Chelsea's early season slump turned into a full-blown crisis on Saturday when they were beaten 3-1 by Southampton while Manchester City went top of the Premier League with Sergio Aguero scoring five in a 6-1 win over Newcastle United.
Playing at the Parc des Princes against the team who denied them the title last year was the perfect occasion for PSG, owned by big-spenders Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, to wrap up their fifth title in the Qatari era.
Chelsea begin their Premier League title defence against Swansea City on Saturday in the unusual position of heading into a new season having been significantly outspent by their rivals.
The Community Shield showpiece at Wembley will be the 14th time Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have locked horns in opposing dugouts and Wenger is still waiting to get one over the Portuguese.
Thiago Silva and Roberto Firmino scored either side of halftime to fire Brazil to a 2-1 win over Venezuela at the Copa America.
While Chelsea and Manchester City slug it out at the top of the Premier League, Louis van Gaal's Old Trafford revolution gathers ever more momentum in the red half of Manchester.
Manchester United have enough in their armoury to cope with the loss of suspended striker Wayne Rooney, Everton manager Roberto Martinez warned his players on Friday ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash at Old Trafford.
Instead, Allegri said on Monday, he would throw on all his best attacking players in an attempt to outscore his opponents in the first leg at the Juventus stadium.
Attack is the best form of defence for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
Jose Mourinho's side had paid lavish sums to bolster key areas by this time last year but, having claimed the title at a canter, the motto of this transfer window seems to be: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If, as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said, a week is a long time in politics, four and a half months in football clearly represents an eternity.
How could a front six including Angel Di Maria, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata fail to get a single shot on target in a 1-0 home defeat by Southmapton?
Stuttering Chelsea retained their Premier League lead by virtue of the alphabet heading into the new year but will need a quick riposte at home to Newcastle United on Saturday (2030 IST) to hold Manchester City at bay.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich survived several first-half scares in a 1-1 home draw with midtable Schalke 04 on Saturday as Philipp Lahm made his 500th appearance for the Bavarian club.
Manchester United, who spent 150 million pounds on new players in the summer, might need to spend another 100 million pounds before they can compete for the Premier League title, according to former defender Phil Neville.
The Jose Pekerman-coached team closed ranks on Friday, undertaking a private training session at their ski resort base outside of Kazan and declining to comment on the Colombian police probe and their preparations for Poland, who were upset 1-0 by Senegal in their opener.
Argentine clubs River Plate and Boca Juniors will contest the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final, South America's equivalent of the Champions League, in Madrid on Sunday.
Monaco swept into the Champions League quarter-finals and left Manchester City to pick up the pieces of another failed European campaign after a 3-1 victory on Wednesday sent them through on away goals.
Chile beat Ecuador 2-1 in their closing South American qualifier in Santiago on Tuesday as both went through automatically to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Leicester City added another tale of remarkable success to an incredible year by reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season with a 2-1 victory over Club Bruges.
Yerry Mina's header secured Colombia a 1-0 win over Senegal in Samara on Thursday to clinch their safe passage to the last 16 as they finished top of Group H, while Senegal missed out to Japan on a fair play tiebreaker.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi pulled his side level in the 57th minute after a handball by Paraguay's Ivan Peris which no-one on the pitch appealed for but was spotted by a VAR review.
La Liga champions Barcelona began the new campaign with a 3-0 win over Alaves on Saturday with the help of a spectacular under-the-wall free kick from Lionel Messi, who scored twice, and a curling shot from substitute Philippe Coutinho.
The policy of buying players cheap and selling them for a higher price a few years on is a business model that worked well for clubs like Atletico Madrid and FC Porto. With the transfer window open for the next few weeks, Rediff.com takes a look at clubs that made smart deals over the years.
Wayne Rooney ended his eight-game Premier League scoring drought with a 2-0 victory against a dogged Sunderland.
Arsenal stayed ahead of Manchester United in the race to qualify directly for next season's Champions League when they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday while Manchester City made sure of their place in the group stage with a 4-2 win at Swansea City.
The table suggests Louis van Gaal is making progress at Manchester United but winning matches has never been good enough on its own at the Theatre of Dreams.
Daley Blind's late second half strike helped a lacklustre Manchester United salvage a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in the Premier League on Monday.
The Louis van Gaal era finally got lift off as Manchester United demolished Queens Park Rangers 4-0 on Sunday for their first win since the Dutchman took charge at Old Trafford.
Written off last season as a sub-standard misfit with a comical haircut, there are signs that Marouane Fellaini is finally beginning to feel comfortable in a red Manchester United shirt.
A plethora of high-profile attacking signings had expectant Manchester United fans dreaming of a return to the upper echelons of European football, but their failure to identify their defensive problems is threatening to derail those hopes.
A superb 83rd minute free-kick from captain Neymar gave Brazil a winning start under new coach Dunga as they beat Colombia 1-0 in a fiercely contested friendly on Friday.
World champions Germany drew 1-1 with Spain in a high tempo friendly on Friday as they launched their preparations for a title defence in Russia while their opponents had striker Diego Costa making his long-awaited comeback as a substitute.
Manchester City squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea when they let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to struggling Burnley on Sunday.
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 put upstarts RB Leipzig firmly in their place by sweeping to an emphatic 3-0 home win, with all the goals coming in the first half, in a disappointingly one-sided top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Here is the round-up of all the football action across Europe on the weekend
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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