Defender Gerard Pique grabbed a rare winner and Lionel Messi scored yet another beauty as Barcelona came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 at the Nou Camp on Sunday and reclaim an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga.
'It's a prize that's called The Best and the guy who is, for us, the best player in the world wasn't there.'
Barcelona midfielder and captain Xavi confirmed on Thursday he will leave his boyhood club at the end of the season and has agreed to join Qatari side Al Sadd after a glittering career stretching over 17 seasons.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his recent Ballon d'Or award by scoring twice for the first time in a La Liga game this season as champions Real Madrid swept to a stunning 5-0 win over Sevilla on Saturday to go five points behind leaders Barcelona.
Spain's dramatic defeat by Russia on penalties in the World Cup round of 16 on Sunday ensured that at least one of this year's finalists will not have reached the title decider for half a century, if at all.
After seeing Cristiano Ronaldo pick up a fifth Ballon d'Or on Thursday, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane described the Portuguese forward as the greatest player ever.
The King's Cup final between record winners Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao on May 30 will be held at Barca's Nou Camp.
Barcelona coach has claimed that Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas wants to stay at the club despite offers from other clubs coming his way.
Real Madrid star striker Gareth Bale has reportedly been rewarded for his stellar performances with a new five-year contract that will keep him at the Bernabeu until 2021.
Barcelona face a daunting task to overcome AC Milan in the Champions League this month and must quickly recover their form after being dumped out of the King's Cup and beaten in La Liga by Real Madrid in five days.
Luis Suarez completed a hat-trick thanks to a cheeky Lionel Messi assist from the penalty spot as Barcelona crushed Celta Vigo 6-1 to restore their three-point cushion over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga on Sunday.
Images from the Champions League matches played on Wednesday
Real Madrid have made their 14th Champions League final following their 1-0 win over Manchester City.
Rafa Nadal's bid to get back to top form before the French Open suffered a setback when he crashed to a 6-4, 7-6(6) defeat to 13th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini in the third round of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.
Neymar will play in the Olympics in August and will miss the Centenary Copa America in the United States in June, his club Barcelona said on Wednesday to end months of speculation.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 27th career hat-trick and Gareth Bale struck twice as Real Madrid bounced back in style from consecutive defeats with a thumping 8-2 La Liga win at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
Twitter lit up with reactions after Naomi Osaka defeated the American in a stormy final on Saturday:
Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes she is now ready to matching Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams.
Former world number one Djokovic saved four match points but cracked under his opponent's tremendous pressure on the fifth as Goffin set up a last-four meeting with either clay court king Rafael Nadal or Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
Espanyol have agreed a deal for goalkeeper Kiko Casilla to join Real Madrid, the Catalan club said on Friday.
As soon as the final whistle confirmed Real Madrid's berth in the Champions League final against local rivals Atletico with a 1-0 aggregate victory over Manchester City on Wednesday, memories of 2014's all-Spanish final came flooding back.
P V Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday. The two-time World Championships bronze medallist scored a sensational 21-19, 21-10 victory over the All England champion in 49 minutes.
Order of play on the main show courts at the French Open.
She can't quite recollect the names of either the films or the actors but Ethiopia's World and Olympic 10,000m champion runner Almaz Ayana says Bollywood movies are her favourite indulgence whenever she gets some time to herself.
Lionel Messi returned to training with his Barcelona team mates on Monday, suggesting the World Player of the Year could play a part in Wednesday's Spanish Super Cup second leg at home to Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona have sacked Andoni Zubizarreta as their director of football, the Spanish club said on Monday.
Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery scored a sensational volley to lead the German champions to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday that sent them eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with six matches left. Frenchman Ribery, who has missed most of the season due to injury, took off at the edge of the box and sent his mid-air volley past Lukas Hradecky in the 20th minute after the keeper had initially saved a shot from Mario Goetze. It was the 32-year-old's second goal of the campaign after being sidelined for eight months with an ankle problem and then suffering another injury that kept him out until last month. Bayern found no resistance from Eintracht and Xabi Alonso rattled the crossbar with a free kick early in the second half with the hosts enjoying close to 70 percent possession.
Madrid hailed as 'Masters of the Universe' after crushing Juve
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the ATP Masters event at Indian Wells but Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna suffered a shock first round defeat.
World number one Novak Djokovic blasted past qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
James Rodriguez headed the opener before going off injured in Real Madrid's win.
Rafael Nadal swept into the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday with a ruthless 6-4, 6-1 victory over Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov. The top seed, who will reclaim the world number one ranking from Roger Federer if he wins his eighth title in Rome, turned in a near-flawless performance, losing only five service points as he honed in on victory in an hour and 22 minutes.
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg matches played on Tuesday
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was disappointed that he was only asked about the referee's decisions after his side earned a 2-1 victory at Real Sociedad on Sunday to climb above Barcelona and top La Liga.
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
Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano accepted a one-year prison sentence for tax evasion on Thursday as part of a plea bargain, Spanish media reported, although he is unlikely to serve time in jail. The 31-year-old Argentina international, who joined Barca in August 2010, pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of more than 1.5 million euros by concealing earnings from his image rights by using companies set up in the United States and Portugal.
Spain huffed and puffed, making hard work of their Euro 2016 opener before a late Gerard Pique goal blew away the CzechRepublic resistance -- yet it could not conceal further evidence that Vicente del Bosque's champions may lack a killer instinct.
Real Madrid conceded a late freekick to draw for the second time in four days as they were held 1-1 at struggling Villarreal, cutting their lead at the top of La Liga cut to six points on Wednesday.
China's economic success is due less to its authoritarian system and more to Deng Xiaoping's leadership, its Far Eastern location and investments by its diaspora.
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