Regarded as one of the best centre backs of his generation, Pique collected 35 trophies during his 18-year career.

A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.

IMAGES from the El Clasico match played at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Sunday.

The Italian said he would avoid big changes to his team this time, after he tested midfielder Luka Modric up front in place of then-injured striker Karim Benzema in the last El Clasico in March, only to get hammered 4-0 by the Catalans.

Crashing out at the group stage again would be a huge blow to Barcelona's finances, whose perilous state led the club's board to sell a stake in their TV rights and agree to the sale of their audio-visual division.

A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.

If Aubameyang's transfer to Chelsea goes through, he would return to the English top flight after seven months, having played for Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal for four years.

IMAGES from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.

Barcelona signing Robert Lewandowski is relishing a new challenge after joining the Catalan club and the 33-year-old said he was ready to play in their upcoming pre-season game against rivals Real Madrid in the United States.

Dembele was dropped by manager Xavi Hernandez amid his contract standoff with Barcelona before he returned to the team in February and finished the campaign with 32 appearances in all competitions.

England forward Raheem Sterling joined Chelsea on a five-year contract from Manchester City, the two English Premier League clubs announced on Wednesday.

Jeswin Aldrin, who had already qualified for the championships, however missed the cut.

The club will relocate to the Olympic Stadium in Montjuic due to renovation work.

A summary of Thursday's second leg quarter-final matches in the Europa League.

Koeman helped the Netherlands reach the Euro 2020 finals after they had missed the previous tournament

Real Madrid are comfortably perched on top of the La Liga standings with 66 points while Barca are now third on 54 points with a game in hand, three points behind second-placed Sevilla.

IMAGES from Europa League matches played on Thursday.

'I think that the only thing that we lacked was to convert the chances. We were good in the high press. After going behind, we generated 20 chances and six or seven were very clear.'

Eriksen seeks return to 'normal life' with Brentford

Neuer sidelined for 'coming weeks' after knee surgery - Bayern

Aubameyang joined Arsenal from German club Borussia Dortmund in 2018 for a fee of around 58 million pounds ($79 million) as former manager Arsene Wenger's last signing.

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi drew with Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth round to be in joint third place with 5.5 points in the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.

Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr both scored a brace to give the LaLiga leaders a 4-1 home win over Valencia

Luuk de Jong's first-half header gave Barcelona a 1-0 win at Mallorca

Atletico Madrid have recorded five COVID-19 positives, including manager Diego Simeone

Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Vinicius Jr have tested positive for COVID-19.

Given a contract until 2024, the 41-year-old made a winning start on Saturday with a victory over Espanyol that put Barcelona sixth in LaLiga on 20 points after 13 matches.

Barcelona sacked coach Ronald Koeman after Wednesday's 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Rayo Vallecano, the Catalan club said on Wednesday.

Barcelona sacked coach Ronald Koeman after Wednesday's 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Rayo Vallecano, the Catalan club said on Wednesday.

Villarreal's struggles in the Spanish league continued with a 2-1 loss at Athletic Bilbao, with striker Gerard Moreno not finishing the game because of an injury.

Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite films from the recent Toronto International Film Festival.

'But when I arrived in Barcelona, I was told that it was no longer possible, that I could not stay and that I had to find another club, because Barca could not afford to extend my contract. That changed my plans.'

Paris St Germain suffered their first defeat of the season when they were beaten 2-0 at Stade Rennais on Sunday to drop their first Ligue 1 points of the season.

Images from football action around European leagues played on Sunday

A summary of Wednesday night's action in the UEFA Champions League.

Goals from Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong and the returning Ansu Fati helped Barcelona claim a much-needed 3-0 home victory over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.

Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday night.

A summary of all things football.

Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman won the Barcelona Open chess tournament title in Barcelona, while compatriot Karthikeyan Murali finished third.

PSG's big buy has been left out squad for the Ligue 1 match against Brest.