Tottenham Hotspur and Schalke 04 belied their reputations to knock seven-times winners AC Milan and twice finalists Valencia out of the Champions League on Wednesday with performances that went entirely against type.
Gennaro Gattuso finally had fans talking about his talent rather than his temper after his rare goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 win at beleaguered Juventus and stretched their Serie A lead to eight points on Saturday.
Manager Juergen Klopp has told Mario Balotelli that with so much competition for places up front at Liverpool he should look for another club.
AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso has been given a four-match European ban for head-butting the assistant coach of rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last week's Champions League tie, UEFA said Monday.
AC Milan are battling to sign Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic after their disappointing pre-season but the Swede is unlikely to be on board for Sunday's Serie A opener at home to promoted Lecce.
David Villa scored his first goal for Barcelona in a friendly against AC Milan on Wednesday, while behind the scenes the two clubs prepared to continue their negotiations over Barca striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Inter Milan reignited their Serie A title charge thanks to Morocco midfielder Houssine Kharja setting up a 3-0 win at bottom side Bari on Thursday.
Juventus regained the Serie A lead after Alessandro Del Piero scored a late free kick on his 700th appearance for the club to seal a 2-1 home win over Lazio on Wednesday.
Blackburn Rovers have made an offer for AC Milan forward Ronaldinho and are also chasing former England captain David Beckham, the Indian owners of the Premier League club said on Tuesday.
AC Milan forward Ronaldinho is on the verge of leaving the Serie A leaders after media reports on Saturday said he had left the club's training base in Dubai to return to Brazil.
AC Milan named unheralded Massimiliano Allegri as their new coach on Friday, propelling the former Cagliari boss to the hotseat of one of Europe's top clubs just two years after he was managing in the third tier.
Inter Milan's crisis intensified on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat at Chievo, where Samuel Eto'o appeared to commit a Zinedine Zidane-like headbutt that could result in a lengthy suspension.
AC Milan's hopes of a first domestic double suffered a hiccup when they drew 2-2 at home to Palermo in the Italian Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic came to blows with team-mate Oguchi Onyewu in training on Friday and the pair had to be separated by the rest of the squad.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho breezed back into the San Siro like a rock star on Tuesday but the ice cool Portuguese said sentiment had nothing to do with the serious business of reaching the Champions League last 16.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been banned for three games for swearing at a linesman, Serie A said on Monday, as it handed down a second hefty suspension on the Swede in two appearances.
Italian champions Inter Milan ended a damaging week on a high by beating Chievo Verona 2-0 at the San Siro to move two points behind Serie A leaders AC Milan on Saturday.
Alexandre Pato continued his rich vein of form with two goals in AC Milan's 3-1 win over Chievo which powered the hosts to the top of Serie A on Saturday.
Angel di Maria's late intervention spared Real Madrid another inquest into the case of the misfiring forwards while Zlatan Ibrahimovic's sense of occasion salvaged a Champions League point for AC Milan.
Modest Braga, who have never won a Portuguese league title, stunned five-times European champions Liverpool 1-0 with a first-half penalty in the Europa League on Thursday.
Juventus joined AC Milan at the top of Serie A but failed to get the win they needed to end the year clear in Serie A after a disappointing 0-0 draw at title rivals Udinese on Wednesday as Napoli hit six against Genoa.
AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said Saturday' shock 2-0 defeat at promoted Cesena was the perfect wake up call for those who thought the Rossoneri would crush all comers this season.
Tottenham Hotspur missed the chance to climb to third place in the Premier League when they suffered a 3-1 defeat at lowly Blackpool despite dominating the game for long periods at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday.
Substitute Alexandre Pato netted a superb winner after Robinho had opened the scoring using the top of his arm as Serie A leaders AC Milan ground out a precious 2-1 win at Chievo on Sunday.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
Tottenham Hotspur pulled off a 1-0 win at AC Milan and Raul made a goalscoring return to Spain to earn Schalke a 1-1 draw at Valencia as the Champions League returned with two last-16 first-leg matches on Tuesday.
Schalke 04 have signed Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Italian side AC Milan, coach Felix Magath said on Tuesday.
Antonio Cassano scored his first AC Milan goal and Robinho struck twice to help the Serie A leaders end a run of two straight draws in a 4-0 home thrashing of Parma on Saturday.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho's quest to become the first man to win the European Cup with three different clubs will include a super-charged visit to Milan following Thursday's draw for the Champions League group stage.
AC Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari looks set to leave the club after being left out of the squad for Saturday's Serie A match away to Palermo at his own request, his agent Federico Pastorello said on Friday.
Injury-hit Serie A leaders AC Milan were unlucky to be held to a 0-0 draw at home with Lazio on Tuesday after missing several chances, giving their title rivals a boost ahead of the rest of the midweek programme.
Substitute Giampaolo Pazzini scored twice and won a penalty on a dream debut as Serie A champions Inter Milan roared back from 2-0 down to beat visiting Palermo 3-2 in an enthralling encounter on Sunday.
AS Roma soothed internal strife by clambering up to second in Serie A with an easy 3-0 home win over Cagliari on Saturday.
Samuel Eto'o scored twice as Inter Milan swatted aside Bologna 4-1 on Saturday to record their fourth successive win under new coach Leonardo and continue their ominous climb up the Serie A table.
Former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho has signed a four-year contract with Flamengo in a bid to revive his flagging career and win a place in Brazil's 2014 World Cup squad.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has said he is "definitely interested" in bringing LA Galaxy's former England captain David Beckham to the Premier League club on loan this month.
Another Lionel Messi hat-trick lit up the Champions League yet again as Barcelona and AC Milan qualified for the last 16 with time to spare on Tuesday although it is APOEL Nicosia who are fast becoming the talk of the group stages.
Italy face a tough opening day task against a resilient and talented Turkey side that impressed in qualifying and has a penchant for big games.
AC Milan have reached a deal to sign Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano, a Milan spokesman said on Monday.
