Chelsea and Real Madrid moved into the last eight of the Champions League with minimum of fuss on Wednesday. The former drew 0-0 at home with a battling FC Copenhagen to complete a 2-0 aggregate victory, while the Spanish giants ended a six-year Champions League jinx, crushing Olympique Lyon 3-0 to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.
Cristiano Ronaldo broke his four-game scoring drought with a hat-trick as Real Madrid trounced lowly Malaga 7-0 in La Liga on Thursday to trim the gap with leaders Barcelona back to seven points.
Lionel Messi made brilliance look routine with a stunning double to help Barcelona to a 5-0 win over Real Sociedad that restored the champions' two-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Sunday.
Paris St Germain continued their irrepressible march towards a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title with a 5-1 home win against Olympique Lyonnais to move 17 points clear at the top.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi said defending champions France and Brazil are the favourites to win the World Cup in Qatar as they have a core group of players who have played together for a long time.
Chelsea's Spanish striker Diego Costa was named along with usual suspects Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the 23- man FIFA Ballon D'Or short-list released on Tuesday.
Photos from matches played in the French Ligue 1 and Serie A matches played on Saturday
Chile, Argentina, Nigeria and Mexico went through to the quarter-finals of the Under-20 World Cup with victories on Thursday.
Paris St Germain rebounded after their Champions League exit to ManchesterCity with a 6-0 victory over Caen in Ligue 1 on Saturday.
Zhang Jiao, after realising her dream of witnessing Argentina soccer great Lionel Messi lift the World Cup every match he plays from now on is "precious".
Messi's World Cup chase takes centre stage in quarter-final clash
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
IMAGES from the FIFA World Cup Group C match played between Argentina and Poland on Wednesday.
Manchester United bounced back from their defeat with a 4-1 win over Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
Argentina are on a 36-match unbeaten run with top scorer and captain Messi playing his fifth and last World Cup in search of the elusive honour
Les Bleus' average age is 26 years old -- like England -- and Kylian Mbappe is 19, but it was he who ran riot after France fell 2-1 behind early in the second half.
Lionel Messi had a penalty saved as Brazil continued their defensive rehabilitation under returning coach Dunga with a morale-boosting 2-0 win over old adversaries Argentina in a feisty friendly in Beijing, on Saturday.
You would have been hard pressed at the start of the season to find anyone to bet on Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers becoming the first Premier League manager to get the sack, but he is now the bookies' joint favourite.
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos risks being hit with an extra game suspension which would rule him out of a potential Champions League quarter-final first leg after admitting he got booked on purpose in Wednesday's 2-1 win at Ajax Amsterdam.
Croatia were not the favourites to reach the last four again but they came through two penalty shootouts in a repeat of their 2018 exploits.
The comparison with Maradona for the title of the greatest Argentine player of all time cannot be complete without a world title, which the late Maradona won almost single-handedly 36 years ago.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni predicted a tough but beautiful encounter with the Netherlands when the sides meet in Friday's World Cup quarter-final.
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has been left out of the Argentina squad for the crucial World Cup qualifier clash against Brazil to be held at the Mineirao Stadium later this evening. The 28-year-old has been struggling with form in his recent international appearances including missing a penalty for Argentina during their 0-1 defeat at the hands of Paraguay in their last outing.
The stadium erupted in cheers once more with Fernandez's late strike which sealed Argentina's first win in the tournament and rekindled Messi's hopes of a first-ever World Cup title.
Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opening goal as 10-man Real Madrid beat Osasuna 2-0 on Wednesday to qualify for the King's Cup quarter-finals 4-0 on aggregate.
Leaders Barcelona played out a second straight 0-0 draw in LaLiga after mid-table Getafe battled for a home point in a hard-fought game on Sunday.
Colombia head to Copa semis after penalties win over Uruguay
Several thousand Argentinians are expected to descend on Qatar for the tournament starting next month but not all are having an easy ride.
Argentina's experimental line-up proved too strong for an outclassed Singapore in their international friendly on Tuesday, with the South Americans swatting aside their hosts 6-0 and the opening five goals coming from first-time scorers.
Barcelona made a disappointing start to their Champions League campaign by losing 2-1 to AS Monaco on Thursday.
Lionel Messi's return sparked Argentina to a 2-1 win over Chile in Santiago on Thursday, breathing new life into their South American qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
Paris St Germain would be odds-on certainties to easily beat Chelsea and take a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday if statistics and domestic form decided matches.
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.
'Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi' got top billing at a packed Old Trafford but it was a lesser light who scored as Portugal scraped a 1-0 friendly win over Argentina on Tuesday.
Blaise Matuidi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored first half goals as Paris Saint-Germain beat Manchester United 2-0 on Wednesday in their International Champions Cup clash in Chicago.
A controversial penalty in the dying minutes cost Manchester United dear as they suffered another defeat after Leicester City fought back brilliantly to win 5-3 at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
Hundreds of thousands of Argentines poured into the sunlit streets of Buenos Aires on Sunday
Argentina look set to keep Julian Alvarez in attack for Sunday's World Cup final
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