Messi rapped: Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has criticised his Argentina forward Lionel Messi for spitting at Malaga midfielder Duda during the 4-1 Primera Liga win on Saturday. "It's not good that such things happen," Guardiola was quoted as saying in newspaper As. "We will try to make sure it doesn't happen in future."
Modena monk: Modena, bottom of Italy's Serie B, have brought in a monk to perform an exorcism in the home dressing room following a string of poor results and controversial refereeing decisions. "I have always been a fan and I wanted to do something to help the team," Benedictine monk Gregario Colosio told Italian media.
Riquelme: Boca Juniors playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme has said that he deserved to be booked for his tribute to club president Pedro Pompilio, who died last week. Riquelme celebrated his goal in Sunday's 1-0 win over San Lorenzo by lifting his shirt to display a tee-shirt bearing the message: "Thanks for everything, Pedro", dedicated to Pompilio, who died of a heart attack at the age of 55 last Thursday.
Keane: Sunderland manager Roy Keane has been charged with improper conduct by the FA after being sent from the technical area during his side's 5-0 thrashing at Chelsea on Saturday. The charge related to Keane's conduct towards referee Martin Atkinson.
Foster: Goalkeeper Ben Foster will make his debut in the Champions League for Manchester United against Celtic today after the club opted to rest Edwin van der Sar. The Dutchman Van der Sar did not make the trip to Scotland with manager Alex Ferguson keeping one eye on Saturday's Premier League visit to Arsenal.
Iraklis coach: Greek Super League club Iraklis have sacked their Spanish coach Angel Pedraza. He joined the Thessaloniki club last December but has been unable to move them out of the relegation zone. They are currently two places off the bottom and after eight rounds are still looking for their first win of the season.
Wome: Cameroon have made another bid to entice Pierre Wome back into their squad, naming the Cologne player for the November 19 friendly in South Africa. The full back has not played for Cameroon since his missed penalty cost them a place at the 2006 World Cup.
UK football: English League Cup: Third round - Brighton vs Derby County 1-4. Scottish Premier League: Rangers vs Dundee United 3-3. Division One: Airdrie vs Dunfermline 1-3.
Tennis: WTA Championships: Jankovic bt Ivanovic 6-3 6-4; Zvonareva bt Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3; V. Williams bt Safina 7-5 6-3.
Snooker: IBSF World Championships: Last 64 - A. Borg bt M. Bukshesha 4-2; S. Zammit bt G. Wilkinson 4-3. Last 32: A. Borg vs K. Stevens 5-3; S. Zammit vs S. Mifsud 2-5.
Judo: Japan's Olympic gold medallist Satoshi Ishii has quit judo to become an "ultimate fighter" and take on rivals with names such as a "Goliath" and "Terminator." The 21-year-old, who won heavyweight gold at this year's Beijing Olympics, is the third Japanese Olympic champion to make the switch to professional mixed martial arts. Derived from ultimate fighting, mixed martial arts is known as "kakutogi" in Japan and combines techniques from karate, judo, boxing and other hand-to-hand combat sports.
Motor racing: World rally champion Sebastien Loeb will take part in a Formula One test with the Red Bull team in Spain this month. His Red Bull-backed Citroen rally team said the 34-year-old Frenchman, who secured his fifth successive title in Japan at the weekend, would test an RB4 in Barcelona on Nov. 17 after a preliminary test at Silverstone. Loeb, however, made clear there was no chance of him switching to Formula One.
Boxing: Jose Sulaiman was yesterday unanimously re-elected as president of the World Boxing Council. The 77-year-old accepted his new four-year mandate at the congress in China. Sulaiman, who has led the WBC for 33 years, said that in order to ensure boxing's future well-being, the WBC is working towards a global licence for boxers. The licence will detail a boxer's full medical history, weights and fight records in a bid to prevent mismatches, suspension violations and tragedies.
Wrestling: A former Olympic champion wrestler escaped police custody shortly after he was sentenced to five years in prison for drug trafficking offences, Hungarian state agency MTI said. Peter Farkas, who won the 82 kilogramme Greco-Roman style gold in Barcelona in 1992, left the courtroom during a break and did not return. The court ordered he should be taken into custody, along with his brother Karoly Farkas.