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.
Real Madrid followed up Tuesday's Champions League success at Manchester United by climbing above beaten city rivals Atletico into second in La Liga when Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in a 2-1 win at second-bottom Celta Vigo 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.
Atletico Madrid set up a King's Cup final with city rivals Real after Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao scored in a 2-2 second leg draw at Sevilla on Wednesday, to progress 4-3 on aggregate.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played his fourth draw on the trot, sharing the point with tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine to slip to the fourth spot after the eighth round of the fourth Final Masters chess tournament in Bilbao.
In a tragic end to the Sao Paulo leg of the 4th final Masters tournament, Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was robbed at gun point and lost his luggage and valuable belongings enroute to the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In-form Malaga must brace themselves for a barrage of attacking football from Porto's Colombian Jackson Martinez and his returning compatriot James Rodriguez when they meet at the Dragao Stadium for their Champions League last 16 first leg on Tuesday.
Real Madrid survived an early red card for Sergio Ramos to see off city rivals Rayo Vallecano 2-0 at the Bernabeu on Sunday, matching the wins of La Liga leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over the weekend.
After a mixed outing in the Brazil leg of the event, World Champion Viswanathan Anand would be hoping for an improved finish in the Spain phase of the fourth Final Masters chess championship, which re-commences at Bilbao on Thursday.
Lionel Messi hit four goals for leaders Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a hat-trick for Real Madrid as the two teams warmed up for their midweek King's Cup semi-final clash with crushing La Liga victories on Sunday.
Under-fire Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho again chose not to face the Madrid-based media as he celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday but told Italian TV he was certain he would win at least one more Champions League title before he retires.
Valencia eased past La Liga rivals Osasuna into the quarter-finals of the King's Cup on Tuesday, while Malaga flirted with danger against third-tier Eibar before a flurry of late goals put them safely into the last eight.
La Liga leaders Real Madrid were thumped 4-0 away by city rivals Atletico Madrid to open up the Spanish title race, while Chelsea strengthened their hold on top spot in the English Premier League after a 2-1 win at Aston Villa.
The apparently unstoppable Lionel Messi extended his record goals tally for 2012 to 88 when he scored twice to earn holders Barcelona a 2-0 win at second division Cordoba in their King's Cup last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
Atletico Madrid have a chance to pile more King's Cup misery on neighbours Real after eliminating Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday to set up a last-four clash against the bitter city rivals they beat in last year's final.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here is the round-up of all the football action across Europe on the weekend
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.
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.
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.
Viswanathan Anand will be playing his first tournament since winning the World Championship for the fifth time in May early this year at Moscow.
A summary of the results of the major European football league matches on the weekend.
Marco Ruben's header put Villarreal up to third in La Liga with a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, after Valencia fell to a solitary Ivan Rakitic strike in a pulsating encounter with Sevilla.
The knee injury Barcelona forward Thierry Henry sustained in Saturday's 6-2 win at Real Madrid has made him a major doubt for the UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United. Henry will miss the King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday and the next three Spanish Primera Liga fixtures against Villarreal, Real Mallorca and Osasuna.
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.
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.
Lionel Messi rescued a nervy Barcelona with a late goal to earn a 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in a thrilling La Liga match on Sunday.
Cani's brilliant effort from just inside Osasuna's half helped Villarreal to a 4-2 home win as La Liga reached the midway point of the season on Saturday.
World chess Champion Viswanathan Anand is likely to lose his number one status by next month but the Indian is hardly bothered as he feels ranking is a motivational target rather than an end in itself.
Karim Benzema cemented his return to form with his second hat-trick of the month and Cristiano Ronaldo also netted three goals as Real Madrid crushed lowly Levante 8-0 in their King's Cup last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
Jose Mourinho was branded a 'crybaby' by Valencia coach Unai Emery on Monday following his criticism of the match referee after Real Madrid's scrappy 1-0 home win over Sevilla on Sunday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand will have to do better than Magnus Carlsen of Norway if he wants to retain his top ranking at the London Chess Classic.
Villarreal and Espanyol clung to the coat-tails of the La Liga leaders on Sunday with home wins that owed much to their attractive style of attacking football.
Spain striker Fernando Llorente scored in Athletic Bilbao's 2-1 La Liga victory over struggling Real Zaragoza on Sunday to continue his prolific recent run.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out a hard-fought draw with Magnus Carlsen of Norway to finish second in the Bilbao Final Masters chess tournament in Bilbao on Saturday.
Lionel Messi scored four goals to take his La Liga tally to 50 this season as Barcelona hammered Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday in an emotional last game at the Nou Camp for outgoing coach Pep Guardiola.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out a quick draw with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to remain in second spot after the end of the third round of the Bilbao final masters tournament.
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