Five-times European champions Liverpool suffered a 1-0 defeat at Lille after a late goal by forward Eden Hazard while Juventus beat underdogs Fulham 3-1 in Europa League last 16 first leg matches on Thursday.
Bayer Leverkusen beat a second-string Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday to move up to third in the Bundesliga and get back on course for an automatic Champions League spot with three matches left in the season.
Manchester United, Sevilla and Celtic led a parade of clubs with continental pedigree to book the first places in this season's Europa League knockout stage.
Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson strongly believes that Michael Owen deserves a place in England coach Fabio Capello's World Cup squad.
Manchester United's injury crisis deepened on Monday as they prepared for a Champions League match against Germany's Vfl Wolfsburg with only one first-team defender in their 19-man squad.
Fernando Torres will face his former club Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-finals after scoring twice to help Liverpool beat Benfica 4-1 at Anfield on Thursday.
AC Milan were handed a comfortable UEFA Cup assignment on Tuesday after being drawn with Heerenveen, Braga, Portsmouth and Wolfsburg in the group stage.
Bayer Leverkusen squandered a chance to go two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday when they conceded an injury-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen.
Bayern Munich continued their winning run on Saturday by beating fading champions VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 to draw level on points with Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga.
Leaders Bayern Munich eased past VfB Stuttgart 2-0 on Saturday to grab their first win of the year, as did Borussia Dortmund who beat Freiburg 3-0 to climb off the bottom of the Bundesliga table.
Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery returned to training on Monday following a knee injury that has kept him out of action for around two weeks.
Juan Mata hailed George Best "a genius forever" as an injury-hit Manchester United aim to mark the 10th anniversary of the Northern Irishman's death with a Champions League victory against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
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Barcelona look well set to wrap up the La Liga title.
Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus scored twice in a 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday to put them within five points of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich while Borussia Moenchengladbach continued their sensational winning run with a 4-1 demolition of Hertha Berlin.
On a good night for English clubs in the Europa League, Manchester United hammered AZ Alkmaar 4-0, while Wolverhampton Wanderers also thrashed Besiktas 4-0 in Group K, and Arsenal came from two goals down to draw 2-2 away to Standard Liege and finish first in their pool. The upset of the night came in Group J as Crivelli scored a 90th-minute winner against Borussia Moenchengladbach to send Basaksehir through and knock the Germans out, with AS Roma grabbing the runner-up spot thanks to a 2-2 home draw with Wolfsberger as the Europa League group stage concluded on Thursday.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and defender Andrea Barzagli have extended their contracts with the Italian champions until 2018, they said on Wednesday. Italy captain Buffon, 38, and international team mate Barzagli, 35, have helped Juve win five straight Serie A titles, having made 35 and 30 appearances respectively this season. "I hope that my fantastic story with this club will go on and bring even further success," Buffon told a news conference. "I'm immensely proud in the faith Juventus have placed in me once more." Barzagli added: "Even at this age, I still have room to improve and this is the best place for me to do so."
The title race in Europe's top leagues remained tense at the weekend with Inter Milan losing at Napoli and Liverpool keeping the pressure on Manchester United. VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich both lost in Germany and Barcelona were held at Valencia but Olympique Marseille went five points clear.
Visitors Schalke put a dent in Bayern Munich's Bundesliga title hopes by snatching a 1-0 win over the champions in a bad-tempered game on Saturday.
Unai Emery's Villarreal were much improved in the second half and had spurned numerous chances before Moreno's leveller.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben scored twice on his debut to help Bayern Munich beat champions VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 and win their first league match of the season on Saturday.
Injury-ravaged Bayern Munich beat Hoffenheim 2-0 on Saturday, shrugging off a string of absences and their midweek Champions League defeat at Porto to close in on the Bundesliga title.
Competition favourites AC Milan will face Werder Bremen, one of the Champions League dropouts, in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup following Friday's draw in Nyon, Switzerland.
Out-of-favour England striker Michael Owen wound back the clock with a superb treble to lead Manchester United to a 3-1 win over VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday. Owen, who turns 30 next week, has been fighting to regain his place in Fabio Capello's side and his virtuoso performance will improve his chances of a recall ahead of next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.
It was in the 1960s that the Beetle attained its cult status, when it became almost synonymous with the hippie movement -- and succeeded in shaking off the grim history of its origins. As Volkswagen announces the end of the Bug's journey, Amrita Singh goes down a nostalgic road.
Real Madrid's Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was named winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or on Monday, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's and Lionel Messi's decade-long hold on the prestigious award.
Substitute Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat-trick in the last 11 minutes to fire Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-1 win at home to Hamburg SV on an afternoon of late Bundesliga drama on Saturday.
The fixtures for the group stages in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League, which kicks-off on Wednesday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Anthony Martial went from villain to hero as his second-half equaliser earned Manchester United a deserved point in a 1-1 draw against CSKA Moscow in Champions League Group B on Wednesday.
Lahm, a defensive midfielder, is among Germany's most successful players of all time, having won almost every trophy with club and country, including seven Bundesliga titles, the Champions League and the World Cup.
Germany's defensive midfielder Sami Khedira has been offered to Manchester United at 2,00,000 pounds-a-week by Real Madrid, as he will be out of contract in the summer and the top Premier League clubs have been alerted about the same.
Bayern Munich secured their 21st German league title and completed a domestic double for the third time in four seasons when they drew 0-0 away to VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday. Bayern's draw stretched their lead over closest rivals Werder Bremen to 10 points with three games left and set off the traditionally soggy celebrations, as the players soaked each other, and anyone else on the field, with beer.
Werder Bremen snatched a 1-1 draw at VfB Stuttgart thanks to Anthony Ujah's second-half equaliser in a relegation derby of former German champions on Sunday to stay one point above the relegation zone.
Belgium coach Marc Wilmots insists Kevin De Bruyne is enjoying his football again and will get even better when his side play Hungary in their Euro 2016 round of 16 clash on Sunday. De Bruyne struggled in Belgium's opening 2-0 defeat by Italy but contributed an assist against Ireland before delivering a midfield masterclass as Wilmots's side secured a place in the second round with a 1-0 win over Sweden.
Borussia Dortmund missed a bagful of chances to draw 1-1 at home with Augsburg on Tuesday, as they squandered the opportunity to make up ground in the Bundesliga title race heading into the winter break.
German champions Bayern Munich sacked coach Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday, a day after they suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat to Paris St Germain in the Champions League.
The company said it would appoint a US law firm to conduct a full investigation
Italy striker Luca Toni scored twice to steer Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to a 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
IMAGES from all the Bundesliga action on Saturday.
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