Edgar Mendez's solo effort nine minutes from time sent Alaves into their first ever Copa del Rey final with a 1-0 semifinal, second leg win over Celta Vigo enough to progress by the same score on aggregate.

Luis Suarez booked Barcelona's place in a fourth consecutive Copa del Rey final but was sent off as a bad-tempered 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday secured a 3-2 aggregate win.

Atletico Madrid will have to win at Barcelona's Nou Camp for the first time in a decade on Tuesday if they are to reach the King's Cup final.

Holders Barcelona have a fourth consecutive Copa del Rey final in sight when Atletico Madrid visit the Camp Nou on Tuesday with the daunting task of overturning a 2-1 semi-final, first leg deficit.

Barcelona midfielder Rafinha faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering a broken nose in a clash with his own goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in Saturday's 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.

Samir Nasri missed a second-half penalty as Sevilla squandered the chance to close to within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid with a 0-0 draw home to Villarreal on Sunday.

Spanish clubs have cleaned up their finances and modernised their stadiums and can now go on to surpass even the huge earnings sloshing around the English Premier League, La Liga's president said on Friday.

Lionel Messi struck another trademark free-kick as Barcelona moved to within a one point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored stunning goals to edge Barcelona towards a fourth consecutive King's Cup final with a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, although the holders were lucky to survive a late onslaught from the hosts.

The Spanish football league is likely to use the newly-introduced video refereeing system in 2018, league President Javier Tebas said.

European Club Association (ECA) president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge described FIFA's 48-World Cup as "nonsense" on Monday and warned soccer's governing body that the balance of power in the sport was shifting towards his members.

Diego Maradona has revealed his drug problems began when he was at Barcelona in the 1980s in an interview with an Italian private television network, Canale 5.

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were on target as holders Barcelona thrashed Real Sociedad 5-2 to reach the King's Cup semi-finals for the seventh successive year with a 6-2 aggregate victory on Thursday.

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique believes there isn't another player in world football who can adequately replace what injured captain Andres Iniesta brings the Catalan giants.

Barcelona ended a decade-long drought without winning away to Real Sociedad on Thursday as Neymar's first-half penalty handed the Spanish champions a 1-0 Copa del Rey quarter-final, first leg lead.

Manchester United's relative failure on the pitch has not been reflected off it as for the first time in over a decade they top Deloitte's Football Money League for revenue in the 2015/16 season.

Barcelona's Brazilian international midfielder Rafinha is set for a spell on the sidelines after the Catalan giants confirmed he has pulled his right hamstring on Tuesday.

Former Manchester United and Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal has ended his coaching career following a family tragedy, Dutch media reported on Tuesday.

Luis Suarez scored twice and Lionel Messi continued his sensational form as Barcelona moved to within two points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Saturday with a 5-0 rout of Las Palmas.

Barcelona removed Pere Gratacos as their institutional sporting relations director on Friday after he claimed that Lionel Messi "would not be as good" without his teammates.