APRNEWS - Zinedine Zidane stood for 29 minutes fielding questions but all of them really came down to two: Why now? And, what next?

In a packed auditorium in the belly of the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday night, Raul and Roberto Carlos took their seats in the front row while journalists squeezed up against the walls, an hour and a half after the official announcement.

APRNEWS - Champions League record winners and defending champions Real Madrid were booted out of this season’s competition on Tuesday after being thrashed 4-1 at home by an outstanding Ajax Amsterdam who overturned a first-leg deficit to reach the quarter-finals 5-3 on aggregate.

APRNEWS - Karim Benzema fired Real Madrid into the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey on Thursday by scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Girona.

Benzema was on target in the first leg too, a 4-2 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, and he continued his brilliant burst of form with another pair at Montilivi.

APRNEWS - There might have been two clubs toasting Athletic Bilbao signing Ibai Gomez from Alaves on Thursday -- Athletic for one, but also Real Madrid.

APRNEWS - Football fans all over the world are relishing the mouth watering ties served up for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages, including a match between last season’s finalists Liverpool and German champions Bayern Munich.

APRNEWS - After only 139 days in office for the club, Julien Lopetegue was sacked on Monday

APRNEWS - Manchester United are back in action in the UEFA Champions League today with Italian champions, Juventus returning to Old Trafford.

APRNEWS - A Nevada woman has sued Cristiano Ronaldo and is participating in a police investigation of the global soccer star for an alleged rape at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, according to a complaint filed by her lawyer.

Lawyers for Ronaldo, one of the world's best-known athletes, on Friday threatened to sue a German magazine that published the accusation.

APRNEWS - Croatian international and Real Madrid midfielder, Luka Modric, has been named the best European player by the continent’s football governing body, UEFA.

APRNEWS - Retired Brazilian striker Ronaldo left a clinic in Ibiza on Tuesday following a four-night stay for treatment for a flu infection.

"He left this morning at 10:30am, not wanting to depart from the side where the press were waiting," said a spokesman for the clinic in the centre of Ibiza.