Ronaldo had failed to score in his last four league games for Real and his rotten run in front of goal looked set to continue when his spot-kick was turned away by visiting goalkeeper Roberto.
Spain are steadily turning to the next generation ahead of their Euro 2016 opener against the Czech Republic later on Monday as the defending champions look to redeem themselves after a miserable World Cup two years ago. For Spain's disappointing showing in 2014, coach Vicente del Bosque retained 16 of the squad that won the title in 2010, but only eight winners remain for Euro 2016, with players such as Alvaro Morata, Hector Bellerin and Thiago Alcantara introduced as part of a significant changing of the guard. Sergio Ramos is confident the new boys, five of whom were part of the 2013 European under 21-winning side, can lead Spain into a new golden era.
Real Madrid's unbeaten start to the La Liga season came to an abrupt and surprising end as Real Mallorca claimed a stunning 1-0 victory at a rocking Son Moix on Saturday to climb out of the relegation zone.
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Spain captain Iker Casillas believes David de Gea is "no longer a future prospect but a strong contender" to play in goal for the national team at Euro 2016. Porto goalkeeper Casillas has been the country's first-choice keeper since 2002 but De Gea is considered favourite to start after a solid season for Manchester United. "De Gea is no longer the future but a strong contender," Casillas told Cadena Cope radio. "It's clear that all of us that are here, we think that we can play. "We are 23 players that play as starters for important clubs and we all believe that we can help the national team but deciding who starts is the coach's job." Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will not make a decision of who will play between the posts until June 13, when his team begins its European Championship campaign against the Czech Republic in Toulouse.
Napoli suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday when they lost 1-0 at lowly Atalanta while Serie A leaders Juventus surged on with a 3-0 win at Empoli, helped by a Gonzalo Higuain brace.
Passion in my game was dying, so hung racquet, says Somdev Devvarman.
Making her Grand Slam comeback in Paris following the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia last September, Serena Williams will renew her fierce on-court rivalry with Maria Sharapova on Monday when they meet in a highly-anticipated fourth-round showdown at the French Open.
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri criticised his players for letting their guard down and losing 2-1 at arch-rivals Inter Milan after taking the lead in the second half at the San Siro.
IMAGES from the La Liga matches played on Tuesday
Mumbai is also on the top-10 'improvers' list.
The Real Madrid forward apologises after Real Madrid dumped out of King's Cup by Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique played down talk of a rift with his squad after their surprise home defeat by Alaves and is hoping to put things right in their Champions League opener against Celtic on Tuesday.
Maria Sharapova has confirmed she has severed ties with coach Jimmy Connors after one match together. The Russian world number three said in a statement e-mailed to Tennis.com that the pairing had not been 'the right fit for this time in my career'.
Atletico Madrid's players will not allow praise to go to their heads even though they are level on points with Barcelona at the top of La Liga, coach Diego Simeone has said.
Porto goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who suffered a heart attack in May, has been registered by the club to play in this season's Portuguese league.
Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon sent Napoli top of Serie A after they beat Atalanta 2-0 on Saturday while an injury-time Mario Balotelli penalty helped AC Milan come from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw at Torino.
Coach Gerardo Martino believes Argentina can improve on Tuesday's 6-1 Copa America semi-final demolition of Paraguay, adding that aspects of the goalless draw against Colombia in the previous round had pleased him more.
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Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid resume a nail-biting La Liga title race on Saturday after all notched up victories on Wednesday. Leaders Barcelona, who ended a four-game winless streak by hammering Deportivo La Coruna 8-0 away from home, host struggling Sporting Gijon on Saturday. Atletico battled to a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao to stay level on 79 points with Barcelona, who top the table with a superior head-to-head record and host Malaga. Real stayed one point behind their title rivals after beating Villarreal 3-0 and are expected to be without top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo for their visit to struggling neighbours Rayo Vallecano. The Portuguese forward was unable to finish the game against Villarreal after suffering cramp in stoppage time but eased concerns he had suffered a serious injury.
Atletico Madrid's French forwards Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro fired them to a first win in three league outings as they beat Valencia 3-0 on Sunday to maintain their hold on Spain's fourth Champions League qualifying place.
Balotelli made his debut for his hometown club after completing a four-match suspension that he was handed at Olympique de Marseille last season, while the visitors were without Cristiano Ronaldo as he recovers from injury.
Real Madrid moved to within a point of La Liga leaders Barcelona after Karim Benzema, Isco, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo all scored in a 5-1 thrashing at struggling Getafe on Saturday.
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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.
Images from the matches played on Day 7 at the Roland Garros on Saturday
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Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira has accused the La Liga club of freezing him out by dropping him from the team after talks on a contract extension broke down even though he was fit to play.
Juventus slumped to another surprise defeat on Wednesday when the champions lost 1-0 at Sassuolo while AS Roma reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a 3-1 home victory over Udinese.
Barcelona left it late to snatch a 1-0 win at Valencia on Sunday after Atletico Madrid's 2-0 victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna was overshadowed by the death of a visiting fan hours before kickoff.
Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored stunning goals to edge Barcelona towards a fourth consecutive King's Cup final with a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, although the holders were lucky to survive a late onslaught from the hosts.
Barcelona's hopes of staging another sensational Champions League comeback fell flat against a hardened Juventus side who held the Catalans to a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
Real Madrid and city rivals Atletico have dismissed reports in Spanish media of a possible FIFA ban from the next two transfer windows over breaches of rules on the signing of foreign Under-18 players.
Bayern Munich slumped to their first defeat for three months when the Bundesliga leaders suffered a shock 2-1 reverse at home to Mainz 05 on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo gave Zinedine Zidane a ringing endorsement as Real Madrid coach after their 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the city derby at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Instead, Allegri said on Monday, he would throw on all his best attacking players in an attempt to outscore his opponents in the first leg at the Juventus stadium.
After teetering on the brink of first-round elimination and being involved in the most boring match of the tournament, there is now a real chance Portugal could muddle their way through to the Euro 2016 final. A kind draw has left Portugal with an eminently winnable quarter-final against Poland which would be followed by a semi-final against Wales, Hungary or Belgium.
Lionel Messi, having reversed his decision to quit international soccer with a view to playing at another World Cup, could miss out on Russia 2018 if Argentina continue their downward spiral. Argentina played poorly in their last three qualifiers without the injured Messi and languish in fifth place in the South American group with Paraguay and Chile hot on their tails. Only four countries are guaranteed a place at the finals.
Barcelona followed up last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid with another reverse on Saturday, squandering a host of chances to lose 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo and handing the lead in La Liga to their arch rivals.
Barcelona head into Saturday's 'Clasico' against Real Madrid with a whopping 11-point gap over their bitter rivals in the Liga title race -- and they also have the advantage in financial terms, albeit by smaller margins.
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