Barcelona's Neymar struck twice to put the Spanish side in the Champions League final despite a 3-2 loss at Bayern Munich on Tuesday as they progressed 5-3 on aggregate and will face Real Madrid or Juventus next month.
Bayern Munich are on a mission with coach Pep Guardiola firing up his injury-hit team as they seek to reverse a 3-1 deficit against Porto in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
Hertha Berlin's Salomon Kalou scored twice, including a stoppage-time penalty, to earn a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich survived several first-half scares in a 1-1 home draw with midtable Schalke 04 on Saturday as Philipp Lahm made his 500th appearance for the Bavarian club.
Monaco's firepower was far too hot to handle for Olympique de Marseille as the Principality side moved top of the French Ligue 1 standings with a 4-0 home win on Saturday.
Real Madrid tore apart Bayern Munich's ragged defence with a ruthless first-half display as they thrashed the defending champions 4-0 in their own stadium to reach their first Champions League final for 12 years.
The last-16 knock-out round kicks-off this week with Chelsea visiting Paris on Tuesday; Zidane to coach Real Madrid as manager in his first match in Europe
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
German champions Bayern Munich are close to signing former World and European champion Xabi Alonso from Champions League winners Real Madrid.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has called Atletico Madrid's Brazil-born forward Diego Costa into his squad for the first time for this month's friendlies away to Equatorial Guinea and South Africa.
Barcelona's Luis Suarez netted twice for a 2-1 win over 10-man Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Tuesday after the visitors' Fernando Torres opened the scoring and was later sent off.
Manchester United are almost certain to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League after they beat Benfica 2-0 at Old Trafford on Tuesday to make it a perfect four wins in Group A.
Barcelona closed in on the La Liga title after beating 10-man Atletico Madrid 2-0 in Saturday's top-of-the-table showdown at the Nou Camp as late strikes by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi gave the Catalans an 11-point lead at the top of the table.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Real Madrid lifted the FIFA Club World Cup for a record fourth time on Saturday after thrashing local side Al Ain 4-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi with the help of impressive distance strikes in either half from midfielders Luka Modric and Marcos Llorente.
Images from Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League group stage matches.
A summary of Wednesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.