However, a Serie A recommendation that similar cuts be made at all top flight clubs has been rejected by the players' union which argues that those at smaller clubs are less able to afford reductions.
'This is the highest point of my career. When I look at this award it makes me even more determined to win more.'
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.
Trying to pump up excitement, which has been largely missing in Rome in the run up to the kick-off, Italian soccer greats and 2006 World Cup winners Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta welcomed fans at the opening ceremony.
Juventus won Serie A for the fifth season in a row without kicking a ball on Monday after Napoli, the only team who could have caught them, were sunk 1-0 by a late Radja Nainggolan goal at AS Roma. Juventus, who have led the table since beating Napoli 1-0 in February, were left with an unassailable 12-point lead with three games each left to play as they clinched a record 31st league title. The match, played at a half-empty Stadio Olimpico on a sunny bank holiday afternoon, was an anti-climatic end to a season which had at one stage promised to be one of the most exciting Italian title races for years. The game between Serie A's two highest-scoring sides was threatening to peter out into a tame goalless draw until Nainggolan slotted the ball home in the 89th minute following a move started with a delicate pass from Roma substitute Francesco Totti.
AS Roma became the first team to win their opening 10 Serie A games of the season when they overcame bottom side Chievo 1-0 thanks to Marco Boriello's late header on Thursday.
Juventus were given a chance to avenge last year's Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid when they two sides were drawn together for the quarter-finals of this year's competition on Friday.
Thousands of fans and dozens of players turned out on Thursday to say goodbye to Fiorentina captain and Italy international Davide Astori, who died suddenly at the age of 31 on Sunday.
Sulley Muntari salvaged a point for AC Milan with a second-half equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the San Siro on Monday that saw visiting AS Roma slip five points behind Serie A leaders Juventus.
Two goals from in-form Gervinho, including the winner two minutes from time, gave AS Roma a thrilling 3-2 victory in their Italian Cup semi-final first leg against Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday.
Juventus launched their bid for a sixth successive league title after their record signing Gonzalo Higuain came off the bench to grab a trademark winner in a 2-1 success over Fiorentina on the opening day of the Serie A season.
Tennis legend Roger Federer became the most decorated winner in the history of Laureus World Sports Awards after he won twin honours, his sixth, which includes the Sportsman and Comeback titles at the 18th edition of the prestigious awards ceremony, in Monaco.
De Rossi, who turned 36 on Wednesday, led Roma for the final time in a 2-1 victory over Parma at the Stadio Olimpico in May and finished his stint in the Italian capital with 616 appearances in 18 years.
AS Roma slipped up in their pursuit of Serie A leaders Juventus as they salvaged a 1-1 draw at mid-table Palermo on Saturday thanks to a second-half Mattia Destro equaliser.
Miralem Pjanic's free kick gave Juventus a 2-1 win at Chievo on Sunday as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon celebrated his 600th Serie A appearance.
A late strike by Gervinho sent AS Roma into the Italian Cup semi-finals with a 1-0 win over league title rivals Juventus in a tense atmosphere at a packed Olympic Stadium on Tuesday.
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.
Andrea Pirlo and Miralem Pjanic provided the moments of magic to inspire leading Serie A duo Juventus and AS Roma to battling victories on Sunday with the gap between the sides remaining at three points.
Serie A title challengers AS Roma ended a run of four successive draws with an enthralling 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Sunday, helped by an inspirational display from Gervinho who set up both their goals.
AS Roma boosted their Serie A title challenge with a 1-0 win at Udinese on Tuesday amid controversy over whether Davide Astori's header had crossed the line for the game's only goal.
India, hosting its first ever FIFA tournament in the U-17 World Cup, will set the record of having the farthest distance between two venues in the event's history.
Rafa Benitez kicked off his tenure as Real Madrid boss with a frustrating 7-6 penalty shootout loss to AS Roma in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
AS Roma coach Rudi Garcia succeeded where his three predecessors failed by taking his team to a 2-0 win over arch-rivals Lazio on Sunday and maintaining their 100 percent record in Serie A alongside Napoli who won 2-1 at AC Milan.
Paul Pogba repaid some of his world record transfer fee with two goals as Manchester United rediscovered their early-season shine, cruising to a 4-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce to go top of their group on Thursday. Pogba scored a penalty and rifled United's third into the top corner. Anthony Martial also netted from the spot and Jesse Lingard fired home in the second half before former Old Trafford favourite Robin van Persie pulled one back for Fenerbahce. Inter Milan and AS Roma, though, had more testing evenings. Coach Frank de Boer breathed a sigh of relief when Inter survived an onslaught from Southampton to end a three-match losing streak with a 1-0 victory while Roma conceded twice late on to draw 3-3 at home to Austria Vienna.
Juventus striker Carlos Tevez scored a magnificent first-half goal, and later missed a penalty, as the runaway Serie A leaders won 1-0 at home to mid-table Genoa on Sunday.
Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri said on Tuesday that he believed at Christmas his team would win the Premier League, even as he continued to tell the media his only goal was avoiding relegation. "Now I can say it, I always knew we'd win," Ranieri told Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano the day after Leicester's triumph. He said he had always denied any championship ambitions until almost the end of the season because "that's the way I am made, I have always preferred doing things rather than talking about them". Asked to pinpoint when he really became convinced Leicester could win, he said: "It was at Christmas. Relegation had been avoided and we gathered together to talk in the changing rooms and we said to each other, 'Let's go for it, we've got nothing to lose'." Ranieri played down his own role in the achievement, saying that teamwork was key to the club's success and his players had no shortage of ability.
First-half goals by Gervinho and Mattia Destro helped AS Roma strengthen their grip on second place in Serie A with a 2-0 win at Chievo Verona on Saturday.
Gonzalo Higuain pulled one back three minutes later with a typically opportunist goal, the Argentine's 13th in the league this season, to set up a tense final half hour.
Arturo Vidal's double helped Juventus to their 12th straight league win with a 4-2 triumph over Sampdoria and saw the Italian champions restore an eight-point lead at the top of Serie A.
Champions Juventus returned to the top of Serie A with a 4-0 home rout of Cagliari on Wednesday, while former leaders Napoli dropped to second after being held to a goalless draw at Genoa.
Javier Ceppi, Tournament Director of the 2017 Under-17 football World Cup, which India will host, says the success of the event depends on the country's fans. Laxmi Negi reports.
Barcelona lost ground on La Liga leaders Real Madrid when their 11-match winning streak was snapped by Malaga, while Premier League pacesetters Chelsea dropped points at home to Burnley. Bayern Munich enjoyed a second-successive goalrush in the Bundesliga after routing Paderborn 6-0 while AS Roma lost ground to Serie A leaders Juventus after yet another draw. This and more from the happenings in the world of football over the weekend.
Check out the top footballers of the weekend...
Edinson Cavani scored early for Paris St Germain but a series of wasted chances came back to haunt them as Ajax Amsterdam equalised late to deny the French a winning start on the road in a 1-1 draw in Champions League Group F on Wednesday.
Barcelona look well set to wrap up the La Liga title.
IMAGES from the Champions League matches played on Tuesday
Here is the round-up of all the football action across Europe on the weekend
In England, the celebrations went on at Leicester City as they marked their fairytale Premier League success with another win while champions Juventus' long unbeaten streak in Italy came to an end.
Reigning French Open champion Maria Sharapova, former world number one Venus Williams and Australian Samantha Stosur sailed into the second round of the China Open with straight set victories on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
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