The mesmerising moments that made the 2018 FIFA World Cup a blockbuster worldwide.
Lightning struck twice for Marc-Andre ter Stegen on Saturday when the Borussia Moenchengladbach goalkeeper scored a bizarre own goal in a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Braunschweig and his opposite number also put through his own net.
From heroes to zeros and back again, Leicester City's remarkable rollercoaster ride took another twist as a superb 2-0 victory over Sevilla put them in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
Rediff.com takes you back to the five own goals scored at the ongoing FIFA World Cup...
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
New coach Pep Guardiola shuffled the cards at Bayern Munich as the treble winners beat his former club Barcelona 2-0 in a friendly on Wednesday.
Goals by Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic earned hosts Croatia a 2-0 friendly win over Israel in Osijek on Wednesday in a free-flowing match containing several missed chances.
Portugal are ready to move up a gear when they face Croatia in their mouth-watering last-16 clash in Lens on Saturday, coach Fernando Santos said.
Croatia's players showed the world they are not like the supporters who brought shame on the country with their behaviour at Euro 2016, coach Ante Cacic said on Tuesday.
Croatia captain Darijo Srna still feels the pain of losing on penalties to Turkey at the 2008 European Championship, but refused to talk of revenge ahead of another meeting between the teams at Euro 2016 on Sunday. Croatia exorcised some of their demons by beating Turkey 3-0 on aggregate in a playoff to reach Euro 2012. But Sunday will be the first time the sides have met at a major tournament since that quarter-final in Vienna eight years ago when Semih Senturk's 122nd-minute strike cancelled out Ivan Klasnic's opener three minutes earlier to send the tie to penalties.
Russia's World Cup dream ended within agonising sight of the semi-finals as they went down 4-3 on penalties to Croatia on Saturday after another gallant performance in front of their fanatical fans which again belied their lowly ranking.
A summary of results from matches played in the Italian Serie A and Ligue 1
To finish with dignity is how Robin van Persie wants to end his playing days on Sunday when he hangs up his boots after an 18-year career.
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.
Croatia needed a touch of Luka Modric magic to beat Turkey 1-0 in their Euro 2016 Group D opener on Sunday, gaining a measure of revenge after their bitter quarter-final elimination by the same opponents at Euro 2008.
Argentina forward Carlos Tevez is to leave Juventus after two seasons in which he has revived his career and will rejoin Boca Juniors, the club where he started out and remains a cult figure.
Juventus need to beat Manchester City to reach the Champions League knockout stages on Wednesday and many fans still believe the best way to achieve this is by fielding Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala together in attack.
Atletico Madrid have been unable to repeat the magnificent achievements of last season in this campaign but can congratulate themselves on a job well done if they secure a lucrative Champions League berth on Saturday.
Thiago Alcantara's sensational flying volley in stoppage-time earned Bayern Munich a 2-1 win at VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday, extending their unbeaten run to 43 league games and increasing their Bundesliga lead to 13 points.
Check out the top footballers of the weekend.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti's decision to deploy defender Sergio Ramos in central midfield was the key to Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid, according to captain Iker Casillas.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
AS Roma stalwart Francesco Totti came off the bench with four minutes left and scored twice to give his Champions League-chasing side a dramatic 3-2 win over Torino in Serie A on Wednesday.
A spectacular piledriver from Juan Cuadrado gave Serie A leaders Juventus a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, ending a run of seven successive Serie A wins for their opponents in a pulsating end-to-end match on Sunday.
Manchester City embark on a fifth Champions League campaign buoyant after a perfect start to their domestic season but still searching for the secret formula against Europe's top brass.
Mario Mandzukic and Nikola Kalinic grabbed hat-tricks as Croatia achieved a record win as an independent nation by demolishing San Marino 10-0 in their final Euro 2016 warm-up match in Rijeka.
Antoine Griezmann headed two goals for Atletico Madrid in a 3-1 victory over Levante that kept them on the heels of La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Saturday.
Real Madrid edged past Sporting Lisbon 2-1, while Juventus came from behind to secure a 3-1 win at Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund crushed Legia Warsaw 8-4 to set a record for the most goals scored in a Champions League match.
Juventus staged a superb revival to battle back from two goals down and rescue their Champions League hopes with a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in their last 16 first leg on Tuesday.
Not much has thwarted the predatory instincts of Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller and Robert Lewandowski this season but even that dynamic duo will have their work cut out to pierce the rock-solid Juventus defence on Tuesday.
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone may have played down the significance of Sunday's 2-1 La Liga defeat at Real Sociedad but it has raised further questions about the champions' ability to defend their title.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak produced a heroic performance to repel holders Real Madrid and help secure a 0-0 draw in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg at the Calderon on Tuesday.
Images from the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg matches played on Wednesday
Juventus won 2-0 at Lazio on Friday to extend their winning run in Serie A to five matches thanks to an early own goal from Santiago Gentiletti and a glorious Paulo Dybala effort.
On Saturday he made the difference yet again with two goals to help Real Madrid secure a third Champions League title in four years as they crushed Juventus 4-1 in a riveting final.
Croatia edged closer to next year's World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 home win over Greece on Thursday in the first leg of their two-legged playoff.
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