Italy and France face the unpalatable prospect of being eliminated from Euro 2008 on Friday.
Spain, Germany and England all chalked up victories in their qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Saturday.
How the teams stand in the European Football Championship.
Romania coach Victor Piturca dropped Dinamo Bucharest striker Florin Bratu on Wednesday when he named his final 23-man Euro 2008 squad.
Substitute Lionel Messi scored two late goals, including one in stoppage time, to lead 2006 winners Barcelona to a 2-1 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday. Last season's runners-up Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at surprise packages CFR Cluj, who were playing in Romania's third division just six years ago.
IMAGES from the 2020 Euro Qualifiers played on Monday
Somdev Devvarman expresses confidence of a good showing ahead of India's Davis Cup match against Romania.
France coach Didier Deschamps was more than just relieved after his team scored two late goals to beat a stubborn Albania team 2-0 on Wednesday and reach the second round of Euro 2016.
Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday tipped Prakash Amritraj and new kid on the block Somdev Devvarman as ideal players for India's upcoming Davis Cup tie in Romania.
List of French Open men's singles champions:
The Indian youngster took world No 18 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro to three sets before bowing out in the first round of the Euro 370000 BCR Open in Bucharesh.
With an eye to the large and growing market for their products, Indian auto component and tyre companies are making a beeline to set shop in Europe (especially Eastern Europe). Just last month Apollo Tyres announced that it was setting up a euro 200 million green field venture outside Hungary. And Delhi based Amtek Auto will set up a production base which will come in to operation in 2009 in Romania.
Andy Murray overcame a sluggish start to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu on a bad Tuesday for French players. The fourth-seeded Briton was 2-1 down in the opening set after dropping serve in the third game but he woke up to take four games in a row. He clinched victory when Hanescu netted a forehand on the fourth match point.
China upstaged a hobbling United States team to surge to their first gymnastics women's team title at the Olympics.
Defending champion Serena Williams is the top seed in the women's draw. The American will be looking to equal Steffi Graf's Open era record by sealing a 22nd Grand Slam triumph.
This was Apurvi's second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February.
World Cup winners Italy and runners-up France were in danger of tumbling out of Euro 2008 at the group stage.
