Rayo Vallecano forward Alvaro Garcia netted an early goal to give his side a surprise 1-0 win against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Sunday, moving Real Madrid another step closer to sealing their 35th LaLiga title.
Germany defender Nico Schulz scored a late winner as their new-look side snatched a 3-2 win away to the Netherlands in their opening Euro 2020 Group C qualifier on Sunday, an absorbing clash that swung in fortunes from one side to the other.
Adnan Januzaj reminded Manchester United fans of his class as his 29th-minute goal earned a 1-0 win at Aston Villa and propelled them, after two humdrum triumphs, to the top of the table on Friday.
Manchester United ended their one-year Champions League hiatus in emphatic style when Wayne Rooney struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 destruction of Club Bruges that sent the three-times winners through 7-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
Germany expects 2.7 million people to attend matches in stadiums across the country and some 12 million in its fan zones for outdoor viewing, including on a long stretch of turf laid out in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
The Netherlands advanced to a World Cup semi-final with Argentina by beating Costa Rica on penalties after a cagey, tactical last-eight battle finished 0-0 after extra-time on Saturday.
A makeshift England side beat Romania 1-0 in their final Euro 2020 warm-up game, while Belgium's Romelu Lukaku underlined his status as one of the world's top strikers with his 60th international goal to secure a 1-0 win over Croatia.
Barcelona's Sergi Roberto and Robert Lewandowski struck just before halftime to give the league leaders a 2-0 home win over lowly Cadiz on Sunday in their pursuit of a 27th Spanish title.
Arsenal extend Aubameyang stay with new three-year deal
Spurs striker Bergwijn is major casualty as Netherlands trim squad
Substitute Moussa Dembele scored twice as Olympique Lyonnais stunned Manchester City on Saturday to move into the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Manchester United have signed Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero on a three-year deal, the club said on Sunday.
IMAGES from the Euro 2020 qualifiers played on Thursday
A round-up of Thursday night's matches from the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
A summary of results from matches played in the Italian Serie A and Ligue 1
Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks five of the best team performances from this round as the tournament heads into its business end.
The two losses in Blind's first two games left the Dutch floundering in fourth place in Group A, needing to overhaul a two-point deficit on third placed Turkey with two games to play in October to have any chance of reaching the Euro 2016 finals via the November play-offs.
Serie A witnessed some breath-taking football action, especially when AC Milan could not convert the umpteen chances they had against Sassuolo while Inter went to top. In Ligue 1 action, all the star players found the net for PSG. Here are images from the soccer matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
Jamie Vardy equalled the English Premier League record by scoring for a 10th successive match as his Leicester City side went top after winning 3-0 at Newcastle United while champions Chelsea ended their slump with a 1-0 win over Norwich City on Saturday.
Hulk signs two-year contract with Atletico Mineiro.
Aguero is expected to be the first of a number of arrivals at the Camp Nou this summer
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
Round-up of World Cup qualifiers played on Friday
Since winning 2-1 at home to Wolfsburg in September, United have scored only twice in three Champions League games. In the Premier League the record is five goals in the last six games.
France stretched their unbeaten run against Croatia to eight games after a late goal by Kylian Mbappe gave the world champions a 2-1 win in their Nations League top-tier Group 3 match on Wednesday.
Fellow Serie A sides Atalanta and Lazio also won while Portugal's Vitoria Guimaraes began their match against Salzburg with not a single European player in the team.
A stoppage-time goal from Miranda gave Brazil a 1-0 win over South American rivals Argentina in a foul-strewn friendly, while Netherlands secured a 1-1 draw at neighbours Belgium.
Manchester United took over at the top of the Premier League while Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi could be out for up to two months with a knee injury and rampant Bayern Munich extended their perfect start to seven league wins.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
Bastia game abandoned after fans attack Lyon players
He does not fit the bill for a prototype Mourinho midfielder. He lacks defensive attributes because he has no pace, is weak in the air, cannot tackle and is heavily reliant on his left foot.
A summary of Thursday's second leg quarter-final matches in the Europa League.
Liverpool handed their fiercest rivals a painful lesson on Thursday with a dominant 2-0 win over Manchester United in the first leg of a Europa League last-16 clash.
Manchester United's hopes of salvaging their season in the Europa League suffered a stinging setback when they lost 2-1 at Danish side Midtjylland in the first leg of their last-32 clash on Thursday.
Bayern Munich thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 5-1, while Barcelona came from behind to beat Valencia 3-1 in LaLiga at Camp Nou on Sunday.
There was the usual frenzy of last-minute deals as the English Premier League brought the curtain down on another bumper European transfer window in which Manchester City again flexed their financial muscle as the continent's top spenders.
Despite a splurge of summer spending of more than 500 million pounds and counting, it was a free transfer from France who provided one of the standout moments of the Premier League's big kickoff.
