January transfer window failed to materialise as Europe's top clubs largely kept their powder dry.
Southampton have agreed to sign Werder Bremen's Netherlands winger Eljero Elia on loan until the end of the season, the Premier League club said on Tuesday.
Here is the round-up of all the football action across Europe on the weekend
Spanish forward Joselu struck deep into stoppage time as Hanover 96 rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 at bottom club Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Borussia Dortmund completed their spectacular implosion this season, losing 2-1 at struggling Werder Bremen.
Arjen Robben scored a 90th minute winner in their 2-1 victory at Mainz 05 on Friday to send Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich into the winter break with a commanding 14-point lead.
An 85th-minute equaliser by Naldo gave VfL Wolfsburg a 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund, maintaining their hold on second place and leaving the hosts in the Bundesliga relegation zone.
Bayern Munich scraped past Hertha Berlin 1-0 courtesy of an Arjen Robben goal to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 10 points and extend their unbeaten Bundesliga run to 16 games over two seasons.
Former German international goalkeeper Tim Wiese is all beefed up now and set for a career in professional wrestling after making an appearance in the ring at a WWE event on Saturday in Frankfurt.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as the undefeated champions crushed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 to open up a seven-point lead at the top.
Borussia Dortmund bounced back after slumping to their fourth straight Bundesliga defeat against Hanover 96 at the weekend, cruising past second tier St Pauli 3-0 on Tuesday to reach the German Cup third round.
Indian-origin German football Bundesliga coach Robin Dutt has been sacked by his club SV Werder Bremen owing to the team's poor start in the new national championship season.
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky continued to swipe past the seeds at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday by dumping World No 4 Maria Sharapova from the hard court tournament with a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.
Moritz Stoppelkamp scored an extraordinary goal from deep inside his own half, a Bundesliga record 83 metres, to cap a 2-0 win for upstarts Paderborn over Hanover 96 on Saturday, helping the promoted side go to of the table.
Edinson Cavani scored early for Paris St Germain but a series of wasted chances came back to haunt them as Ajax Amsterdam equalised late to deny the French a winning start on the road in a 1-1 draw in Champions League Group F on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola is counting on Frenchman Franck Ribery's anger to power them past Real Madrid in their Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday despite the winger's recent slump in form.
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich suffered their first league defeat in 18 months when they slumped to a 1-0 loss at Augsburg on Saturday as Sascha Moelder's first-half strike ended their record 53-game unbeaten league run.
Lightning struck twice for Marc-Andre ter Stegen on Saturday when the Borussia Moenchengladbach goalkeeper scored a bizarre own goal in a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Braunschweig and his opposite number also put through his own net.
Runaway leaders Bayern Munich appeared to barely break sweat in a 4-0 win at Hanover 96 to chalk up their 14th Bundesliga win in a row on Sunday, leaving them a huge 19 points clear at the top.
Runaway leaders Bayern Munich survived a torrid opening against Nuremberg, who hit the bar and had two players carried off injured in the first half hour, before hitting back for a 2-0 win in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Schalke 04 striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar could not have dreamt of a better comeback after five months out when he scored the opening goal in his side's 3-0 victory at Hamburg SV on Sunday.
VfL Wolfsburg have completed the signing of talented winger Kevin de Bruyne from Chelsea with the Belgian agreeing to a five-year contract, the Bundesliga club said on Saturday.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is adamant Eden Hazard will not be leaving Stamford Bridge any time soon but believes the playmaker's fellow Belgian international Kevin De Bruyne could move in the January transfer window.
Bayern Munich humiliated former Bundesliga powerhouses Werder Bremen 7-0 on Saturday with Franck Ribery scoring twice and setting up another two as the champions kept up their seemingly unstoppable march towards another title.
Bayern Munich humiliated former Bundesliga powerhouses Werder Bremen 7-0 on Saturday, Franck Ribery scoring twice and setting up another as the champions kept up their seemingly unstoppable march towards another title.
Arjen Robben scored two first-half goals to give Bundesliga leaders and titleholders Bayern Munich a predictable 2-0 win at home to bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
Substitute Mario Goetze led Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich on a second-half four-goal rampage after midtable Mainz 05 had the temerity to take a halftime lead at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund struggled to a 1-1 draw at Nuremberg on Saturday that ended their perfect start to the season of five straight league wins.
Kevin-Prince Boateng scored his first goal for Schalke 04 on Saturday to earn his team a 1-0 win at Mainz 05 and champions Bayern Munich beat Hanover 96 2-0.
Bayern Munich eased past Nuremberg 2-0 on Saturday with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on target to maintain a perfect start to the season and join a cluster of teams with nine points at the top of the table.
Bert Trautmann, a former German Prisoner of War who became a footballer in England and famously broke his neck playing in goal for Manchester City in the 1956 FA Cup final, died on Friday at the age of 89.
Bayer Leverkusen have signed South Korean forward Son Heung-min from Hamburg SV and have agreed with Chelsea for the transfer of winger Andre Schuerrle as the club prepare for next season's Champions League, they said on Thursday.
Germany's Champions League semi-finalists went on scoring sprees in the Bundesliga on Saturday with Borussia Dortmund blasting five first-half goals in a 6-1 win at Greuther Fuerth and champions Bayern Munich beating Nuremberg 4-0.
Bayern Munich won their 22nd Bundesliga title in record time on Saturday by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 to open up an unassailable 20-point lead with six games left in the season.
Bayern Munich demolished Schalke 04 4-0 with two goals from David Alaba to open a 15-point gap at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday as champions Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen slipped up.
Mario Mandzukic scored one goal and created the other as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich pulled 11 points clear of their nearest title rivals with a 2-0 victory at VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.
Mesut Ozil netted a superb double to fire Real Madrid to a 3-2 comeback win at Real Valladolid on Saturday and lift Jose Mourinho's side within two points of second-placed Atletico Madrid in La Liga.
Flawless Bayern Munich struck twice in three minutes to beat Schalke 04 2-0 on Saturday and stay top of the Bundesliga with four wins from four as rivals Borussia Dortmund lost 3-2 at Hamburg SV to end a 31-match unbeaten run.
Bayern Munich retained their two-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a nervous 3-1 victory against Mainz 05 on Saturday as champions Borussia Dortmund kept up the chase with a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Chelsea have signed Brazil midfielder Oscar, the English Premier League club said.