Summary of the South American World Cup qualifiers played on Thursday
Although United made a bright start to their quarter-final second leg at the Nou Camp with Marcus Rashford hitting the crossbar early on, they were soon outclassed by Barca, who eased to a 3-0 win on Tuesday for a dominant 4-0 aggregate victory.
Uruguay made light of the absence of striker Luis Suarez to recover from a goal down and beat 2015 Copa America hosts Chile 2-1 in a friendly in Santiago.
Holders Sevilla led the charge into the last four of the King's Cup when Renato's early strike set them on their way to a 3-0 home win over Villarreal on Tuesday.
Arsenal conceded five goals for the first time at their Emirates Stadium as they suffered their worst home defeat for 19 years.
Atletico Madrid's Jackson Martinez scored his first goal for the club when he came off the bench and curled in a superb effort to seal a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
Luis Fabiano netted the equaliser and Frederic Kanoute struck twice to earn Sevilla a 3-1 comeback victory at home to a second-string Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Saturday.
Cech's solid 'keeping and Liverpool's staunch defence ensured the match ended in a goalless stalemate
Images from football matches played in La Liga and Serie A in Spain and Italy on Wednesday.
After an even first 45 minutes, strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder stunned the Catalans and left them needing a second-leg comeback at the Nou Camp for the second consecutive round in the competition.
Alexis Sanchez had equalised for the visitors, scoring on the rebound after Manuel Neuer saved his 30th-minute penalty but the Gunners suffered when captain Laurent Koscielny limped off injured to leave the defence exposed.
Defending champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain was knocked out of the French Open when she lost 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the fourth round against France's Kristina Mladenovic on Sunday.
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
Arsenal missed the chance to heighten the congestion at the top of the Premier League and suffered fresh injury blows when a frustrating 1-1 draw at Norwich City failed to take them alongside leaders Manchester City and Leicester City on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Out-battled for an hour by their modest south coast opponents, Arsenal belatedly sparked into life and Olivier Giroud's glancing header two minutes into stoppage time completed their remarkable recovery from 3-0 down.
Arsenal's Olivier Giroud produced a piece of New Year's Day magic to keep Arsenal in sight of Premier League leaders Chelsea while Harry Kane's double bolstered Tottenham Hotspur's ambitions as London's triple assault on the title continues.
After defeating Mali 3-2 and New Zealand 4-2, the South American team, one of the favourites to lift the title, will be looking to dominate Turkey.
Manchester City tightened their stranglehold at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday by trouncing bottom club West Bromwich Albion 3-0 as nearest rivals Manchester United suffered a chastening 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Jose Mourinho admitted that Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Arsenal means it will now be "impossible" for Manchester United to finish in the top four.
Bayer Leverkusen went one point clear at the top of the Bundesliga despite conceding two late goals to draw 2-2 at Schalke 04 on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Argentina and Brazil both lost their opening World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as the South American campaign for Russia 2018 started in unexpected fashion.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The battle to avoid relegation is now a straight shootout between Hull City and 17th-place Newcastle United, who are two points better off heading into Sunday's final round.
Serena Williams blamed an "apple in her throat" for her failure to reach the final of the Italian Open after Jelena Jankovic came back from the brink against the American in Rome on Friday. Jankovic saved a match point before pulling off a thrilling 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over the world number one to set up a showdown with Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.
Serena Williams started her 2010 season in the same devastating fashion in which she ended 2009, thrashing Spain's Marie Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the Sydney International on Tuesday.
AS Roma edged closer to a first ever league and cup double by limping into the Italian Cup final after a 1-0 defeat at Udinese in Wednesday's second leg tie.
Arsenal qualified for a 17th successive season with a nervy 1-0 win at home to Besiktas and Malmo made it for the first time with a 3-0 win over Salzburg, whose participation ended in the qualifiers for the ninth time in a row.
Manchester United's troubled season hit a new low on Saturday as Jose Mourinho saw his gamble on introducing a new tactical system backfire with an insipid 3-1 defeat to West Ham United in the Premier League.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
Jelena Jankovic came from 2-4 down in the second set to book her place in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells WTA tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Thursday.
Leicester City stumbled on their march towards the Premier League title when they drew 2-2 with West Ham United and had goalscorer Jamie Vardy sent off at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
Luis Fabiano's looping header and a Mario Alvarez own goal gave Sevilla a 2-0 win over Getafe in their King's Cup semi-final first-leg on Wednesday.
Romelu Lukaku struck twice as Manchester United returned to winning ways after two successive Premier League losses with a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
Kat Von D looked majestic in her red goth-inspired wedding gown.
Andy Murray feels he let playing partner Laura Robson down by not delivering victory for Britain over Spain in the Hopman Cup final on Saturday.
Spain eased past Australia to book their place in the final of the Hopman Cup on Thursday, dashing any hopes the hosts had of advancing with an emphatic 3-0 whitewash.
In a blistering attack on Donald Trump, Indian-American California Attorney General Kamala Harris has said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has an "unstable temperament" and his dangerous policy positions make him "unfit" for holding a public office.
Chile qualified for the Copa America final after two goals from Eduardo Vargas gave them a 2-1 win over Peru in an action-packed semi-final marked by another controversial refereeing decision.
