Roundup of the matches being held across major football leagues in Europe on Sunday
Barcelona will begin their Spanish league title defence away to Getafe on Aug. 13 while Real Madrid visit Athletic Bilbao the same weekend.
Paris St Germain had a chance to extend their Ligue 1 lead to five points after RC Lens drew 1-1 at Troyes and Olympique de Marseille and Monaco shared the spoils on Saturday.
Arsenal took the race to the final day last season and are strongly tipped to end Manchester City's dominance this time.
Metz draw at Marseille to end losing streak
Holders Manchester City will take on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Group G.
Athletic Bilbao beat Barcelona 4-2 at home to knock them out of the Copa del Rey
IMAGES from the soccer matches played across European leagues over the weekend.
A summary of the UEFA Champions League Group Stage action, on Wednesday.
Images from UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Factbox on Carlos Alcaraz, who beat seven-time champion Novak Djokovic
Barcelona won 3-1 at Alaves in La Liga on Saturday thanks to goals by Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan and substitute Victor Roque, who was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
Arsenal sailed through the Europa League group stages, winning five of their six group matches and take on Sporting next, who overcame Denmark's FC Midtjylland in their playoff.
Chelsea outplay Villa in FA Cup
Real Sociedad won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao in a Basque Country derby to end its winless run and strengthen its hold on third place in the Spanish league
A summary of Saturday's action in the Bundesliga and La Liga.
City host Crystal Palace in the league on Saturday, the only team they failed to score against last season while also losing 2-0 at home.
The first legs of the ties will take place on February 16, with the return match a week later on February 23.
Real Sociedad are fourth in the table on 28 points, three points behind third-placed Sevilla.
Real Sociedad provide coaches training to Jharkhand girls
Atletico coach Simeone defends VAR for making football fairer
;You will have setbacks. We beat Arsenal, we beat Liverpool. On Sunday, we had a bad day at the office. City were better, we have to accept that. But we can't accept our unacceptable performance. So thank you for the lesson, Pep and City. We have to understand, we have to do things much better.'
Barcelona's Sergi Roberto and Robert Lewandowski struck just before halftime to give the league leaders a 2-0 home win over lowly Cadiz on Sunday in their pursuit of a 27th Spanish title.
Barcelona's poor run away to Real Sociedad continued when the champions were held to a 1-1 draw at Anoeta on Sunday and slipped six points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid before next week's 'Clasico' against their arch rivals.
Ferran Torres scored a brace and Ousmane Dembele made two assists as a red-hot Barcelona rolled over Osasuna 4-0 on Sunday to earn their fourth consecutive LaLiga win.
Champions Real Madrid earned a 2-0 win in a feisty LaLiga encounter at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to ensure they stayed in the hunt for the LaLiga title with leaders Barcelona.
Manchester United bounced back from their defeat with a 4-1 win over Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
Brazilian defender Filipe Luis scored for the second game running as Atletico Madrid beat Real Sociedad 1-0 on Tuesday to rack up a fifth straight win in La Liga and provisionally consolidate third place in the standings.
Man Utd sign Mount from Chelsea on five-year deal
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga and the Bundesliga.
Barcelona will face a struggling Galatasaray team who are 13th in the Turkish top-flight.
Real play Athletic Bilbao while Barcelona visit Real Sociedad in fixtures that have often proved to be among their hardest away trips over the last decade.
The draw also produced a clash between two former European champions with AC Milan facing Serbia's Red Star Belgrade while French league leaders Lille face Ajax Amsterdam in a fascinating tie.
Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro and forward Eden Hazard have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of their La Liga clash at Valencia, the Spanish champions said.
Barca's fans held up a mosaic before the game reading "Infinite Iniesta". They later revealed a banner saying "Thanks for so much" in tribute to a player who came through the club's academy and spent 16 years pulling the strings in midfield, winning nine Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and six domestic Cups.
21-year-old Real Sociedad striker shines as Sweden beat Slovakia.
The Barcelona legend showed his support following the end of the World Health Worker Week, which concluded on Saturday.
Many clubs including champions Barcelona have returned to individual training as part of the second stage of La Liga's four-phase protocol for getting back to activity after play was halted in early March due to the pandemic.
'It's not like that. It's more complicated. With Bale it's always about one side against the other. But I've never had a problem with Gareth.'
Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his return to the starting line-up as Manchester United sealed a place in the Europa League knock-out rounds with a 3-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford on Thursday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances