Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo scored thrice to help his side thrash Espanyol 6-0 in a ruthless attacking display in La Liga clash at Santiago Bernabeu.
Cristiano Ronaldo took his tally for the La Liga season to a phenomenal 13 goals in six appearances with his third treble of the campaign as Real Madrid romped to a 5-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
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.
Real Madrid set up a King's Cup semi-final against holders Atletico Madrid or Athletic Bilbao when they beat Espanyol 1-0 in their quarter-final, second leg on Tuesday for a 2-0 aggregate success.
Images from football matches played in Europe on Sunday.
Luis Suarez had the Barcelona fans chanting his name after he set up Lionel Messi to score the opening goal in their King's Cup semis.
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.
Real Madrid made it two wins in two La Liga outings this season when Karim Benzema's scuffed 10th-minute strike secured an uninspiring 1-0 win at Granada on Monday.
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Real Madrid took full advantage of Barcelona's shock defeat at Real Valladolid with a 3-0 home win over 10-man Levante on Sunday that put Carlo Ancelotti's in-form side three points clear at the top of La Liga.
The King's Cup descended into farce on Thursday when Racing Santander's players, protesting over unpaid wages, refused to challenge for the ball after their quarter-final second leg at home to Real Sociedad kicked off.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata scored a goal and then missed a penalty as his side began their La Liga campaign with an eventful and nervy 1-0 win at home to Getafe on Sunday which saw both teams reduced to 10 men.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is head strong but it appears as though he may be fighting a losing battle with the four times World Player of the Year.
An under-strength Barcelona got their Champions League campaign off to a solid if unspectacular start when Gerard Pique's header secured a laboured 1-0 win at home to APOEL in their Group F opener on Wednesday.
Unless Punjab has a chief minister who is able to look beyond community/vote bank politics, carry all sections of society, stop appeasing while addressing genuine concerns and break the stranglehold of the SGPC over Sikh affairs, my beloved home state is bound to die and conversions will be rampant, warns Sanjeev Nayaar.
All major sporting events in the Paris region were suspended on Saturday as France mourned the victims of the attacks in the capital city the night before that left 129 people dead and 352 wounded.
Atletico Madrid were handed a chance to avenge last season's Champions League final defeat by city rivals and record 10-times winners Real after the two sides were drawn together in the last eight on Friday. Paris St Germain and Barcelona were paired together having met in the group stage, with the French side winning in Paris and the Catalans coming out on top in Spain.
'If one crore is sanctioned to make a road, they spend only Rs 40 lakhs and the remaining 60 lakhs is looted by the politician, bureaucrats and the contractor.'
Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale answered his critics in emphatic style.
Barcelona followed up last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid with another reverse on Saturday, squandering a host of chances to lose 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo and handing the lead in La Liga to their arch rivals.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Aquaponics can effectively cushion the impact of a calamity like COVID.'
Images from Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Who'd have imagined that a bunch of poor, illiterate women in a slum would be able to achieve this?
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For the current woes of the state to end, in city after city, town after town, village after village, unauthorised constructions have to be removed, no questions asked, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Photographic summary of the football matches played across Spain, Italy and France
The minimum temperature settled at 2.6 degree Celsius at the Safdarjung observatory, four notches below the season's average, and humidity was 100 per cent. The visibility recorded by the Safdarjung and Palam observatories stood at zero metres at 8.30 am. It was recorded at 100 metres at Safdarjung and zero at Palam at 5.30 am.
It's been a decade of ordeals for the residents of the plush Mayfield Gardens in Gurgaon who are living in their crore plus apartments without basic amenities of water, power and sewage. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
The answer has two components: as a leader with a vision who can carry the masses and his ability to realise his vision through his decision-making and executive skills, says Col R Hariharan.
A lot of people are hesitant to use this route because of the heavy turnover of these assistants.
'The Cauvery river has become excessively politicised by all political parties.' 'They see a vote bank in an emotive issue of this kind.'
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale has put Kerala on the art tourism circuit, says Kishore Singh.
Indians want change and progress. They should be willing to accept tough decisions, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
If the Ganga manages a rebirth, so will the country.Roy
Apart from being luxurious, fast and expensive, it can take a serious beating any time of the day
It's a mandate of young India, for young India, by young India, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com in her 43rd and concluding column on Indian Elections 2014.
Stocks to watch: BHEL, L&T, IRB Infra and Suzlon
Muzzling NGOs is unbecoming of a democracy. Self-confident democracies encourage, indeed applaud, the involvement of citizens' associations, including NGOs, in social and political decision-making and development planning. Instead, our paranoid government bullies and terrorises them, says Praful Bidwai.
'You want a steady, confident, self-assured and highly skilful hand at the till. 'It is a pity that the BJP has decided to deprive itself of such a hand at this politically sensitive time.' 'It is like sacking your surgeon in the middle of your brain surgery,' says S Muralidharan.
