Diego Milito's penalty five minutes from time gave Inter Milan a deserved 1-0 home win over Fiorentina on Sunday and extended their Serie A lead to eight points.
Juventus' wretched start to the season continued when they needed a late penalty to avoid defeat as the Serie A champions were held to a 1-1 home draw by early leaders Chievo Verona on Saturday.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said his side must win their remaining three group games if the five-time European champions are to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Celtic and Arsenal will meet each other for a place in the Champions League group stage after being drawn together in the final qualifying round at the draw Friday.
AS Roma took a big step forward in their drive for a surprise Serie A title on Sunday when they beat relegation-threatened visitors Atalanta 2-1 to take the top spot from champions Inter Milan.
Former Real youth player Joselu pulled a goal back for Alaves in the 59th minute, powering in a header from a free kick, but Benzema rounded off the victory for second-placed Real with an exquisite solo run and goal in the 70th minute.
Five-times winners Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages despite a 1-0 win at Debrecen on Tuesday while Fiorentina and Arsenal qualified for the last 16.
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.
AS Roma's lingering hopes of catching Serie A leaders Juventus were virtually extinguished after two stunning Pepe Reina saves kept them at bay and Jose Callejon's late goal handed third-placed Napoli a 1-0 home win on Sunday.
Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini says a major reshuffle of his squad is not needed in the January transfer window as they firmly sit on top of the Serie A table.
Alexandre Pato fired home in injury time to give AC Milan a lucky 2-1 win at Fiorentina on Wednesday to send the Rossoneri up to second in Serie A.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Arsenal eased into the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday by outclassing Celtic 3-1 to enter Thursday's draw where they will be joined by Fiorentina, VfB Stuttgart, Olympiakos and APOEL Nicosia.
Salah joined Chelsea under Mourinho in 2014 but failed to establish himself at Stamford Bride and was loaned out to Fiorentina and Roma before a permanent move to the Stadio Olimpico outfit in 2016.
Liverpool FC manager Rafa Benitez has said no amount of money could tempt him into selling star striker Fernando Torres.
Romania striker Adrian Mutu called the decision to uphold his order to pay Chelsea 17.17 million euros in damages "profoundly unjust" on Monday and confirmed he may take the case outside the sporting courts.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport C(AS) has rejected Romanian striker Adrian Mutu's appeal against an order to pay 17.17 million euros ($24.2 million) in damages to Chelsea, the court said in a statement on Friday. Mutu, now playing for Fiorentina in Italy, was ordered to pay the sum by FIFA last year after he was fired by the Premier League club in 2004 for testing positive for cocaine.
Juventus ended a difficult week on a high when winger Sebastian Giovinco inspired a 4-1 home win over Bologna on Saturday.
UEFA fined AS Roma and warned their forward Adem Ljajic on Wednesday following incidents during last week's Europa League last-32 game against Feyenoord.
Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as Juventus coach after a poor run of results and youth team boss Ciro Ferrara has taken over, the club said on Monday. The Turin side are a point above fourth-placed Fiorentina with two matches left and are in danger of slipping out of an automatic Champions League berth after a run of seven Serie A games without a win.
Sevilla coach Vincenzo Montella has suggested that the only way his side will be able to stop Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first leg will be to tie the Chilean up with a rope.
The rapid outbreak of coronavirus pandemic across Italy has been linked to the UEFA Champions League match between Italian club Atalanta and Spain's Valencia at the San Siro stadium in Milan on Feburary 19. The first cases of the virus were reported in northern Italy in the week that Atalanta enjoyed one of the finest nights in their history, beating visitors Valencia 4-1 in the Champions League last-16, first-leg match.
Internacional forward Paolo Guerrero missed a late penalty and then had a goal disallowed as his side were held 1-1 by Athletico Paranaense in Brazil's Serie A on Thursday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane handed a La Liga debut to his son Luca by starting him in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Villarreal in their final Liga game of the season, making the goalkeeper the third Zidane family member to play for the Spanish giants.
Holders Barcelona suffered a stunning 2-1 home defeat by Russia's Rubin Kazan while Liverpool lost by the same score to Olympique Lyon at Anfield on a night of high drama and late goals in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Sampdoria sank champions Inter Milan 1-0 with a second-half Giampaolo Pazzini goal to go top of Serie A on Saturday.
The fixtures for the group stages in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League, which kicks-off on Wednesday.
The nine-times European champions finished second on goal difference in Group H of the Champions League behind Juventus, who were held 0-0 at home by BATE Borisov.
The world champions face Belgium in a friendly in Florence on Friday ahead of their Euro 2008 Group C matches against the Netherlands, Romania and France.
Francesco Valiani scored a stunning goal as promoted Bologna beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro on Sunday to spoil Ronaldinho's Serie A debut.
Inter Milan's aversion to Europa League football continued with a 3-1 defeat at Sparta Prague, while AS Roma ended a continental hoodoo stretching back seven games with a 4-0 home win over Romanian side FC Astra on Thursday.
A Christian Panucci goal gave 10-man AS Roma a 2-1 home win over strugglers Empoli on Saturday, cutting Inter Milan's lead in Serie A to four points before the champions take on Juventus.
AS Roma produced a stunning comeback to beat AC Milan 2-1 and move within three points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
Alessandro Florenzi ran more than half the length of the field to score and cap a 2-0 win for AS Roma over Genoa which took them back into second place in Serie A on Sunday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice as Inter Milan retained their Serie A title with a 2-0 win at Parma.
Holders AS Roma will meet Inter Milan in the Italian Cup final for the fourth consecutive season after drawing 1-1 at Catania on Thursday to progress 2-1 on aggregate. Serie A leaders Inter and second-placed Roma are assured of a Champions League place next season so Italy's third UEFA Cup spot will now go to the seventh-placed team in the league.
A dominant AC Milan beat Serie A leaders Inter Milan 2-1 on Sunday to blow open the title race with second-placed AS Roma winning 3-0 at Sampdoria.
Juventus rehire Allegri.
