FIFA is concerned about recent violence in Brazil less than two months before it hosts the World Cup but remains confident the country will stage "the biggest party on Earth," FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil said Thursday.

The latest outburst began on Tuesday when residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum rioted following the killing of a popular local figure, a death they blamed on police.

Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday published plans for the redevelopment of their Anfield home that would raise the stadium's capacity from 45,276 to around 54,000.

The club plan to add 8,500 seats to the arena's Main Stand, which would also become the new home of the memorial to the 96 Liverpool fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola said his side had struggled to contain Real Madrid's pace on the counter-attack as Los Blancos secured a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.

Karim Benzema scored the only goal of the game on 19 minutes from one of a series of Madrid counter-attacks in the first-half that caught the European champions wanting at the back.

Bernie Ecclestone started out as a simple second-hand car salesman and went on to transform Formula One into one of the most profitable sports in the world.

The 83-year-old British magnate's grip on F1 has remained utterly steadfast in the face of the German bribery trial which starts in Munich on Thursday.

FIFA on Wednesday suspended a ban on Barcelona signing players while the club makes an appeal against a 14-month transfer ban.

World football's governing body, which imposed the sanction this month for breaching rules on the registration of minors, announced in a statement that the ban would be temporarily suspended allowing Barca to sign players during the summer transfer window which opens on July 1.

Ryan Giggs will be assisted by former teammates Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville during his spell as interim manager of Manchester United following the dismissal of David Moyes.

Neville was already the first-team coach under Moyes, while Butt had been working with United's Under-19s and Under-21s as a technical coach.

Chelsea's defensive game plan worked perfectly as it held Atletico Madrid to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday.

Jose Mourinho's ultra-defensive tactics succeeded at the Vicente Calderon Stadium despite the exit of goalkeeper Petr Cech to injury in the 18th minute. Mark Schwarzer came on, with Cech's long-term replacement — Thibaut Courtois — playing in the opposite goal, on loan from Chelsea.

Washington took a 2-0 lead over Chicago in their NBA first-round playoff series with a topsy-turvy 101-99 overtime win on Tuesday, while Toronto and Indiana both posted the victories they needed to square their respective series.

Washington led by 17 points in the first quarter but the Bulls came back strongly in front of their home fans to take a 10-point lead in the fourth, only for the Wizards to rally and square it.

Chelsea will be without goalkeeper Petr Cech and captain John Terry for the rest of the Premier League season, prompting manager Jose Mourinho to make the Champions League his team's priority.

The Chelsea veterans were injured during separate incidents in Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was named NBA coach of the year on Tuesday, making him just the third coach in league history to win the Red Auerbach trophy three times in his career.

Popovich has received the league's top coaching honor in two of the last three seasons, joining Don Nelson and Pat Riley as the only coaches to win the award three times.