Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo ended his early-season drought in emphatic style when he hit five goals in a 6-0 romp at Espanyol on Saturday to become the club's record scorer in La Liga.
Real Madrid were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage on Thursday after losing 4-3 at home to Real Sociedad, while record 30-times winners Barcelona were sent crashing out of the Copa del Rey in a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.
Atletico Madrid's Brazilian striker Diego Costa scored twice as they came from behind to beat Levante 3-2 at home on Saturday to go three points clear at the top of La Liga.
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas believes the European champions have a side with the potential to be one of the all-time greats and it will be with likely trepidation that an off-colour Liverpool visit the Bernabeu on Tuesday.
Atletico Madrid secured a berth in the Champions League group stage for next season and Deportivo La Coruna narrowly escaped relegation when they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at champions Barcelona on the final day in La Liga on Saturday.
Striker Costa ends second spell at Atletico Madrid.
'Critics will always appear because people don't like it when the same people win all the time, but I'm sure Pep is going to win'
Cristiano Ronaldo kept up his rich La Liga scoring form as Real Madrid beat Villarreal 2-0 on Saturday to move up to fourth.
India's shooters failed to impress on the third day of competitions in the 51st Shooting World Championship as trap ace Manavjit Singh Sandhu missed out on a final berth by a whisker while Rahi Sarnabot and Anisa Sayyed disappointed in women's 25 metres pistol, in Granada.
Real Madrid midfielder Gareth Bale damaged a calf muscle in his left leg during Tuesday's 4-0 Champions League Group A victory at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, tests confirmed on Thursday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane shrugged off his first setback since taking over from the sacked Rafa Benitez after his new team could only manage a 1-1 draw at Real Betis in La Liga.
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Real Madrid tightened their grip on top spot by beating Alaves 3-0 at home in La Liga on Sunday to provisionally move five points ahead of nearest challengers Barcelona despite coach Zinedine Zidane making a string of changes in defence.
Gagan Narang missed out on an Olympic quota by just one place as he finished sixth in the final of the men's 50-metre rifle prone while Prakash Nanjappa and Jitu Rai narrowly missed out on the final of the 10-metre air pistol at the 51st Shooting World Championships in Granada.
Stuttering Villarreal closed to within a point of the Champions League qualification places when a second-half Cedric Bakambu double secured a 2-1 comeback win at home to Rayo Vallecano in La Liga on Sunday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is under pressure to break up his misfiring attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale when he takes the La Liga leaders to Alaves on Saturday.
Barcelona are in the middle of an injury crisis as they head to Valencia for Saturday's La Liga game looking to keep up with pacemaking pair Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Without injured goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and right back Sergi Roberto for the last two games, Barca will also be missing defenders Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique after both were hurt in Wednesday's 4-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League. Pique sprained his right ankle while Alba injured his left hamstring and both are out until November.
The 28-year-old Argentine has scored seven goals from direct free-kicks in this year's La Liga, the latest in Sunday's 5-0 triumph over Espanyol.
Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic embraced the art of winning ugly after they beat 10-man Real Betis 2-0 to move closer to retaining their La Liga title.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways after last weekend's drubbing at Atletico but failed to convince and were whistled by their own fans during a drab 2-0 victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lajja Gauswami on Tuesday clinched the silver medal in women's 50-metre Rifle 3 Position event, finally bringing to an end India's lean run at the ISSF World Cup in Granada, Spain.
Lionel Messi scored within three minutes of returning to action for the first time in more than three weeks to help fire La Liga champions Barcelona to a resounding 4-0 home win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
He joins pistol shooter Jitu Rai, rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela and Gagan Narang, who all had sealed berths earlier.
Gazing upon the prize-winning images of the Siena International Photo Awards 2019 is something of a roller coaster experience. The overall winner is a compelling picture of a boy trying to retrieve his ball behind an armed guard in Liberia, taken by British photographer Jonathan Banks. He was up against some extremely talented competition, as our selection shows.
Jitu Rai became the first Indian shooter to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics after bagging a quota place with an impressive silver medal-finish at the 51st Shooting World Championships, in Granada.
A bullet header from Nicolas Otamendi put Valencia on course for a 3-1 victory over Eibar in La Liga on Sunday that boosted their hopes of claiming a Champions League place.
Valencia's Paco Alcacer and Dani Parejo both hit doubles in a surprise 5-1 away thrashing of high-flying Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday.
Real Madrid set a Spanish record of 40 matches unbeaten in all competitions after they came back from two goals behind to snatch a 3-3 draw at Sevilla with a last-gasp equaliser from Karim Benzema in the King's Cup on Thursday.
Real Madrid moved to within a point of La Liga leaders Barcelona after Karim Benzema, Isco, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored in a 5-1 thrashing at struggling Getafe on Saturday.
James Rodriguez will return to Real Madrid's starting lineup for Sunday's La Liga game at home to Granada after being out for two months with a broken bone in his foot, coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.
'I can't comment on speculation. I don't bet and I don't do the lottery - it's not my way'
La Liga leaders Real Madrid suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at mid-table Athletic Bilbao on Saturday after a bullet header from Aritz Aduriz in the first half secured the points.
With a fifth world player of the year award safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet, Lionel Messi can set his sights on one of the next milestones in his remarkable career: reaching 500 goals for club and country. The Barcelona and Argentina forward can add to his jaw-dropping tally of 479 in 609 official games -- 430 for Barca and 49 for his national team -- in Sunday's La Liga match at home to Athletic Bilbao. The 28-year-old from Rosario, who picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, is looking close to his best following a two-month injury layoff late last year and netted a hat-trick when second-placed Barca crushed Granada 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend in their most recent outing in Spain's top flight.
Atletico Madrid have built a reputation for gargantuan achievements under coach Diego Simeone and have not given up hope of a remarkable turnaround against Real Madrid in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg.
The Portuguese forward then fired in the penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Real Madrid have enviously looked on as Barcelona claimed six La Liga titles in the last eight years, but Zinedine Zidane's side can take a huge step towards a first crown since 2012 with victory over their bitter rivals at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
Substitute Fernando Torres scored his 100th Atletico Madrid goal as they rallied from 1-0 down to beat visiting Eibar 3-1 and go level with Barcelona at the top of La Liga on Saturday. Two headed goals from corner kicks seven minutes apart by central defenders Jose Maria Gimenez and Saul put Atletico on track after Keko had given Eibar the lead in the 46th. Coach Diego Simeone will be glad his side ended a run of four matches without a win in La Liga and the King's Cup while Torres, who netted in added time, had been waiting since a victory at Eibar in September to reach his century for the club. Atletico are unlikely to stay joint top on 51 points beyond Sunday as rampant Barcelona, who have a better goal difference and two matches in hand, visit bottom team Levante. Real Madrid, away to Granada on Sunday, are in third place, four points off the pace.
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