Serena Williams and defending champion Maria Sharapova remained on course for a heavyweight Madrid Open final.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is ready for surprises when he comes up against Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich on Wednesday in what he believes will be an open and attractive game.
Uruguay made light of the absence of striker Luis Suarez to recover from a goal down and beat 2015 Copa America hosts Chile 2-1 in a friendly in Santiago.
Paco Alcacer enjoyed a rare outing for Barcelona by scoring twice in the club's 2-1 La Liga win over Sevilla at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
Under the new system, half the votes would belong to the players and coaches of the world's 211 national teams and half to the public, who will take part via an online ballot, and selected media representatives.
Reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named top seeds for the Australian Open starting on Monday.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak produced a heroic performance to repel holders Real Madrid and help secure a 0-0 draw in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg at the Calderon on Tuesday.
Putting up yet another dominating performance, defending champions Sania Mirza and Cara Black outclassed Jelena Jankovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-2 to reach the summit clash of the WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open, in Tokyo on Friday.
World No 1 Serena Williams edged an enthralling battle with third-seed Simona Halep.
World Cup winners Spain have seven players featured in a 23-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or unveiled by soccer's governing body and France Football magazine on Tuesday.
A decision to include Japan and Qatar as the invited sides to this year's Copa has also done little to generate faith in the new leadership, with the tournament usually featuring the 10 South American nations plus two invited teams, although they are generally from elsewhere in the Americas.
Liverpool took a giant step towards their first title in 24 years with a 3-2 win at a plucky Norwich City on Sunday, opening up a five point lead over second-placed Chelsea with three matches remaining.
Manchester City have never gone past the semi-final stage of Europe's premier club competition.
Zinedine Zidane has said his side are in a delicate situation as they prepare to host arch-rivals Barcelona in a La Liga title showdown on Sunday
Sevilla and Valencia recorded opening day wins in La Liga, helping dispel some of the doubts surrounding their abilities to challenge for honours this season.
As Manchester City fans left Goodison Park after a 2-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday that sent their team back to the top of the Premier League, they aimed their chants across adjacent Stanley Park to title rivals Liverpool.
Barcelona's star striker Messi is an alien who plays with us humans, says the Juventus 'keeper
Barcelona's eight-game winning run was halted following a 2-2 draw with Valencia, Atletico Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis and a resurgent Real Madrid secured their fourth win in a row by beating Alaves 3-0.
Barcelona followed up last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid with another reverse on Saturday, squandering a host of chances to lose 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo and handing the lead in La Liga to their arch rivals.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
France meet Belgium in a World Cup semi-final on Tuesday. Here is a look at some of the key head-to-head duels which could prove decisive.
Colombia reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time after a double from James Rodriguez gave them a 2-0 win over Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
South Africa said they were caught cold by Uruguay's early goal in Wednesday's World Cup clash in Pretoria and found themselves unable to fight their way back into the game.
Real Madrid's star striker Cristiano Ronaldo made up for his otherwise quiet night by scoring the winner to beat Barcelona 2-1 win at the CampNou in Barcelona on Saturday.
Maria Sharapova remained on course for consecutive Madrid Open titles when she recovered from dropping the second set to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday and book a spot in the semi-finals.
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo will be going in search of his third consecutive World Player of the Year award
Ana Ivanovic recovered from an awful start to beat Kaia Kanepi at the Brisbane International on Thursday and remain on track for a glamour meeting with Maria Sharapova.
Lionel Messi netted his first hat-trick in 10 months as Barcelona swept aside struggling Granada 4-0 to climb above Atletico Madrid to the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Peter Crouch struck a hat-trick to help Tottenham Hotspur complete a great comeback against Young Boys and reach the Champions League for the first time while Luis Suarez led Ajax Amsterdam back to the elite in a 2-1 win over Dynamo Kiev.
Liverpool are determined to end the trend of selling their best players during the close season in order to build a squad capable of consistently challenging for major honours, manager Juergen Klopp said.
Levante claim that Barcelona's teenage defender Chumi Brandariz, who played in the first leg, was ineligible to take part in the match because he was suspended.
Messi's first act as Barcelona captain was to tell the club's fans at a pre-season friendly in August against Boca Juniors that he and his teammates "will do everything possible so that beautiful and desired cup returns here to the Nou Camp".
Salah, 25, struck four goals in Liverpool's 5-0 thrashing of Watford that lifted them back into third place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Some of the most memorable ones from the one-month tournament.
Striker Luis Suarez scored one goal and missed two second-half penalties as Ajax Amsterdam beat nine-man FC Timisoara 2-1 in Romania on Wednesday to reach the knockout stage of the Europa League.
Twenty-three-times Cup winners Athletic Bilbao were dumped out in sensational circumstances by tiny island side SD Formentera, who sneaked a 1-0 win at San Mames with a header by Alvaro Muniz deep in stoppage-time to reach the last 16 for the first time with a 2-1 aggregate victory.
With the distraction of two individual scoring records safely out of the way, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi can turn his full focus on helping the club win the major silverware that eluded them last season.
Get the latest updates from all the action in South Africa.
