Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 to claim the Champions League title on Saturday thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar in an entertaining final at the Olympic Stadium.
Spain arrived at the World Cup convinced they were ready to rule world football again but Sunday's defeat to Russia in the last 16 has set the 2010 champions back a decade and brought an end to a glorious generation.
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Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes is likely to be out of action until the end of the year after suffering a calf strain during Spain's surprise defeat by South Africa on Tuesday, the club said in a statement on their website.
Champions Real Madrid were beaten at home by promoted Cadiz, while Barcelona fell to their first defeat in La Liga under new coach Ronald Koeman as they lost to Getafe.
Here, Reuters Sport highlights five reasons why last season's double winners have collapsed.
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.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Ajax, four-times European Cup winners who are in the knockout stages for the first time in 13 years, have enhanced their reputation as a talent factory due to the rise of homegrown Dutch players Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt.
Valverde's knowledge of Barca and his many years of experience of coaching in Spain saw him pip Argentine Jorge Sampaoli and Luis Enrique's assistant Juan Carlos Unzue to the top job.
Ronaldo had failed to score in his last four league games for Real and his rotten run in front of goal looked set to continue when his spot-kick was turned away by visiting goalkeeper Roberto.
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.
Lionel Messi broke a Spanish hat-trick record and Luis Suarez struck twice as a rampant Barcelona took over top spot in La Liga with a 6-1 hammering of Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
Barca overcome solid Bilbao challenge to scrape through 1-0.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men's singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Anaheim, United States.
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Football news from Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La liga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A round-up of Tuesday night's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea struck the woodwork twice but could not find a breakthrough in an entertaining 0-0 Champions League draw at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday that left everything to play for in Group G.
