Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri believes Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win the Ballon D'Or, following media reports that the forward has not been short-listed for the award's final three for the first time since 2010.
Real and Barca have won the title in 15 of the last 16 seasons, with Atletico breaking the duopoly in 2014.
Croatia captain Darijo Srna says he is ready to play against the Czech Republic at Euro 2016 on Friday following the death of his father. Srna's father passed away during Croatia's opening 1-0 Group D win over Turkey on Sunday and the right back rejoined the squad after travelling home for Monday's funeral. "It is a very difficult moment for me and my family and after talking to them, I decided to return to France," he told a news conference on Thursday ahead of the match in St Etienne.
Spanish media has reported that Solari, 42, is to be relieved of his duties
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah were named as the three finalists.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is confident Cristiano Ronaldo's three-match ban will be reduced to two so he can play in Saturday's La Liga game at home to Elche.
Karim Benzema scored twice after the interval with a penalty and a header from a corner to give Santiago Solari's side a 3-1 lead, after Raphael Varane struck in the 34th minute to cancel out Anuar Tuhami's goal for Valladolid five minutes earlier.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted a first-half penalty as injury-depleted Real Madrid recovered from their derby defeat by Atletico Madrid at the weekend with a 3-1 win at Levante on Wednesday.
Croatia achieved their best-ever result in the tournament in losing Sunday's match to France, surpassing the third place finish of 1998.
Real Madrid saw off a stirring Chelsea fightback to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals following a 3-2 defeat after extra time in a scintillating second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday to go through 5-4 on aggregate.
Photos from the La Liga matches played on Sunday
Criticisms from all corners for FIFA's new video technology
Federico Valverde has already made over 100 appearances at senior level - while winning silverware and recognition both with his current side Madrid and country Uruguay, and showing the physical, technical and mental attributes to become one of world football's outstanding midfielders.
Real Madrid opened a two-point lead over Villarreal at the top of La Liga when Cristiano Ronaldo set a club scoring record in a 3-0 stroll at home to Levante on Saturday.
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
Santiago Solari got off to the perfect start as Real Madrid's interim coach when his side thrashed Melilla 4-0 in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Messi ran amok at Wembley Stadium, slicing Spurs apart with incisive passes from deep, such as the one that allowed Philippe Coutinho to open the scoring, and was as dangerous as ever in front of goal, firing in the Catalan side's final two goals to end their winless run of three games.
'It's a prize that's called The Best and the guy who is, for us, the best player in the world wasn't there.'
Cristiano Ronaldo kept up his rich La Liga scoring form as Real Madrid beat Villarreal 2-0 on Saturday to move up to fourth.
Atletico Madrid striker Mario Mandzukic's early goal secured a 1-0 win over Real Madrid and a 2-1 aggregate success to clinch the Spanish Super Cup and gain some revenge for last season's Champions League final defeat.
Croatia striker Nikola Kalinic believes his country are now one of the favourites at Euro 2016 after beating Spain to win Group D.
Turkey coach Fatih Terim was left to rue a missed chance in the first half of their Euro 2016 Group D defeat by Croatia, which he believes would have changed the outcome of Sunday's match.
Glimpses from Sunday's Nations League matches.
PSG made hard work of beating Strasbourg 4-2 in the French Ligue 1, while Real Madrid registered a comfortable 4-1 win away to Alaves in their opening game.
Olympique Lyonnais and Norway forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d'Or award for the best player in women's football on Monday but the moment was tarnished when DJ Martin Solveig asked her to 'twerk'
The European champions, who were humbled 3-0 by tiny Eibar last week, took a fortuitous lead when Valencia midfielder Daniel Wass nodded a Dani Carvajal cross into his own net in the eighth minute after former Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista had failed to clear the danger.
Karim Benzema's hat-trick earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. In another quarter-final match, Villarreal stunned six times European Cup winners Bayern Munich 1-0.
With the Catalans shorn of three of their top forwards, all eyes will be on Griezmann in his first appearance at the Camp Nou since his 120-million-euro ($133 million) move from Atletico Madrid, and not least because Barca need a win to kickstart their season.
Megan Rapinoe earlier won the women's Ballon d'Or after leading the United States to a record-extending fourth World Cup title in France this year as they retained the trophy.
A summary of Saturday's action in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
Real are third in the league standings with 54 points after 28 games, two behind second-placed Atletico Madrid who visit Athletic Bilbao later on Saturday and nine points behind leaders Barcelona who play at Real Betis on Sunday.
World champions France had eight players, one less than former holders Spain, in international players' association FIFPro's 55-name shortlist for its World XI of 2018 award.
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.
Local media reported the team captain, a dressing-room heavyweight and a huge fan favourite, would earn 10 million euros a season after tax, making him one of the best-paid members of Real's expensively assembled squad
Real Madrid showed their character by beating Barcelona 2-0 in Sunday's top-of-the-table 'Clasico', leapfrogging their rivals at the La Liga summit after a week in which their pride had taken a beating at home and in Europe. Brazilian teenager Vinicius Jr scored the opener in the 71st minute with a strike that deflected off Gerard Pique, flummoxing goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen who had made some jaw-dropping saves, and substitute Mariano added the second in added time.
With no clear sense of direction being set by Deschamps' selections, it may be up to the players to find their own way to deal with Messi.
Croatia's euphoric media ran out of superlatives as they hailed the Balkan nation's stunning World Cup win over Argentina which propelled them into the competition's knockout stages for the first time since the 1998 tournament when they finished third.
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.
