Ghana are confident they can claw their way out of a World Cup group which includes Germany, Portugal and the United States.

The Black Stars reached the round of 16 in their World Cup debut in 2006 in Germany and reached the last eight four years ago in South Africa.

Midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger left Bayern Munich's final Bundesliga match of the season with a knee injury giving Germany fans another scare ahead of the World Cup.

Germany desperately need Schweinsteiger to be fit for the Brazil campaign, but it has been a season of many absences. And no one is giving a guarantee that he will be fit to start the Brazil campaign.

UEFA on Friday fined both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain 60 million euros ($82 million, £49 million) and capped their Champions League squad to 21 for falling foul of financial fair play rules.

Newly-crowned English Premier League champions, Manchester City enjoyed a massive spending spree under billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.

World number one Rafael Nadal dug deep to maintain his chances of defending his Rome Masters title after a gutsy come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Andy Murray in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Murray had won only five of his last 18 matches against Nadal but held the bragging rights from their last two -- a walkover win in the semis of the Miami Masters and victory in the final of the Tokyo Open in 2011, both hardcourt events.

Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi has agreed terms on a new contract with Spanish giants Barcelona, the club confirmed on Friday, likely making him the best paid player in the world.

"FC Barcelona has reached an agreement to adjust the terms in the contract binding Leo Messi to the club as a professional first team player. The revised and updated contract will be signed over the next few days," the club said in a statement on their website.

Indiana and Oklahoma City clinched series victories on Thursday to advance to a familiar-looking final four teams in the NBA playoffs.

Indiana is back where it was last season — in the NBA Eastern Conference finals — after winning 93-80 at Washington to claim their series 4-2, while Oklahoma City won 104-98 at the Los Angeles Clippers to also win 4-2 and book their third Western Conference finals berth in four years.

Former professional football player Aaron Hernandez, already in jail in connection with a 2013 shooting death, looks forward to proving his innocence on charges that he gunned down two men after a chance encounter inside a Boston nightclub a year earlier, his lawyers said.

Hernandez is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and other offenses in the July 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. A third man was wounded in that attack.

Protesters and police clashed in Sao Paulo Thursday, as demonstrations against the World Cup and rallies calling for improved public services erupted in several Brazilian cities.

Officers in Brazil's largest city fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who set piles of trash alight to barricade a central avenue. Demonstrators blasted the billions spent to host next month's football tournament and said they wanted to draw attention to what they called a lack of investment to improve poor public services.

Rafael Nadal was pushed to three sets for the second consecutive match before ultimately prevailing on Thursday to set up an Italian Open quarterfinal against Andy Murray.

The top-ranked Nadal dropped behind a set and a break against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, then took 11 of the final 12 games to win 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 on another windy day at the Foro Italico.

Formula E, the new environmentally-friendly racing alternative to Formula One based in the UK, has received another boost with €50 million (£41 million) of funding.

The all-electric series, which will reveal its 40 new cars on Thursday at Donnington Park, begins around the "Bird's Nest" Olympic Park in Beijing in September.