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.
Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain scored twice for 10-man Real Madrid in a 2-0 home win over Getafe on Saturday that eased the pressure on coach Manuel Pellegrini. Real have 22 points from nine games and are one point behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after the champions were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna, Gerard Pique scoring in his own net in the last minute.
Seydou Keita hit a hat-trick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted twice to lead Barcelona to a 6-1 thrashing of Real Zaragoza and send the La Liga champions three points clear of Real Madrid on Sunday.
Depleted Real Madrid ended a disappointing week with a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijon on Saturday, handing champions Barcelona the chance to open a three-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Striker Alvaro Negredo scored twice and created two more goals to lift European champions Spain to a 5-2 victory over Bosnia on Wednesday and make it 10 wins out of 10 in World Cup qualifying Group Five. Coach Vicente del Bosque gave Negredo his first starting spot in place of Fernando Torres and the Sevilla forward took his chance to impress with two goals in five second-half minutes and assists for David Silva and Juan Mata.
Barcelona moved to within a whisker of a second straight La Liga crown when Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Pedro earned a nervy 3-2 win at 10-man Sevilla on Saturday.
Barcelona and Real Madrid maintained their perfect La Liga starts on Saturday, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting the champions on their way to a 2-0 victory at Malaga and Real winning 3-0 at home to Tenerife.
Real Mallorca earlier came from behind to beat a weakened Barca 2-1 and spoil the new Primera Liga champions' celebrations on Sunday. Barcelona had clinched their first league title in three years on Saturday after second-placed Real Madrid were beaten 3-2 at Villarreal.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
New strikers Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano bagged their maiden Serie A goals to give AC Milan their first points of the season with a 2-1 home win over Empoli on Saturday.
Holders FC Barcelona have been placed in Group E, along with Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma, Dinamo Zagreb.
Spain will play an international friendly against England in Seville in February after the visitors refused to play at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday. In a statement, the RFEF said it had decided to hold the match at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on February 11, without giving any further explanation.
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes lack of European football will be an advantage for the club in the Premier League and same will be the case for Chelsea.
Real Madrid have replaced coach Bernd Schuster with former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur manager Juande Ramos, sporting director Predrag Mijatovic said.
There were mixed fortunes for league leaders around Europe over the weekend with Barcelona, Inter Milan and Liverpool winning but Olympique Lyon and Hoffenheim going down to defeats.
After taking home their first La Liga trophy in five years, Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. took their celebrations from streets in CelebesPlaza to the Town Hall.
Barcelona's inconsistency over the season had cost them the La Liga title, coach Luis Enrique has said.
A clinical finish by Gonzalo Higuain gave Real Madrid a 1-0 home win over Racing Santander on Saturday and a seventh successive Primera Liga victory that trimmed Barcelona's lead at the top to nine points. Third-placed Sevilla lost further ground on Real after goals from Sergio Garcia and new signing Ricardo Oliveira gave Real Betis a 2-1 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan and condemned their city rivals to a third consecutive league defeat.
A dominant yet wasteful Real ravaged their rivals in the first half while spurning a string of clear chances at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Juan Mata's deflected late winner gave holders Valencia a 3-2 victory over 2007 winners Sevilla in the first leg of their King's Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
Real Madrid battled back from a goal down to beat bottom-of-the-table Osasuna 3-1 on Sunday and reclaim second spot in the Primera Liga from Sevilla, 12 points behind leaders Barcelona.
Paris St Germain will play Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona were pitted against an unpredictable Napoli, while Chelsea were drawn against Bayern Munich. City, who will be at home in the second leg, have yet to beat the Spanish side with two draws and two defeats in their previous four meetings.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin will be in Spain's Euro 2016 squad, the country's football federation said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Bellerin and the other 18 players named to face South Korea in a friendly in Wals-Siezenheim, Austria on Wednesday, have been guaranteed spots in the European Championship squad. Bellerin was included after Real Madrid right back Dani Carvajal sustained a leg muscle injury in Saturday's Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid. The Real Madrid and Atletico players in the squad will be named later on Tuesday when Spain coach Vicente del Bosque announces his final list.
Thierry Henry came off the bench to rescue a point for Barcelona as the leaders came back to draw 2-2 at Valencia in the Primera Liga on Saturday.
The Primera Liga title will be decided by "El Clasico" between leaders Barcelona and second-placed Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in just under two weeks, according to Real midfielder Lassana Diarra.
The shock appointment of Juande Ramos to replace Bernd Schuster as Real Madrid coach on Tuesday gives this year's first Primera Liga "Clasico" between the champions and leaders Barcelona an intriguing twist.
Catalan nationalists said on Friday they would hand out 10,000 Scottish flags to Barcelona supporters in the Spanish King's Cup Final soccer match on Sunday after Madrid banned the display of the Catalan pro-independence flag in the stadium.
Headers by Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic earned Manchester United an unconvincing 2-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion in a low-key FA Cup quarter-final played in freezing conditions on Saturday.
Troubled Liverpool conceded a last-gasp goal in a 1-1 draw at Olympique Lyon on Wednesday, leaving them in danger of an early UEFA Champions League exit, while Inter Milan were on the right end of some late drama. European champions Barcelona, beaten 2-1 at home by Rubin Kazan two weeks ago, were held to a goalless draw away to the Russians in freezing conditions.
Udinese inflicted more misery on hapless Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-0 UEFA Cup group stage victory.
Holders Barcelona suffered a stunning 2-1 home defeat by Russia's Rubin Kazan while Liverpool lost by the same score to Olympique Lyon at Anfield on a night of high drama and late goals in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Three consecutive defeats by direct rivals in the Primera Liga has left Atletico Madrid coach Javier Aguirre under pressure to get a good result against Liverpool at home in the Champions League.
Substitute Christian Poulsen finally found favour with Juventus fans when he scored in injury time to seal a remarkable 2-1 win at Catania on Sunday.
Defending champions Bengaluru FC registered a narrow 1-0 win over ATK in the first leg of their Hero Indian Super League semi-final clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Barcelona have been frighteningly good at home this season, scoring 15 goals in three games at the Nou Camp.
Brazilian Ronaldinho struck deep into injury time to give favourites AC Milan a 1-0 UEFA Cup group stage win at home to Braga on Thursday while twice winners Sevilla suffered a 1-0 defeat at Standard Liege.
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has been ruled out for a month with a calf injury sustained in Saturday's 6-3 win over Arsenal, manager Manuel Pellegrini said on Monday.
La Liga leaders Barcelona drew 0-0 at Huesca on Saturday and are nine points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid, who cut the gap by beating Celta Vigo 2-0.
