has been heavily questioned after Madrid were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal at the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday, to crash out of the Champions League quarterfinals 5-1 on aggregate.

The Italian has won two LaLiga and Champions League doubles since returning to Madrid 2021, but the team -- which is still battling for the league title and plays the Copa del Rey final next week -- has suffered several high-profile defeats this campaign.

"I've spoken with the players and the club. We're all thinking the same way, which is to keep fighting for the trophies we have left," Ancelotti told a news conference on Saturday, ahead of Madrid's LaLiga game with Athletic Club.

"There's no confrontation with the club. We're all in the same boat. Anyone who says there's a confrontation with the club, or the president [Florentino Pérez], isn't telling the truth."

Ancelotti, who has attracted long-term interest from Brazil in taking over the men's national team, has a contract at the Bernabéu until 2026, but admitted he and the club will "analyze things at the end of the season," including the make-up of the squad.

"We're still competing for trophies. We have one [the Copa del Rey final] in a week, and we have the first ever Club World Cup at the end of the season, it wouldn't be right to do it now," Ancelotti said.

"All I can do is thank these players, I've enjoyed this and I want to keep doing so. We're still united, we have a great relationship."

Ancelotti wouldn't confirm that he would remain in charge of the team for the Club World Cup, where Madrid are due to kick off the group stage against Al Hilal in Miami, Florida, on June 18.

ESPN has previously reported that Bayer Leverkusen coach -- and ex-Madrid player -- Xabi Alonso is highly rated by the club as a potential successor.

"At the end of the season, I'll talk about that with the club," Ancelotti said. "I don't want to talk about my future today. It's an obvious question, but I don't want to talk about it. So all I say is we'll talk about it with the club at the end of the season."

Madrid are four points behind Barcelona, who play Celta Vigo on Saturday, in LaLiga, and face Barça in the Copa final in Sevilla on April 26.

The club's squad planning has faced criticism this season, with the team's midfield and defence being scrutinised, but Ancelotti said he did not regret not pushing for more signings.

"No, I've always had a great relationship with the club and we always will," he said. "We'll do everything together. There'll be no confrontation. Saying there's a confrontation between the club and me is fooling people."

Bournemouth had to settle for a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with the hosts having been reduced to 10 men late in the first half after defender Chris Richards was sent off for a second yellow card.

The first period was a cagey affair with the most notable moment arriving in stoppage time when Richards was dismissed after being adjudged to have pulled back forward Justin Kluivert by referee Sam Barrott, resulting in his second caution.

Despite their man advantage for the whole second half, Bournemouth failed to capitalise and manager Andoni Iraola will be very disappointed that his team could not find a winner as they chase a spot in European football next season.

The visitors remain in eighth place on 49 points, their highest ever tally in a Premier League season, with five games still to play. Palace stay 12th on 44 points from 33 games.

Kadi Diani and Melchie Dumornay handed Arsenal a rare defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday as Lyon opened the Women's Champions League semifinal tie with a 2-1 win.

Lyon were clinical in attack with Diani finding the back of the net in the 16th minute to put the visitors ahead.

After an initial offside call, VAR allowed the goal that Lyon had built so effortlessly from the back. Right-back Ellie Carpenter provided the assist down the pitch as Diani timed her run perfectly, played onside by Arsenal's Emily Fox.

Arsenal, who scored from the penalty spot, were level for just minutes before the French giants responded.

Lyon continued to prove too much for Arsenal's back line with Dumornay out pacing Arsenal center-back Steph Catley and Fox.

Amel Majri set Dumornay off against the run of play and her pace and power proved too much as she shot past Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger.

Arsenal were awarded a lifeline after Christiane Endler gave away a penalty. Mariona Caldentey stepped up for the Gunners to bury the ball in the net.

Manchester City moved a step closer to Champions League football next season as Nico O'Reilly and Mateo Kovacic scored in the final five minutes to secure a 2-0 win over Everton in their Premier League clash at Goodison Park on Saturday.

City move up to fourth with 58 points from 33 matches, four points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea and Aston Villa in seventh, but they have played a game more. The top five qualify for the Champions League next season.

