Is VAR sucking the life out of the game?
The tournament brings together the six continental champions from across the world, with European Champions League winners Bayern Munich the first to have qualified.
Kevin De Bruyne had to be replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the 60th minute on Saturday following a collision with Antonio Rudiger.
Manchester City secured a record 15th straight victory in all competitions with a 3-1 win at Championship side Swansea City in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.
Manchester City are about to find out whether Raheem Sterling has the ability to justify his enormous price tag or is just another over-rated young English footballer motivated purely by his bank balance.
Manchester City chalked up yet another victory to maintain their stranglehold of the Premier League title race but pursuers Manchester United and Leicester City both secured important wins to enhance their top-four bids on Sunday.
Chelsea's David Luiz never really looked cut out for a role as a defensive rock in one of England's meanest rearguards.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is sure he will win the Premier League with Manchester United and says his performances will improve once he picks up the rhythm of the English game.
Rafa Benitez has been sacked as coach of Real Madrid, according to reports in the Spanish press. Sunday night's 2-2 draw with Valencia has proved to be the final straw for president Florentino Perez with the club likely to confirm the news soon. France legend Zinedine Zidane - the coach of Real Madrid's second team, Castilla - is expected to take over.
Adidas stopped short on Thursday of ending its sponsorship deal with Uruguay's Luis Suarez after FIFA banned him for nine matches for biting an Italy defender, but the German sportswear firm said it would not use him in any further World Cup marketing.
'The silky touch, the swerving runs, the parabola pass perfection, the goals -- Salah on a football pitch these days is a sporting experience so celestial you feel inebriated just witnessing it.' 'It is football of the gods: Pure, eye-popping and incomprehensible,' applauds Dhruv Munjal.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A round-up of the action in the English Premier League on Monday.
But such was Pep Guardiola's team's domination of the Premier League last season that reinforcements hardly seemed necessary and the solitary addition of Riyad Mahrez makes an already potent attack even more fearsome.
Spain forward Fernando Torres has agreed to return to Atletico Madrid on loan from AC Milan until the end of the 2015-16 season.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised to show plenty of restraint and respect if he inflicts a first Premier League defeat of the season on his former side Chelsea on Saturday.
Former European Footballer of the Year Michael Owen may be on the verge of joining Manchester United from relegated Newcastle United, according to several media reports Friday. The England international could move to the Premier League champions if he passes a stringent medical examination, said the reports.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Atletico Madrid fell to their heaviest league defeat of the season
Arsenal's Premier League title charge gathered momentum as they moved two points clear at the top with a scrappy 1-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday as Leicester City's push faltered with a goalless home draw against Bournemouth.
Arsenal can cut down the deficit to Premier League leaders Manchester City and challenge for the title this campaign, midfielder Granit Xhaka said.
Manchester United's Ryan Giggs was voted Player of the Year for the first time by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) on Sunday. Despite making only 12 Premier League starts and scoring a single goal, the evergreen Welshman finally took the prize after 18 years as a professional with United and just short of 800 appearances for the club.
Second half of abandoned Rayo-Albacete will kick-off proceedings on return.
Barcelona are convinced Brazil captain Neymar will commit his long-term future to the Nou Camp as protracted negotiations between the Spanish champions and the striker continue over an extension to his current deal, which expires in June 2018.
Chelsea have signed Germany's highly-rated attacking midfielder Kai Havertz from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on a five-year contract, the Premier League club announced on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes tiredness was behind their 3-0 defeat by Liverpool on Wednesday after a third successive Premier League loss put a hefty dent in their faltering title hopes.
Five talking points from the Premier League weekend:
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.
Having set one record as football's most expensive teenager, Manchester United's recent signing Anthony Martial has another one in sight.
The Londoners are fourth in the Premier League table, 13 points behind leaders Leicester City with five games left.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Manchester City have never gone past the semi-final stage of Europe's premier club competition.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Manchester City thrashed Southampton 6-1 to remain top of the Premier League.
'For the Premier League champions, their appearance in China was nothing more than a commercial obligation, and their lack of enthusiasm and the indifferent treatment of their hosts stands in stark contrast to representatives of other clubs'
FIFA defended the harsh punishment it handed down to Uruguay striker Luis Suarez for biting an opponent during the World Cup, despite complaints on Friday from his coach, politicians and even the man he bit that the record penalty was excessive.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his first three goals for Barcelona in a 4-1 win at Valencia, but Inter Milan suffered a shock 2-0 home defeat by Sassuolo. Images from the football matches played on Sunday.
A smiling Jamie Vardy reckoned he had never scored a finer goal than the blistering long-distance volley which helped Leicester City's footballing fantasy enter ever more surreal territory on Tuesday.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta continues rebuilding the side around goal machine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and younger talents like Bukayo Saka.
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