Images from football matches played across Europe on Monday.
Real, Barca and Juve stand firm on Super League
The Champions League is set for some much-needed drama this week with the conclusion of a group stage which has been all too predictable and produced an embarrassing procession of one-sided matches.
Nine-times winners Real Madrid will play Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League after the draw was made at UEFA's headquarters in Switzerland on Thursday.
Inter Milan moved into the Italian Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over second-tier Verona on Tuesday.
Spain ended European champions Italy's world record 37-match unbeaten run as Ferran Torres scored twice in a 2-1 win at the San Siro stadium in an entertaining Nations League semi-final on Wednesday.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi has set the bar so high for himself that when he does not score for a few games it prompts an outburst of speculation and head-scratching about what might be ailing the Argentine World Player of the Year.
Paris St Germain sports director Leonardo asked his Sky Italia presenter partner Anna Billo to marry him live on air after Friday's Champions League quarter-final draw.
Images from the Serie A and La Liga matches played on Saturday.
Brazilian Kaka looked a player reborn while producing a superb display in AC Milan's 1-1 Champions League draw with Barcelona on Tuesday.
Images from Champion League matches played across Europe on Tuesday.
Spain's big two face a pair of Italian giants in the Champions League this week, boasting 22 European Cups between them, as AC Milan aim to end a recent bad record against Barcelona and Juventus seek to peg back Real Madrid.
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid dropped their first points of the season on Saturday, missing the chance to equal the record for the best-ever La Liga start.
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal and AC Milan suffered painful Champions League defeats on Wednesday which complicated their chances of progressing from an increasingly intriguing group stage.
Inter Milan have been fined 50,000 euros after fans racially abused their former player Mario Balotelli in Sunday's city derby with AC Milan, Serie A said in a statement on Tuesday.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Saturday
Be it at Inter Milan, Manchester City or AC Milan, striker Balotelli has grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. This season, the striker walks the same, shameful road. The Italian's tryst with trouble continued when he was handed a three-match ban for his sending-off at the end of Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Napoli. As Balotelli keeps jumping from one controversy to another, Rediff.com brings you a quick recap of episodes involving the 'indisciplined Italian'.
Didier Drogba would be a great addition to AC Milan's squad, coach Massimiliano Allegri said on Wednesday as Italian media speculated that a deal was in the offing.
Maverick striker Mario Balotelli has been fined 10,000 euros for making a provocative gesture to rival Cagliari supporters after scoring against them in AC Milan's 2-1 win on Sunday.
Juventus, with 66 points from 27 games and chasing a ninth successive title, extended their lead to four points over Lazio, who visit Atalanta on Wednesday. Bologna are 10th.
World Cup winners Ronaldinho and Kaka were both left out of the Brazil's Confederations Cup squad on Tuesday as coach Luiz Felipe Scolari opted for youth ahead of experience.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised as inadequate a 50,000 euro fine handed to AS Roma for racist behaviour from their fans and said lessons had not been learned in Italian soccer.
AS Roma have been fined 50,000 euros for racist behaviour by fans in Sunday's Serie A match at AC Milan, a game interrupted by the referee early in the second half.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter was 'appalled' by racist jeering directed at AC Milan's Mario Balotelli during their Serie A match against AS Roma, he said on Monday.
Napoli qualified for the Champions League group stage by winning 3-0 at Bologna on Wednesday and two goals from Mario Balotelli kept AC Milan on course for the qualifying round with a 4-0 victory at Pescara.
Champions League competitors Schalke 04 have signed AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng on a four-year deal after the Ghana international passed his medical at the German club on Friday.
A debut double from 36-year-old Luca Toni gave Hellas Verona a surprise 2-1 triumph over AC Milan on Saturday while new signing Carlos Tevez was on target as champions Juventus won 1-0 at Sampdoria.
If Barcelona require extra inspiration as they prepare their bid to overturn a 4-0 Champions League semi-final deficit at home to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, they need look no further than La Liga rivals Deportivo La Coruna.
Real Sociedad scored two brilliant goals to win 2-0 against a stunned Olympique Lyonnais side who finished with 10 men while AC Milan held PSV Eindhoven to a 1-1 draw in Champions League playoff first legs.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will leave the club he has played for throughout his career and move to a foreign team at the end of the season, the English Premier League club said on Friday.
Juventus are desperate to win a first Champions League title in a quarter of a century
Maverick forward Mario Balotelli was given a three-match ban on Tuesday for insulting the fourth official at the end of AC Milan's 2-2 draw at Fiorentina at the weekend.
Fiorentina, two goals down and reduced to 10 men, converted two penalties in seven minutes to draw 2-2 with AC Milan on Sunday in a match between two direct rivals for a Champions League place.
Sunderland entrusted flamboyant Italian Paolo Di Canio with the task of securing their Premier League survival when they appointed him as head coach in place of the sacked Martin O'Neill on Sunday.
Real Madrid and AC Milan led a procession of six teams into the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday while big-spending Manchester City failed again on the European stage to further dent English soccer's standing.
AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who led a walk-off in a club friendly in January after being racially abused, believes the game needs to be more multi-cultural.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona became the first team to overturn a two-goal first-leg deficit without the benefit of an away goal to advance to the last eight 4-2 on aggregate. Following is a selection of reactions to Barcelona's 4-0 Champions League victory against AC Milan on Tuesday.
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