Gonzalo Higuain burst into life by scoring a hat-trick in the final half hour, his first league goals of the season, to help Rafael Benitez's erratic Napoli thrash Verona 6-2 in Serie A on Sunday.
They joined Valencia and Stuttgart on top of their respective divisions after weekend action in Europe's main leagues.
The victory sent Valencia to the top of the Spanish league.
Napoli ended Juventus's hopes of securing a record seventh Italian Super Cup after snatching a dramatic 6-5 shootout win.
Napoli have agreed to buy Spain centre back Raul Albiol from Real Madrid, the Serie A club said on Sunday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is leaving the European champions after two years in charge.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is happy with his squad and the club has not discussed possible reinforcements despite FIFA's decision to ban them from the next two transfer windows, he said on Saturday. FIFA announced on Thursday it had banned Real and neighbours Atletico Madrid from registering players for the next two windows for breaching rules on signing non-Spanish Under-18 players. Both clubs denied wrongdoing and said they would appeal. The list of players included at least one of Zidane's four sons, who play for various Real youth teams, although the club have not confirmed which of them were singled out by FIFA.
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.
Chelsea kept up their 100 percent start to the English Premier League season by snatching a 2-1 win at a stubborn Newcastle United on Sunday, grabbing victory thanks to a late own goal by DeAndre Yedlin.
Paraguay drew 1-1 with Uruguay at the Copa America to go top of Group B, one point ahead of Argentina before the tournament favourites take on eliminated Jamaica later on Saturday.
A Gareth Bale header and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty gave Real Madrid a much-needed 2-0 victory over Eibar in La Liga on Sunday, following their hammering by leaders Barcelona last weekend, and put them six points off the top of the standings.
Valencia recaptured fourth place in La Liga from Sevilla when Sofiane Feghouli scored the pick of the goals in a 4-0 stroll at home to second-from-bottom Granada on Monday.
This week's collection of unbelievably unusual images from across the world
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane denied his side were facing a crisis after they drew 1-1 at home to La Liga minnows Eibar and racked up a fourth consecutive draw for the first time in more than 10 years.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said Cristiano Ronaldo "is 100 percent" and will face Manchester City in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg but striker Karim Benzema and midfielder Casemiro will miss the game. Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury which forced him to miss Madrids last three games in all competitions and has resumed full training. But Benzema is yet to recover from a hamstring problem and Casemiro is still out after a knock to the hip sustained in Saturday's 1-0 win at Real Sociedad. "Cristiano is fine, he is 100 percent. He has trained and will be with us tomorrow, there is no risk," Zidane told a news conference. "We need a 100 percent Cristiano," he said. "He's a different player. His numbers show that and I'm happy he's with us tomorrow. I'd have liked Karim and Casemiro to be there too, but others will play and that's that," added Zidane. "Karim's situation is different. He still has a problem and we don't want to take any risks," he said.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane urged his side to remain calm after their Champions League hopes suffered a setback with a shock 2-0 loss at VfL Wolfsburg in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday.
Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon sent Napoli top of Serie A after they beat Atalanta 2-0 on Saturday while an injury-time Mario Balotelli penalty helped AC Milan come from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw at Torino.
Champions Chelsea have not enjoyed the best of starts at home this season and face their biggest test yet on Saturday with the visit of free-scoring leaders Manchester City.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Three own goals were scored as Napoli's spectacularly inconsistent season continued with a 4-2 defeat at Empoli on Thursday.
Barcelona have been drawn to play Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals. The other last-four tie will see Juventus, in their first semi-final since 2003, take on Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid, the defending champions.
Zinedine Zidane is unconcerned by suggestions that his Real Madrid side go into Saturday's 'Clasico' against runaway La Liga leaders Barcelona as big underdogs. Real sit third in the table 10 points adrift of Luis Enrique's side, who crushed them 4-0 at the Bernabeu earlier in the season to spark outrage among the Madrid club's fans They vented their frustration on president Florentino Perez and coach Rafael Benitez who was sacked weeks later and replaced by Zidane. The Frenchman, who like his opposite number Luis Enrique played in the 'Clasico' many times, is preparing for his first clash with Barcelona as Real coach and his team, who have won their last five matches in all competitions, head to the Nou Camp in confident mood.
In a gripping title race, Liverpool showed they are ready to push Manchester City right until the final seconds of this season with their spirited 3-2 win at Newcastle United.
Arsenal qualified for a 17th successive season with a nervy 1-0 win at home to Besiktas and Malmo made it for the first time with a 3-0 win over Salzburg, whose participation ended in the qualifiers for the ninth time in a row.
Cristiano Ronaldo gave Zinedine Zidane a ringing endorsement as Real Madrid coach after their 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the city derby at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Mesut Ozil guided Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over Napoli while a late Cesc Fabregas header gave Barcelona a laboured 1-0 win at 10-man Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
When Swedish champions Malmo take on mighty Real Madrid on Wednesday they do so knowing they would probably have to sell their entire squad just to be able to afford a single player from the bench of the Spanish giants.
Prolific Cristiano Ronaldo hit a 35th hat-trick for Real Madrid who swept aside Espanyol 6-0 in a ruthless attacking display in La Liga on Sunday.
Mohamed Salah was inevitably on the scoresheet as Liverpool took full advantage of the inactivity of their top-four rivals to thrash West Ham United 4-1 at Anfield and provisionally move into second in the Premier League.
With a fifth world player of the year award safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet, Lionel Messi can set his sights on one of the next milestones in his remarkable career: reaching 500 goals for club and country. The Barcelona and Argentina forward can add to his jaw-dropping tally of 479 in 609 official games -- 430 for Barca and 49 for his national team -- in Sunday's La Liga match at home to Athletic Bilbao. The 28-year-old from Rosario, who picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, is looking close to his best following a two-month injury layoff late last year and netted a hat-trick when second-placed Barca crushed Granada 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend in their most recent outing in Spain's top flight.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Zinedine Zidane is the right man for the job of Real Madrid coach, former team-mate David Beckham said on Monday after the Spanish club sacked Rafa Benitez and replaced him with the French World Cup winner. "Does it get any better than this??," the former England captain, who played with Zidane at Real after joining from Manchester United in 2003, declared on Instagram.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Zinedine Zidane had few equals as a player but heading into his first Champions League final as a coach, he admits that unlike Atletico Madrid counterpart Diego Simeone he still has much to learn. The former France playmaker, who was promoted from Real's reserve team to replace Rafa Benitez in January, steered the side to a runners-up finish in La Liga and Saturday's final in Milan. Real have won 21 out of 26 games under Zidane and lost two, scoring 71 goals and giving away 18. Simeone led Atletico to their second Champions League final in three years. "He has everything that a coach needs but above all, he knows his team and his players well, which is the most important thing," Zidane told a news conference on Tuesday.
Real Madrid can pip Barcelona to the La Liga title on Saturday even though their destiny is out of their hands, coach Zinedine Zidane said on the eve of the season finale.
Atletico Madrid turned up the heat on champions Barcelona when they fought back to secure a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Sunday as Real Madrid slipped off the pace with a 1-0 loss at Villarreal.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances