Novak Djokovic bolstered his hopes of holding on to his World No 1 status until the end of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic to retain the Paris Masters title on Sunday.
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Stevan Jovetic and Jesus Navas scored their first goals for ManchesterCity who avenged last season's shock FA Cup final defeat by Wigan Athletic with a 5-0 victory in the League Cup third round on Tuesday.
Chelsea's slim hopes of winning the Premier League all but evaporated in the Stamford Bridge sunshine on Sunday as Norwich City ground out a 0-0 draw that left them hanging on to top- flight status by their fingernails.
City's Aguero doubtful starter for Watford trip
Photos from the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Football fans were treated to a month long diet of mainly breathless, intoxicating action in Brazil but their team collapsed in the final stages.
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Manchester United opened up the Premier League title race with a convincing 2-0 home victory over leaders Chelsea on Sunday that leaves second-placed Tottenham Hotspur just four points behind.
Substitute Costa slipped the ball past the keeper from close range in the 48th minute of the second half to break the deadlock and extend Brazil's winning run to 11 matches.
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City, who have a 16-point lead, can win the Premier League title with a victory over Jose Mourinho's side at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, but after their 3-0 loss to Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, Guardiola said the players needed a lift.
World champion Marc Marquez underlined his dominance of MotoGP when he swept to a record-equalling 12th pole position of the season on a good day for Spain at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
A summary of Wednesday's group matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are not yet ready to compete with Europe's elite but his side will be confident of opening their Champions League campaign with victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Tuesday.
Chelsea heaped more Christmas misery on Liverpool with a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge and Olivier Giroud ended a seven-game scoring drought to help Arsenal win 1-0 at Newcastle United and return to the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
Wolfsburg shock Real Madrid 2-0 to crown big European night.
'Living in Brazil, I had internalised the football mythology of that country, the way I had learnt Mahabharata stories in my childhood. The tragedy at the Maracana stadium in 1950, when a confident Brazil had lost to Uruguay in the finals. They tell the story of this debacle, this 'Hiroshima' that hit them, like the Shias lament the death of Ali. It led to the Brazilian team burning their white uniforms and switching later to Yellow and blue symbolising their national colours,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former envoy to Brazil.
All the latest football news from around Europe.
Toni Kroos struck with a fierce long-range shot a minute from time to give Germany a 1-0 victory over Spain in a friendly between two injury-depleted European heavyweights in Vigo on Tuesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of Wednesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The policy of buying players cheap and selling them for a higher price a few years on is a business model that worked well for clubs like Atletico Madrid and FC Porto. With the transfer window open for the next few weeks, Rediff.com takes a look at clubs that made smart deals over the years.
Angel di Maria's move from Real Madrid to Old Trafford was such a disaster that Manchester United was more than willing to incur losses of more than 15 million pounds on their investment. Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com looks at the Argentina star's nightmare year at the 'Theatre of Dreams'.
Ruthless Bayern Munich scored five goals in the first 35 minutes on the way to a 7-1 demolition of AS Roma on Tuesday which bore an uncanny resemblance to Germany's win over Brazil by the same score in the World Cup semi-final.
Reigning French Open champion Maria Sharapova, former world number one Venus Williams and Australian Samantha Stosur sailed into the second round of the China Open with straight set victories on Sunday.
Portugal's football team captain Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has revealed that the forward would play out the rest of his career at Real Madrid, shunning reports of a return to Manchester United.
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday.