A round of Saturday's matches in Series A, La Liga and Bundesliga.
Holders Barcelona reached the King's Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Espanyol on Thursday to overcome a first-leg deficit on a night when new signing Philippe Coutinho made his debut.
Jose Mourinho believes winning La Liga was the toughest of the seven league titles he has sealed in coaching stints in his native Portugal, England, Italy and Spain, the Real Madrid manager said on Wednesday.
Diego Costa scored twice as Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 to maintain their winning home run this season and keep pace with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table.
Real are third in the league standings with 54 points after 28 games, two behind second-placed Atletico Madrid who visit Athletic Bilbao later on Saturday and nine points behind leaders Barcelona who play at Real Betis on Sunday.
Manchester United will be without midfielder Anderson for their Premier League run-in because of a hamstring injury, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday.
The victory takes Barcelona up to fourth with 10 points after six games, one point behind surprise leaders Granada, Athletic Bilbao, who visit Leganes on Wednesday, and Real Madrid ahead of their game at home to Osasuna the same night.
The Catalans have kept five clean sheets in their last six games, which bodes well for their title run in.
United lost 3-2 at home to a fearless and skilful Athletic Bilbao, their second successive European defeat at Old Trafford, in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie. Central defender Xandao scored with a cheeky back-heel to give Sporting a 1-0 win over City in Lisbon, ending the Premier League leaders' run of six straight wins.
Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas is set to miss a big chunk of Spain's preparations for Euro 2012 after being ruled out for seven to 10 days with a hamstring strain, the Spanish club said on Saturday.
Barcelona gave Pep Guardiola a fitting end to his glittering four-year reign as coach winning the King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao 3-0 on Friday to send him off with a 14th trophy under his arm.
Outgoing Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola sought to make the succession of his number two Tito Vilanova as smooth as possible as he gave his last Nou Camp news conference on Thursday, ahead of the King's Cup final.
A Champions League spot, two Europa League berths and two relegation places are to be claimed or avoided in what promises to be a nerve-wracking finale to the La Liga season on Sunday.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
Barcelona playmaker Xavi will be out of action for around 15 days with a damaged left calf muscle, the Spanish champions said on Thursday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Euro 2020 soccer Championship, trumpeted as a continent-wide feast of football from Dublin to Baku to mark UEFA's 60th anniversary, was postponed for a year on Tuesday as the coronavirus pandemic claimed its biggest sporting casualty yet. Europe's flagship tournament, staged every four years and second only to FIFA's World Cup in terms of prestige in soccer, will now be staged from June 11 to July 12, 2021.
Barcelona have a doubt over midfielder Xavi as they prepare to go on the offensive in their Champions League quarter-final second leg against AC Milan on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a rampaging 5-1 win at Osasuna as the leaders hit the 100-goal mark this season and maintained a six-point lead over chasing Barcelona on Saturday.
Athletic Bilbao, conquerors of Manchester United in the previous round, continued their Europa League run by scoring three times in the last 20 minutes to win their quarter-final first leg tie 4-2 at Schalke 04 on Thursday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand finished the London Classic with an easy draw as black against Luke McShane of England, signing joint fifth in the overall standings of the nine-player round-robin tournament that concluded in London.
Alvaro Negredo struck in stoppage-time as stuttering Valencia won 2-1 against his former club Sevilla on Sunday to earn coach Pako Ayesteran victory in his first home game in charge since succeeding Gary Neville.
World Champion Viswanthan Anand had to find some brilliant resources but in the end the Indian ace found them all to hold nemesis Levon Aronian of Armenia in the fourth round of Tal memorial international chess tournament in Moscow.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand had to settle for a draw against Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the first round of the Tal Memorial Chess tournament in Moscow.
Barcelona set up a King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao when Cesc Fabregas scored one goal and created another for Xavi in a 2-0 win over 10-man Valencia in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday.
Images from football matches played in La Liga and Serie A in Spain and Italy on Wednesday.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand bounced back as he jumped to joint second spot at the end of the fourth round after outplaying Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain in the fourth Bilbao Final Masters in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi scored two goals and set up two more as the Catalans thrashed Real Valladolid 5-1 to move top of La Liga on Tuesday.
Schalke 04, Lokomotiv Moscow and Stoke City sealed places in the last 32 of the Europa League but a 2-0 defeat at Salzburg left Paris St Germain coach Antoine Kombouare looking over his shoulder on Thursday.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
A late header by Imanol Agirretxe gave Real Sociedad, who are without a coach, a 2-1 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday.
"The intention is to sell him, but there's no offers forthcoming," read the front page of Marca, accompanied by a picture of the 29-year-old Bale looking sullen.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played his fourth draw on the trot, sharing the point with tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine to slip to the fourth spot after the eighth round of the fourth Final Masters chess tournament in Bilbao.
Victory eluded Viswanathan Anand yet again and the World Champion was held to a draw by Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the seventh round to remain joint second in the fourth Final Masters' second leg, in Bilbao, Spain.
World champion Viswanthan Anand played out his second draw with World No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway to stay second in the overall standings after the sixth round of fourth Final Chess Masters in Bilbao, Spain.
After a mixed outing in the Brazil leg of the event, World Champion Viswanathan Anand would be hoping for an improved finish in the Spain phase of the fourth Final Masters chess championship, which re-commences at Bilbao on Thursday.
Marco Ruben's header put Villarreal up to third in La Liga with a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, after Valencia fell to a solitary Ivan Rakitic strike in a pulsating encounter with Sevilla.
Lionel Messi scored one penalty and missed another as Barcelona beat Real Valladolid 1-0 on Saturday to open up a seven-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Brazilian defender Filipe Luis scored for the second game running as Atletico Madrid beat Real Sociedad 1-0 on Tuesday to rack up a fifth straight win in La Liga and provisionally consolidate third place in the standings.
The draw interrupted a run of four straight league wins for Zinedine Zidane's side and left them second on 67 points after 31 games, three behind leaders Atletico who thrashed Eibar 5-0 earlier in the day.
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