Barcelona captain Raphinha scored twice as they returned to winning ways in LaLiga for the first time in a month with a 5-1 victory at Mallorca on Tuesday.
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.
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
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.
Photos from the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
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.
Having won eight of the past 12 league titles coming into this campaign, where has it gone so wrong for Barcelona?
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.
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.
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.
Messi brace leads Barca to within four points of La Liga summit
Kaka wants Real fans to show more gratitude to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Luis Suarez could become Barcelona's highest scoring Uruguayan in Saturday's La Liga match at Granada, having equalled in only two seasons what compatriot Ramon Alberto Villaverde Vazquez aggregated in his decade-long stint with the club.
France forward Antoine Griezmann was named player of the tournament on Monday after leading the Euro 2016 hosts to Sunday's final where they lost to Portugal in extra time.
Chelsea banking on other big strikers with Costa still doubtful
Barcelona's Luis Suarez has come to the rescue of under-fire teammate Neymar and added it was important to get back to winning ways against Deportivo after Barca suffered three consecutive league defeats for the first time since 2003, allowing Atletico Madrid to draw level on points with them and Real Madrid to move one behind.
Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has become the latest to insist that all is well at the club, dismissing reports of a rift between Argentina forward Lionel Messi and coach Luis Enrique.
A statement from the club on Thursday said they had made record turnover of 990 million euros last season and projected an increase to 1.047 billion euros for the 2019/20 campaign.
The Champions League group stages took on a less predictable look after Thursday's draw, helped by UEFA's decision to tweak the seeding system.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field on Friday
France right back Bacary Sagna said teammate Antoine Griezmann now belonged to the same elite club as the Portugal forward.
It did not clarify what the breach entailed but that it had occurred in July 2019, around the time Trippier joined Atletico Madrid for a reported 20 million pounds ($25 million).
Chelsea pair Diego Costa and Eden Hazard were named on Thursday on the shortlist for the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Player of the Year award.
The Catalans have kept five clean sheets in their last six games, which bodes well for their title run in.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
A round-up of Sunday's matches in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
Seven-time European champions AC Milan will face Arsenal in the standout last-16 tie in the Europa League after the draw was made in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday.
Gareth Bale proved his worth to Real Madrid by delivering the Champions League trophy with a sensational two goals after coming off the bench in the 3-1 win
The Bavarians have now won the German league title a record 29 times.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
Real Madrid were made to toil by the 10 men of Athletic Bilbao but eventually won 3-1 on Tuesday thanks to two strikes from Karim Benzema to go level on points with La Liga leaders Real Sociedad.
There were, however, no eye-catching major deals in the final 24 hours of transfer activity for European clubs which continues the trend of recent January windows.
Beat Real Madrid's unbeaten run in the 1988-89 season, and thump Rayo Vallecano 5-1
Manchester City are ready to face the best players in Europe, striker Sergio Aguero said after a 3-2 aggregate Champions League quarter-final victory over Paris St Germain booked their place in the next round. Aguero missed a first-half penalty on Tuesday but Kevin De Bruyne's 76th-minute strike saved the Argentine's blushes as it ensured City beat PSG to qualify for the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition for the first time. City will be joined by 10-times European champions Real Madrid and with Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Benfica all vying for places in the semi-finals, Aguero knows there is no easy route to win the Champions League. "At this point you cannot choose. To win the Champions League you have to play against the best and we were up against one of those, a favourite," Aguero told British media.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are both back for domestic duties as second-placed Barcelona resume their chase of La Liga leader Real Madrid with a tricky trip to red-hot Real Sociedad on Sunday. Barcelona, into the Champions League last 16 as Group C winners with a 2-0 win at Celtic on Wednesday, are four points behind Real Madrid who will host Sporting Gijon on Saturday without the injured Gareth Bale. "We have achieved our aim, which was to qualify as first of our group and now we need to turn our focus to La Liga," Barcelona centre back Javier Mascherano told www.fcbarcelona.com.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi raised eyebrows when he said in passing on Monday that he did not know where he would be next year.
So, who in your opinion, dear readers, is your favourite to win the prestigious prize at the ceremony in Zurich on January 12? Take your pick and vote now!
