European champions Portugal comfortably dispatched New Zealand 4-0 to reach the Confederations Cup semi-finals on Saturday after Cristiano Ronaldo set them on their way with a penalty.
France's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals are hanging by a thread after a 2-0 first-leg defeat away to Ukraine in their playoff on Friday while Cristiano Ronaldo's late winner gave Portugal the edge against Sweden.
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League second semi-final played at Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Karim Benzema scored twice in the second half as Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 4-1 to go four points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid secured a berth in the Champions League group stage for next season and Deportivo La Coruna narrowly escaped relegation when they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at champions Barcelona on the final day in La Liga on Saturday.
Manchester City reached the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Real Madrid 2-1 (4-2 on aggregate) at the Etihad Stadium on Friday, with scorers Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus taking advantage of errors by defender Raphael Varane.
United were unable to create enough quality opportunities to get themselves the goal they needed.
Bravo stopped Portugal's first three spot kicks from Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho and Nani while Chile converted their first three to win the clash of South American and European champions.
Images from UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Didier Deschamps of France and Argentina's Lionel Scaloni should avoid the temptation to throw on a 'penalty specialist'
With immense pressure on him to match the late great Diego Maradona and send the trophy back to Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi has lit up the Qatar tournament while others in the superstar stratum - Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo - have underwhelmed and gone home.
Reactions to collapse of Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Manchester United produced an utterly unexpected 2-1 victory over old rivals Liverpool in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Monday to turn fan protests against the club's owners into a rare night of celebration.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday night.
A summary of Sunday's action in the Premier League.
The football world gathered in the Qatari capital on Friday as the draw ceremony for the World Cup finals got under way with music and dance.
Defiant 10-man Porto upset Juventus to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw despite losing 3-2 to the Italians following extra time in a thrilling clash that went to the wire on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo renewed his personal battle with Lionel Messi by scoring his 71st Champions League goal, putting him three behind the Argentine's newly-set record, in Real Madrid's 1-0 win at FC Basel on Wednesday.
Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks the five best matches of the final round.
Barcelona forwards Lionel Messi, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez combined to devastating effect to hammer Girona 6-1 on Saturday as they went 10 points clear at the top of La Liga and set a club record of 32 games unbeaten in the league.
Atletico Madrid's Brazilian striker Diego Costa scored twice as they came from behind to beat Levante 3-2 at home on Saturday to go three points clear at the top of La Liga.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
A summary of Sunday's action in Serie A and Bundesliga.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.
Artem Dovbyk's goal in stoppage time at the end of extra-time earned Ukraine a 2-1 victory over 10-man Sweden in Glasgow on Tuesday and the last available berth in the European Football Championship quarter-finals.
Lionel Messi marked his record 506th appearance for Barcelona in La Liga by scoring a penalty but the Catalans could only draw
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to send Real Madrid through to the Champions League semi-finals with a 4-2 extra-time win and 6-3 aggregate success against 10-man Bayern Munich in controversial circumstances on Tuesday.
As we sit at home and miss live action, the wondrous phenomenon of sport has delivered so many past glories that we will probably never run out of things to see, recalls Dhruv Munjal.
The following factbox details five times a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) made an impact at the World Cup.
Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr both scored a brace to give the LaLiga leaders a 4-1 home win over Valencia
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Ronaldo equals Raul Real Madrid record while Morata emulates Del Piero after scoring in five consecutive matches
Each Round of 16 game was entertaining. Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com picks the games to remember.
La Liga leaders Barcelona handed Real Madrid more hope in the title race as they drew 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, only avoiding defeat thanks to some outstanding saves by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifier matches played on Tuesday night.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Manuel Neuer remained Germany's number one and captain, even as they underperformed in the UEFA Nations League and Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Here is a look at what happened in their previous Euro semis...
