The games sounded more like Sunday kickabouts or high-intensity training sessions than the return to action of highly-paid professionals in the world's best attended football league with normally an average of about 42,000 spectators per game.
Juventus clinched their first Italian title for nine seasons on Sunday but not until Serie A had dished up its customary climactic mix of chaos, drama and controversy.
Valverde said he was concerned about the team's away form after they were comprehensively beaten 2-0 by promoted Granada
Tottenham Hotspur scored three late goals to beat Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday and set up an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, after replaying the game that was abandoned when midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch.
Pep Guardiola said Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford is no longer the fortress it used to be as City look to win all three points and take the lead in the Premier League title race.
Sergio Aguero scored twice as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 4-1 in the Premier League at the Etihad stadium on Sunday.
Sergio Aguero scored twice as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 4-1 in the Premier League at the Etihad stadium on Sunday.
The calls for calm towards frenzied fans before Manchester United travel to Liverpool were at odds with manager Alex Ferguson's desire on Friday to simply talk about "a game of football".
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
It will be nothing short of exceptional if India upstage Australia, feels captain Mithali Raj, who reckons her team will have the 'home advantage' in the ICC women's World Cup semi-final in Derby on Thursday.
A round-up of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Jordan Murray put Kerala ahead in the 64th minute before Neville's stoppage-time equaliser (90+5) ensured that SCEB extended their unbeaten run to six games.
The defender is currently in his final year at the St George's British International School in Rome, which is close to Lazio's training ground near Formello.
Arsenal became the highest-profile casualties of the FA Cup third round as the 14-time winners lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, but Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur avoided early exits after scares against lower-league sides on Sunday.
With football matches cancelled across Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, La Liga players Borja Iglesias and Sergio Reguilon found a novel way to attract 60,000 online fans - by battling out a thrilling Seville derby on the FIFA 20 videogame. Fans in Andalusia suffering from La Liga withdrawal symptoms after Sunday's clash between Sevilla and Real Betis was postponed tuned in for the showdown between Betis's Iglesias and Sevilla's Reguilon on streaming service Twitch.
India will face hosts England at Derby on the opening day of the ICC Women's World Cup which gets underway on June 24.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Champions Leicester City will begin their Premier League title defence with a trip to newly promoted Hull City on August 13, according to the 2016-17 fixtures released on Wednesday.
"The best team won, we struggled from the beginning and we couldn't deal with their long balls. Usually, you press the ball to win it, but this was different. They defended so deep and so well," City coach Pep Guardiola told the BBC.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Real were smarting from a surprise 1-1 draw at struggling Elche in their last match and were missing captain Sergio Ramos, who was out with a stomach bug.
It was on this day that Harmanpreet went on to play a match-winning knock of 171 not out against Australia in the semi-finals of the ICC Women's World Cup.
The eagerly-awaited clash between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan ended in a 1-1 draw at the near-packed Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday.
Zidane ruled out following in the footsteps of Alex Ferguson, who spent 26 years in charge of Manchester United.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Arsenal's new manager Unai Emery faces a baptism of fire after the Gunners were handed an opening day fixture at home to Premier League champions Manchester City.
Images from Saturday's action in the Premier League.
As the Premier League resumes following the international break all eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo's homecoming party at Old Trafford on Saturday, with the Portuguese international set to resume his Manchester United career after 12 years away.
Chelsea slipped up in their push for a Champions League spot when they lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday with Emile Smith Rowe's first-half goal settling the London derby after a defensive mix-up by the hosts.
The gaze of the sporting world will fall on Germany this weekend as the Bundlesliga becomes the first major soccer league to emerge from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. All 18 clubs will crank back into action in what could act as a catalyst for other leagues to follow suit.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Second-tier Forest's buoyant fans were briefly silenced when Leicester grabbed a lifeline before halftime as Kelechi Iheanacho pounced on an error to score from an acute angle.
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.
Roy Krishna powered ATK Mohun Bagan to a 3-1 win over SC East Bengal
Images from Saturday's English Premier League matches.
Odisha FC made a strong case for play-off qualification with a 2-1 victory over Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League encounter, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Paris Saint Germain's Neymar, Laywin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes as well as Marseille's duo of Dario Benedetto and Jordan Amavi were given their marching orders after rival players threw punches and kicks at each other.
The much hyped I-League football derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at Kanchenjunga Stadium, in Siliguri, ended in a goalless draw with both teams goalkeepers returning heroes.
Wayne Rooney marked his 500th game in English league football with a coolly-taken Panenka-style penalty for Derby County in their 1-1 draw against Fulham in the Championship on Friday. The 34-year-old ex-England and Manchester United captain, who made his debut for the Midlands club earlier this month after returning from a playing stint in the United States, cleverly chipped in a 55th minute penalty for the lead.
