Manchester City's Yaya Toure will be favourite to collect a record fourth successive African Footballer of the Year crown.
A round of Wednesday night's Champions League group stage matches.
Liverpool's defence of a Premier League crown won at a canter last season has become a nightmare
Ousmane Dembele endured a rough start to his Barcelona career but the French winger appears to be finding his feet at a crucial time in the season.
IMAGES from soccer matches played across Europe on Saturday.
Champions Bayern Munich needed an 88th-minute winner by Joshua Kimmich to beat Hamburg SV 1-0 on Saturday and protect their three-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. Strugglers Hamburg had battled hard to protect a goalless draw and end a three-game losing run, with goalkeeper Rene Adler making a string of key saves before Kimmichdrilled in a Franck Ribery cutback at the far post. The result lifted Bayern to 15 points, three ahead of Borussia Dortmund, who beat Freiburg 3-1 on Friday.
Pep Guardiola hailed Sergio Aguero's 'unique' skill of sniffing out chances in front of goal, and David Silva's ability to ghost past defenders
Former European champions Steaua Bucharest and English Premier League Southampton suffered shock defeats by Scandinavian teams in Europa League qualifiers on Thursday.
Liverpool feel they beat any team in the world at the moment and will play without fear in the Champions League final against 12-times winners Real Madrid later this month, winger Sadio Mane has said.
Lampard must re-energise the team to even hold onto Chelsea's tag as best of the rest behind Premier League champions Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool.
'This team is really good and we have invested a lot in it. Now we have to work with that'
Bayern Munich's party was wrecked by Borussia Moenchengladbach who hit back for a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, forcing the Bavarians to wait at least a week to clinch a fourth straight Bundesliga title.
Champions Bayern Munich opened up an eight-point lead in the Bundesliga at the start of the German season's one-month winter break by beating Hanover 96 1-0 on Saturday amid mounting speculation over the future of coach Pep Guardiola.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane is loving his duel with Leicester City forward and England team mate Jamie Vardy for the Premier League golden boot this season.
The Bundesliga enjoyed a bumper afternoon of stunning goals and penalty drama on Saturday with Hakan Calhanoglu's viciously swerving 40-metre free kick for Hamburg SV the pick of the bunch.
Rediff.com brings you a wrap of big stories in pictures with the Best Sports Photos of the Week.
Southampton's 15 million pound ($19.19 million) purchase of Lazio centre back Wesley Hoedt brought the overall spend by England's 20 elite clubs to a record 1.184.9 billion pounds.
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.
'There is no price limit to let him go or a price that we are ready to give in'
Bayern Munich came from a goal down at home to beat Ingolstadt 3-1 on Saturday and make it three wins in three Bundesliga matches as they went two points clear at the top. The champions were far less convincing than in their Champions League 5-0 win over Rostov on Tuesday and were caught napping after eight minutes with Paraguayan Dario Lezcano slipping the ball through the legs of Manuel Neuer.
Liverpool, Paris St Germain, Besiktas, Dynamo Kiev, Sparta Prague and Villarreal reached the knockout stages of the Europa League on Thursday in contrasting fashions.
When Griezmann fired Atletico to victory over Olympique de Marseille in the Europa League final in May it was widely viewed as his last stand for Diego Simeone's side before a move to Barca but they successfully convinced the Frenchman to stay.
Schalke 04 stunned holders Bayern Munich 1-0 with a goal from Spaniard Raul to reach the German Cup final on Wednesday and improve their chances of playing European football next season.
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
Arsenal will face manager Arsene Wenger's former club Monaco with defending champions Real Madrid pitted against German club Schalke.
An insatiable Lionel Messi scored for the eighth game in a row in all competitions as La Liga champions Barcelona saw off a gutsy Girona side 2-0 to go five points clear at the top of the standings.
Zinedine Zidane has been reappointed as Real Madrid coach nine months after resigning, replacing Argentine Santiago Solari.
Angel Di Maria delivered a near-perfect performance, scoring two and setting up another as runaway leaders Paris St Germain beat 10-man Olympique de Marseille 3-1 at home on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester City have signed French central defender Aymeric Laporte from Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, the Premier League leaders said on Tuesday.
Riyad Mahrez, who inspired Leicester City to an extraordinary Premier League title triumph last season, was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich crushed Freiburg 4-0 on Saturday, recording their 13th successive Bundesliga victory and extending their league unbeaten streak to 46.
Surprise leaders Mainz 05 equalled the best ever Bundesliga start with their seventh successive win, beating visitors Hoffenheim 4-2 on Saturday.
Thomas Mueller scored twice as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich came from a goal down to beat Hanover 3-1 on Saturday and stretch their advantage at the top to 11 points after VfL Wolfsburg slumped to a 1-0 loss at Augsburg.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane was named player of the month after scoring six goals in four league games.
Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made a mockery of his two-month exile from the starting lineup with a superb individual effort, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured an easy win that banished memories of their earlier group stage struggles.
