Real Madrid's Welsh winger Gareth Bale has joined Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for FIFA's Ballon d'Or award.
It was a dramatic night at the Champions League as Barcelona's Anssumane Fati -- 17 years and 40 days old - became the youngest to net a goal in the competition. Last season's semi-finalists, Ajax were eliminated by Valencia while Napoli's coach Ancelotti was shown the door despite the team's progress. Here are Images from the Champions League matches played on Tuesday
Garbine Muguruza made an imposing start to the WTA Finals by confidently swotting aside Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 7-6 (4) in their White Group opener on Monday.
Ajax closed the gap with Dutch league leaders Twente Enschede to one point after Luis Suarez and Marko Pantelic earned them a 2-0 win at struggling Willem II Tilburg on Wednesday.
In England, the celebrations went on at Leicester City as they marked their fairytale Premier League success with another win while champions Juventus' long unbeaten streak in Italy came to an end.
Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was bundled out of the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Saturday, piling up unforced errors in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round. Twice champion and former world number one Kim Clijsters of Belgium had a much easier time on a sunny afternoon in the California desert, cruising into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
The Bernabeu faithful have never taken Gareth Bale to their hearts with injury problems and a perceived lack of integration into the side often used as sticks to beat him with.
Here are five talking points from the weekend in La Liga:
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
Barcelona seized control of their King's Cup quarter-final tie against Atletico Madrid when Lionel Messi followed up his saved penalty to score and secure a 1-0 first-leg victory at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
Women's tennis's biggest names still remaining at the US Open take centre stage on Sunday with Grand Slam winners Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova all appearing on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Paraguay starlet Sergio Diaz is thrilled to be moving to Real Madrid but has yet to find out if he will join the first team squad for pre-season training or play for the club's Castilla reserve side, he told Spanish media. Real have yet to unveil the 18-year-old officially but Marca reported that striker has joined the Spanish giants from Cerro Porteno in a six million euros ($6.64 million) transfer deal to become the first Paraguayan to play for the European champions.
Goal-line technology was used for the first time in a World Cup match to decide if the ball had crossed the line during France's Group E clash with Honduras on Sunday.
Catalans will have to cope without their inspirational captain Andres Iniesta, the man who has pedigree when it comes to beating the Blues.
Barcelona teenager Ansu Fati scored twice to lead his side to a 2-1 win at home to Levante on Sunday, finding the net in a league game for the first time in more than four months and becoming the youngest player to net a La Liga double. Romelu Lukaku scored a quickfire second-half double to give Inter Milan a 2-0 win at Udinese on Sunday, ending their run of three successive 1-1 league draws.
Lionel Messi lifted Barcelona out of their recent slump with two goals in a vintage display as his side survived a tenacious Tottenham Hotspur fightback to claim a 4-2 victory in Champions League Group B on Wednesday.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action in La Liga.
Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-fighting Las Palmas on Thursday in an unexpected setback that left them with a five-point lead in La Liga ahead of their top-of-the-table showdown with Atletico Madrid this weekend.
Manchester City's Premier League home match against Arsenal has been postponed because players from the London club have had contact with the owner of Greek side Olympiakos Piraeus, who has contracted the coronavirus. Meanwhile La Liga matches will be played without fans for at least the next two rounds of fixtures to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the Spanish league said.
Toni Kroos netted his first for Real Madrid and was hailed as the best player on the pitch by his coach as the hosts tore apart Rayo Vallecano 5-1 in La Liga on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 13 games.
Jaume Costa atoned for giving away a first-half penalty when his strike five minutes from time rescued Villarreal a 1-1 draw against Eibar that put them fourth in La Liga on Sunday.
Andy Murray once again fills the prime time viewing slot on Centre Court late on Saturday, while five-time women's champion Venus Williams will have revenge on her mind against Carla Suarez Navarro.
The draw means second-placed Atletico Madrid could close the 12-point gap with Barcelona, who are on 74 points, if they beat Celta Vigo later on Saturday.
Marco Asensio's strike earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Espanyol to send them top of La Liga and Thomas Lemar scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid in a 2-0 victory at Getafe on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
World number four Jelena Jankovic beat Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-5, 6-2 to reach the final of the Andalucia Tennis Championships on Saturday. The Serbian second seed, by far the highest-ranked player remaining after Wednesday's shock exit of world number one Serena Williams, will be aiming to win her first title of the season when she meets Carla Suarez Navarro in Sunday's final.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Defending champion Djokovic fired his 15th ace on match point to defeat Querrey but his serve had been an issue earlier in their second-round encounter.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo faces a race against time to be fit for the Champions League semi-final second leg with Manchester City on May 4.
This time we're ready for Barca, says Man City's Nasri.
Players from European champions Barcelona made up nearly half of UEFA's Team of the Year which was revealed on Friday, while Cristiano Ronaldo made the lineup for a record 10th time. Eight players from La Liga were included in the final XI, voted for by 7.2 million UEFA.com users from a 40-strong shortlist. Lionel Messi, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Neymar were the Barcelona players included, while Real Madrid provided Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez.
Serena, a six-times champion in New York who is seeded 17th, will start her campaign against Polish world number 60 Magda Linette and could face Venus in the third round before a possible fourth-round showdown with Romanian top seed Halep.
Sania Mirza has received another lift in her already booming career. The Indian tennis ace reached the 25th doubles final of her career at the WTA New Haven Open.
A tortured and tormented Venus Williams whimpered out of the French Open on Friday while a Portuguese teenage upstart made a very noisy departure. Four-times champion Nadal barely broke into a sweat as he overcame potential banana skin Lleyton Hewitt to extend his Paris record to 31-0.
Holder Ana Ivanovic underlined her credentials for a second French Open title with a 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Czech Iveta Benesova in the third round on Friday. The Serbian eighth seed needed just over an hour to set up a meeting with either ninth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded 22nd.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Elena Dementieva downplayed any suggestions she was the favourite for the Australian Open title after she romped into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-2 demolition of Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Monday. The victory, in just 76 minutes, was the 14th in a row for the fourth-seeded Russian, who won the Auckland and Sydney tournaments before arriving at Melbourne Park. She is unbeaten in 2009 and plays Spain's unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the last eight.
The Frenchman, voted the world's third best player of 2016, has been the subject of intense transfer speculation since signing a new contract with Atletico in May 2017.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
La Liga leaders Barcelona won a tight and tense 'Clasico' 1-0 at Real Madrid on Saturday, beating their great rivals at their Bernabeu home for the second time in four days and moving a staggering 12 points clear of them in the standings.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances