The Real Madrid-Barcelona 'Clasico' is televised around the world and often decides the La Liga title, but a Seville derby is a tougher proposition, Barca defender and former Sevilla favourite Dani Alves has said.
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius accepted the blame for his team's 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in which he made two dreadful errors that both led to goals. The German gifted Real their opening goal in the 51st minute when, hurrying to start an attack, he threw the ball out in front of Real striker Karim Benzema, who stuck his leg out and turned the ball into the net.
With a fifth world player of the year award safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet, Lionel Messi can set his sights on one of the next milestones in his remarkable career: reaching 500 goals for club and country. The Barcelona and Argentina forward can add to his jaw-dropping tally of 479 in 609 official games -- 430 for Barca and 49 for his national team -- in Sunday's La Liga match at home to Athletic Bilbao. The 28-year-old from Rosario, who picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, is looking close to his best following a two-month injury layoff late last year and netted a hat-trick when second-placed Barca crushed Granada 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend in their most recent outing in Spain's top flight.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League debut for Juventus lasted only 29 minutes as he was red-carded but the Italians began their Group H campaign impressively with a 2-0 victory at Valencia on Wednesday. Penalties either side of halftime by Miralem Pjanic sealed the points for the visitors as Valencia's return to European competition after a two-year absence fell flat.
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been named in the Premier League club's squad for a pre-season tour of the United States despite reported interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho is a proven winner who is the perfect choice as Manchester United manager, the club's former defender Phil Neville said on Sunday.
A round-up of Sunday's matches in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and Serie A
Atletico Madrid were given a big boost ahead of Saturday's Champions League final against Real Madrid in Milan with the news that coach Diego Simeone will be staying on next season. President Enrique Cerezo said on Thursday that the former Atletico player would remain at the club until at least June 2017, when his contract expires. "Simeone will stay next season," Cerezo told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A court document released in July, alleges that Barcelona initiated negotiations in 2011 with the player, paying him 40 million euros to ensure his move when his contract with Santos expired in 2014 and thereby preventing other clubs from signing him.
Former England captain David Beckham has indicated that he could come out of retirement to play for the Major League Soccer team he is aiming to launch in Miami.
Cristiano Ronaldo's museum on Madeira has upsized to a larger home in anticipation of the Real Madrid star winning "future trophies", his cousin told AFP on Monday. The Portugal striker's self-financed shrine now occupies a prime seafront position in Funchal, the island's capital where "CR7" was born in 1985. The museum's new two-storey site "will be able to welcome Ronaldo's future trophies," his cousin and museum director Nuno Viveiros said. The treasure trove charting the success of Madeira's most famous son draws in 200,000 visitors a year. It boasts two waxworks of the former Manchester United forward whilst a 3.4-metre-high (11 feet) bronze statue he unveiled of himself in December 2014 has been moved to greet visitors at the entrance. In January the statue was the target of graffiti when it was tagged with the name and shirt number of arch-rival Lionel Messi, hours after the Barcelona superstar saw off Ronaldo to claim a fifth world player of the year award. Among the 160 trophies on display are Ronaldo's three Ballons d'Or.
Cristiano Ronaldo lit up the Bernabeu with a brilliant four-goal performance in Real Madrid's 6-1 drubbing of struggling Racing Santander on Saturday.
Leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid were held to draws while Sevilla made up ground on the top two and Alaves slipped after a promising start. Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action.
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson will reportedly be consulted over the appointment of the successor of the sacked David Moyes at the Old Trafford club.
Barcelona fall to shock Malaga defeat.
Chelsea have the chance to avenge their shattering penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 final after being drawn to play them in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Friday.
Galatasaray have made a mediocre start to the season but striker Didier Drogba believes they can repeat April's victory over Real Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League Group B opener.
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday.
Angel Di Maria volleyed in with 15 minutes left to give Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win at Stade Rennais on Friday and extend their lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table to 10 points.
Former Portugal star Luis Figo has announced his intentions to challenge Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential elections.
Messi's first act as Barcelona captain was to tell the club's fans at a pre-season friendly in August against Boca Juniors that he and his teammates "will do everything possible so that beautiful and desired cup returns here to the Nou Camp".
David Beckham believes Real Madrid should give his former team mate at the club, Zinedine Zidane, time to succeed even if the French great fails to inspire them to victory in the Champions League final later this month.
Lionel Messi scored yet another hat-trick and surpassed 400club goals as Barcelona came from behind to win the Catalan derby 5-1 against Espanyol.
Chelsea outplay Villa in FA Cup
Angel Di Maria has admitted to clashing with former manager Louis Van Gaal during his ill-fated stint at Manchester United and hinted that his poor relationship with the Dutchman contributed to a dip in his performance.
Luis Enrique is set to leave a mixed legacy when he departs Barcelona but the coach can go out on a high by lifting a third consecutive King's Cup when his side meet Alaves in Saturday's final in Madrid.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Defensive errors were again a common occurrence in the Arsenal backline, but Fiorentina failed to take advantage.
Describing Cristiano Ronaldo as a `phenomenal` player, Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic revealed that he was in awe of the Real Madrid star as a youngster and wanted to be exactly like him in his career. "As a young player I watched him and said to myself 'I want to be exactly like that'. the player who makes the difference, the shining light, simple as that," the United player was quoted as saying by goal.com.
Spain and Costa Rica are playing in Group E along with Germany and Japan.
Former France and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka will return to Mumbai City FC as the team's marquee player-manager for the second season of the Indian Super League (ISL), the club announced on Friday.
Brazil forward Robinho ended his third spell at Santos on Tuesday with local media reporting he was set to join up with former Selecao coach Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande.
Manchester United boss David Moyes is reportedly considering a move to bring Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric as the Old Trafford side's pursuit of Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas appearing to have come to an end.
Cristiano Ronaldo has described his impending world record 80 million pounds move to Real Madrid as "historic" and is looking forward to starting a new stage of his career.
Champions Barcelona lost 2-0 at Celta Vigo while Getafe earned an important 2-0 win over Girona in their bid to secure Champions League qualification.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has lashed out at football's "Einsteins" for criticising him during the English Premier League club's run of three successive defeats. Despite winning the first four games of his tenure, Mourinho has come under scrutiny from the media after United's slump in form with the club currently six points behind leaders Manchester City in the league. United returned to winning ways after beating third-tier side Northampton Town 3-1 in the third round of the League Cup on Wednesday.
Football's world governing body FIFA named Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery as the three nominations from a 10-player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award. The winner will be announced on January 13.
Football's world governing body FIFA named Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery as the three nominations from a 10-player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award on Monday.
Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti expects coach Andrea Stramaccioni to stay in charge next season despite acknowledging that he has been in contact with former coach Jose Mourinho.
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