Barcelona, April 9 : Barcelona are looking for another magical night at the Camp Nou Stadium Wednesday when they try to secure a place in the Champions League by beating Paris Saint Germain.

Barca are favourites after a 2-2 draw in Paris last week, leaving them needing just a 0-0 draw to reach the last four -- but the game is more complicated than that, Xinhua reports.

Paris showed a week ago that they are a side that is not willing to lay down and accept defeat after twice coming back from behind to assure a draw in virtually the last kick of the game. Meanwhile, Barca have injury problems to contend with.

Madrid, April 8 : Real Madrid's obsession with winning the 10th Champions League football tournament of their history has reached such levels that for several years they have had their own noun to describe the title.

The 'Decima' has become the be-all and the end-all of Real Madrid's season with an importance way above the final of the Copa del Rey final against city rivals, Atletico Madrid and the Spanish Primera Liga where they trail FC Barcelona by 13 points, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, April 6 : The Spanish government has raised the minimum legal age for marriage from 14 to 16 years.

Spain's Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality Ana Mato Friday said that change was aimed at "improving the wellbeing and quality of life of youngsters", reported Xinhua.

Until now, people as young as 14 years could marry with permission from a judge or their family. (IANS)

Madrid, April 4 : Real Madrid thrashed Galatasaray 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring Wednesday after just nine minutes and Karim Benzema's shot put the home side 2-0 ahead 20 minutes later, Xinhua reports.

Gonzalo Higuain came on for Benzema in the 65th and eight minutes later headed home Madrid's third from a free kick curled in by Xabi Alonso.

Didier Drogba could have scored for the visitors in the 12th minute but his shot went high.

Madrid, April 3 :  Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho again avoided answering questions over his future at the club as he spoke to the press ahead of his team's Champions League quarterfinal first leg game at home to Galatasaray.

Mourinho has a contract with Real Madrid until 2016, but doubts were raised as to whether or not he would see that out last weekend when he spoke to Sky TV in England and said he was committed to the club until the end of the season, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, April 2 : Malaga football club of Spain will play perhaps the most important game in their history when they entertain Germany's Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinal first leg of the Champions League Wednesday night.

The Spanish side are without doubt the surprise package of the competition and have reached the last eight in fine style in what is their first appearance in the tournament, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, April 2 : Sales of new cars in Spain fell by 13.9 percent in March 2013 in comparison with the same month of 2012, data from the country's industry associations showed.

According to figures from the Association of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC), the Federation of Car Dealers' Associations of the Automotive sector (FACONAUTO) and the Association of Car Dealers (GANVAM), a total of 72,677 new cars and vans were sold in Spain in March.

About 29,000 cars were bought by private individuals, down 8.2 percent year on year, reported Xinhua.

Madrid, March 31 - FC Barcelona saw two points escape as they closed-in on the La Liga title as they could only draw 2-2 away to Celta Vigo.

Borja Oubina's (89th minute) header gave the home side a share of the points after it had looked as if Lionel Messi's 43rd goal of the season would give Barca the win. Messi has scored in his side's last 19 league games; an entire half season and sees him find the net against every side in the league, reports Xinhua.

Barcelona, March 29 : Lionel Messi could add another record to his already staggering list of achievements if he scores for Barcelona on their visit to play relegation staring Celta Vigo Saturday evening.

Messi scored in Barca's last 18 league matches, a feat unsurpassed in the Spanish BBVA Primera Liga and will make it 19 if he scores in the Balaidos Stadium against the side that currently sits second from bottom of the table.

Madrid, March 29 : Real Madrid fans are asking about whether Iker Casillas will return to the Real Madrid side for their game in Zaragoza Saturday night.

Casillas is match-fit after breaking a bone in his left hand in the quarterfinal of the Cop del Rey in Valencia in January and has made a rapid recovery, Xinhua reports.

However, as a result of his injury the club signed Diego Lopez from Sevilla to provide cover and Lopez, who spent several years as Casillas' understudy before joining Villarreal, has performed well in Casillas' absence and produced a memorable performance in Real Madrid' s Champions League tie in Old Trafford last month.

Madrid, March 25 : The future of Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho continues to be the question of speculation in the Spanish press following a hectic weekend for the Portuguese.

Mourinho was in his home town of Setubal Saturday where he accepted a homage to celebrate his 50th birthday before making some enigmatic declarations over his future, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, March 19 : The International Olympic Council (IOC) evaluation commission has begun a four-day inspection of Madrid's bid for the 2020 Summer Games.

IOC officials arrived here Monday for the inspection.  Madrid is competing against Tokyo and Istanbul, with the IOC scheduled to vote on the host city Sept 7, reported Xinhua.

The IOC inspection team has already visited Tokyo and will travel to Istanbul next week.(IANS)

Madrid, March 16 : Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has included Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea in the Spanish national squad the World Cup qualifiers.

Spain will entertain Finland in Sporting Gijon's el Molinon Stadium March 22 in a World Cup qualifying game before travelling to Paris March 26 for what is likely to be the decisive qualifying game after two teams drew at the Vicente Calderon earlier in the group stage, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, March 14 : Spanish annual inflation stood at 2.8 percent in February, 0.1 point higher than the previous month, the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) said here.

On a monthly basis, Spain's consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent from January to February, reported Xinhua.

The INE attributed the rise to increased transport, medicines and culture and leisure costs.

Food prices, which rose by 2.8 percent year on year, dropped by 0.4 percent from the previous month.

Wednesday's figure is 0.1 point higher than a previous estimate made by the INE.(IANS)

Madrid, March 14 : Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has said the current generation of footballer were due for a historic fightback.

That fightback came Tuesday night as Barca made history by becoming the first side to come back from a two-goal first-leg deficit in the knockout stages of the Champions League, reports Xinhua.

Led by Xavi, but above all by a magnificent Leo Messi, Barca cast aside doubts about their fitness and desire to win with a magnificent display to sweep past Milan 4-0.

Madrid, March 11 : Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo were enough to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win away to struggling Celta Vigo in Primera Liga football.

Ronaldo scored his two goals, the second of which was a penalty in the second half, while Iago Aspes gave hope to Celta after momentarily levelling the scores here Sunday night, reports Xinhua.

However, although Madrid took the points Celta had chances to take a point after Ronaldo's second goal and would be disappointed with their lack of efficiency in front of goal which has left them second from bottom of the league table.

Madrid, March 9 : For Real Madrid, the rest of the season begins now.

The controversial away win against Manchester United Tuesday has opened the door for Jose Mourinho's side to challenge for the most important title of the season - the Champions League - and everything else is going to fall into second place in importance to the club trying to lift the 10th European Cup of their history, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, March 9 : The Spanish cabinet approved a new anti-doping law in what can be seen as a failed attempt to clean up the country's image as being soft on doping in sport.

The new law has been passed just 10 days before the Evaluation Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) visit Madrid to value the candidacy of the Spanish capital to host the 2020 Olympic Games, reports Xinhua.

Madrid, Feb 27 : Researchers from the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain have created a high resolution atlas of the heart based on 3D images taken from 138 people.

"This atlas is a statistical description of how the heart and its components -- such as the ventricles and the atrium -- look," Corne Hoogendoorn, researcher at Pompeu Fabra University's CISTIB centre, told SINC, the news agency of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology FECYT.

Barcelona, Feb 27 : Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to the final of Copa del Rey as they qualified with a stunning 3-1 win away to eternal rivals FC Barcelona at Camp Nou stadium here to obtain a 4-2 aggregate triumph following the 1-1 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu three weeks ago.

To beat Barca on any given day is a great result for Madrid but to take such an authoritative win on their great rivals' home turf will also give them a massive morale boost ahead of next week's Champions League tie against Manchester United, where they must overcome the same first leg result, reports Xinhua.