West Ham United's hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a cruel blow as an own goal by midfielder Tomas Soucek and Harry Kane's first goal since December condemned them to a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was disappointed that he was only asked about the referee's decisions after his side earned a 2-1 victory at Real Sociedad on Sunday to climb above Barcelona and top La Liga.
Liverpool may have to wait a little longer for their Premier League title celebrations after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Everton in the behind closed-doors Merseyside derby on Sunday.
Arsenal slumped to a last-gasp 2-1 Premier League defeat at relegation-threatened Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday in a blow to the London club's chances of securing European football next season. Watford's Craig Dawson grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser with an overhead kick to earn his side a 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday and a vital point in their battle for Premier League survival.
The win took second-placed Real to 62 points after 29 games, two behind champions Barca who beat Leganes 2-0 on Tuesday.
IMAGES from football matches played in the Spain, Germany and Portugal on Wednesday.
The English Premier League resumed on Wednesday, after the forced break due to COVID-19. Here are IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Wednesday.
The first leg of Djokovic's Adria Tour is being held at his tennis complex by the Danube River, with Germany's Alexander Zverev, Austrian Dominic Thiem and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov arriving for the event.
Julen Lopetegui's side are in third place in the standings with 50 points after 28 games while Betis were left in 12th on 33.
Serbian leader relaxed after 25,000 go to match as lockdown eases
Rayo Vallecano beat Albacete 1-0 on Wednesday as Spanish football returned in bizarre circumstances from its COVID-19 hiatus with the second half of a match that first kicked off six months ago but was suspended due to offensive chanting. The second division encounter, played without fans in attendance, was the first Spanish football match to take place since March after all soccer was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virtual sound has been developed with video game company EA SPORTS FIFA, in a project called Sounds of the Stands.
Liverpool will resume their quest for a first top-flight title in 30 years against Everton on June 21 but the venue for the behind-closed-doors fixture was not confirmed when the league released its revised fixtures for the season's restart.
All you must know about soccer's return to action after coronavirus
After an almighty push by all parties concerned, Spain's La Liga roars back into action next week after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with matches taking place every day and with everything to play for. The season resumes on Wednesday in bizarre circumstances with the second half of a Segunda Division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete that was abandoned in December due to offensive chanting.
Second half of abandoned Rayo-Albacete will kick-off proceedings on return.
The season kick backs into action with a local derby between Sevilla and Real Betis on June 11 and there will be fixtures for the following seven days, with Barca hosting Leganes on June 16
Organisers trial virtual crowd noise option
All non-professional leagues have been cancelled although clubs in the top two divisions have resumed training in groups of up to 10 players.
'All of our lives are going to be changed in a permanent way...' 'We just have to ride out the tide right now and we will see a rainbow at the end of this.'
Played behind closed doors, the result lifted Hertha one place up to 10th on 34 points from 27 games while promoted Union, who won the reverse fixture in November 1-0 thanks to a late penalty, stayed 12th on 30 points.
At least half a dozen players suffered injuries in Bundesliga, highlighting concerns about plunging straight into competitive action after a two-month stoppage without warmup matches.
Spanish second division side Rayo Vallecano refused to turn up for the first day of group training due to a dispute with the club hierarchy over a pay cut for staff and players, a club source said on Monday.
IMAGES from all the Bundesliga action on Saturday.
The games sounded more like Sunday kickabouts or high-intensity training sessions than the return to action of highly-paid professionals in the world's best attended football league with normally an average of about 42,000 spectators per game.
The gaze of the sporting world will fall on Germany this weekend as the Bundlesliga becomes the first major soccer league to emerge from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. All 18 clubs will crank back into action in what could act as a catalyst for other leagues to follow suit.
'With the Bundesliga as the only league to be broadcast on TV, I expect we will have an audience of a billion'
From cardboard cut-outs of real fans to an app allowing supporters to influence the volume of noise piped into stadiums, people are developing ideas for how to put some matchday atmosphere back into the stadiums -- though whether their ideas are accepted is a different matter.
German soccer teams started the week in isolation on Monday after going into seven-day quarantine ahead of the Bundesliga season restart on Saturday, with club bosses saying completing the campaign amid the coronavirus outbreak will not be easy. The German Football League (DFL) decided last week to resume the first and second division from May 16 after a two-month suspension, making it the first major sports league to attempt a restart.
The resumption of the German Bundesliga next weekend amid the COVID-19 crisis will give hope to other European leagues that they can also successfully return, according to Schalke 04 coach David Wagner.
The Bundesliga season will restart on May 16 after a suspension of more than two months, the German Football League (DFL) said on Thursday, becoming the first European league to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic. The DFL said the season would restart under the terms of a strict health protocol that bans fans from the stadium, with six games on Saturday, including the high-profile Ruhr valley derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.
Professional soccer leagues around Europe are gearing up for a return to action following the novel coronavirus stoppage, but some are more advanced than others.
Germany's professional teams have been training since mid-April, divided into small groups and under strict conditions, including extensive testing of all players and coaching staff.
Resumption of professional and local sport within days, says the country's sports and recreation minister.
'He was a very shy man of few words. Whenever we spoke about girls, he would run away.'
In a big blow to the players and officials, I-League side East Bengal have terminated all the existing contracts, citing 'Force Majeure' in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. Left with no option, the players have now knocked the doors of the Football Players Association of India who have assured full support and referred the matter to the world body for players (FIFPro).
AC Milan and Inter Milan will play their first-ever virtual derby on Saturday after joining forces with digital sports broadcaster DAZN, the clubs said in a statement on Thursday. At the control will be Milan's Portuguese forward Rafael Leao and Inter's striker Sebastiano Esposito, selected for their self-confessed expertise on video games.
With football matches cancelled across Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, La Liga players Borja Iglesias and Sergio Reguilon found a novel way to attract 60,000 online fans - by battling out a thrilling Seville derby on the FIFA 20 videogame. Fans in Andalusia suffering from La Liga withdrawal symptoms after Sunday's clash between Sevilla and Real Betis was postponed tuned in for the showdown between Betis's Iglesias and Sevilla's Reguilon on streaming service Twitch.
The Premier League, English Football League, Women's Super League and men and women's FA Cup competitions were suspended on Friday following an emergency meeting sparked by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta testing positive for the virus a day earlier.
The All India Football Federation on Saturday suspended tournaments at all levels, including the flagship I-League, till March 31 owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
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