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.
Denmark international Christian Eriksen showed that Tottenham Hotspur still have plenty to look forward to following the sale of Gareth Bale with a hugely impressive debut in their 2-0 win over Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas said the club could fine forward Gareth Bale for failing to attend training ahead of an expected world record "dream" move to Real Madrid. Bale, who has not been training with the squad due to injury, was granted three days off but did not report back to the club on Tuesday despite being pictured in London.
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Factbox on the Real Madrid and Portugal forward who was voted FIFA Player of the Year on Monday.
An insatiable Lionel Messi scored for the eighth game in a row in all competitions as La Liga champions Barcelona saw off a gutsy Girona side 2-0 to go five points clear at the top of the standings.
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Lionel Messi came off the bench to inspire Barcelona to a 3-1 win over a dogged Leganes side on Sunday, creating one goal and scoring another to keep the Catalans five points clear at the top of La Liga.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Holders Sevilla maintained their Europa League challenge with a 1-0 win over Rijeka in a winner-takes-all clash on Thursday.
The Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez double act struck again on Sunday with both players scoring to give Juventus a 2-0 win at AC Milan which strengthened their grip on Serie A.
European heavyweights Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris St Germain all maintained their leads and Benfica toppled Sporting Lisbon.
Juventus made light work of bitter rivals Inter Milan on Sunday, winning 3-1 to increase their Serie A lead to nine points after AS Roma were washed out and Napoli blundered to a 3-0 defeat at Atalanta.
Images from the Champions League matches played on Wednesday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Bayern Munich and Barcelona registered easy wins, while Manchester United came from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 and Chelsea surrendered the top spot after a 1-1 at home against Atletico Madrid.
German champions Bayern Munich are close to signing former World and European champion Xabi Alonso from Champions League winners Real Madrid.
Ten of the 16 sides also reached the same round two seasons ago and, as usual, the big five leagues dominate with 13 clubs hailing from either the English, Spanish, German, French and Italian leagues.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona are still trying to lure Paris St Germain centre back Thiago Silva to the Nou Camp but will look elsewhere if they fail to snare the Brazil international, coach Tito Vilanova said on Tuesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Football's winter transfer window closed on February 1, and, surprisingly, none of Europe's biggies made even a slight move, let alone sign a player.
The three teams with 100 percent records in this season's Champions League can secure their places in the knockout stage this week with two games to spare.
Barcelona lost for the second straight La Liga game in a 1-0 home reverse against Celta Vigo but there was no such trouble for Manchester City, who beat 10-man Manchester United 1-0 thanks to Sergio Aguero.
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.
In England, the celebrations went on at Leicester City as they marked their fairytale Premier League success with another win while champions Juventus' long unbeaten streak in Italy came to an end.
Diego Costa continued his rich vein of form as he helped leaders Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa while Louis van Gaal enjoyed only his second Premier League win as Manchester United manager following a 2-1 victory against West Ham.
Bayern Munich put upstarts RB Leipzig firmly in their place by sweeping to an emphatic 3-0 home win, with all the goals coming in the first half, in a disappointingly one-sided top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash on Wednesday.
Rising Indian midfielder Manpreet Singh was named the 'Junior Player of the Year' by the Asian Hockey Federation in its Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain again showed his killer instinct with two expertly-taken goals in a late 3-1 win at Torino after their less illustrious neighbours had scored first and dominated the Serie A game on Sunday.
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 were the big winners in Spain as their success at Almeria was followed by a Barcelona draw and a surprise Atletico Madrid defeat.
Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season ended with a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United; Champions Manchester City took full advantage of Chelsea's surprise reverse to cut the gap at the top.
Check out the top footballers of the weekend.
La Liga champions Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-1 on Saturday with a goal from Gareth Bale and two strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo to go 12 points behind leaders Barcelona and warm up for next week's Champions League game at Paris St Germain.
AS Roma coach Rudi Garcia succeeded where his three predecessors failed by taking his team to a 2-0 win over arch-rivals Lazio on Sunday and maintaining their 100 percent record in Serie A alongside Napoli who won 2-1 at AC Milan.
