German champions Bayern Munich will continue to reap the benefits of manager Pep Guardiola's coaching even after the Spaniard leaves the club at the end of the season, midfielder Xabi Alonso has said. Guardiola, who has won numerous trophies with Barcelona and then Bayern, will take over as head coach of English Premier League side Manchester City from July. The Spaniard, who will be replaced at Bayern by Italian Carlo Ancelotti, looks set to lift his third successive Bundesliga in his final season and Alonso has hailed the manager's influence. "Pep is ahead of his time. He is very demanding of himself and his players, but once you get to know it (the style), then it is the way we like to play," Alonso told Sky Sports on Monday.
Manchester City suffered from deja vu as Luis Suarez's double gave Barcelona a 2-1 first leg lead in a Champions League last 16 tie at the Etihad although Lionel Messi's late penalty miss left the door ajar on Tuesday.
Armenia midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored twice as Borussia Dortmund thrashed Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 on Saturday to launch their season with a bang on coach Thomas Tuchel's Bundesliga debut with the club.
Here we bring you all the sporting action from last week in this stunning photo feature.
Seven-times champions AC Milan, knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona in the last two seasons, were drawn against the Catalans again in the group stage of this season's competition on Friday.
The Bavarians are on 73 points with RB Leipzig in second place on 63 after they were held to a goalless draw by Ingolstadt earlier in the day.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta continues rebuilding the side around goal machine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and younger talents like Bukayo Saka.
Real Madrid failed to win their Champions League group for the first time in four years when a late goal by substitute Marco Reus allowed Borussia Dortmund to equalise and clinch a 2-2 draw.
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Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery scored a sensational volley to lead the German champions to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday that sent them eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with six matches left. Frenchman Ribery, who has missed most of the season due to injury, took off at the edge of the box and sent his mid-air volley past Lukas Hradecky in the 20th minute after the keeper had initially saved a shot from Mario Goetze. It was the 32-year-old's second goal of the campaign after being sidelined for eight months with an ankle problem and then suffering another injury that kept him out until last month. Bayern found no resistance from Eintracht and Xabi Alonso rattled the crossbar with a free kick early in the second half with the hosts enjoying close to 70 percent possession.
Defending champions Real Madrid, though, left it late to avoid a defeat at Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Vicente del Bosque said his side still has a lot of hard work to do to make the Champions League quarter-finals.
Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur coach Andre Villas-Boas will take over Russian side Zenit St Petersburg this week after agreeing on a two-season contract, the club said on Tuesday.
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Bayer Leverkusen beat a second-string Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday to move up to third in the Bundesliga and get back on course for an automatic Champions League spot with three matches left in the season.
Neuer made the squad despite playing in just one official game, a friendly against Austria on Friday, since breaking a bone in his foot in September but talented 22-year-old Sane was the biggest name to miss out.
Real Madrid moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League after their makeshift defence held on for 0-0 second-leg draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate win.
Liverpool's Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho is on the verge of signing for La Liga leaders Barcelona in a club-record deal, according to Spanish media reports.
Borussia Dortmund and Germany winger Marco Reus has been fined more than half a million euros for repeatedly driving without a licence.
This and more from the happenings in the world of football
Italian side Napoli has moved into second place in their Champions League Group F on Wednesday with a 3-2 win over French side Marseille at Sao Paolo.
VfB Stuttgart continued their unbeaten run under new coach Thomas Schneider on Friday, climbing to sixth with a 1-1 home draw against Nuremberg who are still looking for their first Bundesliga win of the season.
Poland forward Robert Lewandowski became the second top Borussia Dortmund player to leave for arch-rivals Bayern Munich in less than a year when he agreed terms on Saturday to join them as a free agent at the end of the season.
Juergen Klopp was a relieved man on Saturday after Liverpool's 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final ended the German coach's miserable run of six defeats in cup finals.
Arsenal and Galatasaray are facing disciplinary action after supporters of the Turkish club lit red flares and threw them onto the pitch, briefly holding up play, in their Champions League group match on Wednesday.
Liverpool held their nerve to win an astonishing penalty shoot-out 11-10 and edge out Chelsea in the English League Cup final on Sunday after a rip-roaring contest had somehow ended 0-0 after extra time at Wembley.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane is loving his duel with Leicester City forward and England team mate Jamie Vardy for the Premier League golden boot this season.
Holders Bayern Munich eased into the German Cup third round with a comfortable 3-1 win at Hamburg SV on Wednesday to continue their unbeaten domestic run as they prepare for Saturday's league clash against Borussia Dortmund.
Former Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who has won eight Olympic gold medals in his illustrious career, is all set to swap his spikes for studs as he revealed signing for a football team.
Champions Bayern Munich needed an 88th-minute winner by Joshua Kimmich to beat Hamburg SV 1-0 on Saturday and protect their three-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. Strugglers Hamburg had battled hard to protect a goalless draw and end a three-game losing run, with goalkeeper Rene Adler making a string of key saves before Kimmichdrilled in a Franck Ribery cutback at the far post. The result lifted Bayern to 15 points, three ahead of Borussia Dortmund, who beat Freiburg 3-1 on Friday.
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Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels has shot down reports of a deal with Manchester United coach Louis Van Gaal to join the Premier League club, saying they were invented.
Tuchel has agreed an 18-month contract with the option of another year, the west London club announced.
RB Leipzig's Timo Werner scored a hat-trick as they demolished hosts Mainz 5-0 on Sunday to reclaim third place in the Bundesliga with an emphatic victory after three straight draws. Schalke 04 slumped to a shock 3-0 home defeat by relegation-threatened Augsburg on Sunday, their fourth defeat in five games dropping them to eighth place in the Bundesliga.
Apex football body FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which set the rules, have issued new guidelines ahead of the restart of the Bundesliga.
Ajax wary of attacking Napoli.
Klopp has led Liverpool to back-to-back Champions League finals but is adamant that their impressive recent track record does not make them the title favourites.
Regional leaders in Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia said on Monday that any league resumption would be without fans and that there would be no action before May 9.
Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski on Friday denied hitting a teenage supporter who had made an offensive gesture to the striker for signing with Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.
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