Football

Barcelona is refusing to rule Lionel Messi out of Sunday's Club World Cup final, despite the Argentinian being diagnosed with a stomach complaint before Thursday's semifinal.

Javier Hernandez left Manchester United because manager Louis van Gaal told him he had a "one percent chance" of playing as a striker if he stayed at the club, the Mexican has said.

FC Goa lost the first leg semi-final 0-1 in Delhi last week and now must overcome the deficit if they are to progress to the final, also to be played in Goa on December 20.

The northern city of Lens will host the highly anticipated clash between England and Wales on June 16.

His struggling side have now gone five games without a victory in all competitions, two more than under previous Old Trafford boss David Moyes who was sacked.

Barcelona missed a chance to increase their Spanish league lead by conceding two late goals in a disappointing 2-2 draw against Deportivo La Coruna at home.

Norwich City fought back to draw 1-1 with Everton after Romelu Lukaku scored on Saturday for the sixth successive Premier League match to give the visitors an early lead.

Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are both currently serving 90-day bans while an investigation is held into a two million Swiss franc (1.8 million euro/USD 2 million) payment from the world governing body to the Frenchman.

US authorities are investigating evidence indicating FIFA's suspended president Sepp Blatter knew about USD 100 million (92 million euros) in bribes paid to former members of the football body, a BBC report said.

Serie A title hopefuls Napoli suffered their first defeat since the opening day when they were stunned 3-2 at Bologna and were overtaken into second place by Fiorentina who eased past Udinese 3-0.

Fernandes’s miraculous brace and a late strike from Joffre Mateu scripted a dramatic turnaround for FC Goa as they beat Delhi Dynamos in the last league game of the Indian Super League to finish on top of the points table.

Manchester United will be without captain Wayne Rooney and defender Marcos Rojo for their Premier League clash against West Ham United, manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday.

Stuttering Villarreal suffered a shock 3-2 defeat at second division Huesca after Darwin Machis's late volley as several top flights sides lost in the first legs of their last 32 King's Cup ties on Thursday.

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema insisted on Wednesday he has done nothing wrong after being put under investigation in France in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail a fellow international with the use of a sex video.

Mumbai's hopes of entering the semis came to an end at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium after Stiven Mendoza (9'), Jeje Lalpekhlua (17') and Bernard Mendy (45'+2') found the net to seal three points for the hosts.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa is "privileged" to be one of the last first-team regulars to be dropped from the starting line-up, Blues manager Jose Mourinho said.