Barcelona defender Eric Abidal is to have a liver transplant, the Spanish and European champions said on Thursday.
Two goals from Wayne Rooney put Manchester United back on top of the Premier League for the first time in five months when they beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday and Manchester City went down to a 1-0 defeat at Swansea City.
Barcelona pulled six points clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga when Lionel Messi netted his seventh double of the campaign and set up Alex Song to open his account for the club in a 3-1 success at home to Real Zaragoza on Saturday.
Barcelona will appeal against the red card shown to Gerard Pique in Saturday's La Liga match against Sporting Gijon, a club spokesman said on Monday.
Levante continued to defy their humble status as Valencia's second club when they beat Real Betis 3-1 to reclaim fourth place in La Liga on Monday.
Cristiano Ronaldo took his league tally for the season to 30 as leaders Real Madrid swept aside Espanyol 5-0 at the Bernabeu to restore their 10-point advantage over Barcelona in La Liga on Sunday.
Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen cruised into the Europa League knockout stage with emphatic wins on Thursday but holders Atletico Madrid and former winners Liverpool suffered surprise defeats.
Barcelona's fading hopes of capturing a fourth consecutive La Liga crown suffered a major setback when they lost 3-2 at Osasuna on Saturday to leave Real Madrid seven points clear at the top with a game in hand.
Rodrigo Palacio snatched an 88th minute win for Inter Milan over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday while Lazio were on the wrong end of some late drama in a 1-1 draw at Panathinaikos.
Barcelona set up a King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao when Cesc Fabregas scored one goal and created another for Xavi in a 2-0 win over 10-man Valencia in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday.
Injury-hit Barcelona will not be complaining if another 'lucky' black cat helps Lionel Messi find the net at the Nou Camp on Wednesday when they bid for a third King's Cup final appearance in four years.
Lionel Messi had a penalty saved early in the second half as Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw at Valencia in a hard-fought King's Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
Giuseppe Rossi kept Europa League semi-finalists Villarreal on course for a place in the Champions League next season with a penalty to secure a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Real Zaragoza in La Liga on Monday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand could not fetch a win till the very end as he settled for a draw with Russia's Sergey Karjakin in the 10th and final round of fifth Final Chess Masters to finish a lowly fifth, in Bilbao, Spain.
Valencia's Pablo Piatti scored twice to set up a meeting with Barcelona in the King's Cup semi-finals after helping his side to a 7-1 aggregate win at city rivals Levante on Thursday.
As the superlatives rained down on treble-winning Bayern Munich on Sunday, it was difficult to see where the all-conquering Bavarians could find room for new signing Mario Goetze and, if speculation turns out to be true, Robert Lewandowski.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out his sixth draw on the trot, signing peace with Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain in round six of fifth Final Masters chess championship in Bilbao.
Colombia striker Radamel Falcao scored a hat-trick and helped Atletico Madrid to their first away win of the season, in a 4-0 victory at Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.
Samuel Eto'o scored twice to give ambitious Anzhi Makhachkala a 2-0 Europa League win over Young Boys on Thursday while Liverpool lost 3-2 at home to Udinese and Videton, Sparta Prague and Molde pulled off surprise wins.
Espanyol struck three goals in four minutes to snatch a dramatic 3-2 comeback win at home to third-tier Mirandes in a King's Cup quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand's winless streak continued as he played out a tame draw against out-of-form Sergey Karjakin of Russia -- his fourth in as many games -- in the fourth round of fifth Final Masters in Sao Paulo.
A second-string Barcelona set up a King's Cup quarter-final clash against holders and great rivals Real Madrid when they came back from a goal down to beat Osasuna 2-1 on Thursday for a 6-1 aggregate victory.
Levante's extraordinary season continued when they thrashed second-division Alcorcon 4-0 on Wednesday to secure a 5-2 aggregate victory and advance to the King's Cup quarter-finals for the first time in more than 70 years.
Holders Real Madrid were helped into the King's Cup quarter-finals by a goalkeeping howler from Malaga's Willy Caballero on Tuesday which gifted them a 1-0 away win.
Viswanathan Anand will be playing his first tournament since winning the World Championship for the fifth time in May early this year at Moscow.
Holders Real Madrid scored three times in 10 minutes at the Bernabeu on Tuesday in a dramatic comeback to beat Malaga 3-2 in their King's Cup last 16 first leg.
King's Cup holders Real Madrid and 2011 runners-up Barcelona are on course to meet in next month's quarter-finals following Friday's draw for the last 16.
Holders Porto will face Premier League leaders Manchester City while former European champions Ajax Amsterdam will meet Manchester United in two glittering Europa League Round-of-32 ties following Friday's draw.
Bayern Munich left more than 50 million eurosworth of new signings on the bench, yet still managed to destroy shoddy VfB Stuttgart 6-1 in an embarrassingly one-sided Bundesliga contest on Sunday.
Real Madrid's early-season woes deepened when they lost 2-1 at home to La Liga champions Atletico Madrid, while substitute Neymar struck twice in Barcelona's 2-0 win against visiting Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand finished the London Classic with an easy draw as black against Luke McShane of England, signing joint fifth in the overall standings of the nine-player round-robin tournament that concluded in London.
Chelsea's relationship with the European Super Cup comes full circle on Friday when the winners of the first final at the picturesque Stade Louis II face Atletico Madrid in the last one to be staged there.
A second-string Atletico Madrid missed a penalty and had a man sent off in a 2-1 defeat at third-tier Albacete in their King's Cup last-32 first-leg match on Thursday.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by David Howell of England in the third round of London Chess Classic on Tuesday.
Midfielder Cesc Fabregas moved Barcelona a step closer to the La Liga title with a late strike in a laboured 1-0 victory at home to mid-table Levante on Saturday.
Bruges scored four times in the last 17 minutes to beat Maribor 4-3 in the Europa League on Wednesday while Atletico Madrid and PAOK Salonika were among six teams to qualify for the knockout stage.
World Champion Viswanthan Anand had to find some brilliant resources but in the end the Indian ace found them all to hold nemesis Levon Aronian of Armenia in the fourth round of Tal memorial international chess tournament in Moscow.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand had to settle for a draw against Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the first round of the Tal Memorial Chess tournament in Moscow.
Levante's first experience of life at the top of La Liga in their 102-year history ended when the surprise early pacesetters suffered a first defeat of the season in a 2-0 loss at 10-man Osasuna on Sunday.
Anderlecht kept up their 100 percent record in the Europa League with a 2-0 win at Sturm Graz while Udinese struck late to sink Atletico Madrid by the same score in Thursday's top match.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances