Chelsea and Manchester City tightened their stranglehold on the Premier League title race on Saturday, recording victories over struggling clubs to stretch further clear of their increasingly forlorn pursuers.
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.
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.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi rescued a 1-1 draw at Villarreal with a sensational late free-kick on Sunday but could not prevent the champions finishing the weekend third in La Liga, five points behind leaders Real Madrid.
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.
Brighton and Hove Albion scored late to earn a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace. Sheffield United and Fulham also drew 1-1 as both teams picked up their first points.
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Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
Images from Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League group stage matches.
Barcelona's rampant trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi all found the net at the weekend and unsung Leicester City found themselves in the record books when their England striker Jamie Vardy scored for the 11th straight game.
Diego Costa continued his rich vein of form as he helped leaders Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa while Louis van Gaal enjoyed only his second Premier League win as Manchester United manager following a 2-1 victory against West Ham.
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.
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.
As Leicester City celebrates its unexpected title triumph, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com lists similar success stories across Europe's top leagues.
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was the scourge of AS Roma again as he inspired the hosts to a 2-0 win and a place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday, scoring and setting up a goal Rodriguez to seal a 4-0 aggregate victory.
ManchesterCity reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup after they finally broke down a resilient Newcastle United to win 2-0 after extra time on Wednesday, while Tottenham Hotspur needed penalties to get past Hull City.
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Arsenal maintained their challenge for a first trophy in nine seasons when they beat Liverpool 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.
Karim Benzema scored his sixth goal in four games as Real Madrid beat Alaves 3-0 on Sunday for a fourth successive La Liga victory which took the European champions to within eight points of leaders Barcelona.
A goal by Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City a 1-0 victory against neighbours Manchester United, who played with 10 men for more than 50 minutes on Sunday.
IMAGES from the Euro 2020 qualifiers
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Leaders Chelsea have seen their lead reduced to just three points after a shock defeat, and a revival from defending champions Manchester City. Manchester United are back in third after a run of five straight wins. If Chelsea slip agains, City continue to pile on the pressure and United keep the winning momentum it will make EPL battle further interesting.
(Reuters) - Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris St Germain reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday on a night when the goals flowed all over Europe with United the highest scorers in a 5-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The victory saw the unfashionable Madrid club tighten their grip on the coveted fourth spot in the table by moving on to 58 points after 36 games, three points clear of nearest challengers Sevilla, who lost to Leganes on Friday.
Serie A witnessed some breath-taking football action, especially when AC Milan could not convert the umpteen chances they had against Sassuolo while Inter went to top. In Ligue 1 action, all the star players found the net for PSG. Here are images from the soccer matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Barcelona's Luis Suarez hit a brace and set up a double for a spritely Lionel Messi to score in his first start after injury in a rampant 6-1 Champions League victory over AS Roma on Tuesday.
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.
Arsenal beat Fulham 2-0 at the Emirates and Manchester City beat Cardiff City 4-2 at the Etihad before Liverpool could only manage a 2-2 draw at Anfield having trailed 2-0.
Ahead of the UEFA Champions League proper, which kicks-off next month, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com tells football fans what to expect in this year's competition.
Atletico Madrid got their La Liga campaign up and running in less than convincing fashion when Antoine Griezmann's deflected free kick secured an edgy 1-0 win at home to promoted Las Palmas on Saturday.
France produced a scintillating show as they put memories of one of the most painful moments in their soccer history to one side by crushing Bulgaria 4-1 in a World Cup Group A qualifier on Friday.
An inexperienced Germany suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Slovakia in a storm-affected friendly ahead of Euro 2016.
A summary of Wednesday's group matches in the UEFA Champions League.
A summary of Wednesday night's matches inthe UEFA Champions League.
La Liga champions Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-1 on Saturday with a goal from Gareth Bale and two strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo to go 12 points behind leaders Barcelona and warm up for next week's Champions League game at Paris St Germain.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
