Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi has signed for Manchester City, the Premier League side announced on Thursday after a deal was agreed with his current side Valencia.

The 27-year-old has signed a five-year contract although no financial details of the transfer were released.

Tim Duncan has given up millions in salary to give the San Antonio Spurs the cap space needed to re-sign teammates and add players such as LaMarcus Aldridge.

And Duncan has deferred offensively to teammates like Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard despite averaging 19.5 points over his 18-year career.

The drifting smoke from forest fires sometimes makes it difficult for marathoner Heather Lieberg to take a deep breath during her afternoon training runs in the hills of Montana.

Even on days when the local advisory lists the air quality as "unhealthy for sensitive groups," Lieberg is out there chugging away through the hazy and hot conditions.

Chris Froome will be racing both for and against history when the Spanish Vuelta starts Saturday.

The Tour de France champion is aiming to become the third cyclist to win both the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season, after Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978).

Serena Williams pumped her fist after each important point and screamed as she smacked another emphatic shot. The defending Cincinnati champion wasn't going to ease into the tournament.

Williams put a lot of emotion into her opening match at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday, a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova that made her the first of the top seeds to advance.

Valencia is close to completing its return to the Champions League after beating Monaco 3-1 Wednesday in their first leg playoff on a night full of late goals by teams fighting to reach the lucrative group stage of Europe's top club competition.

Sofiane Feghouli led two-time former finalist Valencia by assisting Rodrigo Moreno's opener and netting a third goal with four minutes to play to put his Spanish team in a strong position to advance.

Spanish coach Michel has been appointed by Marseille as the successor to Marcelo Bielsa, the French club announced on Wednesday.

"It is official. Jose Miguel Gonzalez del Campo is the coach of OM," Marseille announced on their Twitter feed with a picture of Michel holding an OM shirt alongside president Vincent Labrune.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique will miss the first four matches of the new La Liga season for abusing match officials in the European champions' Spanish Super Cup defeat to Athletic Bilbao.

Pique was shown a straight red card in the second leg of the tie on Monday, which ended 1-1, for taking his protests towards the linesman too far as Barca failed to overcome a 4-0 first leg deficit.

Memphis Depay announced his arrival at Manchester United by scoring a first-half double and providing a late assist for Marouane Fellaini in a 3-1 win over Bruges in the first leg of their Champions League playoff on Tuesday.

Playing his third match in United's iconic No. 7 shirt since joining from PSV Eindhoven in the offseason, the 21-year-old Netherlands winger rescued his new club from potential embarrassment after the Belgian side took a surprise 8th-minute lead through an own goal by Michael Carrick.

Roger Federer took a first step toward a seventh Cincinnati title on Tuesday night, beating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match.

The Swiss star won the Western & Southern Open last year for his unprecedented sixth title at the longtime ATP Tour stop. He got a good start by easily handling the Spaniard, whom he has beaten in straight sets in all four of their matches.