O'Reilly stabbed the ball home from four metres after connecting with Matheus Nunes's low cross before Kovacic drilled in the second from the edge of the box to make sure of the win.

It was hard work for City for 85 minutes as they battled to create clear-cut chances, while home defender James Tarkowski struck the post with a header from a corner in the first half for Everton, who remain 13th with 38 points from 33 games.

There will be relief for City manager Pep Guardiola as his side came up against the fired-up hosts in a hostile atmosphere in the third-last league game at the famous old ground before Everton move to a new stadium on the banks of the River Mersey.

The home side had their moments and their manager David Moyes can take some positives out of the game but, as has been the case for much of the season, Everton lacked quality in the final third to punish their opponents.

They came closest in the first half when Tarkowski struck the post with a header from a corner, before Jake O'Brien headed off the line to keep out Kevin De Bruyne's goal-bound shot.

City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega made a superb point-blank save to stop Jarrad Branthwaite's header as Everton made a bright start to the second period.

But they lost Tarkowski to injury in the 52nd minute, with the centre back having started every Premier League game since his arrival on Merseyside, a run of 109 in a row, and after that the best chances fell to City.

Forward Omar Marmoush could not capitalise on Everton substitute Michael Keane's error when the latter tried to head the ball back to Jordan Pickford, as the keeper came out smartly to smother the Egyptian's shot.

But the visitors tightened their grip on the game in the closing stages and once O'Reilly opened the scoring the fight went out of the home side.

BARCELONA, Spain -- - Raphinha equalized and converted an injury-time penalty to lead Barcelona from two goals down to beat Celta Vigo 4-3 in a wild La Liga game on Saturday.

The shootout victory kept Barcelona on pace for the Spanish league title as it opened up a seven-point gap over Real Madrid before the defending champion hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

A hat trick by Borja Iglesias put Celta Vigo ahead 3-1 with just under half an hour to play. But Dani Olmo scored in the 62nd and Raphinha leveled with a header from a Lamine Yamal cross just three minutes later.

It was heading for a draw when Olmo earned a penalty that was spotted upon video review deep in stoppage time. Raphinha stepped up to drill home the spot kick.

Coach Hansi Flick ran onto the field to embrace Raphinha at the final whistle.

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CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czechia -- Kelly Pannek scored to rally the United States past the Czech Republic 2-1 and into the final once again at the women's ice hockey world championship Saturday.

In Sunday's final, the U.S. will play defending champion Canada or last year's bronze medalist Finland, who meet in the other semifinal later Saturday.

With the victory, the Americans improved to 6-0 against the Czechs all time at worlds and 3-0 in semifinals. They have reached the final in all 24 worlds and won 10 titles.

Laila Edwards also scored for the U.S., and captain Hilary Knight recorded an assist to increase her record at the worlds to 52. U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel made 10 saves.

"I'm proud of how this team fought tonight," U.S. coach John Wroblewski said. "Pucks were not bouncing our way early, but we dug in and pulled it off."

Pannek has earned at least a point in every U.S. game and leads the team with four goals.

She skated around the net and her backhand shot was saved by Czech goalie Klára Peslarová, but she netted the winner on a rebound 8:26 into the final period.

The Czechs stunned the hot favorite, taking a lead off Tereza Plosová's goal with 4:32 left in the opening period to the delight of the sell-out crowd of almost 6,000. Klára Hymlárová seized the puck behind the goal and fed Plosová, who shot over the shoulder of Frankel.

In the second period, as the Americans pushed hard for an equalizer, outshooting the Czechs 17-2, Edwards got it 8:56 in, wristing a shot into the roof of the net from the left circle on a power play.

The Czechs, who were outshot 45-11, will play in the bronze medal game for the fourth straight tournament.

Anaheim Ducks coach Greg Cronin will not return next season, the team announced Saturday.

No replacement was named. Cronin had been signed through the 2025-26 season.

