Newcastle thump Preston in tense match to romp back to the top-tier
Fresh from propelling Barcelona to their fifth trophy of 2015, their prolific strikes are now seeking to break the Spanish record of goals in a calendar year when they play Real Betis on Wednesday.
Real Madrid completed their pre-season tour of Australia with a crushing 4-1 friendly win over a depleted Manchester City in front of a record soccer crowd of 99,382 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Manchester City's long winning run in the Premier League finally came to an end
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is happy with his squad and the club has not discussed possible reinforcements despite FIFA's decision to ban them from the next two transfer windows, he said on Saturday. FIFA announced on Thursday it had banned Real and neighbours Atletico Madrid from registering players for the next two windows for breaching rules on signing non-Spanish Under-18 players. Both clubs denied wrongdoing and said they would appeal. The list of players included at least one of Zidane's four sons, who play for various Real youth teams, although the club have not confirmed which of them were singled out by FIFA.
A Gareth Bale header and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty gave Real Madrid a much-needed 2-0 victory over Eibar in La Liga on Sunday, following their hammering by leaders Barcelona last weekend, and put them six points off the top of the standings.
Champions Barcelona begin their bid for a sixth La Liga title in eight years at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday knowing that fellow heavyweights Real Madrid could, unusually, be just one of several challengers for their crown.
Everton's Theo Walcott struck just after halftime to secure a 1-0 home win over Newcastle United, on Monday, that took the Merseysiders up to eighth in the Premier League, their highest position this season.
Manchester City gave renewed hope to the chasing pack in the battle for a Champions League spot as they were held to a battling 1-1 draw at relegation strugglers Newcastle United on Tuesday.
Images from Saturday's Premier League matches.
Valencia turned up the heat on Atletico Madrid in the fight for third place in La Liga when a 3-0 derby victory at home to Levante on Monday lifted the Singapore-owned club to within a point of the champions with seven games left.
Napoli's Manolo Gabbiadini netted a precious second-half equaliser to earn a 1-1 away draw at Lazio in the first leg of their Italian Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
Zinedine Zidane got off to a flying start as Real Madrid coach when Gareth Bale hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday after a Lionel Messi treble had fired Barcelona to the top of La Liga.
Prolific Cristiano Ronaldo hit a 35th hat-trick for Real Madrid who swept aside Espanyol 6-0 in a ruthless attacking display in La Liga on Sunday.
With a fifth world player of the year award safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet, Lionel Messi can set his sights on one of the next milestones in his remarkable career: reaching 500 goals for club and country. The Barcelona and Argentina forward can add to his jaw-dropping tally of 479 in 609 official games -- 430 for Barca and 49 for his national team -- in Sunday's La Liga match at home to Athletic Bilbao. The 28-year-old from Rosario, who picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, is looking close to his best following a two-month injury layoff late last year and netted a hat-trick when second-placed Barca crushed Granada 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend in their most recent outing in Spain's top flight.
Zinedine Zidane is the right man for the job of Real Madrid coach, former team-mate David Beckham said on Monday after the Spanish club sacked Rafa Benitez and replaced him with the French World Cup winner. "Does it get any better than this??," the former England captain, who played with Zidane at Real after joining from Manchester United in 2003, declared on Instagram.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Atletico Madrid turned up the heat on champions Barcelona when they fought back to secure a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Sunday as Real Madrid slipped off the pace with a 1-0 loss at Villarreal.
Reactions to Liverpool's Premier League triumph, their first league title since 1990:
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions that midfielder Paul Pogba faces a lengthy lay-off because of a hamstring injury sustained in the Champions League defeat of Basel on Tuesday.
Terry is clearly delighted to have been reunited since with Portuguese Jose Mourinho, under whose guidance he has won three of the four Premier League winners' medals he owns.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will discuss his future with the club after Saturday's final La Liga game of the campaign at home to Getafe and said he wants to stay on despite a season without a major trophy.
Real Madrid included Denis Cheryshev in their starting lineup for their first match of the 2015-16 competition even though he should have been serving a one-match suspension and the Russia forward opened the scoring in a 3-1 victory.
A preview of the line-up action in the English Premier League
Zinedine Zidane has been reappointed as Real Madrid coach nine months after resigning, replacing Argentine Santiago Solari.
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane scored his 100th goal for the club to help secure a 3-0 victory over lively Crystal Palace in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday.
Zinedine Zidane had few equals as a player but heading into his first Champions League final as a coach, he admits that unlike Atletico Madrid counterpart Diego Simeone he still has much to learn. The former France playmaker, who was promoted from Real's reserve team to replace Rafa Benitez in January, steered the side to a runners-up finish in La Liga and Saturday's final in Milan. Real have won 21 out of 26 games under Zidane and lost two, scoring 71 goals and giving away 18. Simeone led Atletico to their second Champions League final in three years. "He has everything that a coach needs but above all, he knows his team and his players well, which is the most important thing," Zidane told a news conference on Tuesday.
Romelu Lukaku scored for Chelsea in a 5-1 FA Cup third-round victory
Some key facts about Zinedine Zidane, who stepped down as Real Madrid coach after leading the Spanish club to a third successive Champions League title.
Zinedine Zidane overcame the biggest challenge of his fledgling coaching career as Real Madrid brushed aside VfL Wolfsburg to overturn a first-leg deficit and reach the Champions League semi-finals.
zidane Image: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images. An elated but pragmatic Zinedine Zidane has quickly turned his mind from the Champions League victory against AS Roma to Real Madrid's seemingly impossible task to catch Barcelona in La Liga. Real are getting better under Zidane, unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions after Wednesday's 2-0 win in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Rome, thanks to a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo. But only a couple of hours earlier, Barcelona had left Real and Atletico Madrid with a tough task to overhaul them in the league race when they secured a six-point cushion with a 3-1 win at Sporting Gijon. With 14 matches to go for all the teams in La Liga, Barcelona have 60 points to Atletico's 54 and Real's 53 and are favourites to win a sixth title in eight seasons. "We are seven points behind and it will be difficult, but we are giving it everything and we are all happy," Zidane was quoted as saying on the Real website (www.realmadrid.com).
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona dealt a stinging blow to Real Madrid's title hopes when Luis Suarez and Neymar continued their scintillating form to fire the champions to a stunning 4-0 victory in the La Liga 'Clasico' on Saturday.
Manchester City moved back to second in the Premier League after a stylish 3-0 win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday as Pep Guardiola's side responded to convincing Chelsea and Liverpool wins with a reminder of their class.
Champions Manchester City will expect to get back to winning ways at home to Newcastle United in a match which pits Pep Guardiola against his fellow Spaniard Rafa Benitez.
Images from the English Premier League match played between Manchester City and Newcastle on Wednesday
Newcastle United finally put manager Steve McClaren out of his misery when they sacked him on Friday after a period of intense speculation surrounding his future.
Sergio Aguero struck twice as Manchester City moved into second place in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Liverpool, with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth on Sunday. Just three weeks into the new season and last year's top two clubs are already perched at the top of the table.
Manchester City took a major step towards retaining their Premier League title with a 1-0 win over second-placed Chelsea on Saturday, opening up a 13-point lead at the top of the table for Pep Guardiola's side.
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