Carlos Tevez has been included in the squad for the first time in three years for next month's friendlies in England against Croatia and Portugal.
The Premier League season is only a week old and the problems are already piling up for misfiring champions Chelsea after a 3-0 thrashing at Manchester City on Sunday.
Manchester City stayed ahead of age-old local rivals Manchester United at the top of the Premier League on Saturday with a deserved 1-0 win away to champions Chelsea.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
Spy isn't a bad film. But it's only half a good one.
Following is a match by match look at the English Premier League's weekend fixtures:
Pep Guardiola drew first blood in his renewed managerial duel with Jose Mourinho as Manchester City deservedly won an absorbing Premier League derby 2-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Not many people talk badly of Pep Guardiola, a sainted figure in football, but Manchester City's manager will find two of his most vocal critics facing him down at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Iceland's fairytale progress to the last eight of the European Championship is just what the competition needs to prevent it going stale and a model for smaller nations to realise their dreams, UEFA said on Tuesday.
England drew 0-0 with Slovakia on Monday to finish second in Euro 2016 Group B and qualify for the knockout phase behind Wales who beat Russia 3-0 in their final match.
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Tim Sherwood is looking to the example set by Brendan Rodgers' resurgent Liverpool as he plots for the future despite not receiving long-term assurances about his own position.
How quickly affections can switch in soccer. Where once they would serenade coach Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge with an operatic flourish, now Chelsea fans have fallen headlong for another man driving them inexorably to the Premier League title.
Real Madrid reached their 14th European Cup final and crushed Manchester City's hopes of a maiden title after Gareth Bale's deflected effort secured a 1-0 victory in the second leg of their Champions League last four clash on Wednesday.
The Ig Nobel prizes honour achievements that first make people laugh, and then makes them think.
Robert Huth's double and a Riyad Mahrez goal sent Premier League leaders Leicester City six points clear after a stunning 3-1 victory at shell-shocked title rivals Manchester City on Saturday.
Australia's quest for a record hat-trick of titles started with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Ireland in the opening Pool D match of the men's hockey World Cup, in Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
Four months after quitting Liverpool for Manchester City, Raheem Sterling will have the first opportunity to justify the move by getting one over his former employers when the teams meet at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
There are many interesting facts and stats about Dhoni's fabulous career.
Liverpool named former Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp as manager on Thursday with the club posting photos of him signing his contract on their official Twitter account.
Liverpool flirted with what would have been an embarrassing low in their poor start to the season as they were taken to penalties by fourth tier Carlisle United, but came through to reach the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood criticised the state of the pitch after his side were beaten 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 tie at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine on Thursday.
Manchester United were denied by a spirited Stoke City performance as Joe Allen pounced late to secure the visitors their first point at Old Trafford since 1989 in a deserved 1-1 Premier League draw.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Arsenal stayed ahead of Manchester United in the race to qualify directly for next season's Champions League when they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday while Manchester City made sure of their place in the group stage with a 4-2 win at Swansea City.
New Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has come to England to prove himself and wants to produce the "beautiful football" for which his teams are famed, he told reporters on Friday. Speaking at his first news conference since joining the club, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach said his personal learning curve would be steep as he came to terms with his new team and adapted to the rigours of the Premier League. "It's the right moment to come here and prove myself," he said. Asked if he could get City to play the sort of beautiful football trademarked by Barcelona, he added. "That's why I am here. I want to play the way I want. But wherever you go you have to adapt to the quality of the players. We have to find each other as soon as possible.
Denmark international Christian Eriksen showed that Tottenham Hotspur still have plenty to look forward to following the sale of Gareth Bale with a hugely impressive debut in their 2-0 win over Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday.
It took Harry Kane four years to become an overnight sensation at Tottenham Hotspur and with a Young Player of the Year award as a full England international.
Manchester United humbled Manchester City 4-2 in the continent's big derby of the weekend.
Test cricket returned to Pakistan for the first time in ten years with the Sri Lankan team playing two matches in Rawalpindi and Karachi, with the hosts winning the second match to clinch the series 1-0 after the rain-curtailed first game ended in a draw.
ManchesterCity's hopes of regaining the Premier League title suffered a potentially grievous blow on Saturday as they were held to a goalless draw by struggling NorwichCity at Carrow Road.
Photos from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Teenager Marcus Rashford followed up two goals on his Manchester United debut in midweek with another double plus an assist as Louis van Gaal's team dented Arsenal's Premier League title hopes with a 3-2 win on Sunday.
Champions Manchester City galvanised their pursuit of Premier League leaders Chelsea on Sunday with an emphatic 3-0 victory over a Southampton side who have surprisingly come between the leading title protagonists.
India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Ranchi Rhinos' have retained most of the players.
Manuel Pellegrini shrugged that he was "not worried about Chelsea" despite seeing his Manchester City team fall further behind the Premier League leaders at the end of a dispiriting week for both the Chilean and his champions.
Manchester United and Aston Villa paid a heavy price for having men sent off on in the Premier League on Sunday with United losing a tight derby to Man City and Villa surrendering a lead in defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester City suffered a shock League Cup defeat at the hands of a reinvigorated Newcastle United, who reached the quarter-finals with a superb 2-0 away win on Wednesday that left the holders nursing the wounds of a bruising past eight days.
Drysdale wins close single sculls gold Also, check out late gold medal winners from Day 7...
Napoli's Marek Hamsik enjoyed a memorable return to his former club Slovan Bratislava, scoring one and creating another, in a 2-0 victory on Thursday as the Italians joined five others who made it two wins from two in the Europa League group stage.
