'Pure, unadulterated football joy has been in short supply for United fans for a long time now,' complains Dhruv Munjal.
Luis Suarez scored four goals and Lionel Messi grabbed a hat-trick as Barcelona all but wrapped up their King's Cup semi-final by crushing Valencia 7-0 in the first leg at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
With a fifth world player of the year award safely tucked away in the trophy cabinet, Lionel Messi can set his sights on one of the next milestones in his remarkable career: reaching 500 goals for club and country. The Barcelona and Argentina forward can add to his jaw-dropping tally of 479 in 609 official games -- 430 for Barca and 49 for his national team -- in Sunday's La Liga match at home to Athletic Bilbao. The 28-year-old from Rosario, who picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, is looking close to his best following a two-month injury layoff late last year and netted a hat-trick when second-placed Barca crushed Granada 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend in their most recent outing in Spain's top flight.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Arsenal will begin their quest to become the first team in modern times to win the FA Cup three years running with a home tie against fellow Premier League side Sunderland in January.
Chelsea's David Luiz never really looked cut out for a role as a defensive rock in one of England's meanest rearguards.
England captain Wayne Rooney has opened up about his clashes with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, how having children calmed him down and why he should not have gone to the 2006 World Cup for a new BBC television film.
A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona tightened their grip on the La Liga title race with a comprehensive 4-0 win at Eibar on Sunday to open up an 11-point lead at the top. Munir El Haddadi tapped home the opener from Luis Suarez's cross before Messi doubled Barca's advantage with a brilliant individual effort just before half-time. Messi doubled his tally from the penalty spot before Suarez lashed home the fourth six minutes from time. Barca's 11th consecutive league win also stretches their record unbeaten run to 36 games. Atletico Madrid can close the gap at the top to eight points when they visit Gary Neville's Valencia later on Sunday. Real Madrid remain 12 points adrift of Barca in third despite Cristiano Ronaldo's four-goal show in a 7-1 demolition of Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Holders Barcelona cruised into the King's Cup quarter-finals when a side missing several regulars beat city rivals Espanyol 2-0, with Munir El Haddadi netting both goals in a thumping 6-1 aggregate success on Wednesday.
Australia's David Warner breathed life into the rain-ruined final Test with a pulsating ton as the match meandered to a draw against the West Indies on Thursday. Warner, determined to finish an undistinguished series on a high, reached his 16th Test century off 82 balls before a small Sydney crowd. The buccaneering opener had a highest score of 64 in the two previous Tests as team-mates helped themselves to six centuries against the tourists' innocuous bowling attack.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Elton Chigumbura blasted a quickfire half-century as Zimbabwe shocked favourites India by two runs in a thrilling finish, in the first T20 International match in Harare, on Saturday.
France captain Amandine Henry came to the rescue as the hosts scraped into the women's World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 win against Brazil after extra time.
Photos from Day 2 of the 3rd Test played at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique fears his side's shock elimination from the Champions League could disturb their bid to retain the La Liga title as they host Valencia on Sunday looking for a first win in four league games.
Faf du Plessis smashed a third century in four matches as South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 63 runs on Thursday to set up a final showdown with Australia in the triangular series tournament.
England's prospects of ever winning another World Cup will suffer unless reforms are introduced to give home-grown players more chances to shine.
Andy Coulson, a former aide of British Prime Minister David Cameron, was on Friday sentenced to 18 months in jail for his involvement in the highly controversial phone-hacking scandal that rocked Rupert Murdoch's media empire here and brought down his popular tabloid.
A Paco Alcacer header gave Valencia a 2-2 draw in a highly charged La Liga clash against third-placed Real Madrid who had taken the lead with eight minutes remaining on Sunday.
'The politics of it may be wishy-washy and the saviour at Darkest Hour's centre may well be a racist, an imperialist, and an alcoholic, but in Gary Oldman's nimble skin, smacked in layers and layers of prosthetics to resemble the heavily-jowled, cigar-smoking, portly penguin-like demeanour of the British Bulldog, it pretty much screams, "And the Oscar goes to"...' notes Sukanya Verma.
