Bayern Munich secured a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title with a game to spare after a 2-1 victory at Ingolstadt on Saturday helped them put the disappointment of their midweek Champions League semi-final exit behind them.
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In an exciting weekend for football lovers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued their extraordinary double act, both scoring hat-tricks as Real Madrid and Barcelona maintained their battle for supremacy at the top of La Liga. Chelsea's unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended with a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday but no-one can get the better of Bayern Munich, who marched on in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. We present a summary of events in photos.
Atletico Madrid celebrated like they had won the trophy after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals by edging past PSV Eindhoven 8-7 on penalties on Tuesday following 210 goalless minutes in their last-16 tie.
Bayern Munich kept their five-point lead at the top of the table on Saturday, drawing 0-0 at second-placed Borussia Dortmund to stay on track for a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title.
Borussia Dortmund edged past Freiburg 1-0 on Sunday courtesy of captain Sebastian Kehl's first goal in almost two years to go four points clear in second place in the Bundesliga.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was again the chief tormentor as French champions Paris St Germain won 3-0 at Bastia to stay eight points clear at top of the Ligue 1 on Saturday.
Bayern Munich showed no signs of letting up as they routed Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 on Sunday for their 10th straight home win of the season in the Bundesliga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery scored a sensational volley to lead the German champions to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday that sent them eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with six matches left. Frenchman Ribery, who has missed most of the season due to injury, took off at the edge of the box and sent his mid-air volley past Lukas Hradecky in the 20th minute after the keeper had initially saved a shot from Mario Goetze. It was the 32-year-old's second goal of the campaign after being sidelined for eight months with an ankle problem and then suffering another injury that kept him out until last month. Bayern found no resistance from Eintracht and Xabi Alonso rattled the crossbar with a free kick early in the second half with the hosts enjoying close to 70 percent possession.
Champions Bayern Munich demolished VfB Stuttgart 4-0 on Saturday with all the goals coming in the first half as they increased their lead to eight points and stayed on course for a record fourth consecutive title on a day of red cards in the Bundesliga.
Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund suffered a shock first defeat of the season, letting in two late goals to slump to a 2-0 loss at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola shrugged off criticism.
In leading Real Madrid to their 11th European Cup less than five months after inheriting an unhappy team from Rafael Benitez, Zinedine Zidane has cemented his heroic status at the Bernabeu and appears to have assured his immediate future.
'We've always been behind Zidane because he is a humble person who likes to listen, and that always makes things easier'
In other matches, VfL Wolfsburg edged past Hertha Berlin 2-0; promoted Ingolstadt snatched a last-gasp 1-0 win at Werder Bremen
It was the ninth consecutive victory for Dortmund in all competitions this season and showed they had put last season's disappointing performances behind them.
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Armenia midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored twice as Borussia Dortmund thrashed Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 on Saturday to launch their season with a bang on coach Thomas Tuchel's Bundesliga debut with the club.
Champions Bayern Munich opened up an eight-point lead in the Bundesliga at the start of the German season's one-month winter break by beating Hanover 96 1-0 on Saturday amid mounting speculation over the future of coach Pep Guardiola.
A summary of Saturday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
Juve forward Cristiano Ronaldo had an unusually quiet game after scoring a hat-trick against Atletico in last year's competition, although he came within inches of grabbing a last-gasp winner when he sent a shot just past the far post.
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An 85th-minute equaliser by Naldo gave VfL Wolfsburg a 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund, maintaining their hold on second place and leaving the hosts in the Bundesliga relegation zone.
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Substitute Mario Goetze led Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich on a second-half four-goal rampage after midtable Mainz 05 had the temerity to take a halftime lead at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Atletico Madrid fell to their heaviest league defeat of the season
AS Roma supporters may be looking ahead to Barcelona's Champions League visit with some trepidation and coach Rudi Garcia certainly does not seem to be bursting with optimism.
Bayern Munich have all but secured their third consecutive Bundesliga title and victory over Hertha Berlin could see them clinch it as early as this weekend.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as the undefeated champions crushed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 to open up a seven-point lead at the top.
Zidane was accompanied on stage by his wife and four sons, who all look good to follow in the footsteps of their father.
Bayern Munich eased past Nuremberg 2-0 on Saturday with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on target to maintain a perfect start to the season and join a cluster of teams with nine points at the top of the table.
On a day of frenetic spending that took the Premier League total to a record far above one billion pounds ($1.29 billion), Antonio Conte's side also missed out on two of their other targets - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fernando Llorente.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester United dropped further down the table after losing 5-3 against newcomers Leicester City. Barcelona and Real Madrid scored 13 goals between them during a memorable La Liga weekend, when Cristiano Ronaldo netted a hat-trick.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
