The thousands of Barcelona and Juventus fans streaming into Berlin's Olympic Stadium for the Champions League final later on Saturday were confident the showpiece would knock the FIFA scandal off the front pages and out of people's minds.
Depleted Borussia Dortmund shrugged off the absence of more than half a dozen starting players to ease into the German Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 2-0 win at third-tier Saarbruecken on Tuesday.
It is the first meeting between the two leaders after India boycotted the high-profile Belt and Road Forum.
Juergen Klopp will leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season after a seven-year reign as coach which delivered two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final.
Paris is set to go ahead with a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the French capital's deputy mayor in charge of sports told Reuters.
Rediff.com brings you the top highlights of the soccer weekend.
Football news from Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La liga.
'There appears to be greater convergence of interests between China and the US in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre than between India and the US. This is hardly a recipe for a super-alliance,' says former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday.
10 photos that show it is a crazy, mad world
'War cannot resolve problems. So wisdom is to resolve diplomatically.'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Vani Hari discusses her battle for healthier food in America with P Rajendran
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Barcelona snatched a late 2-1 win at Getafe with Paulinho's strike sending them seven points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Atletico Madrid demonstrated their remarkable team spirit to come roaring back from two goals and a man down to draw 2-2 at Liga debutants Girona on Saturday, after Antoine Griezmann had been sent off for the first time in his career.
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich suffered their first league defeat in 18 months when they slumped to a 1-0 loss at Augsburg on Saturday as Sascha Moelder's first-half strike ended their record 53-game unbeaten league run.
'India stands to gain immensely by forging a developmental partnership with China.' 'While through sustained strategic communication there is scope to steadily expand the commonality of interests between the two countries.' 'This is also a practical way to ensure that differences do not get over-magnified and become disputes,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India is all set for a mega Yoga event on June 21. But before that watch these Yoga moves played out in the most 'out there' of locations.
A Russian medallist at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics is suspected of having tested positive for a banned substance, a source at the Games said on Sunday, in a potential major blow to Russia's efforts to emerge from a drug-cheating scandal.
The official India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the private Skymet Weather Services have made widely divergent monsoon forecasts.
Last season's Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski scored his first competitive goal for new club Bayern Munich but the champions had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04 on Saturday.
Fighting fake brand peddlers. How the complex web of counterfeit goods threatens to trip e-commerce giants in the country.
It also dismissed Jaitley's remarks that India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962, saying China too is different.
Check out the top footballers of the weekend...
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Boston was selected on Thursday as the American candidate city that will bid to host the 2024 Olympics.
Striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund reclaimed top spot in the Bundesliga with an awe-inspiring 6-1 demolition of VfB Stuttgart on Friday.
'It will be foolhardy to overlook that this stunning shift in China's stance comes as the culmination of the severely damaged India-China relationship under the present government,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 16 images.
Borussia Dortmund fans will be offered tea and pies at Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday but there will be no such generosity on the pitch with the Russians intent on reaching their first Champions League quarter-final.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Jan-Fiete Arp (8th minute), Nicolas Kuehn (62nd) and Sahverdi Cetin (90+2) netted for the winners, while Ibrahima Soumah got the lone goal for Guinea in the 26th minute in the final Group C match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.
Bayern Munich humiliated former Bundesliga powerhouses Werder Bremen 7-0 on Saturday with Franck Ribery scoring twice and setting up another two as the champions kept up their seemingly unstoppable march towards another title.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during his one-day whirlwind visit to discuss ways to take Indian sports forward amid speculation that the country might bid for the 2024 Olympic Games.
'Neither State should take the matter into a terrain that involves tension -- and certainly not war.'
Indian ranks fifth in the world according to a report that ranks the strength of 20 countries according to weaponry, including tanks, aircraft, helicopters and submarines.
'Qatar has been funding and supporting terrorist organisations.' 'It has used its media to spread lies and create unrest in neighbouring countries.'
As Leicester City celebrates its unexpected title triumph, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com lists similar success stories across Europe's top leagues.
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