Lionel Messi has signed a new contract that will tie him to Barcelona until 2018, the club announced on Thursday.

Barca had already signaled Messi's intent to sign a new deal, along with teammates Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernandez, back in December and the four-time World Player of the Year has now put pen to paper.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher will retire from football at the end of this season, the English Premier League club said in a statement on Thursday.

"This will be my last season at Liverpool and my last as a professional footballer," said Carragher.

Rafael Nadal has taken a few shaky steps in a comeback he hopes will give him a fighting chance of winning his eighth French Open title.

After being away from singles tennis for more than seven months while getting therapy on an injured left knee, Nadal defeated Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the VTR Open.

A pair of Australians won a race to the top — or to the 86th floor, anyway.

Aussies captured the top spots in the men's and women's races in the annual Empire State Building Run-up on Wednesday night.

LeBron James scored 32 points, and Dwyane Wade added 31 points and eight assists as the Miami Heat held off the Houston Rockets 114-108 on Wednesday.

Shane Battier scored 12, Norris Cole added 10 and Udonis Haslem grabbed 13 rebounds for Miami, which moved to 20 wins from 23 away home games.

Presiding over Brazil's first loss to England in 23 years caused Luiz Felipe Scolari little concern. In fact, the returning coach saw Wednesday's 2-1 defeat as a good omen.

His first stint in charge of the Brazilians in 2001 also opened with a loss, and a year later they were celebrating their fifth World Cup title.

Pau Gasol has been diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot, indefinitely sidelining the Spaniard at a key point in the Los Angeles Lakers' belated rally to get in playoff position.

Gasol felt a pop in his foot Tuesday late in the Lakers' 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. An MRI scan Wednesday in Boston revealed the injury.

Nigeria closed in on its first title in nearly two decades by easily advancing to the final of the African Cup of Nations on Wednesday, setting up a matchup with a surprising Burkina Faso team looking to lift the trophy for the first time.

Nigeria cruised to a 4-1 victory over Mali in Durban to reach the final for the first time in more than a decade, while Burkina Faso needed extra time and a penalty shootout to get past favorite Ghana in Nelspruit.

Now that he finally has a competitive match under his belt after seven months on the sidelines, Rafael Nadal wants to stop talking about his injured left knee.

Nadal, whose knee problem has lingered despite on-going therapy, marked his return to the tour with a doubles victory Tuesday alongside Juan Monaco at a little-known clay court tournament in Chile.

Lindsey Vonn will head home for surgery next week in Colorado after tearing ligaments in her right knee and breaking a bone in her lower leg in a crash at the world ski championships.

U.S. Ski Team physician William Sterett was with Vonn on the snow after the crash on Tuesday, then at a local hospital where she was airlifted to.