Sports

It's no coincidence that Real Madrid's excellent recent form coincided with Alonso's return to the side after an injury lay-off.

A step-by-step guide to the procedure followed in clubbing 32 teams into 8 groups of four each.

In a landmark development, India was chosen as the host country for the mega event by the FIFA executive committee in its meeting at Salvador de Bahia.

Platini says the choice between Messi, Ronaldo and Ribery for the Ballon d'Or "is the most difficult in the history of the trophy."

Barcelona lost their second straight game without injured star Lionel Messi when Athletic Bilbao handed the defending champions a 1-0 loss.

Sturridge will be sidelined for up to eight weeks with an ankle injury, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Sunday.

Everton provisionally moved fourth in the Premier League after thrashing Stoke 4-0 at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Athletic Bilbao host Barcelona sniffing an upset after the La Liga leaders suffered their first defeat of the season at Amsterdam in the Champions League.

Brazilian champions Cruzeiro have denied receiving an offer from Manchester United for midfielder Everton Ribeiro.

However, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen fight for third place and a slot in the Europa League.

Baines faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after fracturing his toe in the 3-3 draw with Liverpool on Saturday.

Striker Ikechukwu Uche scored two goals and earned a penalty in Villarreal's 3-0 win against 10-man Levante on Sunday.

Armstrong had confessed in an interview in January that he used performance-enhancing drugs to cheat his way to the Tour de France wins.

Erick Thohir has praised Walter Mazzarri as being similar to Jose Mourinho while the former Napoli boss was impressed by the new Inter club president.

Highly-rated Armando Colaco was on Thursday named East Bengal coach in an announcement that came along the expected lines.

The Three Lions will face Chile on Friday evening at Wembley Stadium, before Germany's visit four days later.