Villarreal's struggles in the Spanish league continued with a 2-1 loss at Athletic Bilbao, with striker Gerard Moreno not finishing the game because of an injury.
Football action from across Europe in matches played on Saturday
In his absence, the league champions have made a lacklustre start to the season, losing their opening game to Athletic Bilbao before taking just four points from fixtures against Real Betis and Osasuna.
Another win would confirm that Barca are heading in the right direction after pushing the reset button following the loss of Lionel Messi in the close season due to their financial problems.
Barcelona bounced back from their painful Clasico loss in style as they cruised to a 3-0 home LaLiga win over Villarreal with a brace from Robert Lewandowski on Thursday.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand took a decisive step towards his second big title of the year after drawing with Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the fifth and penultimate round of the Final Masters.
Real Madrid were crowned Spanish Super Cup champions after goals from Luka Modric and Karim Benzema earned them a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
UEFA announces UCL final hosts for next four seasons.
La Liga paupers Levante held big-spending visitors Real Madrid to a 0-0 draw on Saturday which is bound to put more pressure on new coach Jose Mourinho.
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
Athletic Bilbao's Spanish Super Cup victory against Barcelona not only earned them their first major trophy in 31 years but also ended coach Ernesto Valverde's long wait for silverware.
At 80 million euros, 23-year-old Kepa Arrizabalaga will become the most expensive goalkeeper in football history, ahead of Liverpool's Alisson Becker.
Images from action in the Spanish Super Cup and English Premier League
Atletico Madrid took a giant step towards the La Liga title
Stakeholders are confident the Spanish league season can resume in mid-June in closed stadiums without spectators, with fans not expected to be able to return to grounds until 2021.
Spain are still favourites to finish top of Group E above Sweden, Poland and Slovakia but, after struggling to break down conservative sides such as Georgia and Greece in March, they know coming first will not be a procession.
Real Madrid swatted aside Granada 4-1 on Thursday to ensure the La Liga title race will go down to the wire.
According to widespread Spanish media reports, Netherlands coach and former Barca defender Ronald Koeman is set to be named as Setien's successor.
Michal Kwiatkowski, the unsung hero of Team Sky/Ineos during their dominant years, claimed his maiden Tour de France victory
Barcelona pulled off a stirring comeback to overturn a two-goal deficit and reach the Copa del Rey final, beating Sevilla 3-0 after extra-time in Wednesday's semi-final second leg, to go through 3-2 on aggregate.
With no fans allowed into venues and Real playing their home games at the 6,000-capacity Alfredo Di Stefano stadium while the Santiago Bernabeu is being refurbished, it will be a title race unlike any other.
Images from Saturday's action in La Liga.
Here are five talking points from the weekend in La Liga:
Midfielder Dani Ceballos added: "It looks like us changing our coach worked. We have recovered some sensations we had lost and we have got the three points. Now our objective is to win all the games left and finish the season as well as possible."
The King's Cup final between record winners Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao on May 30 will be held at Barca's Nou Camp.
Real Madrid are also only two points behind Atletico while Sevilla are three back in a thrilling four-way tilt, making the Spanish title race the most compelling
Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez struck two late goals to give the LaLiga champions a 2-1 win at Getafe on Tuesday after the hosts were reduced to 10 men late in the second half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as a rejuvenated Barcelona gave a football masterclass to inflict a humiliating 4-0 defeat on rivals Real Madrid on Sunday.
Real Madrid were made to toil by the 10 men of Athletic Bilbao but eventually won 3-1 on Tuesday thanks to two strikes from Karim Benzema to go level on points with La Liga leaders Real Sociedad.
Barca overcome solid Bilbao challenge to scrape through 1-0.
The 33-year-old Messi, who signed his last contract in 2017, has become more outspoken against the club's hierarchy in the last year and radio station Cadena Ser said last Thursday he is unhappy with how Barca is being run and wants to leave in 2021.
Karim Benzema netted a second-half hat-trick as Real Madrid got back to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Sunday.
Lionel Messi was at the top of his game as Barcelona earned a 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday to move up to third in La Liga.
The Bavarians, unbeaten now in 32 consecutive matches, also won the domestic league and Cup double as well as the Champions League after Flick took over last November. Their last defeat dates back to December, 2019.
Italian champions Juventus have informed Athletic Bilbao that they will start talks with the La Liga club's Spain striker Fernando Llorente with a view to signing him, Bilbao said on Thursday.
The 39-year-old appeared at Italy's Sanremo festival in March, where he sang a duet with Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and said he would like to try acting.
'It wasn't easy, but I called him last night (Sunday) and we had a difficult and tough conversation. I feel bad as he's a player who has always been at the top level and has a future with the national team.'
Federico Valverde finished off a stunning move in extra time to give Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Barcelona
Portugal international Goncalo Guedes fired Valencia into the lead in the 35th minute with a thumping shot from inside the area which was too powerful for Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Sevilla, winners of the Europa League for the past two years, will play Shakhtar Donetsk in this season's semi-final.
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