Lionel Messi continued his remarkable run of form as his second-half double, including an impudent free-kick, helped Barcelona continue their march towards the La Liga title on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Espanyol.

Rising teenage star Moise Kean stepped up in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo to rescue a 1-0 win for Juventus against lowly Empoli on Saturday as the champions opened up an 18-point lead at the top of Serie A.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri confirmed on Friday Cristiano Ronaldo is an injury doubt for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Ajax on April 10.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would consider taking his players off the field as an act of protest to racist abuse, while Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has called for matches to be temporarily halted.

An uncharacteristically angry Lionel Messi revealed on Friday how he struggles to deal with criticism of his performances for Argentina's national team, saying that even his six-year-old son was questioning why he was judged so harshly in his country.

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso repeated on Friday that he has no plans to return to Formula One despite agreeing to test with McLaren next week before adding mischievously: "I don't close doors 100 per cent."

The Spaniard, who retired from F1 at the end of last season, has been occupied in other projects including endurance sportscar racing and rallying.

Harry Kane spoke Thursday of his pride at how his teammates dealt with being racially abused in Montenegro as he collected an award for "services to football" after leading England to the World Cup semi-finals. 

Atletico Madrid and France defender Lucas Hernandez will join Bayern Munich for 80 million euros ($90m) this summer, the German club announced on Wednesday.

A Turkish footballer banned for life after being accused of slashing rival players with a razor during a match had his punishment reduced to a 20-game suspension, authorities said on Thursday.

The attacks that shocked football-mad Turkey were during a third division match between local squads Sakaryaspor and Amedspor, based in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir.

Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa was on Thursday assured of his re-election as head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after his only remaining challenger withdrew from the contest.