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.
Holders Portugal must face Ukraine and Serbia in a tricky five-team Group B while world champions France drew Iceland and Turkey in Group H. The top two teams from each group qualify automatically. Unlike previous tournaments, the playoffs to decide the four other spots will be contested between the most successful teams from the four divisions of the Nations League who have not already qualified.
Manchester United will be without midfielder Anderson for their Premier League run-in because of a hamstring injury, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday.
La Liga leaders Barcelona were held to a 2-2 home draw by Celta Vigo on Saturday as their former assistant coach Juan Carlos Unzue dented the title hopes of the Catalans, who dropped points for the second game in a row for the first time this campaign.
Barca feel familiar February blues as tiredness sets in
Images from La Liga matches played on Monday.
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.
Lionel Messi scored his 650th goal for Barcelona while Antoine Griezmann struck the winner in a 2-1 home success over Athletic Bilbao
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.
Barcelona playmaker Xavi will be out of action for around 15 days with a damaged left calf muscle, the Spanish champions said on Thursday.
'The pandemic has caused football to change a lot, and for the worse. You can see it in the matches, and I hope this all ends soon and we can get fans back into the stadiums and return to normality.'
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.
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.
Seven-time European champions AC Milan will face Arsenal in the standout last-16 tie in the Europa League after the draw was made in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
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.
Costa, Alba excluded from Spain squad
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.
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 World Cup qualifying matches played on Wednesday night.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Catalans will not just be looking to extend their domestic hegemony, though, as they have spent a combined 250 million euros ($280 million) on a renewed bid to win the Champions League.
Paris St Germain went out of the Europa League despite a 4-2 win over Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday, losing their place to fellow big spenders Salzburg who fought back to win 3-2 at Slovan Bratislava.
Ruthless Bayern Munich scored five goals in the first 35 minutes on the way to a 7-1 demolition of AS Roma on Tuesday which bore an uncanny resemblance to Germany's win over Brazil by the same score in the World Cup semi-final.
De Jong is proud to join the likes of compatriots Ronald Koeman, Frank de Boer and Patrick Kluivert in heading to the Nou Camp, having dreamed of wearing Barca colours.
Injured Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is almost irreplaceable but the Spanish champions are determined to put his temporary absence behind them, coach Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday.
