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.
Images from football matches played in Europe 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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As Leicester City celebrates its unexpected title triumph, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com lists similar success stories across Europe's top leagues.
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.
Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, which took his league tally for the season to 21, meant that he joined Fabio Quagliarella and Gabriel Batistuta as the only players to have scored in 11 consecutive league appearances. He also reached yet another milestone with his 1,000th match for club and country in a remarkable career which has seen him play for Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal.
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.
Former Bayern Munich coach Flick takes over Germany to 2024
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.
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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
Domenico Di Carlo has been sacked as coach of Parma, the Serie A strugglers said on Monday.
Serie A leaders Inter Milan beat AC Milan 2-1 to extend their advantage over AS Roma to seven points.
The Portuguese forward then fired in the penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
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.
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.
New Parma boss Hector Cuper said on Wednesday he was confident the club will avoid relegation from the Italian top flight.
Carlos Tevez scored two early goals for Juventus before the Serie A leaders squandered the lead in a 2-2 draw at Verona on Sunday.
