Barcelona's inconsistency over the season had cost them the La Liga title, coach Luis Enrique has said.
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.
Headers by Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic earned Manchester United an unconvincing 2-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion in a low-key FA Cup quarter-final played in freezing conditions on Saturday.
Barcelona have been frighteningly good at home this season, scoring 15 goals in three games at the Nou Camp.
Juventus progressed to the Champions League last 16 after a Cristiano Ronaldo goal and a late header from substitute Alvaro Morata gave them a comeback 2-1 home win over Hungarians Ferencvaros on Tuesday.
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes lack of European football will be an advantage for the club in the Premier League and same will be the case for Chelsea.
Barcelona will meet Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals following the draw on Friday while Manchester City face Tottenham Hotspur in an all-Premier League clash.
Five-time champions Brazil qualified for the World Cup finals on Saturday after beating arch-rivals Argentina 3-1. Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano scored twice after Benfica skipper Luisao opened the scoring for the Brazilians in a fast, hard-tackling match.
New strikers Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano bagged their maiden Serie A goals to give AC Milan their first points of the season with a 2-1 home win over Empoli on Saturday.
Holders FC Barcelona have been placed in Group E, along with Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma, Dinamo Zagreb.
Atletico Madrid set up a King's Cup final against Sevilla when they went through 6-3 on aggregate despite conceding two late goals to lose 3-2 at Racing Santander in their semi-final second leg on Thursday.
Diego Forlan scored twice from the penalty spot to help Atletico Madrid to a 4-0 first-leg victory at home to Racing Santander in a King's Cup semi-final on Thursday.
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AC Milan were handed a comfortable UEFA Cup assignment on Tuesday after being drawn with Heerenveen, Braga, Portsmouth and Wolfsburg in the group stage.
Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin will be in Spain's Euro 2016 squad, the country's football federation said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Bellerin and the other 18 players named to face South Korea in a friendly in Wals-Siezenheim, Austria on Wednesday, have been guaranteed spots in the European Championship squad. Bellerin was included after Real Madrid right back Dani Carvajal sustained a leg muscle injury in Saturday's Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid. The Real Madrid and Atletico players in the squad will be named later on Tuesday when Spain coach Vicente del Bosque announces his final list.
Factbox on Jose Mourinho, who was named manager of Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday
David Villa netted twice to fire Valencia to a 4-1 win over 10-man Villarreal in La Liga on Sunday and lift Unai Emery's side to within three points of second-placed Real Madrid.
Unai Emery begins the task of steering Arsenal into a brave new post-Arsene Wenger world.
Spaniard Juande Ramos made a triumphant debut as coach of CSKA Moscow on Saturday when his new team scored three second-half goals to crush Krylya Sovietov Samara 3-0 in a Russian Premier League match.
Catalan nationalists said on Friday they would hand out 10,000 Scottish flags to Barcelona supporters in the Spanish King's Cup Final soccer match on Sunday after Madrid banned the display of the Catalan pro-independence flag in the stadium.
Gonzalo Higuain's stunning injury-time strike secured a remarkable 3-2 comeback win for hosts Real Madrid in the Primera Liga on Tuesday.
'We are like his home. We are like his family ... We are going to help him to feel good'
Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain scored twice for 10-man Real Madrid in a 2-0 home win over Getafe on Saturday that eased the pressure on coach Manuel Pellegrini. Real have 22 points from nine games and are one point behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after the champions were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna, Gerard Pique scoring in his own net in the last minute.
Seydou Keita hit a hat-trick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted twice to lead Barcelona to a 6-1 thrashing of Real Zaragoza and send the La Liga champions three points clear of Real Madrid on Sunday.
Depleted Real Madrid ended a disappointing week with a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday, handing champions Barcelona the chance to open a three-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Striker Alvaro Negredo scored twice and created two more goals to lift European champions Spain to a 5-2 victory over Bosnia on Wednesday and make it 10 wins out of 10 in World Cup qualifying Group Five. Coach Vicente del Bosque gave Negredo his first starting spot in place of Fernando Torres and the Sevilla forward took his chance to impress with two goals in five second-half minutes and assists for David Silva and Juan Mata.
Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Real Betis on Wednesday as an inspired performance from their former goalkeeper Antonio Adan and a stoppage-time winner from Antonio Sanabria stunned the Liga champions.
Barcelona moved to within a whisker of a second straight La Liga crown when Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Pedro earned a nervy 3-2 win at 10-man Sevilla on Saturday.
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Barcelona and Real Madrid maintained their perfect La Liga starts on Saturday, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting the champions on their way to a 2-0 victory at Malaga and Real winning 3-0 at home to Tenerife.
Real Mallorca earlier came from behind to beat a weakened Barca 2-1 and spoil the new Primera Liga champions' celebrations on Sunday. Barcelona had clinched their first league title in three years on Saturday after second-placed Real Madrid were beaten 3-2 at Villarreal.
Barcelona named former Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde on Monday as the successor to Luis Enrique and he will take charge of the La Liga runners-up on a two-year contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score 400 goals in Europe's top five leagues as Juventus dropped points for the first time this season following a 1-1 Serie A draw with Genoa on Saturday. The Portuguese striker's fifth league goal for Juve carried him to the milestone, adding to his 84 strikes for Manchester United in the Premier League and 311 for Real Madrid in La Liga.
Spain will play an international friendly against England in Seville in February after the visitors refused to play at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday. In a statement, the RFEF said it had decided to hold the match at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on February 11, without giving any further explanation.
Kazakhstan's Astana fought back to beat a youthful Manchester United side 2-1 at home, Arsenal's woes continued as Frankfurt's Daichi Kamada scored twice to secure a 2-1 win.
Real Madrid have replaced coach Bernd Schuster with former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur manager Juande Ramos, sporting director Predrag Mijatovic said.
There were mixed fortunes for league leaders around Europe over the weekend with Barcelona, Inter Milan and Liverpool winning but Olympique Lyon and Hoffenheim going down to defeats.
The 29-year-old's composure on the ball, ability to pick a pass and tough tackling paid dividends at both ends of the pitch in the must-win game against Nigeria.
Barcelona will attempt to give Luis Enrique his 100th victory in his 125th game in charge of the team when they play at Athletic Bilbao in la Liga on Sunday. A former Barca player, the 46-year-old led them to a La Liga, King's Cup and Champions League treble in his first year in charge and the domestic double last season. The Catalans started the campaign with a 5-0 aggregate triumph over Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup and a 6-2 victory over Real Betis in La Liga.
A clinical finish by Gonzalo Higuain gave Real Madrid a 1-0 home win over Racing Santander on Saturday and a seventh successive Primera Liga victory that trimmed Barcelona's lead at the top to nine points. Third-placed Sevilla lost further ground on Real after goals from Sergio Garcia and new signing Ricardo Oliveira gave Real Betis a 2-1 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan and condemned their city rivals to a third consecutive league defeat.
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