By Tim Stannard

1) Referee goodie bag blights Madrid’s comeback kings

La Liga would not be La Liga without an already wonderful weekend of action mixed in with conspiratorial kerfuffle. Monday’s news from the title race – Sevilla are still airbrushed out of the affair – is focused on a plastic bag.

The bag in question was Real Madrid-branded, stuffed with goodies and being carried away by the match referee, Jesus Gil Manzano, after the Villarreal against Real Madrid clash, the official who awarded a trifle soft penalty in favor of the visitors to continue a match-winning comeback.

"The referee and his assistants have left the stadium with bags from Madrid ... and that's not right," was the declaration from miffed Villarreal president, Fernando Roig, suggesting that favors were procured with free stickers and pens.

La Liga’s Committee of Referees confirmed that the back only contained promotional goodies of no material value. An already upset Gerard Pique is not going to be a happy bunny at all.

La bolsa del RMCF que lleva Gil Manzano contenia pins, bolígrafos, y llaveros, aquí la foto de jugadores que también la llevaban pic.twitter.com/UblMkpUy6A — ⭐Jose Fernández⭐ (@JoseFdzOficial) February 27, 2017

Tune into the Locker Room on Monday at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT to see if our panel feel if something fishy is going on in La Liga.

2) Future of Zlatan in doubt after EFL Cup cracker

Jose Mourinho says he won’t back, King Zlatan was too busy feeling like a wild animal to care and his agent, Mino Raiola, senses the chance to make even more money out of the Swede.

The EFL Cup hero is on a one-year deal at Old Trafford and all the talk on Monday is how badly United want King Zlatan to stay and how badly his agent wants to make some money after his match-winning heroics.

“I don't exclude anything. Anything can happen and we will see what happens,” said the Dutchman. And for extra laughs Raiola also added that "I never speak about contract details with the press – I think that's something between the player, the club and myself. Mmm (clears throat).

3) Referendum at Leicester for post-Ranieri return

Well, it’s going to be quite the sparkly atmosphere at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium.

Will the supporters be in open revolt against the owners of the club over the sacking of Claudio Ranieri or the players? Or will they band together realizing that in-fighting is not going to lift the club out of the relegation zone which is where Leicester City are, especially when Liverpool are the visitors for Monday night’s EPL sizzler?

The first two options are the most likely outcomes with supporters unhappy at the club’s board for disloyalty and the players for being a bunch of backstabbing swines. Allegedly. Indeed, a rather provocative tweet from the team’s official site certainly isn’t going to help matters.

Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the highlights and best analysis of the EPL weekend from our Thomas Rongen.

4) Last stand for Sousa at failing Fiorentina

A match-up against Torino for Fiorentina might be a last stand for club coach, Paolo Sousa, after fan rancor over a season that is pretty much over for the Serie A side with Fiore out of all competitions and ten points from the European places.

“I wouldn’t walk away just because it’s a tough moment – never,” claimed the tough-talking Portuguese manager on what would happen if his side suffered a home loss to Torino on Monday on the last Serie A clash of the weekend.

That match is live on beIN SPORTS from 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT with all the highlights on the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT

5) Federer returns after Australian Open ecstasy

The beady eyes of the tennis world will be on the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday with Roger Federer making his first appearance on a court since winning the Australian Open in January at the heady age of 35.

The Swiss legend has been suffering from a bit of groin trouble – haven’t we all – with Federer admitting that he is not sure what sort of physical shape he is in. "I'm back in full training for only three days so it's still a bit of an unknown.

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