Napoli recovered from three goals down to draw 3-3 at Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League on Thursday as holders Atletico Madrid were held 1-1 by Bayer Leverkusen.
A spectacular piledriver from Juan Cuadrado gave Serie A leaders Juventus a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, ending a run of seven successive Serie A wins for their opponents in a pulsating end-to-end match on Sunday.
Manchester City's defence has been particularly charitable in the run-up to Christmas and new manager Roberto Mancini's first task will be to inject some Scrooge-like meanness. Italian coaches are renowned for their devotion to miserly defending and the former Sampdoria striker will not tolerate donations to Stoke City on Boxing Day as he begins his reign at the world's richest club.
For so long seen as the bad boy of Italian soccer, Antonio Cassano came of age in Italy's opening Euro 2012 qualifying win over Estonia and he will again be their focal point for Tuesday's game with the Faroe Islands.
Sevilla, who reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season, were handed a shock playoff defeat by unfashionable Braga on Tuesday while Werder Bremen pulled off a spectacular escape act to oust Sampdoria.
Hoffenheim fought back from an early goal down to strike four times in 23 minutes and crush Werder Bremen 4-1 on Saturday, in an impressive show of attacking football at the start of the season.
Werder Bremen have agreed to sign versatile midfielder Wesley from Brazilian club Santos on a four- year deal, the Bundesliga club said on Saturday.
Francesco Totti scored a late penalty in AS Roma's 2-1 win over Cagliari to deny Inter Milan the chance to win the Serie A title with a game to spare on Sunday.
AC Milan were handed a comfortable UEFA Cup assignment on Tuesday after being drawn with Heerenveen, Braga, Portsmouth and Wolfsburg in the group stage.
As Leicester City celebrates its unexpected title triumph, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com lists similar success stories across Europe's top leagues.
Inter Milan climbed back to the top of Serie A with a 3-1 home win over Atalanta on Saturday after Jose Mourinho's gamble with their title hopes paid off.
Juventus, who have won only one of their last five games and have dropped 18 points from winning positions this season, stay on 80 points followed by Atalanta with 74 and Inter Milan on 73 with three games each to play.
AS Roma striker Francesco Totti will be aiming for another hat-trick at Atalanta on Sunday as speculation mounts about an Italy comeback, something Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano can only dream of.
Juventus crushed visiting Sampdoria 5-1 on Wednesday to leapfrog the Genoa side into second place in Serie A but AC Milan's revival stalled when last-gasp goals earned Napoli a 2-2 draw.
Chelsea will look extremely familiar to Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho for more reasons than one when the pair meet at the San Siro on Wednesday in their Champions League last 16 first-leg clash. Mourinho won two Premier League titles as manager of the London club while the two sides are very similar in style.
Inter Milan had both centre backs sent off in the first half but the ultra-tough Serie A leaders still battled to a 0-0 home draw with Sampdoria on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Claudio Marchisio blew open the Serie A title race when his superb goal gave 10-man Juventus a 2-1 win over leaders Inter Milan in an enthralling game on Saturday.
Leaders Inter Milan moved four points clear in Serie A after a remarkable 5-3 win over Palermo on Thursday when the champions went 4-0 up by halftime before almost throwing victory away.
The victory moved second-placed Bayern, who take on Celtic in the Champions League next week, up to 17 points, two behind Dortmund who suffered their first home loss in 41 league matches.
Lazio beat Sampdoria 6-5 on penalties to lift the Italian Cup after Wednesday's final at the Stadio Olimpico finished 1-1 following extra-time.
Carlo Ancelotti must steer AC Milan into the Champions League to ensure he is still their coach next season, chief executive Adriano Galliani said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese forward then fired in the penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Benzema to stand trial in sex tape case, says lawyer.
Juventus added a touch of controversy to their Serie A title celebrations on Saturday by suggesting it was the 33rd, not the 31st, time they had won the league.
Filippo Inzaghi scored a hat-trick to help AC Milan strengthen their grip on third spot in Serie A with a 3-0 home win over Atalanta on Sunday.
A controversial Adriano goal helped Serie A leaders Inter Milan to a 2-1 victory over AC Milan on Sunday which all but ended the Rossoneri's title hopes.
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AS Roma moved clear at the top of Serie A after beating Sampdoria 2-0 on Wednesday as struggling AC Milan came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 in stoppage time at Bologna.
David Beckham enhanced his growing reputation in Serie A by scoring his first goal for AC Milan while the unflappable Kaka netted twice in a 4-1 win at 10-man Bologna on Sunday. The on-loan England midfielder finished off a neat move to complete the scoring and leave third-placed Milan six points behind leaders Inter Milan, who beat Sampdoria 1-0 at home in the late game.
Brazilian Julio Baptista struck twice to give AS Roma a 2-0 win over Sampdoria in their rearranged Serie A game on Wednesday.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and defender Andrea Barzagli have extended their contracts with the Italian champions until 2018, they said on Wednesday. Italy captain Buffon, 38, and international team mate Barzagli, 35, have helped Juve win five straight Serie A titles, having made 35 and 30 appearances respectively this season. "I hope that my fantastic story with this club will go on and bring even further success," Buffon told a news conference. "I'm immensely proud in the faith Juventus have placed in me once more." Barzagli added: "Even at this age, I still have room to improve and this is the best place for me to do so."
Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero and Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano have been included in Italy's provisional 24-man squad for Euro 2008, coach Roberto Donadoni said on Tuesday. Del Piero, 33, has not played for the world champions in eight months but was expected to be included after finishing as Serie A's top scorer for the first time with 21 goals this term.
Holders AS Roma will meet Inter Milan in the Italian Cup final for the fourth consecutive season after drawing 1-1 at Catania on Thursday to progress 2-1 on aggregate. Serie A leaders Inter and second-placed Roma are assured of a Champions League place next season so Italy's third UEFA Cup spot will now go to the seventh-placed team in the league.
A dominant AC Milan beat Serie A leaders Inter Milan 2-1 on Sunday to blow open the title race with second-placed AS Roma winning 3-0 at Sampdoria.
Giacomo Bonaventura's free kick earned Milan a 1-0 win over Pescara to move them into the top three of Serie A on Sunday.
Domenico Di Carlo has been sacked as coach of Parma, the Serie A strugglers said on Monday.
The rapid outbreak of coronavirus pandemic across Italy has been linked to the UEFA Champions League match between Italian club Atalanta and Spain's Valencia at the San Siro stadium in Milan on Feburary 19. The first cases of the virus were reported in northern Italy in the week that Atalanta enjoyed one of the finest nights in their history, beating visitors Valencia 4-1 in the Champions League last-16, first-leg match.
Serie A leaders Inter Milan beat AC Milan 2-1 to extend their advantage over AS Roma to seven points.
Two Serie A players were banned for three months and 10 days and fined 10,000 euros each on Friday after entering plea bargains in a long-running match-fixing scandal.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique believes his current squad is the strongest he has ever had and he is very confident of retaining the La Liga and King's Cup titles. The Spanish champions have recruited Andre Gomes, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez since the end of last season while Marc Bartra, Thomas Vermaelen, Adriano Correia and Sandro Ramirez have departed. "On paper, this is the best squad that I have had in my three years at Barca," Luis Enrique told the club's website. "We have a squad that has been strengthened brilliantly.
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