Barcelona looked to take advantage of Atletico Madrid’s defeat to Athletic Bilbao yesterday by defeating Real Betis and opening up a 10-point gap at the top of LaLiga, and the first half of the match at the Benito Villamarín couldn’t have gone better from a Blaugrana perspective.

In the 18th minute, Lionel Messi opened the scoring with an exquisite free kick that flew beyond Pau Lopez in goal. This was Messi’s 27th league goal in 26 games.  

Atlético and Barcelona drew 60,739 to the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid for a Primera División match Sunday, a world record attendance for a women’s match between two club sides. Atlético was looking to put one hand on the Spanish league title with a positive result, but Barcelona would record a 2-0 victory to cut the host’s lead at the top of the table to just three points with six matches remaining.

Zinedine Zidane, the man who does nothing but win trophies as manager and player, is back with Real Madrid for a second stint as head coach less than a year after leaving the club. Having just arrived this week, he’s already shaking things up — and to good effect.

After a scoreless first leg that was defined by Luis Suarez not playing very well, the Uruguayan enjoyed a vital role in Barcelona’s 5-1 second-leg victory over Lyon at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. However, the man of the match was Lionel Messi, who scored two goals and added two assists to ease his side into the Champions League quarterfinals.

After being reappointed Real Madrid manager Monday, Zinedine Zidane oversaw his first training session, part deux, Wednesday. The Frenchman’s first order of business will be to hammer 18th-place Celta Vigo at Real’s recent house of horrors, the Santiago Bernabéu, on Saturday. 

The18 has exclusive footage of Zidane’s return to Valdebebas, and we’re willing to share it with you for a small price — one minute of your precious time.  

First things first, before we talk about controversy or points of contention with referees, we have to simply talk about the game and how it actually flowed. After Atlético Madrid’s sensational performance at the Wanda Metropolitano on Feb. 20, this was an absolute debacle at Juventus Stadium on Tuesday.

It’s difficult to remember a time when Diego Simeone got things so ineffably wrong. How could Atlético go from this (cojones): 

The mission seemed impossible for Juventus after the first leg.

A defeat at Atletico Madrid meant the Old Lady needed three goals without allowing one against one of the best defenses in all of Europe. 

But Juventus has something this year it’s never had before: Cristiano Ronaldo.

The former Real Madrid superstar paid off his immense transfer fee with one incredible performance, scoring a hat trick to lead Juventus to a 3-2 aggregate win in the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday in Turin.