News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lionel Messi's return sparked Argentina to a 2-1 win over Chile in Santiago on Thursday, breathing new life into their South American qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
Liverpool scored three goals in 12 dramatic first-half minutes, two of them from Emre Can, on their way to a hugely entertaining 4-2 win over Hoffenheim which took them back to the Champions League group stage after a two-season absence on Wednesday.
Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.
Costa turned Juanfran's low cross into the net in the 69th minute for Atletico's third goal in the first leg of the last 16 tie against third division Lleida but immediately limped to the sidelines. He did return to the pitch, however, and completed the game despite bleeding from his knee.
Cameroonian teenager Wilfrid Kaptoum scored a late equaliser to give Barcelona a 1-1 draw at Valencia that wrapped up an 8-1 aggregate success in their King's Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Hertha Berlin's Salomon Kalou scored twice, including a stoppage-time penalty, to earn a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Hosts Brazil suffered a huge blow when they lost leading forward Neymar for the rest of the World Cup through injury on Friday as they set up an epic-looking semi-final against Europe's biggest remaining team Germany.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and his father Jorge testified separately in court on Friday to answer charges of tax evasion on income earned from the sale of the player's image rights.
El Salvador have banned 14 international footballers for life for match-fixing, including some of their best-known and most experienced players.
Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck a vital late goal to seal a 3-1 win over Valencia on Thursday and give his side breathing space for the second leg of their Europa League semi-final in Spain next week.
Rediff.com encapsulates all the excitement through these breathtaking visuals from the Dakar Rally.
Neymar made his return to the pitch after a three-month injury lay-off as Paris St Germain celebrated their eighth Ligue 1 title with a 3-1 win against Monaco at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
Lionel Messi scored his 12th league goal of the season but Barcelona had to rely on exceptional saves from Marc-Andre ter Stegen as they rode their luck to win 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday and stay four points clear at the top of La Liga.
Here's your weekly digest of unusual moments from around the world.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
Striker Sergio Aguero scored twice to give Argentina a 2-0 win over fellow World Cup finalists Bosnia in a friendly at the Busch baseball stadium in St Louis, Missouri on Monday.
A Paco Alcacer header gave Valencia a 2-2 draw in a highly charged La Liga clash against third-placed Real Madrid who had taken the lead with eight minutes remaining on Sunday.
Mario Goetze of Germany slips the ball past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero in the World Cup final on Sunday. Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time on Sunday after substitute Mario Goetze volleyed in a brilliant goal seven minutes from the end of extra-time to secure a 1-0 victory over Argentina at the Maracana.
Lionel Messi saved Argentina's blushes with a brilliant stoppage time winner against unheralded Iran at the football World Cup on Saturday to send the South Americans into the last 16.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Gonzalo Higuain pulled one back three minutes later with a typically opportunist goal, the Argentine's 13th in the league this season, to set up a tense final half hour.
A late header by Imanol Agirretxe gave Real Sociedad, who are without a coach, a 2-1 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday.
Napoli thrashed Frosinone 5-1 away to go top of Serie A on Sunday after previous leaders Inter Milan were sunk by a Domenico Berardi penalty in the fifth minute of injury time in a 1-0 home defeat against modest Sassuolo.
However, the WH Press Secretary says that the right circumstances for a meeting between the two leaders does not exist right now.
'Les Bleus' will be inspired by the two-decade anniversary of their only World Cup win in 1998, while double winners Uruguay's modern generation are desperate to recreate the black-and-white-era glories of their 1930 and 1950 trophies.
Real Madrid ended their long wait for a La Liga victory by beating Real Valladolid 2-0 on Saturday with two late goals in interim coach Santiago Solari's first home game in charge of the struggling European champions.
Only four teams are left in the Copa America and whichever lifts the trophy next weekend, one thing is guaranteed -- the winning coach will be an Argentine.
Defender Miguel Britos was sent off for head-butting an opponent as Napoli lost 3-1 at champions Juventus on Saturday, all but ending their hopes of Champions League football next season.
Inter Milan's Serie A title hopes suffered a setback as they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser and were held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Carpi and leaders Napoli swept to a 4-2 win at Sampdoria.
Eric Choupo-Moting scored his third Ligue 1 goal of the season on Sunday but the Paris St Germain forward's incredible miss later in the game was the moment that will be remembered from his performance in Sunday's 2-2 draw against Racing Strasbourg.
Italy in particular has got a very big problem, I would go as far as to say it's an epidemic, said FARE's executive director Piara Powar
A summary of Saturday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga.
The Philippines army battles terrorists backed by Islamic State in the first major military encounter with Islamists in that part of the world.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Chinese President dethroned Russian President Vladimir Putin as the most influential person on the planet.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Inter Milan's aversion to Europa League football continued with a 3-1 defeat at Sparta Prague, while AS Roma ended a continental hoodoo stretching back seven games with a 4-0 home win over Romanian side FC Astra on Thursday.
