Barcelona's lead at the top of La Liga was cut after a second consecutive defeat and LeicesterCity's improbable march towards the Premier League title showed no sign of slowing as they won a fifth straight match. Juventus stayed six points clear of Napoli after Italy's top two both won and Bayern Munich extended their Bundesliga lead to seven points. Here is a summary of results from football matches played across Europe over the weekend.
Holders Bayern Munich eased into the German Cup third round with a comfortable 3-1 win at Hamburg SV on Wednesday to continue their unbeaten domestic run as they prepare for Saturday's league clash against Borussia Dortmund.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Rediff.com brings you the top highlights of the soccer weekend.
United's Ibrahimovic, Roma's Dzeko find the net thrice to give clubs first leg advantage
Seven-times champions AC Milan, knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona in the last two seasons, were drawn against the Catalans again in the group stage of this season's competition on Friday.
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho blamed a mystifying loss of focus and confidence among his players for their shock elimination from the Champions League.
As Jose Mourinho returns to his Portuguese footballing roots, the Chelsea manager may have to decide which back-up marksman he trusts most to shoot down his old employers at Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Football news from Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La liga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The victory saw the unfashionable Madrid club tighten their grip on the coveted fourth spot in the table by moving on to 58 points after 36 games, three points clear of nearest challengers Sevilla, who lost to Leganes on Friday.
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich suffered their first league defeat in 18 months when they slumped to a 1-0 loss at Augsburg on Saturday as Sascha Moelder's first-half strike ended their record 53-game unbeaten league run.
Hoffenheim ended champions Bayern Munich's 19-game winning streak in the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 3-3 draw after first taking the lead and then fighting back from two goals down.
Lionel Messi dragged Barcelona back from two goals down by scoring twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia in a thrilling encounter.
A leap in commercial and broadcast revenue lifted Manchester United into second place behind Real Madrid on the list of the world's richest clubs in 2013-14, according to Deloitte's latest Football Money League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Former Real Madrid and Spain forward Raul has joined New York Cosmos for the 2015 season on a "multi-year" contract pending a medical, the North American Soccer League (NASL) club said on Thursday.
As the mercurial Messi rings in his 28th birthday, Rediff.com brings you all the exciting moments from the ace footballer's life.
A factbox on Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi marked his first start after injury with a goal in Barcelona's 1-1 draw at AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday while Fernando Torres got two as Chelsea thumped Schalke and Atletico Madrid's charge continued.
Manchester United humbled Manchester City 4-2 in the continent's big derby of the weekend.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Three time European champions Inter Milan were stunned 2-0 at home by Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Manchester United were floored by a late goal from Feyenoord as the Europa League group stage got underway on Thursday.
Check out the top footballers of the weekend...
Juergen Klopp got a taste of the problems at Liverpool as his first home game as manager ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw against Rubin Kazan who played more than 50 minutes with 10 men in the Europa League on Thursday.
Liverpool failed to muster a single shot on target in a Champions League game for the first time since a 1-0 defeat to Benfica in February 2006.
Striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund reclaimed top spot in the Bundesliga with an awe-inspiring 6-1 demolition of VfB Stuttgart on Friday.
Manchester United's hopes of salvaging their season in the Europa League suffered a stinging setback when they lost 2-1 at Danish side Midtjylland in the first leg of their last-32 clash on Thursday.
Bayern Munich had to put their Bundesliga title celebrations on hold on Saturday after beating gutsy Mainz 05 2-0 while Borussia Dortmund also won, 3-0 at Hanover 96.
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Real Madrid took full advantage of Barcelona's shock defeat at Real Valladolid with a 3-0 home win over 10-man Levante on Sunday that put Carlo Ancelotti's in-form side three points clear at the top of La Liga.
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Atletico Madrid's La Liga title challenge took a nosedive when they slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat at Osasuna on Sunday, leaving Real Madrid three points clear at the top.
Runaway leaders Bayern Munich survived a torrid opening against Nuremberg, who hit the bar and had two players carried off injured in the first half hour, before hitting back for a 2-0 win in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Paris St Germain made light of the absent Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a sub-standard start to the season to claim a 3-2 Champions League victory over Barcelona on Tuesday.
AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani is to quit after 27 years at the Serie A club, he told the ANSA news agency on Friday.
Frank Lampard could make an emotional appearance against former club Chelsea this weekend as his new employers Manchester City host Jose Mourinho's side in an early showdown between the Premier League's heavyweights. Catch all the action.
Cristiano Ronaldo finally became the highest scorer in Real Madrid's history while Bayern Munich set a record for the greatest number of successive wins at the start of a season in the Bundesliga this weekend.
Bayern Munich went top of the Bundesliga with a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday as rivals Borussia Dortmund slumped to their first defeat of the season with a 2-0 reverse at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
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