Barcelona drew 1-1 at Valencia after Real Madrid lost 1-0 away to Alaves, allowing Sevilla to go top of La Liga with a 2-1 home win over Celta Vigo on Sunday. Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action.
Real are unbeaten since February, winning 10 of their last 12 games. In contrast, Barcelona have won just two of their previous five in all competitions and were dumped out of Europe in midweek.
Lionel Messi's double strike helped Barcelona scrape a 3-2 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid, who needed a brace from Isco to beat Sporting Gijon by the same scoreline.
A battle of contrasting football styles will be on view when classical Spain cross swords with a robust Mali in the semi-finals of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, in Navi Mumbai, on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Coach Zinedine Zidane learned the lessons of predecessor Rafael Benitez's disastrous tactics in the last encounter and employed defensive midfielder Casemiro in favour of more attack-minded players, opting instead to sit and wait for Barcelona.
It is the first break in the four-year cycle for the summer Olympics since the 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled because of World War Two.
IMAGES from soccer matches played in the EPL, La Liga and Serie A on Tuesday.
Real Madrid's La Liga title bid took a dent after Zinedine Zidane's leaders were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday, denied all three points by a late strike from Santi Mina. Lazio mounted a superb second-half comeback at the Olympic Stadium to beat Inter Milan 2-1 and move above Antonio Conte's side into second place in Serie A on Sunday.
Former Real Madrid forward Raul, the Spanish giants' joint-record scorer, will hang up his boots in November after a stellar 21-year career as one of the game's finest talents.
Hurricane Irma hopscotched up Florida's west coast making two landfalls and driving a wall of water and winds that submerged Miami. Here are some of the most telling images from the ground from Irma's path.
Have a look at these photos taken from the incredible world we live in. These are the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 2020.
Istanbul were spared a grilling on Wednesday over protests which have rocked Turkey when the three candidates to host the 2020 Olympics presented their cases to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Holders Barcelona produced a second-half blitz to come from behind and beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to book a place in the King's Cup semi-finals after Atletico Madrid crashed out in a shock 3-2 defeat by Celta Vigo.
United's Ibrahimovic, Roma's Dzeko find the net thrice to give clubs first leg advantage
What next for #TimesUp after Hollywood's biggest night?
Former Real Madrid and Spain forward Raul has joined New York Cosmos for the 2015 season on a "multi-year" contract pending a medical, the North American Soccer League (NASL) club said on Thursday.
Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro underlined his status as a dark horse for next week's Australian Open by hammering Dmitry Tursunov to reach the final of the Sydney International on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The football fans in Kochi will get a chance to witness a fascinating contest between Brazilian attacking flare and Spanish 'tiki-taka' possession football in what could be a final before the final of this tournament.
Lionel Messi may lack a World Cup for Argentina but his 10 years with Barcelona have seen him rewrite the history books and become symbolic with the club's golden era.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he regretted causing pain to people by not choosing the "right words" sometimes and uttering "wrong thing" even as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton termed the statement as a mere "well-written phrase".
An International Olympic Committee report on the three cities wanting to host the 2020 Summer Olympics indicated there was no clear favourite among the bids from Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul.