The Ducks were 35-37-10 (80 points) with a .488 points percentage. While that was an improvement over last season (27-50-5, 59 points), it wasn't enough to bring Cronin back after two seasons behind the bench. Anaheim missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

Cronin, 61, was hired in June 2023 to take over a rebuilding roster, having served as head coach of the AHL Colorado Eagles prior to that.

"I want to personally thank Greg for his tireless work and dedication to the team," Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. "He is responsible in many ways for the improvement we've seen from our young core. However, after several weeks of careful evaluation, I concluded we needed a change in direction and a new voice. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make, but I felt it was necessary to continue our progress toward becoming a Stanley Cup contender that I know we can be."

The Ducks were 23rd in team defense this season thanks in no small part to the play of goalies Lukas Dostal and John Gibson, who combined for a .901 team save percentage, ninth best in the NHL. Their offense suffered under Cronin, finishing 30th overall in both of his seasons behind the bench.

Anaheim has amassed a collection of promising young offensive talents up front in centers Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish as well as rookie winger Cutter Gauthier. Cronin was criticized by fans for not playing his younger players more often. The Ducks' top forwards in average ice time this season were Troy Terry (27), Frank Vatrano (31) and Alex Killorn (35). There was also criticism of Cronin when it came to the regression of 24-year-old star center Trevor Zegras, who had 47 points in 88 games during two injury-impacted seasons under the coach.

Verbeek inherited coach Dallas Eakins when he was hired as general manager in February 2022. Cronin was his first head coaching hire.

The New York Rangers fired coach Peter Laviolette on Saturday in the aftermath of missing the playoffs.

The move made by general manager Chris Drury came after the Rangers missed the playoffs, the result of a lost season during which they massively underachieved preseason expectations following a trip to the Eastern Conference finals last year.

Assistant Phil Housley was also fired. Owner James Dolan and Drury are expected to start the search for a full-time head coach soon, and roster changes are all but certain in the coming weeks and months.

"Today I informed Peter Laviolette and Phil Housley that we're making a coaching change," Drury said in a statement. "I want to thank them both and wish them and their families all the best going forward. Peter is first class all the way, both professionally and personally, and I am truly grateful for his passion and dedication to the Rangers in his time as head coach."

Sources told ESPN's Emily Kaplan that the Rangers would like to interview several candidates from outside of the organization, including Mike Sullivan and Rick Tocchet if they are available, Joel Quenneville, John Tortorella, Jay Woodcroft, Jay Leach and David Carle.

Laviolette lasted just two seasons in his sixth head-coaching job in the NHL after getting hired in June 2023. He spent the previous three with Washington and also coached Nashville, Philadelphia, Carolina and the Islanders, winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.

Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard is expected to return to action next week in Game 2 or Game 3 of the team's first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, sources told ESPN.

The Bucks play Game 1 on Saturday in Indianapolis and Game 2 on Tuesday. The series shifts to Milwaukee for Game 3 on Friday.

After being diagnosed with a blood clot in his right calf just over three weeks ago, Lillard made an unprecedented recovery and was cleared of deep vein thrombosis and stopped blood-thinning medication Thursday. Deep vein thrombosis is an abnormal clot within a vessel where the congealing of blood blocks the flow through on the way back to the heart.

Lillard participated in his first full practice Thursday and was expected to use a period of several days to ramp up his contact workouts for a return. At this point, Lillard's comeback is about finding his basketball stamina.

Doctors have told Bucks officials that the speed of Lillard's recovery has never been seen before, but it occurred because of early treatment, detection and specialists working on him before a formal diagnosis, according to sources. Lillard began blood-thinning medication well before the March 25 diagnosis of the blood clot.

"This could have been career-threatening," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Thursday, adding it's a "godsend" Lillard will return for the playoffs.

Lillard, 34, last played in a game March 18, missing the final 14 contests of the regular season. The Bucks went 10-4 in those games and ended the regular season on an eight-game winning streak.

A nine-time NBA All-Star, Lillard averaged 24.9 points and 7.1 assists in 58 games this season. He averaged 31.3 points, 5.0 assists and 3.3 rebounds during the playoffs for the Bucks last season.