Barca are also planning to offer new deals to forwards Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and midfielder Ivan Rakitic before the end of the year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
He led the takeover of Vijay Mallya's United Spirits.
Former Britain No 1 Tim Henman has picked top-ranked Novak Djokovic as favourite for the Wimbledon, the third major of the season.
Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis crashed out of the mixed doubles competition of the Australian Open with a straight-set defeat in the quarter-finals, in Melbourne, on Thursday.
With Satya Nadella becoming CEO at software giant Microsoft, 10 Indian-origin persons holding top posts at global corporations manage businesses worth about $350 billion.
Rohan Bopanna and his doubles partner Florin Mergea qualified for the year-end ATP World Tour Finale when Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock lost the Paris Masters final, on Sunday.
"It's better for Messi to play as he is the best in the world and he gives you a boost but we should be very proud as a team, as we showed that we are a great team without Messi and we have a great coach (Ernesto Valverde)," Suarez said.
Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff and Tim Puetz pulled off a shock 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 7-5 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez to give Germany a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
Factbox on Novak Djokovic's five Wimbledon titles
These images prove we live in a wonderfully weird world.
Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Shanghai Rolex Masters with a shock victory over the fourth seeded Croat-Brazilian pair of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo on Friday. The unseeded Indo-Romanian won the quarter-final 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
IMAGES from soccer matches played across Europe on Saturday.
Russia's men clinched their first-ever team title at the gymnastics World Championships on Wednesday, edging China in a tight contest in Stuttgart to avenge their 2018 defeat.
The Dutch football season was effectively ended on Tuesday after the government extended a ban on major public events by three months, the Dutch football association (KNVB) said in a statement. Colombian President Ivan Duque also dismissed the idea of restarting the county's soccer league behind closed doors, saying to do so would endanger the health of players and staff.
Andy Murray showed that he is quite prepared to think outside the box by appointing Ivan Lendl, and now he has done it again by appointing Amelie Mauresmo.
Vishal Krishna Reddy explains that Naan Sigappu Manithan is not a remake of Rajnikanth's film with the same title.
'We have to do a lot of self criticism because this is the second time that the same thing has happened to us. We cannot commit the same mistake two years in a row, there are many things we need to consider and think about'
AC midfielder Franck Kessie scored from a penalty to give AC Milan a 2-2 draw away to Napoli in Serie A on Sunday, sparing the blushes of his goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma whose mistakes provided the hosts with both their goals. Sevilla closed in on Champions League qualification by beating struggling Real Mallorca 2-0 at home to open up a nine-point gap in the race for fourth spot in La Liga.
Indian tennis stars Leander Paes and Sania Mirza cruised into the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals of the French Open along with their respective partners in Paris on Thursday. While Paes and his Swiss Partner Martina Hingis, winners of three Grand Slam titles last season, beat German-Colombian pair of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah 6-4 6-4 in the opening round, second seeded Sania and Ivan Dodig of Croatia eased past French duo of Mathilde Johansson and Tristan Lamasine 6-4 6-3 in their opener later in the day. However, it was curtains for another Indian Purav Raja, who, along with Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, crashed out in the opening round of the men's doubles event. The duo lost 1-6 2-6 against ninth seeded Polish-Austrian pair of Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya.
Lionel Messi scored twice as King's Cup holders Barcelona moved comfortably into the quarter-finals by thrashing Celta Vigo 5-0 at the Nou Camp in their last 16 second leg game on Thursday.
Barcelona star forward Lionel Messi and Read Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo have been named in the 40-man shortlist for the UEFA's Team of the Year.
South Korea must defy their status as the weakest team in the group and upset a resurgent Mexico if they are to keep their World Cup hopes alive, captain Ki Sung-yueng said.
The liquor company is going all out to ensure it captures significant share in the market.
It was Messi's 30th goal in 39 competitive games against Atletico
Brazilian Malcom, who started in place of Lionel Messi, curled home in the 58th minute to pull Barcelona level after Lucas Vazquez had fired Real Madrid ahead early on.
