Antoine Griezmann responded to the challenge laid down by coach Ernesto Valverde with a brilliant display as Barcelona came from behind to thrash Real Betis 5-2.

Ahead of the 2019/20 La Liga season — which kicks off tonight — Dermot Corrigan looks at the key storylines to follow in the months ahead

The one word uppermost in the minds of all Barcelona players, fans and pundits throughout this season was ‘Roma’.

Luis Suarez led the way and Lionel Messi added the killer blows as Barcelona battled to a 3-0 victory in last night’s Champions League semi-final first leg at the Camp Nou.

With Barcelona set to seal the title tonight, Dermot Corrigan wraps the LaLiga campaign

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s ability to inspire Manchester United to a memorable Champions League victory over PSG underlined the Norwegian’s credentials.

Manchester and Barcelona have an unusual amount in common this week.

Tottenham’s new stadium WILL be the only place to host Champions League football in London this season after another night of incredible drama in Barcelona ended with Lucas Moura striking a late, late equaliser to send Spurs through to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Ever feel that you need to be in two places at once? As we sat high up in the Camp Nou, watching Barcelona and Tottenham play out a 1-1 draw, eyes were stuck fast on updates from the San Siro. It was like watching Tony Blair’s nervous smile in Sedgefield in May 1997 while Michael Portillo grimaced in Enfield. All you needed was to splice yourself in half. Was that really too much to ask?

As if Tottenham’s task in trying to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League is not hard enough, Mauricio Pochettino has to contend with an injury situation that means rookie right-back Kyle Walker-Peters will be thrown in against Lionel Messi and his Barcelona team-mates in the Nou Camp tonight.

The past week or so has been so tricky for some of Europe’s elite clubs that they might be looking forward to the Champions League as a welcome diversion, writes David Shonfield

The lead up to tomorrow’s late in the season La Liga Clasico has been quite unique with minds on both sides not quite as focused as usual in the days before the world’s biggest domestic club game.

“A failure without excuses,” shouted the cover of Catalan daily Sport on Wednesday morning, with the words “debacle”, “lamentable” and “elimination” also featuring in bold print.

Luis Suarez scored his first Champions League goal of the season to earn Barcelona a 4-1 victory over Roma in the first leg of their quarter-final.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde is hoping the combination of Lionel Messi’s expected return and a passionate Nou Camp crowd will be enough to overpower Roma in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this evening.

Chelsea produced the kind of attacking performance in Europe that Manchester United fans were screaming for 24 hours earlier, but found centurion Lionel Messi was still too good for them, as they lost 3-0 in the Nou Camp in what was the harshest of Champions League lessons.

“It was a massive experience, a massive achievement for me and my family. Words can't really describe how it felt walking out there.”

Lionel Messi confirmed his status as LaLiga’s most influential player as his superb free kick saw Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 yesterday to open up an eight-point gap at the top of the table.

Check out all the results from the European matches today.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde will not encourage striker Luis Suarez to play with any less aggression than usual in tonight’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg (8.30pm) against Valencia despite being one yellow card away from missing the final.

Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu will make a return to the Premier League after joining Watford on loan until the end of the season.

Philippe Coutinho made his first LaLiga start for Barcelona but it was Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi who stole the headlines once again in a 2-1 win against Alaves.

Philippe Coutinho can bring something different to Barcelona, according to head coach Ernesto Valverde.

Diego Costa last night made a goalscoring return to Atletico Madrid with a second-half strike in their comfortable 4-0 Copa de Rey win at Lleida.

Bayern Munich strengthened their grip on the Bundesliga title race with a 3-0 win over Augsburg which extended their lead at the top of the table to six points.

All week the build-up to Barcelona’s visit to Atletico Madrid on Saturday night had centred on the difficult political situation in Spain, with a push towards independence in Catalonia, and the central authorities in the capital pushing back.

Most of the noise in Spanish football this summer was generated by superstars Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo — with the former leaving Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain, and the latter staying [for the moment at least] at Real Madrid.

Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema scored brilliant first-half goals as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-0 on the night to register a resounding 5-1 aggregate Supercopa win.

Barcelona striker Neymar will fly to Qatar today to discuss a potential world-record €222 million (£199m) transfer to Paris St Germain.

Barcelona striker Neymar will fly to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss a potential world-record €222m transfer to Paris St Germain, according to media reports.

Paris St Germain are unwilling to negotiate with Barcelona over star playmaker Marco Verratti, according to the president of the Catalan club.

All the latest transfer rumours from the papers and online.

Barcelona have named Ernesto Valverde as their new head coach.

Barcelona must win tonight’s Clasico at Real Madrid or Luis Enrique’s final season in charge at the Catalan club has the potential to go very sour.

Luis Enrique has announced he will not be Barcelona's head coach next season.

Barcelona have received a boost with confirmation that the leg problem which forced Lionel Messi to leave Sunday’s match with Athletic Bilbao early is nothing serious.

Spain must trust in their philosophy but trust their youth to enact it

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been hailed as the greatest player of all-time by team-mate and fellow Argentinian Javier Mascherano.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has announced that Pep Guardiola’s assistant Tito Vilanova is to step up into the top job.

Barcelona have called a press conference for this lunchtime at which Pep Guardiola is expected to announce he will leave the club at the end of the season.

ARSENE WENGER forced a smile and shook hands with his employers before departing the Arsenal director’s box, but he did not look happy after watching his far from convincing side defeat Olympiakos to go second in Group F of the Champions League.

BARCELONA are sweating on the fitness of playmaker Lionel Messi ahead of their two huge matches this week.