Cristian Tello hit a hat-trick as Barcelona came from behind to win 4-1 in their King's Cup quarter-final first leg at Levante on Wednesday and Lionel Messi celebrated his 400th appearance for the Catalan side.
A summary of Saturday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
Real Madrid were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage on Thursday after losing 4-3 at home to Real Sociedad, while record 30-times winners Barcelona were sent crashing out of the Copa del Rey in a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Villarreal set up a King's Cup semis against Barca after Gerard Moreno gave them a 1-0 win
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has denied he deliberately stamped on Liverpool's Emre Can.
Barcelona extended their near-perfect start to the season when Alexis Sanchez tapped in at the far post from Neymar's clever assist to secure a 1-0 win at home to city rivals Espanyol in La Liga on Friday.
'I arrived at Manchester United a boy, and I left a man'
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo may be on course for his worst domestic goal haul since 2010 but with two strikes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday he became the first player to score 100 goals in UEFA competitions.
Real Madrid ensured top spot in La Liga at the midway point of the season when Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in a 3-0 win at Getafe on Sunday before Lionel Messi's hat-trick helped Barcelona to a 4-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna.
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany is likely to be sidelined for about a month after suffering a recurrence of a calf problem on Tuesday as his side qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals.
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.
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Napoli went down 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig, Arsenal and AC Milan enjoyed comfortable away wins, and Borussia Dortmund's Michy Batshuayi scored twice to secure a 3-2 victory in Europa League last 32, first leg action
Lionel Messi dragged Barcelona back from two goals down by scoring twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia in a thrilling encounter.
Liverpool's Sadio Mane marked his return from injury with a late goal to break Norwich City's resistance and secure a 1-0 win on Saturday to extend his side's Premier League lead to 25 points.
Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao struck early as Monaco reached the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund in an enthralling game on Wednesday that sealed a 6-3 aggregate victory.
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos performed another rescue act to wreck Napoli's brave comeback attempt and take the Champions League title-holders into the quarter-finals.
The policy of buying players cheap and selling them for a higher price a few years on is a business model that worked well for clubs like Atletico Madrid and FC Porto. With the transfer window open for the next few weeks, Rediff.com takes a look at clubs that made smart deals over the years.
A beautifully-worked Antonio Di Natale goal saw lowly Udinese beat AC Milan 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday to deal a huge blow to the visitors' prospects of European football next season.
Klopp has led Liverpool to back-to-back Champions League finals but is adamant that their impressive recent track record does not make them the title favourites.
Barcelona received a welcome boost on Tuesday when forward Lionel Messi was given the all-clear by medical staff and included in the squad for Wednesday's King's Cup last 16, first leg at home to Getafe.
From a bloodied face of Spanish club Atletico's Madrid's Mario Mandzukic, to Australia's ICC World Cup triumph, Sania Mirza's fabulous run and more scintillating moments are frozen in time in this beautiful photo-feature.
Real Madrid became La Liga champions for the first time since 2012 on Sunday with a 2-0 win at Malaga, denying arch-rivals Barcelona three consecutive league titles.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Rafael Nadal is recovering satisfactorily from appendicitis and will continue a course of antibiotics in a bid to be fit for the remainder of the 2014 season, the World No 2's spokesman said on Thursday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Struggling Rayo win at Valladolid after late penalty save
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona overwhelmed Manchester City as Ivan Rakitic's strike secured a 1-0 win.
Cristiano Ronaldo helped Juventus continue their unbeaten start to the Serie A season with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over struggling SPAL on Saturday.
Real Madrid's hopes of overhauling La Liga leaders Barcelona suffered a stinging blow when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale lashed home to deny La Liga champions Barcelona victory in an ill-tempered 'Clasico' which finished 2-2.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Messi, who has struggled for form in recent weeks due to a niggling injury, looked on a mission to grab the winner and after twice coming close he completed his treble to put Barca ahead in the 85th minute, reacting quickly to a poor Sevilla clearance to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lionel Messi became the first player to win 10 La Liga crowns with Barcelona and only the third player from any club to do so.
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