Andy Murray became the first player to hold aloft the super-sized Queen's Club trophy for a fifth time after he beat Canadian big-server Milos Raonic 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 in the final of the Aegon Championships on Sunday. The British top seed's title hopes appeared to be faltering when he trailed Raonic by a set and 3-0 down in the second set but the 2013 Wimbledon champion relied on his greater grasscourt pedigree to turn the match around.
Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 to claim the Champions League title on Saturday thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar in an entertaining final at the Olympic Stadium.
Having Lendl, as I said, can only serve him as an incentive for an improvement, says Djokovic
Betis fans bow to 'extraordinary' Messi after sublime hat-trick Lionel Messi is used to receiving adulation at the Nou Camp but on Sunday he got a rapturous reception from rival supporters for a majestic hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-1 win at Real Betis. Messi opened the scoring with an unstoppable free kick then combined with devastating effect with Luis Suarez to carve Betis open and score a second goal right before halftime. The Argentine saved his best goal for last, completing a victory which took Barca 10 points clear at the top of La Liga with a spectacular first-timed chip from the edge of the area after playing a one-two with Ivan Rakitic. Beaten Betis goalkeeper Pau Lopez looked on in awe while the home supporters, renowned for devotion to their side, rose to their feet, bowed down to Messi and chanted his name. "Even though the opposition concedes goals to Messi they can still enjoy this unbelievable era which he has created, they enjoy it too and today they recognised that," said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde. "It's significant that they gave him this ovation, it's an acknowledgement. Our rivals' supporters have to suffer him but they also appreciate him, because of the player he is. "Leo's performance was extraordinary, he got three goals but he could have got four, that shows you how good he is." Betis coach Quique Setien commended his supporters for their treatment of Messi while saying he felt honoured to work in the same era as the Argentine. "I really like the fact that our supporters showed their appreciation for a great player, today he really made us suffer," Setien said. "It's only fair and it's right to recognise this, our fans behaved in an extraordinary way and I'm very proud of them. I've seen some magnificent players do great things but no-one can match the things Messi has done over the last 12 years. "It's a privilege to have been able to start this era with him and see him in action every weekend." The five-times world player of the year moved on to 39 goals in all competitions this season with two months still left in the campaign. It was Messi's 51st career hat-trick but he could not recall receiving such applause from a rival team's fans. "I cannot remember anything like this before and I'm very grateful for the fans' reaction," Messi said. "I'm very grateful to them and happy for the victory, which was very important."
Striker Robin Singh struck the match-winner as Bengal made a stunning second-half comeback to upset defending champions Bengaluru FC 2-1 in a high-profile I-League football clash, in Barasat, West Bengal on Sunday.
World No 1 Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbara Strycova were ousted from the women's doubles event after losing to top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets in the quarter-final of the US Open, in New York.
Roger Federer, who has taken on childhood hero Stefan Edberg as part of his team, thinks the recruitment of former great players as coaches will be good for tennis in the long term.
HS Prannoy started his campaign at the World Championship in style beating New Zealand's Abhinav Manota in straight games to enter the second round.
Ivan Castro, Sports Editor, rediff.com on Saturday won the inaugural Indian Sports Journalism Awards of the Sports Journalists' Federation of India in the Best of the Web category.
Ivan Castro, Sports Editor, rediff.com on Saturday won the inaugural Indian Sports Journalism Awards of the Sports Journalists' Federation of India in the Best of the Web category.
Croatia captain Darijo Srna still feels the pain of losing on penalties to Turkey at the 2008 European Championship, but refused to talk of revenge ahead of another meeting between the teams at Euro 2016 on Sunday. Croatia exorcised some of their demons by beating Turkey 3-0 on aggregate in a playoff to reach Euro 2012. But Sunday will be the first time the sides have met at a major tournament since that quarter-final in Vienna eight years ago when Semih Senturk's 122nd-minute strike cancelled out Ivan Klasnic's opener three minutes earlier to send the tie to penalties.
Indian Aces suffered a 20-27 defeat at the hands of a determined Japan Warriors in the crucial Singapore leg but continue to sit on top of the points table of the IPTL, in Singapore on Wednesday.
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