France international Dembele scored 10 goals and provided 20 assists in all competitions to help Dortmund finish third in the Bundesliga last season. The team also won the German Cup.
The Spanish giants beat Udinese 4-1 at home in the Champions League.
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The centre-back was at the Madrid Open earlier this week, reportedly to discuss a 16-team knockout tournament with ATP Tour chief Chris Kermode. It would potentially replace the former World Team Cup event on the ATP calendar that was played from 1975 to 2012 ahead of Roland Garros.
'You realise the fear when Barcelona could get knocked out. It would hurt UEFA a lot. I don't know what they have to do for someone to send one of them off'
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands. Settling for his sixth draw in nine games, Anand took his tally to five points and remains joint-sixth in the 14 players, 13-round tournament.
Barca must beat Villareal on the weekend if they are to stand a chance of overhauling Real in the run in.
'Cristiano scored 50 goals and you can't find someone today who scores that many. Some of us have to take a step forward and, while not scoring 50, what we need is two or three players who score 15, 20, or 10 goals and we don't have that.'
Pep Guardiola will return to the Nou Camp in the Champions League group stage after his new club Manchester City were drawn against his former Barcelona team on Thursday. The two sides were drawn in Group C alongside Borussia Moenchengladbach and former European champions Celtic in one of the toughest of the eight sections. Spanish coach Guardiola, who won the Champions League twice with Barca, faced the Catalans when he was in charge of Bayern Munich two seasons ago and suffered a 5-3 defeat in the semi-finals.
Gene, 30, has been employed in the same role with BMW-powered Williams for the past four years.
Messi, who has struggled for form in recent weeks due to a niggling injury, looked on a mission to grab the winner and after twice coming close he completed his treble to put Barca ahead in the 85th minute, reacting quickly to a poor Sevilla clearance to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
Cristiano Ronaldo helped Juventus continue their unbeaten start to the Serie A season with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over struggling SPAL on Saturday.
Philippe Coutinho's versatility makes him a great acquisition for Barcelona, coach Ernesto Valverde said on Sunday as the Brazilian made his first public appearance at the Nou Camp following his 142-million-pound ($192.57-million) move from Liverpool.
Barca are top on 72 points, Real have 66 and Sevilla, who lost 1-0 at home to Osasuna on Saturday, are a distant third on 52.
Barcelona shook off the disappointment of their Champions League defeat by Chelsea to extend their lead in the Primera Liga to 11 points with a 2-0 defeat of Athletic Bilbao.
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Manchester United said they would be prepared to accept a conditional transfer bid from the Catalan giants.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will be out for between six and eight weeks with a hamstring injury, the La Liga leaders said on Monday.
Winning the treble last season has spurred Barcelona to try and win all six trophies up for grabs this year and replicate the feat they achieved in 2009, midfielder Andres Iniesta said on Monday.
The veteran admits Barca have defence problems, slams Dembele
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'I haven't lost any strength in the last four days and in one sense I feel a little relieved but focused on the objectives we set for ourselves at the start of the season'
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde will be banking on new signing Ousmane Dembele to fill the gap left by Neymar's departure as he looks to overcome off-pitch difficulties when the Catalans take on Espanyol on Saturday.
Barcelona hit out at the referee and his assistants for failing to award Lionel Messi's first half 'goal' in an action-packed 1-1 draw at Liga title rivals Valencia on Sunday.
Manchester City cannot afford another defeat on Tuesday at home to Barcelona, who thumped them 4-0 two weeks ago, having taken just one point from their last two Champions League Group C matches.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Catalan club is also close to reaching a deal to sign Sporting Lisbon's highly rated young winger Ricardo Quaresma.
FC Goa have signed Sergio Lobera Rodriguez as the head coach on a two-year deal and he will take over the reins from the first week of July.
Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Copa del Rey to Girona on Wednesday following a highly entertaining 3-3 draw at home to the Catalan side, who sneaked through to the quarter-finals on away goals after the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate.
A little under two weeks ago Neymar netted the goal that wrapped up Barcelona's UEFA Champions League triumph against Juventus but his needless sending off at the Copa America on Wednesday means the Brazil forward may have played his last game at the tournament.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
The Brazilian World Cup winner tore a muscle in his right thigh and will almost certainly miss Barcelona's clash with arch rivals Real Madrid.
The Barcelona forward will miss Brazil's WC qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay due to a torn thigh muscle in his right leg.
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