Guus Hiddink has resigned as manager of Anzhi Makhachkala, the wealthy Russian club said in a statement on their website on Monday amid reports he was favourite to take over at Barcelona.
Ten-man Zenit St Petersburg beat Dynamo Moscow 2-1 on Saturday to claim a second consecutive Russian Premier League title with three games to spare.
The 28-year-old Portugal midfielder joined the English Champions until the end of the season.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field on Thursday
Zenit St Petersburg condemned violence by their fans during the 4-1 defeat by Austria Vienna in the Champions League on Wednesday, saying the trouble-makers led to the Russian team's poor performance.
Napoli's Marek Hamsik enjoyed a memorable return to his former club Slovan Bratislava, scoring one and creating another, in a 2-0 victory on Thursday as the Italians joined five others who made it two wins from two in the Europa League group stage.
Fiorentina tore apart Italian rivals AS Roma to reach the Europa League quarter-finals with a 3-0 win that left their opponents' season in tatters and under-fire coach Rudi Garcia tottering on the brink of the sack.
Holders Sevilla maintained their Europa League challenge with a 1-0 win over Rijeka in a winner-takes-all clash on Thursday.
Jonatan Soriano's love affair with the Europa League continued as last season's top scorer grabbed a hat-trick on Thursday to help Salzburg become one of four teams to reach the knockout stages.
This week's digest of stories that are weird, true and funny.
A round-up of Euro 2016 warm-up matches played on Sunday