A summary of the results of the major European football league matches on the weekend.
Raheem Sterling struck twice as the Premier League champions Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday to stay within two points of leaders Liverpool.
Bayern Munich will be out to prove they have erased the bitter taste of last season's Champions League final defeat by Chelsea when they host Spain's Valencia in their opening Group F match on Wednesday.
Barcelona's Champions League last-16 second leg match with Napoli scheduled for March 18 will take place without spectators due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus, a club spokesman said on Tuesday. The match will take place at Camp Nou after a 1-1 draw in Napoli, but no supporters will be allowed to enter the stadium.
Six times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and MotoGP great Valentino Rossi are preparing for a ride swap in Spain on Monday, with the Briton "super excited" at the prospect.
A late header by Imanol Agirretxe gave Real Sociedad, who are without a coach, a 2-1 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday.
"The only truth is that I made the decision that Paul will not be a second (vice) captain anymore but no fallout, no problems at all," Mourinho said after his team were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by second-tier Derby County.
Manchester United and Liverpool, English football's two most decorated clubs, were drawn together in the last 16 of the Europa League on Friday.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, surprise winner in Spain last month, put his Williams team back on top of the timesheets in first free practice at the European Grand Prix on Friday.
Lionel Messi's double and a David Villa goal on his return form injury helped Barcelona hammer visitors Real Sociedad 5-1 to give new coach Tito Vilanova the perfect start to their La Liga campaign on Sunday.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's La Liga action:
Barcelona striker Lionel Messi is expected to play in Wednesday's King's Cup semi-final against Valencia despite missing training on Monday to have tests on his kidneys, the La Liga club said.
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup winner took to Twitter to express that he wants to win the Emperor's Cup with the Japanese side.
Paco Alcacer enjoyed a rare outing for Barcelona by scoring twice in the club's 2-1 La Liga win over Sevilla at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
World number two Rafael Nadal has been named in Spain's squad for their Davis Cup World Group quarter-final against Germany in Valencia next month.
Images from the EPL match played between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Monday.
Real Madrid's stuttering run continued as they were held 1-1 at home by La Liga minnows Eibar on Sunday, drawing a fourth consecutive game in all competitions for the first time in more than a decade.
The much-travelled Ranieri won the Premier League title with unfancied Leicester City in 2016 and most recently coached French side Nantes.
Levante continued to defy their humble status as Valencia's second club when they beat Real Betis 3-1 to reclaim fourth place in La Liga on Monday.
Under-fire Rafa Benitez said Real Madrid needed to be more consistent and also accused his players of easing off in games ahead of Sunday's La Liga clash with his former club Valencia. The Spaniard is the most successful coach in Valencia's history. He led them to La Liga titles in 2002 and 2004, when he also won the UEFA Cup, and is sure of a warm welcome when he walks out at the Mestalla.
Thousands of revelers hurled tomatoes at each other, cavorting in the red pulp beneath their feet in the Spanish town of Bunol. Organisers of the annual Tomatina festival tossed 145 tonnes of over-ripe tomatoes into the crowd from six large trucks, quickly converting the town into a sea of pink and red.
Real Madrid's unbeaten start to the La Liga season came to an abrupt and surprising end as Real Mallorca claimed a stunning 1-0 victory at a rocking Son Moix on Saturday to climb out of the relegation zone.
Manchester United appears to be bracing itself for losing Bulgarian star Dimitar Berbatov to either Valencia or Paris Saint-Germain.
La Liga leaders Barcelona beat Real Madrid 1-0 to all but knock their rivals out of the title race on Saturday, while second-placed Atletico Madrid stayed seven points behind the Catalans with a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Japan coach Javier Aguirre, Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera, Atletico Madrid captain Gabi and 38 others have been named in an alleged case of match-fixing involving a La Liga match in the 2010-11 season.
'So, the Champions League final will be played between two teams who just don't know when they are beaten,' says Suhit K Sen.
Chelsea is currently at the fourth place in the Premier League standings with 63 points from 37 matches.
Madrid went into halftime with a three-goal lead after Marco Asensio scored twice in three minutes and debutant Javi Sanchez also got on the scoresheet late in the half.
Karim Benzema is returning to full fitness at just the right time for Real Madrid, who will play Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28. Coach Zinedine Zidane was relieved to see the Frenchman come back from a hamstring problem and score in Sunday's 3-2 triumph over Valencia, a result that kept Real just a point behind Barcelona with one game to go in the race for the league title. "He's not been at 100 percent for a while. We've seen that it wasn't easy for him physically," Zidane told Real's website. "(Against Valencia) he coped with it well and without any problems. We've got two games left. He's getting better every day and he's not feeling any discomfort from his last injury."
The Bavarians have now won the German league title a record 29 times.
India have so far won three gold medals with compound archer Abhishek Verma opening the tally by winning the individual event on Saturday.
Chanu, who is employed with the Indian Railways, lifted 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to total an impressive 194kg in the women's 48kg, setting a new national record in the process.
Arsenal were 2-1 winners over Paris St Germain and Valencia beat Inter Milan 2-0 on the first day of the pre-season Emirates Cup tournament on Saturday.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Manchester United will return to their 'normal team' for the Premier League clash against Watford on Sunday, manager Jose Mourinho said, after suffering a surprising 1-0 defeat against Feyenoord in the Europa League.
Liverpool received a relatively kind draw for the group stage of this year's Champions League
The 31-year-old is still recovering from the knee injury which forced him to limp out of the Euro 2016 final against France in the first half, coach Fernando Santos said.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is unsure of his future at the club despite leading them to the Champions League final.
Spain are still favourites to finish top of Group E above Sweden, Poland and Slovakia but, after struggling to break down conservative sides such as Georgia and Greece in March, they know coming first will not be a procession.
