Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, failing to make it past the group stage of the competition for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
Karim Benzema fired Real Madrid to a 1-0 win in the city derby against Atletico Madrid on Saturday which underlined Real's La Liga title credentials. Bayern Munich scored three goals in the opening 26 minutes to defeat Mainz 05 3-1 away on Saturday and go two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with their sixth straight win.
Patrick Mueller's decision to leave Olympique Lyon without permission to play for his national team last week was rewarded on Wednesday with a place in Switzerland's 23-man squad for Euro 2008.
Bayern come from behind to beat gutsy Mainz 2-1 and widen gap.
Manchester United humbled Manchester City 4-2 in the continent's big derby of the weekend.
Spanish playmaker Mata, 31, joined United in 2014 for a then club record transfer fee of 37.1 million pounds ($46.86 million) from league rivals Chelsea.
Here is a round-up of results from the European League matches played on Wednesday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Barcelona snatched a late 2-1 win at Getafe with Paulinho's strike sending them seven points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Roberto Firmino's goal gave Brazil a 1-0 victory over Chile in a feisty friendly at the Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday, their eighth successive win since last year's disappointing World Cup campaign.
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.
Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng returned to haunt his former club with a last-gasp goal that secured a 1-0 win over English title holders Manchester City in their opening Champions League Group E clash on Wednesday.
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.
Messi opened the scoring after two minutes and eight seconds, the quickest goal of his career, slipping the ball through Thibaut Courtois' legs from a tight angle.
World champions Germany drew 1-1 with Spain in a high tempo friendly on Friday as they launched their preparations for a title defence in Russia while their opponents had striker Diego Costa making his long-awaited comeback as a substitute.
Neymar scored twice as Barcelona reached the Champions League semi-finals.
Manchester City made it five wins out of five in the Premier League and Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals for Real Madrid but Chelsea and Juventus continued to struggle at the weekend as the Champions League looms.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Bayern Munich, already crowned Bundesliga champions last week, lifted the league trophy in an empty stadium on Saturday after crushing hosts VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 on the final matchday. Bayern can win more silverware next week with the German Cup final against Bayer Leverkusen. They are also still in the Champions League.
Juve forward Cristiano Ronaldo had an unusually quiet game after scoring a hat-trick against Atletico in last year's competition, although he came within inches of grabbing a last-gasp winner when he sent a shot just past the far post.
Atletico Madrid delayed Barcelona's La Liga title celebrations by beating Valencia 3-2 at home in an entertaining game on Wednesday at a sparsely attended Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Real Madrid's La Liga title bid took a dent after Zinedine Zidane's leaders were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday, denied all three points by a late strike from Santi Mina. Lazio mounted a superb second-half comeback at the Olympic Stadium to beat Inter Milan 2-1 and move above Antonio Conte's side into second place in Serie A on Sunday.
Lionel Messi came off the bench to preserve Barcelona's unbeaten run in La Liga with a sensational late equaliser in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Sevilla on Saturday as the runaway leaders came back from two goals down in the space of a minute.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
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.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky continued to swipe past the seeds at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday by dumping World No 4 Maria Sharapova from the hard court tournament with a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.
A summary of Wednesday night's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Two late goals in two minutes from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez gave European champions Barcelona a dramatic 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.
There was no farewell goal but plenty of pride and appreciation as Wayne Rooney made his 120th and final appearance for England in a 3-0 win over the United States in a friendly at Wembley on Thursday.
Bigger than ever, the European Championship kicks off in Paris on Friday with a four-week feast of football that promises to elevate the game above the corruption scandals and security fears that have overshadowed its build-up. All eyes will be on hosts France when they get the ball rolling against Romania in the Stade de France -- 210 days after suicide bombers at the same venue triggered a night of horror across the capital which killed 130 people.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Two goals from Thomas Mueller and one from substitute Mario Goetze helped Bayern Munich kick off their Champions League campaign with an impressive 3-0 victory over Olympiakos.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Jubilant fans thronged central Belgrade, bringing traffic at the main Republic Square to a halt as they waved Serbian flags and hooted their car horns.
European champions Bayern Munich led the charge into the last 16 of the Champions League when they beat Viktoria Plzen 1-0 to chalk up a record-equalling ninth straight victory in the competition on Tuesday.
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