Barcelona made a brisk start to the season with new coach Luis Enrique at the helm in place of Gerardo Martino and a host of additions to the squad, including midfielder Ivan Rakitic and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Diego Costa continued his rich vein of form as he helped leaders Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa while Louis van Gaal enjoyed only his second Premier League win as Manchester United manager following a 2-1 victory against West Ham.
German champions Bayern Munich sacked coach Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday, a day after they suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat to Paris St Germain in the Champions League.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action in La Liga.
After a World Cup where they failed to live up to expectations, the smiles appeared to return to Brazilian faces again on Tuesday after a new-look team beat the United States 2-0 in a friendly.
"This was one of the reasons why I took this opportunity. To train with all these personalities and this talent."
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
Images from the Champions League matches played on Tuesday
Barcelona have been frighteningly good at home this season, scoring 15 goals in three games at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona's bid for a fifth La Liga title in six years suffered a surprise setback when the champions crashed to a 1-0 defeat at lowly Real Valladolid on Saturday.
A summary of all the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Spain's footballing giants, FC Barcelona won their 23rd La Liga crown after defeating Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Sunday. And after winning, what was their fifth title in seven years, the Barca players let their hair down and celebrated in style at the Vincent Calderon stadium. Rediff.com invites you a peek into their wild celebrations. Have a look...
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Forward Adriano and former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho were left out of Brazil's World Cup squad on Tuesday.
Former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho will learn on Tuesday whether or not his impressive season with AC Milan will be enough to earn him a place at his third World Cup.
Jeison Murillo became Colombia's unlikely hero, scoring his first international goal to give his side a 1-0 victory over Brazil.
Atletico Madrid maintained a two-point lead in La Liga with a 3-0 victory at Las Palmas and Barcelona and Real Madrid stayed hard on their heels with thumping wins over Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
Inter, Liverpool sweating on last-16 spots
Merseyside Police is reportedly investigating racist abuse received by Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli on Twitter after he tweeted 'Man Utd...LOL' after the crushing 5-3 defeat met by Manchester United at the hands of Leicester on Sunday.
Paris St Germain centre back Thiago Silva says the French club has what it takes to win their Champions League Group F after Tuesday's decider at Barcelona.
Football news from Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La liga.
Ronaldinho, who had a disappointing Club World Cup this month, has been elected South American footballer of the year in the annual poll conducted by the Uruguayan daily El Pais.
Robinho scored twice as Santos beat Bragantino 6-3 on Thursday in his first home match since returning on loan from Manchester City.
A round-up of Saturday's matches in Ligue 1, Serie A and Bundesliga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Ajax, four-times European Cup winners who are in the knockout stages for the first time in 13 years, have enhanced their reputation as a talent factory due to the rise of homegrown Dutch players Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt.
Key head-to-head battles in Saturday's "Clasico" between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Bernabeu stadium (1600 GMT)
'I'm tempted to say that he's in a better place now, but I'm quite sure he's not.' 'There was no better place for him than the basketball court, and now he'll never set foot on one again. Because he's gone,' says Dhruv Munjal.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The FIFA World Cup at Russia saw a variety of celebrations -- from the weird to some fancy dance moves -- Rediff.com has got it all covered here...
Karim Benzema scored his sixth goal in four games as Real Madrid beat Alaves 3-0 on Sunday for a fourth successive La Liga victory which took the European champions to within eight points of leaders Barcelona.
Brazil coach Tite has recalled veteran central defender Thiago Silva to his squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Venezuela.
Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d'Or for world player of the year on Thursday for a joint-record fifth time, going level with eternal rival and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as the player to have won the prize the most times.
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said he was the "proudest man on earth" and lavished praise on his "underdog" team for having the belief to upset five-times champions Brazil on Friday to reach the World Cup semi-finals for only the second time.
This time we're ready for Barca, says Man City's Nasri.
A summary of Wednesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Argentina may have been knocked out of the World Cup in Russia, but plenty of their frustrated fans remain, holding tickets to finals they expected their team to feature in - while hoping desperately that bitter rivals Brazil get eliminated.
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