Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has decided to rest Lionel Messi, Neymar and most of his regulars for the King's Cup last 16, second leg match at Elche later on Thursday.
Fifth seed Andy Murray, sixth-seeded David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic all fell by the wayside on a day of startling upsets at the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Saturday.
Inter Milan clinched fourth place in Serie A after a 2-1 home victory over Empoli on Saturday while AC Milan gave their European aspirations a boost with a 1-0 triumph over 10-man Bologna.
Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic scored with almost the last kick of the game to snatch a 2-2 draw against AC Milan in Serie A under new coach Stefano Pioli after their neighbours twice led through Suso in Sunday's derby. Perisic turned the ball in at the far post to spare the blushes of his captain Mauro Icardi who had missed two simple chances which could have changed the course of the game. Antonio Candreva also scored a spectacular goal for Inter who made an encouraging start after Pioli was appointed last week with Frank de Boer having been fired after 85 days.
Swede Robin Soderling is one win away from retaining his World Indoor tournament title after beating Victor Troicki 7-5, 6-4 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Uruguay's FA will raise a formal complaint against Chilean defender Gonzalo Jara for provoking striker Edinson Cavani by sticking his finger up his backside during the hosts' 1-0 Copa America quarter-final win.
"It has been an amazing year. One year ago, for sure I never dreamed about being World No. 1 again at the end of the season. It's something that means a lot to me. But the season is not over."
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo will be going in search of his third consecutive World Player of the Year award
Just as against Swiss 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer in Saturday's semi-final, the 21-year-old produced a dashing display of power and guile to stun the in-form Djokovic 6-4, 6-3.
With a population of just over four million, Croatia punched considerably above their weight to reach the final, going down gallantly to France at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.
Lionel Messi scored a record eighth Champions League hat-trick as Barcelona kick-started their campaign with a 4-0 home win over PSV Eindhoven, although they had defender Samuel Umtiti sent off late in the second half on Tuesday.
Croatia have no major injury concerns going into Sunday's World Cup final despite having played three 120-minute matches
Croatia will need their big-game players to step up.
For Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic the final is a chance to settle the score 20 years after the bitter defeat
David Villa struck just after halftime to lift champions Barcelona to a laboured 1-0 home win over his former club Sporting Gijon in La Liga on Wednesday.
Champions Barcelona suffered their second defeat in three matches in La Liga on Saturday, with Michael Krohn-Dehli scoring and setting up another goal in a 2-1 victory for Sevilla.
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho's appeal against a three-match Serie A touchline ban for a controversial handcuffs gesture has been rejected, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said on Friday. Outspoken Mourinho made the gesture during last weekend's home clash against Sampdoria, which the league leaders drew 0-0 despite having defenders Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba sent off in the first half.
Croatia edged closer to next year's World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 home win over Greece on Thursday in the first leg of their two-legged playoff.
Croatia made heavy weather of beating Denmark in their worst performance of the tournament, but will seek to rediscover their fluency in a weekend showdown against Russia for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
Barcelona made a brisk start to the season with new coach Luis Enrique at the helm in place of Gerardo Martino and a host of additions to the squad, including midfielder Ivan Rakitic and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Roger Federer sent a timely reminder to Rafael Nadal on Sunday, out-gunning the World No 1 to win the ATP World Tour Finals with an irresistible display of attacking tennis.
On Saturday, the young guns showed no signs of breaking the stranglehold of the three men who collectively own 50 Grand Slam titles and also split the season's first three majors.
India's Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Matt Reid on Monday knocked out reigning French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus in the opening round of the ATP250 Aegon International, in Eastbourne, on Monday.
Croatia and France were tied at 1-1 after Friday's singles in their Davis Cup semi-final clash in Zadar after Richard Gasquet and Marin Cilic both won their matches.
Many other Indians are heading the businesses at companies abroad.
John McEnroe feels world number two Andy Murray has a temper like him and a coaching relationship with the British player would not have lasted very long.
England and Belgium, already qualified from World Cup Group G, meet on Thursday in what Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini says could be a "strange match". Depending on the outcome of other games, it may not be an advantage to finish top of the group, but both sides insist they won't take such calculations into account.
Khalfan Fahad fired into the far post from in front of an open goal in an inexplicable miss on Monday that cost defending champion Qatar a spot in the Asian Games football quarter-finals.
Lionel Messi became the first player to win 10 La Liga crowns with Barcelona and only the third player from any club to do so.
Indian challenge ended at the ATP Paris Masters when Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edourad Roger-Vasselin lost their quarter-final against Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo.
New of all that's transpired on and off the football field on Saturday.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki began life at the top with an injury scare on Friday, while Ivan Ljubicic completed a cull of seeds when he beat Andy Murray on yet another smoggy day at the China Open.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi suffered a rare defeat together as they made a shock first-round exit from Thailand Open, the only ATP tournament they played together ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Discus thrower Seema Antil added her name to the long list of Indian athletes who have crashed out of the Rio Olympics on Monday after finishing a lowly ninth in her Group B qualifying round, and 20th overall.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action in La Liga.
Chile qualified for the Copa America final after two goals from Eduardo Vargas gave them a 2-1 win over Peru in an action-packed semi-final marked by another controversial refereeing decision.
Dark clouds and drizzle were just what Britain's Joseph Clarke needed to make him feel at home and win gold on the frothy whitewater of Rio's K-1 slalom course on Wednesday.
The draw means second-placed Atletico Madrid could close the 12-point gap with Barcelona, who are on 74 points, if they beat Celta Vigo later on Saturday.
Andrew Symonds is loving life outside the cricketing establishment, and believes that he stands on the cusp of cricket's new freelance frontier.
Despite little variation in the numbers, Rohit Kulkarni's composition for the Tamil film starring Kishore and Tinnu Anand, is still hummable.
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