Messi: Barcelona’s top scorer Lionel Messi bruised his right knee during a weekend Spanish league match and is in doubt for the club’s match at home against Getafe, the league leaders said yesterday. The 23-year-old international hobbled off the pitch unaided at the end of his side’s 1-1 draw away to Sevilla.
Ibrahimovic: Serie A leaders Milan’s Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ruled out yesterday of their crucial derby with Inter as he was handed a three-match suspension for his red card in last weekend’s match with Bari. Ibrahimovic will miss the match on April 3 after being sent-off for aiming a karate chop into the ribs of Bari defender Marco Rossi.
United: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Nani and Michael Carrick will be involved in tonight’s Champions League second leg against Marseille. Nani has been unavailable since the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool after suffering a badly cut leg from a Jamie Carragher challenge. But Nani handed a Ferguson a boost by training on Sunday, while Carrick is also back after a calf problem.
Celtic: Celtic could face League Cup semi-final opponents Aber-deen in the last four of the Scottish Cup. Neil Lennon’s side will face the winners of the Aberdeen vs St Mirren replay, to be played at Pittodrie tomorrow, if they beat Inverness in their rearranged game on the same night.
Primera Liga: Getafe vs Athletic Bilbao 2-2.
Serie B: Cittadella vs Padova 3-1.
The Championship: Norwich vs Bristol City 3-1.
MFA Div. Three: Xgħajra vs Mdina 0-2; Swieqi vs Siġġiewi 1-3.
Figure Skating: The International Skating Union (ISU) said yesterday it had called off the World Figure Skating Championships to be held in Tokyo from March 21-27 following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said it had yet to be decided whether the event should be cancelled, or just postponed. The decision also called off a new international team event scheduled for Yokohama from April 14-17.
Cricket: England’s Paul Collingwood has scotched speculation on his one-day future after coming in to bat at number eight during the World Cup defeat to Bangladesh. Collingwood quit Tests during the Sydney Test against Australia in January this year to allow himself to focus on one-day internationals and Twenty20 cricket. “One reason I retired from Test cricket was to prolong the one-day side of things and I still feel I have major contributions to make,” Collingwood, 34, said.
Golf: American Nick Watney clinched an impressive two-stroke victory at the $8.5 million Cadillac Championship. Watney emerged from the pack with a closing five-under-par 67, finishing in style with a birdie at the final hole at Doral’s Blue Monster to triumph in the World Golf Championships event. He finished at 16-under 272, while overnight leader Dustin Johnson (71) claimed second place on 14-under. Europeans Anders Hansen (67) and Francesco Molinari (69) were another stroke back in a tie for third.
Basket, NBA: Orlando’s Dwight Howard reached an NBA scoring milestone on Sunday, but he was more pleased to finally come away from Phoenix with a victory. The Magic’s long history of losing to the Suns in Arizona stretched back to November 2001 – when Howard was just 15 years old. He did his part, delivering 26 points with 15 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Magic completed a 111-88 triumph. For good measure, Howard surpassed 10,000 points for his career with a hook shot over Robin Lopez in the third quarter.