Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League debut for Juventus lasted only 29 minutes as he was red-carded but the Italians began their Group H campaign impressively with a 2-0 victory at Valencia on Wednesday. Penalties either side of halftime by Miralem Pjanic sealed the points for the visitors as Valencia's return to European competition after a two-year absence fell flat.
Italy midfielder Claudio Marchisio will miss this year's European Championship after tearing knee ligaments during Juventus' 4-0 Serie A victory over Palermo on Sunday.
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon denied that Friday's Euro 2016 opponents Sweden are a one-man team but says they are wary of "superstar" forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Buffon shone alongside defenders Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci as Italy beat Belgium 2-0 in their Group E opener, but the quartet now face the ominous prospect of subduing Ibrahimovic in Toulouse.
Juventus, with 80 points, are eight clear of Inter Milan with four games each to play followed by Atalanta on 71 and Lazio fourth on 69.
Juventus held off a remarkable Inter Milan comeback by winning their Italian Cup tie 5-3 on penalties on Wednesday after a 3-3 draw on aggregate to set up a final against AC Milan.
Germany defeated old rivals Italy 6-5 in a penalty shootout at Euro 2016 with a winning spot kick from Jonas Hector after the game finished 1-1 following extra time on Saturday to reach the semi-finals. They will now face the winners of the other quarter-final between hosts France and Iceland, who play on Sunday.
World and European champions Spain overcame Italy 7-6 in a penalty shootout after surviving an energy-draining Confederations Cup semi-final that ended goalless after two hours in sapping heat and humidity on Thursday.
Bayern Munich winger Serge Gnabry has been ruled out of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris St Germain after testing positive for COVID-19 while midfielder Marc Roca will miss the game due to injury.
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his Madeira homecoming with an early strike but Sweden wrecked the party by hitting back from two down to win 3-2.
Defender Andrea Ranocchia and forward Mattia Destro were left out of Italy's 23-man Euro 2012 squad on Tuesday but centre back Leonardo Bonucci was included despite the match-fixing crisis engulfing the country.
Giorgio Chiellini, famously bitten by Uruguay forward Luis Suarez during a 2014 World Cup match, comes across as a typically bruising centre back but off the field, the Italy defender is a quiet and dignified figure.
Germany coach Joachim Loew and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer praised the team's less experienced players for stepping up to convert in their dramatic penalty shootout against Italy, firing the world champions into the Euro 2016 final four.
Genoa blew away Serie A leaders Juventus on Sunday, scoring three times in an astonishing first half hour on the way to a pulsating 3-1 win.
Juventus bounded to the top of Serie A by securing a battling 2-0 victory at Palermo after former striker Amauri condemned AC Milan to a 2-1 defeat at home to Fiorentina on Saturday.
Bayern Munich thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 5-1, while Barcelona came from behind to beat Valencia 3-1 in LaLiga at Camp Nou on Sunday.
A summary of results from matches played in the Italian Serie A and Ligue 1
Forget Italy's image of Catenaccio (or "door chain defence"). Antonio Conte's Italy showed in a 2-0 defeat of Spain at Euro 2016 on Monday that they can do unchained attacking football too. The Azzurri, who will take on world champions Germany in a fascinating quarter-final on Saturday, had promised they would not be afraid to go forward against Spain.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
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.
Juventus came from behind to snatch a dramatic 3-2 win at Chievo as Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for the Turin side on Saturday, although the Portuguese was not among the scorers in his first Serie A match.
Juve forward Cristiano Ronaldo had an unusually quiet game after scoring a hat-trick against Atletico in last year's competition, although he came within inches of grabbing a last-gasp winner when he sent a shot just past the far post.
Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs
Real Madrid edged past Sporting Lisbon 2-1, while Juventus came from behind to secure a 3-1 win at Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund crushed Legia Warsaw 8-4 to set a record for the most goals scored in a Champions League match.
Images from football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Many former players believe that storming out of games is a powerful tool to counter racism, a move that will force administrators to take the problem more seriously, and act in a way that compels clubs to obliterate such a culture and evict those responsible, says Dhruv Munjal.
A summary of Wednesday night's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Sevilla will attempt to draw Bayern Munich out of their comfort zone and take the game to the Germans,
Having battled to break down one of Europe's meanest defences in the quarter-finals, Real Madrid will have to do it all over again when they face Juventus in their Champions League semi-final.
Ousmane Dembele struck early and Lionel Messi converted a late penalty as Barcelona won 2-0 at Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday after Alvaro Morata had three goals disallowed for offside for the Serie A side.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
Tearful goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon ended his 20-year Italy career in the saddest possible way on Monday with their first failure to qualify for the World Cup in 60 years.
Lionel Messi scored a 50th freekick goal for Barcelona as he led his side to a quick-fire comeback to win 3-2 at Valencia on Sunday and keep the pressure on La Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
Champions Juventus continued their resurgence by beating Hellas Verona 3-0 at home for an eighth successive Serie A victory as Inter Milan remained top after winning 1-0 at Empoli.
There is no stopping master goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in his ambition to add more major titles to his collection of the 2006 World Cup and seven Serie A championships.
Italy manager Antonio Conte named his provisional squad for the European Championship on Monday, and his selection was notable as much for the player he left off as for those he chose.
Belgium finished five points clear at the top of League A Group 2 and will meet world champions France and former World Cup winners Italy and Spain in the final four next October.
Hellas Verona produced a huge upset by coming from behind to beat Serie A leaders Juventus 2-1 on Saturday, inflicting a third defeat of the season on the Italian champions. Cristiano Ronaldo set a new Juventus record by scoring in a 10th consecutive league game to put the visitors in front at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi after 65 minutes.
Juventus defeated second-placed Lazio 2-0 at home on Saturday to take another huge step towards their fourth straight Serie A title and boost their confidence for Wednesday's crunch Champions League clash in Monaco.
A summary of Wednesday night's matches inthe UEFA Champions League.
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