After lifting his fourth Ballon d'or award, Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that the competition for the trophy would have been fiercer if he and Lionel Messi were in the same team. Ronaldo, who inspired Zinedine Zidane's side to the Champions League glory and Portugal to the European Championship 2016 trophy, defeated Messi and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann to win the coveted prize.
The north London side announced last week that the 68-year-old would leave the Emirates at the end of the season, despite having one year remaining on his contract.
Real Madrid did not specify if he would be out of action for any length of time
The injury list in the La Liga keeps growing as the season progresses and this time Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale are the unfortunate victims...
Karim Benzema scored his sixth goal in four games as Real Madrid beat Alaves 3-0 on Sunday for a fourth successive La Liga victory which took the European champions to within eight points of leaders Barcelona.
Turan has been accused of sexual harassment, unlicensed possession of weapons and causing intentional injury over the fight with singer Berkay Sahin, Anadolu news agency said.
Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin will be in Spain's Euro 2016 squad, the country's football federation said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Bellerin and the other 18 players named to face South Korea in a friendly in Wals-Siezenheim, Austria on Wednesday, have been guaranteed spots in the European Championship squad. Bellerin was included after Real Madrid right back Dani Carvajal sustained a leg muscle injury in Saturday's Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid. The Real Madrid and Atletico players in the squad will be named later on Tuesday when Spain coach Vicente del Bosque announces his final list.
Hellas Verona produced a huge upset by coming from behind to beat Serie A leaders Juventus 2-1 on Saturday, inflicting a third defeat of the season on the Italian champions. Cristiano Ronaldo set a new Juventus record by scoring in a 10th consecutive league game to put the visitors in front at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi after 65 minutes.
The old format was skewed in favour of the bigger clubs, who could rest players for a first leg and swallow defeat before calling on their stars to turn the tie around in the return game.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino resigned on Saturday after just one season in charge having finished second to Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race and failed to win a major trophy.
Karim Benzema scored twice after the interval with a penalty and a header from a corner to give Santiago Solari's side a 3-1 lead, after Raphael Varane struck in the 34th minute to cancel out Anuar Tuhami's goal for Valladolid five minutes earlier.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted a first-half penalty as injury-depleted Real Madrid recovered from their derby defeat by Atletico Madrid at the weekend with a 3-1 win at Levante on Wednesday.
The last-16 knock-out round kicks-off this week with Chelsea visiting Paris on Tuesday; Zidane to coach Real Madrid as manager in his first match in Europe
Midfielder Dani Ceballos added: "It looks like us changing our coach worked. We have recovered some sensations we had lost and we have got the three points. Now our objective is to win all the games left and finish the season as well as possible."
The Argentine joined Barca on a free transfer during the close season, but made only five appearances in all competitions due to a calf injury and his cardiac issues, scoring once in a 2-1 home defeat by Real Madrid.
Leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid were held to draws while Sevilla made up ground on the top two and Alaves slipped after a promising start. Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action.
Atletico Madrid and Royal Challengers again failed when it mattered most.
Barcelona travel to newly-promoted Osasuna without their first choice front line.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
Having won eight of the past 12 league titles coming into this campaign, where has it gone so wrong for Barcelona?
A toothless and haggard Real Madrid slumped to a humiliating 10th Liga defeat of the season on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at struggling neighbours Rayo Vallecano.
Messi brace leads Barca to within four points of La Liga summit
Seven-times champions AC Milan, knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona in the last two seasons, were drawn against the Catalans again in the group stage of this season's competition on Friday.
The group is seeking support in England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany by promising more places in an enlarged tournament and higher revenues from broadcasting rights, Marco Bogarelli, the strategic director of Wanda Sports Holding, the Chinese group's sports arm, told the newspaper.
Cristiano Ronaldo gave Zinedine Zidane a ringing endorsement as Real Madrid coach after their 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the city derby at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Athletic Bilbao beat Barcelona 4-2 at home to knock them out of the Copa del Rey
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Manuel Neuer became the first goalkeeper since 2002 to make the final short list for the FIFA world player of the year award on Monday when he was included alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the final three.
Bayern Munich's outgoing coach Pep Guardiola has failed to make an impact at the club despite keeping the Bavarian giants as the dominant force in Germany, the club's former forward Ivica Olic said on Thursday.
Spain left-back Jordi Alba knows his Barcelona teammate Arda Turan of Turkey is under a lot of pressure to put in a strong performance on Friday when their sides meet at Euro 2016.
Cristiano Ronaldo signed off his stellar 2016 in style on Sunday, scoring a hat-trick to lift Real Madrid to Club World Cup glory and underline his status as the world's best player.
Claudio Ranieri has received an honour from the Italian president after the soccer manager led rank outsiders Leicester City to the top of the English Premier League.
Sergio Aguero, in fine scoring form for Manchester City this season, looks set to lead Argentina's attack in next month's World Cup qualifiers after being recalled to their squad on Friday.
Photos from the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Monaco owe most of their recent success to their young guns, but when they face Manchester City looking to overturn a two-goal deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday, they will turn to a more experienced player in Radamel Falcao.
Valencia turned up the heat on Atletico Madrid in the fight for third place in La Liga when a 3-0 derby victory at home to Levante on Monday lifted the Singapore-owned club to within a point of the champions with seven games left.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Kaka wants Real fans to show more gratitude to Cristiano Ronaldo.
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