Real Madrid talisman Cristiano Ronaldo faces an emotional reunion with boyhood club Sporting Lisbon when his side begin the defence of their Champions League crown on Wednesday. Ronaldo, who scored the decisive penalty in the shootout win over Atletico Madrid in last season's final, returned to club football following an injury layoff when he scored in the 5-2 thrashing of Osasuna on Saturday.
Real Madrid closed to within two points of La Liga leaders Barcelona after demolishing nine-man Rayo Vallecano 10-2 while Atletico Madrid missed a chance to seize top spot outright by losing 1-0 at Malaga.
The Frenchman, who won nine trophies in two-and-a-half years, suggested it is events off the pitch, rather than on it, that made him leave.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has opened the door to out-of-favour midfielder James Rodriguez leaving the club by admitting the player's lack of appearances could become a problem.
Images from action in the Spanish Super Cup and English Premier League
Each Round of 16 game was entertaining. Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks the games to remember.
The result continued a dismal streak for Madrid, who have won only two of their last five games in all competitions
Pepe opened the scoring for Real with a looping header that flew past Jan Oblak in the 52nd minute and it looked like the hosts would earn three points to move five clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifier matches played on Tuesday night.
Brazilian Douglas Costa was in fine form as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 1-0 in a pre-season tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo ended a barren scoring run in La Liga by striking late to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win at neighbours Getafe on Saturday, preventing what would have been a costly and embarrassing draw for the Spanish and European champions.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action:
A round-up of Saturday's action in Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga.
Midfielder Santi Cazorla gave the home side the lead in the fourth minute of the game, which was rescheduled due to Real's participation in last month's Club World Cup, by bending a wonderful shot into the bottom corner.
"The intention is to sell him, but there's no offers forthcoming," read the front page of Marca, accompanied by a picture of the 29-year-old Bale looking sullen.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo will play no part in Real Madrid's game against Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday after the prolific Portuguese forward was left out of the squad on Friday.
Neymar stole the show from the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale when the Brazilian's strike set Barcelona on the way to a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Saturday's 'Clasico' at the Nou Camp.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his rich vein of form by scoring twice in Real Madrid's 2-1 home win over struggling Sporting Gijon on Saturday, although the La Liga leaders got a lucky break when the visitors squandered a second-half penalty.
Barcelona forward Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick as his side thrashed arch-rivals Real Madrid 5-1 on Sunday in a highly entertaining 'Clasico' which surely will signal the end of hapless coach Julen Lopetegui's spell in charge of Real.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane shrugged off his first setback since taking over from the sacked Rafa Benitez after his new team could only manage a 1-1 draw at Real Betis in La Liga.
Gareth Bale angered Real Madrid team mate Cristiano Ronaldo for the second La Liga game in a row on Saturday.
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius accepted the blame for his team's 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in which he made two dreadful errors that both led to goals. The German gifted Real their opening goal in the 51st minute when, hurrying to start an attack, he threw the ball out in front of Real striker Karim Benzema, who stuck his leg out and turned the ball into the net.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways after last weekend's drubbing at Atletico but failed to convince and were whistled by their own fans during a drab 2-0 victory at home to Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
Madrid recovered from an early goal by Anthony Lozano to take a 2-1 halftime lead thanks to a Lucas Vazquez strike and a cheeky 'Panenka' penalty from captain Ramos but were pegged back by Alex Granell's penalty midway through the second half.
Champions Real Madrid were beaten at home by promoted Cadiz, while Barcelona fell to their first defeat in La Liga under new coach Ronald Koeman as they lost to Getafe.
Barca finished the season second in the standings on 82 points, four behind champions Real Madrid who visit Leganes later on Sunday. Alaves are 16th on 39.
Pepe has blasted the Liga club's fans as "unenthusiastic", contrasting the hushed atmosphere of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium with the cauldron of noise he is now exposed to with Turkish champions Besiktas.
Griezmann special earns Atletico 1-1 draw at Sevilla
A summary of Saturday's action in Serie A and La Liga.
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.
Real Madrid's reliance on their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo was more evident than ever on Tuesday as the Spanish and European champions meekly lost 1-0 at Espanyol in La Liga.
Celta Vigo thrashed Barcelona 4-1 on Wednesday with Iago Aspas hitting a double.
Deschamps has proven both innovative and brave as coach, and is now one victory away from joining an elite club.
Lionel Messi was in inspired form as champions Barcelona hammered Celta Vigo 5-0 on Saturday, recording a fourth straight league victory which keeps them top of La Liga after Real Madrid had put the pressure on the Catalans with a 4-1 win at Eibar.
Following September's 1-0 win over Espanyol, Real had five games without a win -- a run in which they went eight hours and one minute without scoring.
Images from Saturday's action in La Liga.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said Cristiano Ronaldo "is 100 percent" and will face Manchester City in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg but striker Karim Benzema and midfielder Casemiro will miss the game. Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury which forced him to miss Madrids last three games in all competitions and has resumed full training. But Benzema is yet to recover from a hamstring problem and Casemiro is still out after a knock to the hip sustained in Saturday's 1-0 win at Real Sociedad. "Cristiano is fine, he is 100 percent. He has trained and will be with us tomorrow, there is no risk," Zidane told a news conference. "We need a 100 percent Cristiano," he said. "He's a different player. His numbers show that and I'm happy he's with us tomorrow. I'd have liked Karim and Casemiro to be there too, but others will play and that's that," added Zidane. "Karim's situation is different. He still has a problem and we don't want to take any risks," he said.
Gareth Bale made up for the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring twice to inspire Real Madrid to come from two goals down and win 3-2 at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. Real managed to edge to the top of the table despite Ronaldo missing his first league game of the season with a muscle strain although they also suffered another scare before their Champions League semi-final next week with a suspected injury to Karim Benzema. Real had found themselves two behind within 14 minutes as Adrian Embarba scored from close range in the seventh minute before Rayo's Venezuelan striker Miku pounced on more poor defending from the visitors. Bale started the revival, heading in from a 35th minute corner before Zinedine Zidane's side drew level six minutes after the break through substitute Lucas Vazquez. Welshman Bale then completed the comeback nine minutes from time, collecting a misplaced pass from a Rayo defender before powering the ball past goalkeeper Juan Carlos.
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