A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
AS Roma needed a penalty from 40-year-old forward Francesco Totti in the seventh minute of stoppage time to scrape past second-tier Cesena 2-1 in their Coppa Italia quarter-final on Wednesday.
Napoli suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday when they lost 1-0 at lowly Atalanta while Serie A leaders Juventus surged on with a 3-0 win at Empoli, helped by a Gonzalo Higuain brace.
Real Madrid dropped points for the third time in seven games since Zinedine Zidane's return as they were held to a 0-0 draw away to Getafe in La Liga on Thursday, which harmed their neighbours' hopes of a top-four finish.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency.
AS Roma's lingering hopes of catching Serie A leaders Juventus were virtually extinguished after two stunning Pepe Reina saves kept them at bay and Jose Callejon's late goal handed third-placed Napoli a 1-0 home win on Sunday.
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.
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
But Saturday's Champions League final against his former club Juventus is a reminder that the Frenchman hasn't quite had it all his own way.
Barcelona look well set to wrap up the La Liga title.
Chelsea moved within touching distance of a first Premier League title in five years with a 1-0 win over Manchester United while Lionel Messi reached a landmark with his 400th career goal for La Liga leaders Barcelona.
Manchester City thrashed Southampton 6-1 to remain top of the Premier League.
The Vatican announced on Friday that the lavish palace of Castel Gandolfo will now be open to the public for visits.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
From moments of sublime skill to crazy rushes of blood to the head, Paolo Di Canio has rarely been out of the news during his career playing and managing in England and the Italian's propensity for drama shows no sign of waning.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe left Tottenham Hotspur on the cusp of the Europa League knockout stages as four other clubs maintained perfect starts on Thursday.
La Liga leaders Barcelona handed Real Madrid more hope in the title race as they drew 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, only avoiding defeat thanks to some outstanding saves by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Sergio Aguero, in fine scoring form for Manchester City this season, looks set to lead Argentina's attack in next month's World Cup qualifiers after being recalled to their squad on Friday.
Inter Milan gave Roberto Mancini his first Serie A victory since returning as coach a month ago when they won 2-0 in soggy conditions at Chievo on Monday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Gonzalo Higuain scored his 30th league goal of the season but was later sent off and had to be restrained by his team mates as Napoli lost 3-1 at Udinese on Sunday, severely denting their Serie A title hopes.
Balotelli made his debut for his hometown club after completing a four-match suspension that he was handed at Olympique de Marseille last season, while the visitors were without Cristiano Ronaldo as he recovers from injury.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved a penalty and Andrea Pirlo curled in a trademark free kick late in the game to give the Serie A leaders a dramatic 1-0 win at Genoa on Sunday.
Italy striker Mario Balotelli has joined Liverpool from AC Milan on a "long-term" deal, the Premier League club said on Monday.
Mueller scores brace in is 200th Bundeliga match
Napoli kept their hopes of a first Serie A title since 1990 alive with an epic 4-2 win over 10-man Inter Milan after a Carlos Tevez hat-trick had put leaders Juventus six points clear with a 4-0 rout of Sassuolo on Sunday.
AS Roma became the first team to win their opening 10 Serie A games of the season when they overcame bottom side Chievo 1-0 thanks to Marco Boriello's late header on Thursday.
Following Angel Di Maria's nightmare stint, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com says the 'Theatre of Dreams' has never been a happy a hunting ground for players from the continent
Inter will be his sixth club in a career which began when he made his debut for Anderlecht as a 16-year-old and has taken him to Chelsea, West Bromwich Albion and Everton.
Chelsea returned to their early-season form to open up a five-point lead in the Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continued to make mincemeat of La Liga defences and Juventus extended their lead in Serie A. In France, Olympique Lyonnais retained top spot with a 2-0 win at RC Lens.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Here is a quick fact-box on new Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez, who was appointed to replace Italian Carlo Ancelotti on Wednesday.
Stopping prolific Barcelona forwards Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez in the Champions League final will be a formidable task, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said after his side clinched their place in next month's showpiece in Berlin.
Images from the Euro 2020 Qualifiers played on Monday
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Diego Simeone may not have the stomach to reinvent Atletico Madrid again after they suffered another morale-shattering loss to Real Madrid in Saturday's Champions League final.
Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa haunted Arsenal again by firing his side to a 1-0 win in Thursday's Europa League semi-final second leg to send the Spaniards into the final and deny Arsene Wenger a dream end to his long reign as Arsenal coach.
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