Former European champions Liverpool and Inter Milan sealed their berths in the Champions League last 16 but last season's finalists Chelsea still have work to do after a 1-1 draw at Girondins Bordeaux on Wednesday.

Barcelona have the chance to secure top spot in Champions League Group C and prove they are not dependent on striker Lionel Messi to win matches when they visit Sporting on Wednesday. Barca's nine-match winning streak in the Spanish Primera Liga came to an end with a 1-1 draw at home to Getafe on Sunday, as Pep Guardiola's outfit struggled to open up their well-organised opponents.

The status quo remained the same in Europe's top leagues as Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Olympique Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen all won to remain at the top of their leagues. Lyon enjoy the healthiest advantage after a win over last season's runners-up Girondins Bordeaux gave them a seven-point cushion in France while Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen retained slender goal difference leads in England and Germany.

Barcelona reached the last 16 of the Champions League despite being held to a 1-1 draw by a determined Basel at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb signed a four-year contract with Barcelona to complete his move from Arsenal, the Spanish Primera Liga club said on Wednesday. The 27-year-old, a long-term target for Barcelona, flew to Spain on Wednesday to take his medical, arriving just after the club had agreed to sell Brazilian Ronaldinho to AC Milan.

Manchester City are leading the race to sign Brazil forward Ronaldinho from Barcelona, the Spanish Primera Liga club's president Joan Laporta said on Monday. Spanish media have reported an offer of 32 million euros ($50.27 million), plus variables, is on the table from the English Premier League club.

Dani Pedrosa streaked away to win the Catalan Moto GP in Barcelona for his second victory of the season.

Portugal squad penpix for Euro 2008.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has recognised that former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho needs to leave the club if he is to revive his career. Laporta admitted that the club might find it difficult to sell the 28-year-old Brazilian, who suffered a series of injury and fitness problems this season.

Atletico Madrid secured a place in the Champions League qualifiers on Sunday after a goal from Diego Forlan earned them a 1-0 win over Deportivo Coruna and ensured they could finish no lower than fourth in the table. Atletico are now level on 64 points with Barca, but are in fourth because the Catalans have a better record in head-to-heads.

Frank Rijkaard will leave Barcelona at the end of the season and former captain Pep Guardiola will take over as coach of the team, club president Joan Laporta announced on Thursday. Former Netherlands international Rijkaard took charge of Barcelona in 2003 and led them to back-to-back league titles and victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006.

Real Madrid celebrated their league title triumph in style by crushing arch-rivals Barcelona 4-1 at the Bernabeu on Wednesday and helping deprive the Catalans of an automatic place in the Champions League. First-half goals from Raul and Arjen Robben, a classy strike from Gonzalo Higuain and a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty earned Bernd Schuster's side an emphatic win that delighted the home fans packed into the rain-soaked stadium.

Real Madrid fought back after a sending off and going a goal down to snatch a dramatic 2-1 victory at Osasuna and win their 31st Spanish league title on Sunday. With three matches left to play, Real have an unassailable 10-point lead over Villarreal at the top of the table.

A second-string Barcelona side were beaten 2-0 at Deportivo Coruna in the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Manchester United and Barcelona were involved in a goalless draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp on Wednesday. Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo sent his spot kick high and wide after Barca centre-back Gabriel Milito handled the ball in the area with just over a minute on the clock.

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo fluffed a second-minute penalty as his side drew 0-0 with a dominant Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

Barcelona's hopes of wresting the league title from Real Madrid suffered another blow on Saturday when they twice surrendered the lead to draw 2-2 at relegation-threatened Recreativo Huelva. The draw left Barca six points behind leaders Real Madrid with six games to play but the champions could extend that to nine if they beat struggling Real Murcia at the Bernabeu on Sunday.

Barcelona struck early through teenager Bojan Krkic and survived a series of late scares to claim a 1-0 win over Schalke 04 in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

Barcelona surrendered a two-goal lead to slump to a shock 3-2 defeat at Real Betis in the La Liga.

Barcelona closed to within four points of Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga after the leaders lost 3-2 at home to Valencia.

The world champion took the sole lead after playing a couple of draws with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the third round of the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament. Anand took his combined tally to four points and is now half a point ahead of nearest rivals Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Levon Aronian of Armenia, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Topalov who all have 3.5 points apiece.

World champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign with a draw in blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the first round of Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Nice, France. Bulgarian Veselin Topalov emerged winner against Peter Leko of Hungary.

Arsenal and Liverpool face each other in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In other last 8 matches, Manchester United play A S Roma, Barcelona meet Germany's Schalke and Chelsea, the fourth English club in the last eight, will play Turkish outsiders Fenerbahce.

Barcelona beat Celtic away, holders AC Milan and Arsenal drew goalless while Fenerbahce beat Spanish rivals Sevilla in Wednesday's other Champions League last 16 first-leg matches.

Second-placed Barcelona failed to keep the pressure on leaders Real Madrid after scrambling a 1-1 draw at Sevilla in the Primera Liga.

Real Madrid's eight-match winning run in the Primera Liga came to an end when they lost 2-0 to Almeria.

Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the King's Cup after a Thierry Henry earned them a 1-0 victory over 10-man Villarreal.

Samuel Eto'o scored two late goals for Barcelona in a 4-0 romp at home to promoted Real Murcia in the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Leaders Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 at the Nou Camp to take a vice-like hold on the Spanish Primera Liga title race.

Real Madrid stretched their lead at the top to four points after beating Racing Santander 3-1 at home while arch-rivals Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw at Espanyol in the Catalan derby. Real skipper Raul steered his side to their seventh win in seven games at the Bernabeu when he took his tally for the season to eight goals with a classy double.

Krishnan Sasikiran faces a tie-break in the Chess World Cup after his draw in the second game of his match against Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev.

Getafe returned to haunt Barcelona as they condemned Frank Rijkaard's side to a 2-0 defeat in the Primera Liga on Saturday. The last time Barca visited the Coliseum six months ago Getafe knocked them out of the King's Cup in the semi-finals by overturning a 5-2 first-leg deficit with a stunning 4-0 win.

Manchester United routed Dynamo Kiev 4-0 while a goalless draw saw Arsenal through to the Champions League knockout stages.

A Thierry Henry special and two trademark free kicks from Ronaldinho earned Barcelona a 3-0 win at home to Real Betis that put them within a point of leaders Real Madrid at the top of the Primera Liga on Sunday.

The Catalans made a lethargic start and fell behind in the 16th minute when striker Joseba Llorente bundled the ball into the net but they salvaged a point when Ronaldinho equalised with a neat finish just before halftime.

Primera Liga champions and leaders Real are at home to Greek title-holders Olympiakos Piraeus while injury-hit Barcelona are away to Rangers in this week's Champions League fixtures.

Barcelona are in intimidating form going into Tuesday's Champions League clash with VfB Stuttgart and the Germans are fearing the worst.

Viswanathan Anand was engaged in a quick 22 moves draw with Peter Svidler to stay one point ahead of the field after 12 rounds of the World Chess Championships in Mexico City.

Viswanathan Anand took a major step towards becoming the next World Chess Champion with a solid draw in the tenth round.

The Indian ace was involved in a 20-move draw with the Israeli Grandmaster, which kept his half point lead intact at the World Chess Championship.