Rattled by embarrassing domestic defeats, Chelsea looked jittery before Olivier Giroud settled their nerves with a close range tap-in shortly after halftime at StamfordBridge following good work by N'Golo Kante and Willian in the build-up.
IMAGES from the English Premier League match played at Selhurst Park in London on Monday
Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties on Thursday to set up an all-English Europa League final with local rivals Arsenal in Baku on May 29.
Real Madrid's rampant Cristiano Ronaldo looked to be back at his best as he scored at the start of each half to set up a 4-0 victory over lowly Osasuna and put the pressure back on La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Chelsea's Marcos Alonso and Real Madrid's Nacho were notable absentees in defence, along with Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke.
The Fast and Furious actor passed away on December 1 after a freak car accident.
Gareth Bale raced away to score a stunning late winner as Real Madrid made light of the absence of top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo to beat arch-rivals Barcelona 2-1 to win a riveting King's Cup final on Wednesday.
A week ago, Barcelona still had a chance of repeating the historic treble of 2009 but defeats in Europe and La Liga mean Wednesday's King's Cup final against Real Madrid may be their only hope of major silverware this season.
Valencia turned the tables on a stunned Basel side to reach the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday with a 5-0 win after extra time thanks to a Paco Alcacer hat-trick as they recovered from a three-goal first-leg deficit.
The French forward, who joined the club in 2009, netted twice in the first-half to take his Real tally to 209 goals in 446 games, moving ahead of Mexican Hugo Sanchez into sixth place on the club's all-time top scorers list.
Diego Costa's season is getting better and better. The Atletico striker found the net again and took the Madrid team atop the La Liga table.
Cristiano Ronaldo achieved another milestone in his Real Madrid career when he scored his 200th goal at the Bernabeu on Sunday but he looks like failing in his bid to become La Liga's top scorer for the third season in a row.
Manchester United returned to winning ways after three straight defeats with a 2-0 Premier League home victory over Swansea City on Saturday, avenging last week's FA Cup loss to the Welsh club.
Spain's soccer federation (RFEF) announced a three-year deal to play the revamped tournament in Saudi Arabia
Henrik Larsson and Samuel Eto'o scored in Barcelona's 2-0 win at Real Sociedad
Argentine defender Mauricio Pellegrino has been released by European champions Liverpool, the club said on Friday.
Patrick Kluivert's move to Valencia could be in jeopardy after a knee problem was detected during a medical.
Real Madrid ran riot to sink Espanyol 4-0 at the Bernabeu in the Spanish Primera Liga.
Lionel Messi netted a superb double as Barcelona recovered from a shaky start to secure a 4-1 comeback win at rain-lashed Sevilla on Sunday that lifted the champions back to the top of La Liga.
Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris St Germain reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday on a night when the goals flowed all over Europe.
Vietto slotted the ball home with seven minutes to go after Karim Benzema had given visitors Real the lead early on.
Images and a round-up of all the World Cup qualifiers played across continents on Tuesday.
A red hot Luis Suarez scored four goals and contributed three assists as Barcelona's stuttering La Liga title charge sparked back to life with a spectacular 8-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
Here are six who could make the biggest impact in this season's English Premier League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The weekend was a goal-feast with footballers from all over Europe keeping their names on the scoresheet. Rediff.com brings you the top goal-scorers of the weekend.
Valencia's new signing Edu is set to miss most of the new season after tearing the cruciate ligament in his left knee during training
Harry Kane's superb scoring streak continued as Tottenham Hotspur survived some late nerves to beat Everton 3-2 at White Hart Lane on Sunday and cut Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
Chelsea moved within touching distance of a first Premier League title in five years with a 1-0 win over Manchester United while Lionel Messi reached a landmark with his 400th career goal for La Liga leaders Barcelona.
Photos from the English Premier League match played between Manchester United and Arsenal on Saturday
Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff and Tim Puetz pulled off a shock 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 7-5 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez to give Germany a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
Russia's Igor Andreev powered to a 7-5, 6-2 win over third seed Rafael Nadal in the Valencia Open quarter-finals.
The Brazilian was dismissed in injury time after he lashed out at Valencia's Marco Caneira.
Real Madrid and Atletico each slipped 10 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona after an intense Madrid derby finished goalless and the Catalans picked up an 11th victory in 12 games by winning 3-0 at Leganes.
Rafa Benitez has been sacked as coach of Real Madrid, according to reports in the Spanish press. Sunday night's 2-2 draw with Valencia has proved to be the final straw for president Florentino Perez with the club likely to confirm the news soon. France legend Zinedine Zidane - the coach of Real Madrid's second team, Castilla - is expected to take over.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez both hit the woodwork as Barcelona were held 0-0 by Espanyol in a hard fought derby that could see Atletico Madrid go top of La Liga.
Lionel Messi will have another chance to match or surpass Telmo Zarra's six-decade-old La Liga scoring record of 251 goals when Barcelona host promoted Eibar on Saturday.
