The Brazil striker pulled a hamstring towards the end of the previous campaign and has yet to feature in pre-season.
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti promised to restore Europe's honour by beating Boca Juniors in Sunday's Club World Cup final.
Real Madrid full-back Dani Carvajal was lucky to escape without a red card after he threw a punch at Atletico Madrid forward Mario Mandzukic in Tuesday's 0-0 Champions League quarter-final, first leg draw at the Calderon.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga and the Bundesliga.
Real Madrid great Zinedine Zidane has quashed speculations that he is going to replace under-fire Rafael Benitez as the team coach, saying that he is still in a learning process when it comes to coaching a senior team.
Coach Laurent Blanc parted ways with Paris St Germain, putting pen to paper on a 22-million-euro ($25 million) severance deal.
A summary of Saturday's action in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
AC Milan host Manchester United in the return leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.
Manchester City moved 17 points clear of the pack with a 3-0 win at Fulham on Saturday
Real Madrid president is targeting seven high-profile coaches for the Spanish club
Federico Valverde finished off a stunning move in extra time to give Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Barcelona
"There are lots of great players in circulation, but nobody is worth as much as him," Ancelotti was quoted as saying in Corriere dello Sport on Thursday.
The three Premier League and three La Liga clubs in the last eight avoided each other, with Manchester City up against Atletico Madrid and Liverpool to face Portuguese side Benfica.
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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has stepped down as president of AC Milan to comply with a new law on conflicts of interest.
Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that he wants to see Pep Guardiola take charge of Manchester City one day, saying that the most coveted coach in football can turn out to be important for the club.
Karim Benzema's hat-trick earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. In another quarter-final match, Villarreal stunned six times European Cup winners Bayern Munich 1-0.
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with his side's performance in recovering from 1-0 down with 10 men to beat Lazio 2-1 at Rome's Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Five Manchester City first team players have tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be involved when they play Chelsea in the Premier League this weekend
The Argentine striker joined the Italian club on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
Brazilians Serginho and Rivaldo could make a late bid for places in the starting line-up for the Champions League final against Juventus.
Carlo Ancelotti's side held a two-goal lead at halftime thanks to strikes from Dries Mertens and Kostas Manolas, but Balotelli pulled one back as Brescia rallied after the break.
'We've always been behind Zidane because he is a humble person who likes to listen, and that always makes things easier'
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.
Roberto Firmino's 90th-minute header sent Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, whose 11-match unbeaten run came to an end on Wednesday.
Hazard extra-time goal sends 10-man Real Madrid through to Copa del Rey final.
World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has broken several months of near-silence to rebuff media reports he is unhappy at Real Madrid and might be seeking an exit.
The Brazilian said he was being humiliated at Italian club AC Milan, where he was left on the substitutes' bench.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United enjoyed comfortable wins in the English Premier League on Saturday as fans returned to stadiums after an eight-month absence.
Chelsea reacted angrily on Friday to newspaper reports that Carlo Ancelotti was set to replace manager Antonio Conte and that former coach Steve Holland has received texts from unhappy players who say they are missing him.
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