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After teetering on the brink of first-round elimination and being involved in the most boring match of the tournament, there is now a real chance Portugal could muddle their way through to the Euro 2016 final. A kind draw has left Portugal with an eminently winnable quarter-final against Poland which would be followed by a semi-final against Wales, Hungary or Belgium.
Barcelona's hopes of staging another sensational Champions League comeback fell flat against a hardened Juventus side who held the Catalans to a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
Lionel Messi, having reversed his decision to quit international soccer with a view to playing at another World Cup, could miss out on Russia 2018 if Argentina continue their downward spiral. Argentina played poorly in their last three qualifiers without the injured Messi and languish in fifth place in the South American group with Paraguay and Chile hot on their tails. Only four countries are guaranteed a place at the finals.
Nine-times European champions Real Madrid fielded their big guns on Sunday for a friendly against Bournemouth that was all about a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for the English second tier club rather than the Spanish giants' 6-0 victory.
Instead, Allegri said on Monday, he would throw on all his best attacking players in an attempt to outscore his opponents in the first leg at the Juventus stadium.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said he was shocked by the wild knee-high challenge on world player of the year Lionel Messi that triggered a straight red card for Atletico Madrid's Brazilian defender Filipe Luis on Saturday. The coach, whose side won 2-1 at home to go three points clear in La Liga, protested angrily on the touchline after the left back's studs-up tackle against the Argentine forward shortly before half time. "Did you see my reaction? Then you can imagine what I was thinking. It shocked me but I am not going to go into details about it," he told a news conference at the Nou Camp.
Spain are among the favourites to win the European Championship this summer but the team's 1-0 home defeat to Georgia on Tuesday has set alarm bells ringing. In their last warm-up game before the tournament and nearly two years on from their first-round exit at the World Cup in Brazil, Spain lost to a team ranked number 137 by FIFA. "Gatillazo" (Damp squib) was the headline in Wednesday's AS newspaper after the team's loss in Getafe.
Porto goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who suffered a heart attack in May, has been registered by the club to play in this season's Portuguese league.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Balotelli made his debut for his hometown club after completing a four-match suspension that he was handed at Olympique de Marseille last season, while the visitors were without Cristiano Ronaldo as he recovers from injury.
Barcelona will be missing the lethal touch of Neymar in attack for the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla.
Barcelona head into Saturday's 'Clasico' against Real Madrid with a whopping 11-point gap over their bitter rivals in the Liga title race -- and they also have the advantage in financial terms, albeit by smaller margins.
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Real Madrid are hoping the fit-again Cristiano Ronaldo can lead them into the Champions League final although strike partner Karim Benzema remains a doubt for Wednesday's return match with Manchester City.
Parma, joint bottom of Serie A alongside Cesena, have signed Uruguay midfielder Cristian Rodriguez and Portugal forward Silvestre Varela, both on loan, the club said on Tuesday.
Guardiola is on track to lead Bayern to a third consecutive Bundesliga title but his three-year spell there will ultimately be judged on whether he can win Europe's elite club competition with them.
'He said sorry, he's not happy with the red card, but it's over now. These things happen and we can't chance it, but with 10 men we still managed to equalise'
Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas left Real Madrid on Saturday after 16 seasons as an iconic figure at the Bernabeu.
Sloppy defending cost India dearly as Sam Ward scored a brace for England to hand the home team a heart-breaking 2-3 defeat in a hard-fought Pool B match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final, in Bhubaneswar, on Saturday.
The iconic Eiffel Power in Paris turned off its lights for five minutes on Thursday night to pay a sombre tribute to 12 people killed in the attack on the officers of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Hosts The Netherlands beat Germany by a solitary goal to complicate the Olympic champions' chances of making it to the last four of the Men's World Cup Hockey.
Images from the French Open women's semi-final matches played at Roland Garros on Thursday
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.
Argentina's Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, English third tier player David Hall and U.S. women's international Carli Lloyd were among players included on the shortlist for FIFA's goal of the year award on Friday.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has reportedly given the green light to break the bank and spend 40 million pounds on controversial Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and the club is confident that Suarez will quit Liverpool for a sensational move to the Emirates.
From Cristiano Ronaldo picking up the third Golden Boot award of his career to Phoenix Suns cheerleaders, Rediff.com has it all snapped right here...
China and Spain played out a 0-0 draw in their final World Cup Group B match on Monday and the result was good enough for both teams to advance to the last 16 after Germany beat South Africa 4-0 in the other game in the section.
Brazil hammered Bolivia 5-0 in World Cup qualifiers on Thursday, giving coach Tite his third successive win in the most convincing performance from the five-time world champions for some time. Bolivia had not won a World Cup qualifier away from home since 1993 but Brazil were still excellent, particularly in the first half, when they scored four of their five goals.
Barca, with Lionel Messi absent through injury, hit the woodwork on four occasions but luck was not on their side as they lost their second consecutive away game following their 4-1 defeat by Celta Vigo.
Italy's Cristiana Girelli bagged a hat-trick and substitute Aurora Galli struck twice as they thrashed Jamaica 5-0 to qualify for the last 16 of the women's World Cup on Friday.
If England coach Roy Hodgson's two halftime substitutions proved decisive in turning the tide in their 2-1 victory over Wales on Thursday, he still risked a charge of not having made them before the game rather than midway through. As usual, however, the result was all and a win enabled the normally conservative Hodgson to claim justification for his strategy. Others will question whether his loyalty to Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, both poor for the second successive match, might have been costly in terms of both England's qualification and, after that, his own job prospects.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 4-2 in a thrilling match at the Bernabeu to move within a point of leaders Barcelona in La Liga on Saturday.
Rediff.com takes you in flashback as we rewind the best from the sporting world in the week gone by.
Toni Kroos netted his first for Real Madrid and was hailed as the best player on the pitch by his coach as the hosts tore apart Rayo Vallecano 5-1 in La Liga on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 13 games.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
After two weeks of intriguing tennis where the world's best fought hard to assert their dominance on clay, we have the champions out there.
Napoli maintained their two-point advantage at the top of Series with a 2-0 victory at Lazio on Wednesday in a game suspended due to racist chanting as Juventus beat Genoa 1-0 to break a club record for consecutive league wins in a single season.
Barcelona leapfrogged Atletico Madrid to go top of La Liga after Lionel Messi's acrobatic volley secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory against tenacious Malaga on Saturday.
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