A dominant yet wasteful Real ravaged their rivals in the first half while spurning a string of clear chances at the Santiago Bernabeu.
With Crystal Palace dangerously close to being relegated, manager Patrick Vieira was sacked after 20 months in charge.
Villarreal continued their impressive revival after a season in the second division when Jeremy Perbet and Jonathan Pereira struck in a 2-1 win at home to Espanyol in La Liga on Thursday.
After an almighty push by all parties concerned, Spain's La Liga roars back into action next week after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with matches taking place every day and with everything to play for. The season resumes on Wednesday in bizarre circumstances with the second half of a Segunda Division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete that was abandoned in December due to offensive chanting.
IMAGES from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Thirteen teams have now qualified for the last 32 including Bayer Leverkusen, FC Zurich and Lazio who had already secured places in the next stage of the competition.
Images from Europa League matches played on Thursday.
Barcelona, reduced to 10-man in the last half-an-hour, clinched a narrow win over Valencia in their La Liga match on Sunday.
Lionel Messi kept his nerve from the penalty spot to give Barcelona a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday and return his side to the top of the table.
Images from Sunday's action in the Premier League.
Leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid were held to draws while Sevilla made up ground on the top two and Alaves slipped after a promising start. Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo gave a ringing endorsement of new coach Zinedine Zidane and handed a rebuke to his sacked predecessor Rafa Benitez after Sunday's 5-1 La Liga victory at home to Sporting Gijon. Real have comfortably won both their matches since Zidane took over this month, a 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna and Sunday's demolition of lowly Gijon, and Ronaldo said the players had a better relationship with the former Real and France great, who is known as 'Zizou', than with the unpopular Benitez. The former Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli manager was discarded after less than half a season in the job after an indifferent run of results left Real trailing city rivals Atletico Madrid and champions Barcelona in La Liga. "To be honest, with some coaches you have more empathy than with others," Ronaldo told reporters after netting a double at the Bernabeu. "The truth is, don't ask me why, that the players have more empathy with Zizou," the Portugal forward added.
Rangers joined Barca in the last eight despite losing 2-1 at Red Star Belgrade, progressing 3-2 on aggregate.
Dramatic finale as Valencia denied by 10-man Levante
Real are third in the league standings with 54 points after 28 games, two behind second-placed Atletico Madrid who visit Athletic Bilbao later on Saturday and nine points behind leaders Barcelona who play at Real Betis on Sunday.
Veteran actor Junior Mehmood, who was battling with stage four cancer passed away in Mumbai on Friday.
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.
Second division Mirandes caused an upset by knocking Deportivo La Coruna out of the King's Cup on Tuesday and Sevilla joined them in the quarter-finals after making light work of city rivals Real Betis.
Barcelona opened up a four-point gap at the top of La Liga, maintaining their 100 percent start as they cruised to a 3-0 victory at Catalan rivals Girona on Saturday.
Subdued atmosphere at the Nou Camp after the deadly attacks in the Catalan capital and the town of Cambrils.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique believes his current squad is the strongest he has ever had and he is very confident of retaining the La Liga and King's Cup titles. The Spanish champions have recruited Andre Gomes, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez since the end of last season while Marc Bartra, Thomas Vermaelen, Adriano Correia and Sandro Ramirez have departed. "On paper, this is the best squad that I have had in my three years at Barca," Luis Enrique told the club's website. "We have a squad that has been strengthened brilliantly.
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.
New Valencia coach Gary Neville remains without a La Liga win after his side twice recovered from a goal down to rescue a fortunate 2-2 draw at home to Getafe on Saturday.
Bale began Real's 3-1 win at Leganes on Wednesday on the bench, just as he had done against Real Sociedad and in their Champions League last-16 first leg against Paris St Germain.
Their limp performance does not inspire confidence ahead of the visit of the all-powerful Serie A leaders and familiar foe Cristiano Ronaldo.
La Liga leaders Barcelona beat Real Madrid 1-0 to all but knock their rivals out of the title race on Saturday, while second-placed Atletico Madrid stayed seven points behind the Catalans with a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
'For me, Nitin Chandrakant Desai will always be associated with masti-mazaak.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Diego Costa scored twice as Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 to maintain their winning home run this season and keep pace with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table.
Atletico Madrid's Jackson Martinez scored his first goal for the club when he came off the bench and curled in a superb effort to seal a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
Photographic summary of the football matches played across Spain, Italy and France
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.
Barcelona have Gerard Pique back for Sunday's La Liga 'Clasico' at leaders Real Madrid but captain and fellow centre back Carles Puyol has not managed to shake off a knee injury, the Spanish champions said on Saturday.
Major world record deals are here.
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.
Neymar should return to Spain with renewed enthusiasm after leading Brazil to their first soccer gold medal at an Olympic Games, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said. Neymar, who has scored 85 goals in 141 games in his three seasons at Barcelona, was given permission to stay in Brazil until after international games early next month. "I think it's a good decision to grant him (Neymar) that," Pique told El Mundo Deportivo. "He has earned it.
La Liga leaders Barcelona earned a narrow 1-0 win over Real Valladolid to move seven points clear at the top, while Real Madrid lost 2-1 at home against Girona to fall to third behind Atletico Madrid.
From comments about the healthy relationship shared between Barca trio -- Messi, Suarez and Neymar, to questions about his goal drought in away matches, an angry Ronaldo had the response to it all