Alvaro Negredo struck in stoppage-time as stuttering Valencia won 2-1 against his former club Sevilla on Sunday to earn coach Pako Ayesteran victory in his first home game in charge since succeeding Gary Neville.
Substitute Jamie Vardy scored with a stunning flick, his first international goal, and Eric Dier headed a last-gasp winner as England hit back from two goals down to beat old rivals Germany 3-2 in a friendly on Saturday. Germany appeared to be heading for a routine win when they led 2-0 through Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez, his first goal since Euro 2012, after an hour. But Harry Kane changed the course of the game with an opportunist goal before Vardy produced a moment of brilliance just three minutes after coming on as a substitute. Nathaniel Clyne crossed from the right and the Leicester City striker stuck his foot out behind his standing leg to flick the ball between Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and his near post. Then Dier rose above the Germany defence to score with a thumping downward header from Jordan Henderson's corner in the 91st minute.
When Jose Mourinho jumped to beleaguered Louis van Gaal's defence in February, sympathising that he should be given time.
England soccer coach Roy Hodgson's four-year reign came to an abrupt end after their shock 2-1 defeat by tiny Iceland at the Euro 2016 round of 16 stage on Monday.
A rejuvenated India will start as the favourites when they lock horns with Zimbabwe, who have been left bruised and battered after a 10-wicket thrashing, in the series-deciding third and final Twenty20 International in Harare, on Wednesday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, rated as one of the best finishers in limited overs cricket, hailed Zimbabwe pacer Neville Madziva, who bowled a superb final over to give the hosts a thrilling two-run victory in the first T20 International in Harare, on Saturday.
Lionel Messi struck a spectacular free kick, scored another goal and set up two more in a 4-1 victory for Barcelona over nine-man city rivals Espanyol in the first leg of their King's Cup last-16 clash on Wednesday.
No account of the 1962 war could be complete without Maxwell's authoritative analysis. Which is why we are reprinting this article which was run on Rediff.com in June 2001.
Italy's Cristiana Girelli bagged a hat-trick and substitute Aurora Galli struck twice as they thrashed Jamaica 5-0 to qualify for the last 16 of the women's World Cup on Friday.
Second division Mirandes caused an upset by knocking Deportivo La Coruna out of the King's Cup on Tuesday and Sevilla joined them in the quarter-finals after making light work of city rivals Real Betis.
To say Aretha ticked all the boxes when it came to voice technique is like calling Cristiano Ronaldo an efficient footballer, says Kanika Datta.
England captain Eoin Morgan hit the winning run as the tourists secured their first T20 whitewash with a thrilling super-over win against Pakistan in the third match of the series in Sharjah on Monday.
It was India's players all the way, with Jasprit Bumrah emerging the most valuable, ahead of K L Rahul. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after the just-concluded three-ODI series between India and Zimbabwe.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
Jamaica's twice Olympic 200 metres champion Veronica Campbell-Brown was suspended by her national federation on Tuesday following a positive test for a banned diuretic at a meeting last month.
'Rightly or wrongly, 1962 got ascribed to Krishna Menon and him alone. That's unfair.' 'Certainly, he was one of the guilty men, but he was not the only guilty man. Mistakes were made all around.'
Atletico Madrid maintained a two-point lead in La Liga with a 3-0 victory at Las Palmas and Barcelona and Real Madrid stayed hard on their heels with thumping wins over Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
Avenue Supermarts, which runs D-Mart, posted a 47 per cent jump in net profit in the March quarter and its revenue and operating profit went up 41 per cent. The company's chief executive and managing director, Neville Noronha, talks to Raghavendra Kamath about strategy.
Despite the onslaught of international brands -- Coke and Pepsi -- the fizz has not gone out of India's very own cola brand, Surajeet Das Gupta.
