Real Madrid have endured a miserable season since Zinedine Zidane left in May, first sacking Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari.
Messi announced he wanted to leave Barcelona, on Tuesday, after spending his entire career at the Catalan club.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a free kick which went through the defensive wall to break Gremio's brave resistance and give Real Madrid a 1-0 victory over the South American champions in the Club World Cup final on Saturday.
Bringing you all the news from the summer transfer window and other snippets from the soccer world...
Valencia forward Carlos Soler scored a hat-trick of penalties as his side beat La Liga champions Real Madrid 4-1 at home in an extraordinary match on Sunday.
Kevin Gameiro grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser for Valencia after Denis Cheryshev had reduced the deficit with 20 minutes remaining, leaving the tie in the balance heading into the second leg at the Mestalla stadium on February 28.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema produced an audacious back-heeled assist for Casemiro to score as they beat Espanyol 1-0 away on Sunday to capitalise on Barcelona's slip-up a day earlier and move two points clear at the top of La Liga. Brazilian midfielder Casemiro slid to the ground to guide the ball home on the stroke of halftime after being played in by a stroke of genius from Benzema, who dragged the ball through the legs of his marker Bernardo Espinosa to find his team mate.
Iker Muniain gave Athletic a deserved lead in the 32nd minute by bundling the ball home after Real failed to get back in time to defend a counterattack.
'We created so many chances and simply weren't effective with them. In fact we created a rainbow of different chances and there are just some days when the ball refuses to go in.'
Neymar overtook Ronaldo and moved into second place behind Pele on Brazil's all-time goalscoring list after notching a hat-trick in a 4-2 victory over Peru on Tuesday in a World Cup qualifier.
The European Union's GDP (gross domestic product) at market prices is the highest in the world, with the UK having the second largest share in it.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the club's ex-assistant coach Mike Phelan are set to return to Old Trafford as caretaker managers until the end of the season
Stan Wawrinka showed his class in both singles and doubles to lead the Singapore Slammers to victory in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) final in front of a delighted home crowd at the Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has defended the FIFA Ballon d'Or winner after he was criticised for throwing a lavish 30th birthday party on Saturday hours after Real Madrid's 4-0 La Liga drubbing at Atletico.
Real Madrid were dumped out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage on Thursday after losing 4-3 at home to Real Sociedad, while record 30-times winners Barcelona were sent crashing out of the Copa del Rey in a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.
Confined to their homes owing to the coronavirus pandemic, India's top shooters will soon be provided with shooting range simulators -- SIUS Ascor's electronic target systems -- which will allow them to practice indoors efficiently. Work is already underway but it could still take a month's time for the equipment to be delivered to the shooters.
Here we bring you all the sporting action from last week in this stunning photo feature.
A round-up of Saturday's action in Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga.
Media attention has focused on whether their most prized asset Neymar will eventually make a sensational move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The players, and referee Michael Oliver, also took a knee as the opening whistle was blown, following a moment's silence before kick off in memory of those who died in the pandemic.
Lorenzo Insigne curled a quite wonderful shot beyond the reach of Belgium goal-keeper Thibaut Courtois after jinking in from the left flank.
Each Round of 16 game was entertaining. Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks the games to remember.
They have been drawn in Group Ashe-Smith along with John Peers/Jamie Murray and Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini.
Images from the World Cup pre-quarterfinal match between Brazil and Chile at Belo Horizonte.
The easy victory enabled the South Americans complete a successful London tour.
Holders Real Madrid breezed into the last 16 of the Champions League with two games to spare when a Karim Benzema strike secured a 1-0 win in their Group B match at home to a toothless Liverpool on Tuesday.
Mavericks won the men's doubles and men's legends singles rubber, but the Slammers clinched the women's singles, mixed doubles and men's singles to come out trumps.
Rediff.com brings you the top highlights of the soccer weekend.
Atletico Madrid won the La Liga title for the first time since 2014
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
A lot was expected from Brazil forward Neymar and boy, he matched expectations and how! The 22-year-old came up with a man-of-the-match performance to rescue the hosts after an early blunder.
Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Shanghai Rolex Masters with a shock victory over the fourth seeded Croat-Brazilian pair of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo on Friday. The unseeded Indo-Romanian won the quarter-final 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
Spanish media have reported that Real president Florentino Perez would be keen to recruit former coach Mourinho, currently without a club, should Zidane be relieved of his duties.
Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria accepted a Man-of-the-Match award from Alex Ferguson on Saturday and said winning the Champions League made a sore leg and a year of sacrifice worthwhile.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos entered the semi-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with a comfortable victory in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
Holders Real Madrid reached the Champions League final for a third year in a row after taking advantage of Bayern Munich's carelessness in attack and defence to draw 2-2 in their semi-final second leg on Tuesday, and winning 4-3 on aggregate, at the Santiago Bernabeu, in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday.
Pusarla Sindhu sent Indian fans into a frenzy by blasting through Japan's Nozomi Okuhara to reach the gold medal decider for the women's singles at the Olympic badminton on Thursday.
Rohan Bopanna and his doubles partner Florin Mergea qualified for the year-end ATP World Tour Finale when Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock lost the Paris Masters final, on Sunday.
Holders Real Madrid came from a goal down to snatch a precious 2-1 victory at wasteful Bayern Munich on Wednesday and carry a considerable advantage into their Champions League semi-final second leg in Spain.
