Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale lashed home to deny La Liga champions Barcelona victory in an ill-tempered 'Clasico' which finished 2-2.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Images from football matches played across Europe.
It was Messi's 56th converted penalty in La Liga and saw him draw level with Hugo Sanchez as the league's second-top penalty taker, behind record holder Cristiano Ronaldo on 61.
Ireland added the West Indies to their list of giant-killing victories after scoring a six-wicket victory over the World Twenty20 champions in the first T20 international at Jamaica's Sabina Park on Wednesday.
The victory takes Barcelona up to fourth with 10 points after six games, one point behind surprise leaders Granada, Athletic Bilbao, who visit Leganes on Wednesday, and Real Madrid ahead of their game at home to Osasuna the same night.
Lionel Messi scored a record eighth Champions League hat-trick as Barcelona kick-started their campaign with a 4-0 home win over PSV Eindhoven, although they had defender Samuel Umtiti sent off late in the second half on Tuesday.
Two goals from Arda Turan and one from Lionel Messi gave Barcelona a 3-0 win over Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup second leg on Wednesday to seal a 5-0 aggregate victory.
They made a fast start to their innings with Chris Gayle, dropped by Joe Root in the first over, thumping three huge sixes as the visitors reached 45 without loss after five overs.
West Indies created history by becoming the first nation to win the ICC World T20 twice with a dramatic four-wicket victory against England riding on Carlos Brathwaite's magical finish at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Sunday.
Bruised and battered by Chris Gayle's mauling on Wednesday, England are faced with a must-win situation as they look for ways to contain South Africa in their ICC World Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Friday.
Mario Balotelli's misfiring career at Anfield took another turn for the worst against Real Madrid on Wednesday with a halftime shirt-swap that did not impress manager Brendan Rodgers.
IMAGES from Europa League matches played on Thursday.
Croatia gave themselves a fighting chance of reaching the World Cup knock-out phase when they thrashed a toothless Cameroon 4-0 on Wednesday.
Sushil took a minute and 20 seconds to defeat Johannes Botha of South Africa on technical superiority to claim his third successive gold medal at the Games.
Unai Emery's Villarreal were much improved in the second half and had spurned numerous chances before Moreno's leveller.
When Vijay Mallya plants a kiss on anyone's cheek it makes for a story and picture, more so when the Virat Kohli is the one at the 'receiving end'. Also, when Michael Schumacher's son, Mick, makes his motor sport debut the picture becomes worth a thousand words. Here again, Rediff.com has these and a lot more exciting events from the week gone by snapped right here.
France coach Didier Deschamps, who has kept tinkering with his squad since the start of the European Championship, will be forced to rejig once again when the hosts face Iceland for a place in the semi-finals. With centre back Adil Rami and holding midfielder N'Golo Kante suspended, Deschamps, who has been praised for shrewd tactical moves in the tournament, is looking for the best options for Sunday's game at the Stade de France.
West Indies cruised to a five-wicket win over England in the second Twenty20 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Tuesday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Juventus raced into a 2-0 halftime lead after Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was sent off in the 25th minute. The visitors then had Pjanic dismissed and Napoli's Jose Callejon pulled one back before Insigne let the Turin side off the hook.
In-form striker Romelu Lukaku said he chose to join Everton on loan for the season from Chelsea because he needed to play regularly and not because he was not wanted at Stamford Bridge.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Opener Chris Gayle blasted a 47-ball century as West Indies crushed England by six wickets in a Group 1 match of the Super 10 stage of the ICC World T20 at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Wednesday.
Victor Moses has become the third player to join Liverpool on Monday, with the forward signing on a season-long loan from Chelsea, the Premier League club confirmed.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Dunkirk may have been missed at the year's earlier awards shows, but thanks god, Chris Nolan's classic gets enough play at the Oscar noms.
In a three part series, Rajneesh Gupta highlights all the important numbers from cricket World Cups held between 1975 to 2015.
Following Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Faf du Plessis's exit, Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com takes stock of the players forced out of the cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganza by injury.
Ahead of their high-profile clash on Saturday, check out the five standout clashes between Arsenal and Chelsea.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'In an attempt to make it relevant to our darker, more violent times, director Jose Padilha loses sight of the point he wishes to make through the film,' says Paloma Sharma after watching RoboCop.
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.
They dampened the local spirits by knocking out India but a resurrected West Indies cricket team will bring its own brand of joie-de-vivre to the ICC World Twenty20 summit clash when they take on a transformed England in what promises to be a battle of power-hitting at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
A clash of contrasting styles, the ICC World T20 final in Kolkata on Sunday gives both England and the West Indies a chance to create history.
He increasingly looks like a manager unable to cope with the modern tactical realities of football. His display of a fear of failure has been appalling to watch. But Mourinho getting the sack at this juncture will hardly solve the problem, says Dhruv Munjal.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
A quick look at the Oscar 2016 nominations.
An Aaron Ramsey strike and a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal gave Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final, while Chelsea beat a stubborn Slavia Prague 1-0.
India's T20 World Cup challenge has ended. But it is likely that Virat Kohli (MVPI of 338) will go on to become the tournament's most valuable player because he enjoys a lead of 109 runs over second-placed Joe Root (229).
