Uruguay striker Luis Suarez is set to play his first competitive international later this month since being banned for biting an opponent at the 2014 World Cup after he was called up on Friday for qualifiers against Brazil and Peru.
Mathieu Flamini scored and was sent off as AC Milan were held 1-1 by Napoli in a third-versus-second battle in Serie A on Sunday while Inter Milan were on the wrong end of another controversial penalty in a 2-0 loss at Cagliari.
Italian police investigating a soccer match-fixing scandal searched 30 homes and made a number of arrests including the captain of Lazio Stefano Mauri and former Genoa midfielder Omar Milanetto, authorities said on Monday.
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.
A round-up of the top-flight football matches played across Italy and Germany on Sunday
A total of 24 teams will play in the knockout Qualifiers on February 1 and 2 to decide which 12 teams will play the year-end Finals.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Juventus hit the woodwork three times and had a goal controversially disallowed as they were held 0-0 at Genoa on Sunday, their sixth draw in seven Serie A games leaving them further behind leaders AC Milan.
Photos from the football matches played on Sunday.
Free-scoring AC Milan, 4-0 winners over Arsenal in the Champions League last week, kept the goals flowing with a 3-1 win at bottom club Cesena on Sunday that ensured they finished the weekend top of Serie A.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi rescued a 1-1 draw at Villarreal with a sensational late free-kick on Sunday but could not prevent the champions finishing the weekend third in La Liga, five points behind leaders Real Madrid.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, which took his league tally for the season to 21, meant that he joined Fabio Quagliarella and Gabriel Batistuta as the only players to have scored in 11 consecutive league appearances. He also reached yet another milestone with his 1,000th match for club and country in a remarkable career which has seen him play for Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal.
AC Milan shrugged off an unbelievable Robinho miss, and an interruption caused when teargas was thrown outside the ground, to record a 2-0 win at Genoa that took them to the top of Serie A on Friday.
Antonio Di Natale, last season's Serie A top scorer, grabbed his seventh goal of the campaign to give Udinese a 1-0 win over Palermo and keep them one point behind leaders Juventus on Sunday.
Juventus continued their charge towards a fourth successive Serie A title as they predictably swept aside AC Milan 3-1 on Saturday to complete a league double over their old rivals.
Gian Piero Gasperini was stunned to receive the call asking if he wanted to manage Inter Milan and now intends to build on the club's existing foundations to bring success back to the blue-and-black half of Italy's second city.
Crowd violence returned to haunt European football on Tuesday when Italy's home Euro 2012 qualifier against Serbia in Genoa was abandoned amid a barrage of flares inside the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Juventus joined AC Milan at the top of Serie A but failed to get the win they needed to end the year clear in Serie A after a disappointing 0-0 draw at title rivals Udinese on Wednesday as Napoli hit six against Genoa.
Juventus, who have won only one of their last five games and have dropped 18 points from winning positions this season, stay on 80 points followed by Atalanta with 74 and Inter Milan on 73 with three games each to play.
Substitute Alexandre Pato netted a superb winner after Robinho had opened the scoring using the top of his arm as Serie A leaders AC Milan ground out a precious 2-1 win at Chievo on Sunday.
Serie A champions Juventus became on Monday the latest team to be sanctioned for anti-Naples chanting by their fans during a game, the Serie A league said in a statement.
Juventus winger Milos Krasic returned from injury and suspension to again be the driving force in a 2-0 win at Genoa on Sunday.
Sulley Muntari came in from the cold and scored his first club goal in a year to hand injury-hit Inter Milan a battling 1-0 Serie A win at Genoa on Friday.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Inter Milan's lead at the top of Serie A was cut when they lost 2-1 at home to Lazio on Sunday while AS Roma beat Genoa 2-0 to record their first win in eight games and ease the pressure on under-fire coach Rudi Garcia.
Claudio Ranieri resigned as coach of AS Roma following their shock 4-3 loss at Genoa on Sunday in a game they had led 3-0.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Serie A leaders AC Milan slipped up for the second straight game in a 1-1 draw at Genoa on Sunday which opened the door for Napoli to cut the gap at the top to three points.
Sixteen-year-old Romelo Lukaku scored twice in nine minutes to give Anderlecht a 3-1 victory at Ajax Amsterdam on Thursday, sending the Belgians into the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Juventus' wretched start to the season continued when they needed a late penalty to avoid defeat as the Serie A champions were held to a 1-1 home draw by early leaders Chievo Verona on Saturday.
Fiorentina hit four goals before halftime, including a cheeky backheel by Gonzalo Rodriguez and a Panenka-style penalty from Khouma Babacar, to beat Frosinone 4-1 and join Inter Milan at the top of Serie A on Sunday.
AS Roma striker Francesco Totti will be aiming for another hat-trick at Atalanta on Sunday as speculation mounts about an Italy comeback, something Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano can only dream of.
Juventus crushed visiting Sampdoria 5-1 on Wednesday to leapfrog the Genoa side into second place in Serie A but AC Milan's revival stalled when last-gasp goals earned Napoli a 2-2 draw.
Serie A champions Inter Milan humiliated 10-man AC Milan 4-0 to emphatically earn the derby spoils on Saturday.
Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o is a doubt for Tuesday's Champions League visit of Dynamo Kiev despite being included in the squad, coach Jose Mourinho said.
Roger Federer secured Switzerland's spot in next year's Davis Cup World Group with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 win over Italy's Potito Starace in a rain-affected match in Genoa on Sunday. His commanding victory, peppered with effortless winners from the baseline, gave the Swiss team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the World Group playoff.
Balotelli was recalled after a four-year absence and given the captaincy for Mancini's first matches in charge in May but the 28-year-old has played only three times for his French club Nice this season and failed to score.
Serie A leaders Inter Milan handed Genoa their first home league defeat of the season on Saturday when strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli sealed a hard-fought 2-0 victory. With 11 games left, the champions stay seven points clear of second-placed Juventus, who beat city rivals Torino 1-0 thanks to Giorgio Chiellini's 81st minute header from a Pavel Nedved free kick.
Cricket is finally getting noticed in Italy, more than 100 years after it helped introduce soccer to the country. A group of British expatriates set up Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club in the Italian port in 1893 and it was only when English doctor James Richardson Spensley joined a few years later that soccer was added to the programme.
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