A breathtaking individual goal from Saul Niguez put Atletico Madrid in the box seat in their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich with a 1-0 victory in a tense first leg on Wednesday.
Win in Brazil on Sunday, win the Formula One title: Nico Rosberg's task sounds simple enough but is a lot harder to achieve.
Inter Milan's lead at the top of Serie A was cut when they lost 2-1 at home to Lazio on Sunday while AS Roma beat Genoa 2-0 to record their first win in eight games and ease the pressure on under-fire coach Rudi Garcia.
Brazil ended their home World Cup to a cacophony of boos on Saturday as the defensive errors that crushed their bid for a sixth title resurfaced in a shoddy 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff match.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was first and last in Austrian Grand Prix practice on a Friday that team principal Maurizio Arrivabene will not forget in a hurry after nearly being run over by Felipe Massa.
Manchester United's troubled season hit a new low on Saturday as Jose Mourinho saw his gamble on introducing a new tactical system backfire with an insipid 3-1 defeat to West Ham United in the Premier League.
As another eventful year draws to a close, Rediff.com gives you a pictorial look back at the best and worst moments that shaped the sports stories this year.
Sahara Force India returned pointless for the second consecutive time as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished a disappointing 11th and 14th, respectively at the Japanese Grand Prix Formula One Race in Suzuka on Sunday.
Germany's Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix for dominant Mercedes on Sunday to cut teammate Lewis Hamilton's Formula One world championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand made a disappointing start to his campaign at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in Gibraltar after he was held to a draw by International Master Szidonia Lazarne Vajda of Hungary in the opening round of the masters section.
Inter Milan's Serie A title hopes suffered a setback as they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser and were held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Carpi and leaders Napoli swept to a 4-2 win at Sampdoria.
Paul di Resta retired in the first lap for the first time in his F1 career and Adrian Sutil finished 16th at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday as Sahara Force India returned without points for the fourth time in the season.
After going two games without a goal and being booed off the field by their own fans, the Brazilian men's soccer team found their scoring touch at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday with a 4-0 win over Denmark that sealed their place in the next round.
Damaging wind gusts, a fresh doping controversy and the robbery of a visiting government minister presented the Rio Games with a perfect storm of problems on Sunday, forcing organisers to scramble to keep the world's biggest sporting event rolling on.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton produced a moment of Montreal magic on Saturday to put his Mercedes on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix and equal Ayrton Senna's career haul of 65.
Wilson's car careened out of control and into a wall after he was hit by a large piece of debris from the car of Sage Karam on the track in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for the first Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on Saturday with team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg having to settle for second.
Guus Hiddink believes it is still possible for Chelsea to finish in the English Premier League's top four but has told the club's players to have a long look in the mirror.
Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who started on pole for the first time in nine years but lost the lead in the pitstops, made sure of a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton finishing seventh for Mercedes after starting 13th.
Susie Wolff made her full test debut with former champions Williams on Friday, the biggest step by a woman driver in Formula One for more than 20 years, with race regulars paying her compliments.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Formula One's first pre-season test ended in Jerez with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fastest.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lewis Hamilton feels he faces "pretty impossible odds" going into Formula One's Abu Dhabi title-decider while Mercedes team mate and rival Nico Rosberg says he will treat Sunday's race like any other. Both are being disingenuous, of course. Hamilton knows he still has a real chance and Rosberg is well aware just how much is at stake. While Rosberg is the favourite to win the 'Duel in the Desert', needing only to finish on the Yas Marina podium to become Germany's third world champion after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, he will still be on tenterhooks.
These photos prove we live in a bizarre world.
Lazio survived a storming Napoli fight back, including a missed penalty, as they won 4-2 on Sunday to finish third in Serie A and qualify for the Champions League playoff round after both teams finished with 10 men.
Nico Rosberg seized pole position for the Russian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with world champion Lewis Hamilton joining his team mate on the front row in a perfect qualifying for Mercedes.
Argentina and Brazil both lost their opening World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as the South American campaign for Russia 2018 started in unexpected fashion.
Germany's Nico Rosberg celebrated a surprise hat-trick of Monaco Grand Prix victories on Sunday after Mercedes blew championship-leading team mate Lewis Hamilton's chances with a needless pitstop.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took the first Monaco Grand Prix pole position of his career on Saturday to deny Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg a hat-trick.
Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, his landmark 51st career victory cutting Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's overall lead to 19 points and keeping the German waiting for a first title. The pole-to-flag victory was the triple world champion's eighth of the season and put him level with France's Alain Prost in the all-time lists of winners. Only Michael Schumacher (91) has more. Rosberg, who would have clinched the title had he won and Hamilton finished 10th or lower, crossed the line 8.354 seconds behind to anchor champions Mercedes to a sixth one-two finish of the season.
Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton for the first time this season and cut the Formula One world champion's lead to 20 points with a commanding victory in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
Mbappe struck in the 74th minute to put PSG on 80 points from 29 games and on the brink of retaining the title with second-placed Lille, who beat Nantes 3-2 away earlier on Sunday, still 20 points behind having played a game more.
United States President Barack Obama hosted the 14th and final formal State Arrival Ceremony and State Dinner on October 18. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife Agnese Landini were welcomed to the White House with a grand reception. To mark this momentous occasion, Chief White House photographer decided to share glimpses from some of the other state dinners hosted by the Obama administration over the last eight years.
Nico Rosberg beat title favourite Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the decisive Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday as the dominant Mercedes team mates locked out the front row in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton enjoyed an utterly dominant Italian Grand Prix victory on Sunday to take a 53-point lead in the Formula One championship after Mercedes team mate and closest rival Nico Rosberg retired with his engine in flames.
Atletico Madrid kept pace with leaders Barcelona and restored their five-point lead over third-placed city rivals Real when Diego Costa and David Villa each scored a penalty in a 2-1 win at Granada in La Liga on Thursday.
Real Madrid's Welsh winger Gareth Bale has joined Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for FIFA's Ballon d'Or award.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Sunday with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen back on the podium to deny Mercedes another one-two finish under the floodlights.
