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GENEVA (AP) — Leaders of the top European leagues and clubs will hold talks next month on Champions League reforms that could cause a split at the upper level of soccer management.The European Leagues group said Friday it will meet the European Club Association on May 6-7 in Madrid Cheap Brazil Soccer Team Uniform , then head to UEFA headquarters in Switzerland the next day.European Leagues chairman Lars-Christer Olsson said their aim in the UEFA-led consultations, which are expected to take at least one year, is to “safeguard” domestic competitions.“To the fans, they are much more important than any international competition,” said Olsson, who is the group’s representative on the UEFA executive committee.The clubs have two seats.Weekend matches are a key battleground in potential changes shaping the Champions League from 2024.ECA leaders have long wanted weekend Champions League games to help increase audiences and broadcast rights fees in Asia and the Americas. Currently, the only weekend game is the Saturday final.Top clubs from wealthy countries also want more Champions League games against each other, likely in a new format that would limit access to champions from lower-ranked leagues.Clubs also want to explore extending promotion and relegation between the Champions League and Europa League www.thetopsoccer.com/national-team-kit/colombia , working with leagues to avoid weekend clashes, and cutting the size of domestic leagues. The English, Spanish and Italian top divisions have 20 teams.Members of the ECA’s board, including Ed Woodward of Manchester United, had their opening meeting with UEFA leadership in Nyon last month.On Friday, Man United was among the 20 Premier League clubs which met and shared their “significant concerns” about future ideas for UEFA’s club competitions.“All clubs unanimously agreed it is inappropriate for European football bodies to create plans that would alter the structures, calendar and competitiveness of the domestic game and will work together to protect the Premier League,” the league said in a statement.Any move toward Champions League weekends would directly attack the English league’s overseas broadcasting deals Cheap England Soccer Team Uniform , which are the most valuable in world soccer.Portuguese league president Pedro Proenca noted concerns for a “medium-sized” competition like his.“We have some doubts about the impact on our league,” Proenca said Friday of the Champions League talks.In a season when Real Madrid’s plans for a breakaway Super League were leaked , the Champions League resumes Tuesday without the three-time defending champions nor any German team.However, the quarterfinal lineup includes teams from Portugal and the Netherlands. Those leagues face being squeezed if more Champions League entries and prize money continue to be skewed toward the richest nations by UEFA, under pressure from the influential ECA.Portuguese club Porto will face Liverpool, while Ajax — which eliminated Madrid — plays Juventus. The Italian champion’s president, Andrea Agnelli, heads the ECA and sits on the UEFA executive committee. Frank Lampard climbed the steps in the tunnel and emerged to rapturous applause from Chelsea fans www.thetopsoccer.com/national-team-kit/france , a flame display and a giant banner at one end of Stamford Bridge that read “Welcome Home Super Frank.”“The stuff of dreams,” Lampard described his homecoming on Sunday.He couldn’t mark it with a victory, though.Lampard’s winless run as manager of the club where he is the record scorer and one of its greatest players extended to three games after Leicester fought back to earn a 1-1 draw in the Premier League.“It’s very early for us,” Lampard said after his first home match in charge of Chelsea. “We have to be patient as we are working toward something.”After a 4-0 loss at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the Premier League and then a penalty-shootout defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday, Chelsea couldn’t hold on to the lead given by youngster Mason Mount’s seventh-minute goal.Holding midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was at fault for that goal after being dispossessed by Mount on the edge of Leicester’s area, but he made amends by scoring the equalizer.James Maddison swung over the corner and Ndidi rose higher than marker Cesar Azpilicueta to plant a firm header into the corner.Chelsea struggled in the second half, perhaps through fatigue having been taken to extra time by Liverpool in the Super Cup, which finished after midnight local time in Turkey.Leicester wasted a clear chance to take all three points when Maddison weaved past Chelsea’s static defense in the 73rd minute only to blaze over from point-blank range.“It’s a results business Cheap Germany Soccer Team Uniform ,” Lampard said. “It’s strange because the performance against Manchester United overall made me happier than today, even though it was a 4-0 result. We need both.“There were frustrations. If there were frustrations in the crowd, there were frustrations in the team and on the bench.”While Chelsea has started the season disappointingly under Lampard, Leicester — highly fancied to break into the top six under Brendan Rodgers — is also without a win after opening with a 0-0 home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers.“The top six is always going to be difficult,” Rodgers said, “but we have got to be aggressive and dominate, whatever arena you are playing in, home or away www.thetopsoccer.com/national-team-kit/italy , and you saw that from my team today.”BLADES LOOKING SHARPSheffield United is comfortably settling back into the Premier League after its return to the top flight after a 12-year absence.A 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday followed up a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on the opening weekend.Only Liverpool and Arsenal have more than Sheffield United’s four points from two games.John Lundstram was the team’s matchwinner, the midfielder finishing from close range in the 47th minute after Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita could only tip away a driven cross into the box.Palace has yet to score a goal this season, having started with a 0-0 home draw against Everton.