Mesut Ozil quit Real Madrid to join Arsenal because he realised he no longer had the confidence of Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, the Germany playmaker said.
Barcelona beat local rivals Espanyol 2-0 in the Catalan derby on Saturday to maintain their 10 point lead at the top of La Liga, while Real Madrid scraped a 3-2 win against bottom side Huesca on Sunday.
'I'm very happy and I can say that 2016 was the best year of my career, the trophy shows that people aren't blind and watch the games.'
Barcelona have emerged as favourites to be crowned champions after one defeat in their last 22 Liga games.
Zinedine Zidane got off to a flying start as Real Madrid coach when Gareth Bale hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday after a Lionel Messi treble had fired Barcelona to the top of La Liga.
Lionel Messi struck a spectacular free kick, scored another goal and set up two more in a 4-1 victory for Barcelona over nine-man city rivals Espanyol in the first leg of their King's Cup last-16 clash on Wednesday.
Thomas Partey scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid as they reached the last 16 of the King's Cup with a 1-0 home victory over third-tier Reus on Thursday that secured a 3-1 aggregate success.
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Real Madrid's early-season woes deepened when they lost 2-1 at home to La Liga champions Atletico Madrid, while substitute Neymar struck twice in Barcelona's 2-0 win against visiting Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
Heavyweight trio Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea kept up their 100 per cent starts to the Premier League season this weekend.
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AC midfielder Franck Kessie scored from a penalty to give AC Milan a 2-2 draw away to Napoli in Serie A on Sunday, sparing the blushes of his goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma whose mistakes provided the hosts with both their goals. Sevilla closed in on Champions League qualification by beating struggling Real Mallorca 2-0 at home to open up a nine-point gap in the race for fourth spot in La Liga.
FC Barcelona's midfield magician and the architect of tiki-taka football gets emotional farewell
Barcelona made a brisk start to the season with new coach Luis Enrique at the helm in place of Gerardo Martino and a host of additions to the squad, including midfielder Ivan Rakitic and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
A Marco Asensio-inspired Real Madrid crushed Eibar 3-0 to close the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to five points on Sunday, with Karim Benzema starting on the bench.
A summary of Thursday's matches in Europe's second tier club football tournament
Real Madrid maintained their pursuit for the title by defeating Malaga 3-1 late on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid secured a berth in the Champions League group stage for next season and Deportivo La Coruna narrowly escaped relegation when they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at champions Barcelona on the final day in La Liga on Saturday.
Holders Real Madrid survived a huge scare when they lost 4-3 to Schalke 04 in the Champions League on Tuesday but squeezed into the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate thanks to record European marksman Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese can expect a hostile reception in Valencia, who had to suffer 15 of his goals for Real Madrid and are returning to the Champions League for the first time in three years.
A sloppy Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home to Real Betis on Saturday in a further blow to their hopes of retaining the La Liga title.
Barcelona seized control of their King's Cup quarter-final tie against Atletico Madrid when Lionel Messi followed up his saved penalty to score and secure a 1-0 first-leg victory at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
La Liga's reputation as the epicenter of world soccer talent has been bruised by the world record smashing sale of Neymar to Paris St Germain and how Barcelona react to the departure of one of their leading players will define the new season in Spain.
'The pandemic has caused football to change a lot, and for the worse. You can see it in the matches, and I hope this all ends soon and we can get fans back into the stadiums and return to normality.'
The league said last week that the deal, called 'Boost La Liga', would strengthen its clubs and give them funds to spend on new infrastructure and modernisation projects as well as increasing how much they could spend on players' salaries.
Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann struck twice as the Spanish side outclassed hapless Olympique de Marseille 3-0 on Wednesday to win the Europa League for the third time.
Real Madrid extended their unbeaten run to 25 matches and rejoined Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga when Jese, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric scored in a 3-0 win at Getafe on Sunday.
Barca, who were without injured talisman Lionel Messi, started on the back foot and fell behind when Nabil Fekir netted with a sublime angled strike in the 15th minute. Griezmann, who joined Barca last month from rivals Atletico Madrid, scored four minutes before halftime to level the scores.
Struggling Rayo win at Valladolid after late penalty save
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
Fernando Torres stole the show with a dramatic double as Atletico Madrid secured a battling 2-2 draw at Real Madrid on Thursday that dumped the holders out of the King's Cup 4-2 on aggregate.
Espanyol's Felipe Caicedo came off the bench and netted two late goals to secure a 2-0 win at home to 10-man Valencia on Tuesday that sent the Barcelona-based club through to the King's Cup quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
Chelsea's Marcos Alonso and Real Madrid's Nacho were notable absentees in defence, along with Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke.
The Bavarians have now won the German league title a record 29 times.
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
A late goal by Toni Kroos sealed victory as Real Madrid defeated an impressive Celta Vigo side 2-1 to win their first home La Liga game of the campaign on Saturday.
Manchester United dominated Europe's transfer activity as the transfer deadline window slammed shut on Monday, manager Louis van Gaal taking his summer spending spree to more than 150 million pounds.
Arsenal led a list of nine clubs who grabbed a second win in as many games in the Europa League group phase as France striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the club in a 4-2 win at BATE Borisov on Thursday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
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