Manchester City's hopes of an unprecedented quadruple were in tatters on Sunday after holders Wigan Athletic repeated their FA Cup heroics with a stunning 2-1 victory in their quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium.
Lionel Messi was back in scoring business for Barcelona on Sunday, leading them to a resounding 4-0 win at home against Villarreal in a near-perfect La Liga opener for the Catalans under new coach Ronald Koeman.
Belgium finished five points clear at the top of League A Group 2 and will meet world champions France and former World Cup winners Italy and Spain in the final four next October.
Despite all the hype, however, the match will do well to live up to some of the Manchester derby tussles down the years. Here are five of the most memorable:
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde's conservatism was cited by the Spanish media as the main reason for their 3-0 defeat at AS Roma on Tuesday that led to a shock Champions League quarter-final elimination being regarded as 'a historic debacle'.
A Neymar double and a clinical finish from Luis Suarez handed Barcelona a comfortable 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov that put them on the verge of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League for the 12th consecutive season.
Arsenal and Manchester City meet at The Emirates on Saturday when both teams will seek to roar into life after making spluttering starts to their Premier League campaigns.
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea added another heart-stopping save to his collection as his team held a highly-impressive Sevilla side to a 0-0 draw away from home in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng returned to haunt his former club with a last-gasp goal that secured a 1-0 win over English title holders Manchester City in their opening Champions League Group E clash on Wednesday.
IMAGES from the Euro 2020 qualifiers
Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain and evergreen AS Roma forward Francesco Totti lit up Serie A on Monday as the two teams won in contrasting fashion to boost their bids for an automatic Champions League spot.
Marcus Rashford's penalty and a deflected strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.
Ronaleo netted his 14th league goal for Juve this season while PSG's winning streak was snapped by Monaco in a 3-3 draw. Here are images from the matches played on Sunday
Wales continued their unbeaten start to the Euro 2016 campaign as a nervy 2-1 triumph over Cyprus, after they had been reduced to 10 men, bolstered the nation's dream of qualifying for a major championship finals for only the second time.
Miralem Pjanic's free kick gave Juventus a 2-1 win at Chievo on Sunday as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon celebrated his 600th Serie A appearance.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Sergio Ramos equalled Iker Casillas's record of 167 appearances for Spain on an emotional night at Sporting Gijon's El Molinon stadium, which paid tribute to the late Spain and Sporting forward Quini before kickoff.
Facts and figures ahead of Saturday's Champions League final between holders Real Madrid and Liverpool in Kiev:
Kazakhstan's Astana fought back to beat a youthful Manchester United side 2-1 at home, Arsenal's woes continued as Frankfurt's Daichi Kamada scored twice to secure a 2-1 win.
Two superb curling efforts from Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho handed Liverpool a 2-1 home win against Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday to deliver a thumping blow to Manuel Pellegrini's title aspirations.
New coach Luciano Spalletti failed to inspire AS Roma as they were held 1-1 at home by bottom club Verona on his debut on Sunday and Juventus notched their 10th Serie A win in a row by hammering Udinese 4-0 away.
Substitute Ki sung-Yueng drove in an extra-time winner to take the Premier League's bottom club Sunderland into the League Cup semi-finals with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Tuesday.
Juventus slumped to another surprise defeat on Wednesday when the champions lost 1-0 at Sassuolo while AS Roma reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a 3-1 home victory over Udinese.
Spain began a new era under Luis Enrique in impressive fashion as they came from a goal down to outplay England in a 2-1 win in their Nations League opener at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
AS Roma suffered another European humiliation on Tuesday when they had two players sent off, lost 3-0 at home to Porto and missed out on the Champions League group stage.
Emotions ran high as Nantes paid tribute to their former player Emiliano Sala on Wednesday in their first game since the Argentine went missing in a light aircraft over the English Channel.
Milan replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.
AS Roma were dumped out of the Italian Cup on penalties by second-tier Spezia after a 0-0 draw at home extended their winless streak to seven matches and heaped pressure on coach Rudi Garcia.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane reckons Cristiano Ronaldo is on top form as the Portuguese looks to increase his Champions League goals tally when they visit AS Roma in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday.
A summary of Wednesday's group matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Juergen Klopp refused to dwell on the two late goals they conceded in a 5-2 win over AS Roma in their Champions League semi-final, first leg on Tuesday, saying his team had been 'perfect' for 80 minutes.
Schalke 04 hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 and overcome fellow Germans Borussia Moenchenglach on away goals in their Europa League last 16 tie while Manchester United edged Rostov 1-0 to progress on Thursday.
Manchester City were never out of the title race and the Premier League champions did not need to change their style despite a frustrating to start the season, manager Manuel Pellegrini has said.
Manchester City's leading goalscorer Sergio Aguero is expected to be out for a month with a hamstring injury, the club's manager Manuel Pellegrini said on Friday.
Manchester City's memorable Champions League win over holders Bayern Munich still failed to add up for manager Manuel Pellegrini after he revealed his poor grasp of simple mathematics.
An inexperienced Germany suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Slovakia in a storm-affected friendly ahead of Euro 2016.
Inter Milan's lead at the top of Serie A was cut when they lost 2-1 at home to Lazio on Sunday while AS Roma beat Genoa 2-0 to record their first win in eight games and ease the pressure on under-fire coach Rudi Garcia.
Germany scored five times in 27 minutes in the first half to crush Estonia 8-0 and make it three wins in three Euro 2020 Group C qualifiers.
The omens are good for a Chelsea side heading into Christmas top of the Premier League tree but manager Jose Mourinho does not want to give title rivals Manchester City any reason to cheer over the festive season. Check out the big games on Boxing Day.
Photos from the Champions League match played between Real Madrid and AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday
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