For European football veterans, it was a night to savor.

As Manchester City and Leipzig reached the knockout stage of the Champions League with two matches to spare on Tuesday, two emblematic players of Europe's old guard grabbed the spotlight.

Barcelona missed its chance to reach the knockout round of the Champions League with games to spare after a 1-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

It was Shakhtar's first win as a host in the group stage of the competition since it started playing away from Ukraine because of the war with Russia. A crowd of nearly 50,000 was in hand at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.

The Champions League is European club football's most testing stage.

Try telling that to Erling Haaland.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is feeling better after sustaining an ankle injury at the weekend but is not guaranteed to play in the upcoming Champions League game against Young Boys, manager Pep Guardiola said Monday.

"I spoke with the doctor and him," Guardiola said of Haaland. "Yesterday he said he felt much better, but I don't know."

Saudi Arabia is all but certain to host the men's 2034 World Cup after the Australian football federation decided not to enter the bidding contest, which had been widely seen as shaped by FIFA to suit the oil rich kingdom.

FIFA had set Tuesday as the deadline to formally declare interest in hosting the tournament, but Australia's decision not to enter the race leaves Saudi Arabia as the only declared candidate — to the dismay of many human rights activists.

The list reads 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and now 2023.

Lionel Messi won the men's Ballon d'Or for a record-extending eighth time on Monday after fulfilling his life's ambition by leading Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar last year.

Damian Lillard acknowledged this season opener felt a little different from the others as he adjusted to switching teams for the first time.

But the results he delivered were familiar to anyone who watched the seven-time All-NBA guard during his 11 years in Portland.

When Kevin Durant scored in the final minutes, LeBron James answered. These two generational basketball greats put on a scintillating duel in their first head-to-head matchup in nearly five years.

Although Durant was better in the first three quarters, he eventually had to concede he couldn't do it alone.

The bling and the banner were nice. What the Denver Nuggets really relished, though, was opening defense of the franchise's first NBA title with a 119-107 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

"We can't think about last year too much," Jamal Murray said after the Nuggets followed the raising of their championship banner by dropping the hammer on the Lakers in the NBA's season opener, which featured Nikola Jokic's triple-double and LeBron James taking a few more breathers than normal.

Bayern Munich has decided not to sanction Noussair Mazraoui after the Morocco right back expressed support for Palestinians on social media.

The German club said Friday that it had a "detailed and clarifying conversation with Noussair Mazraoui this week" after the 25-year-old player reportedly shared several posts on Instagram in support of Palestinians and against terrorism, hate and violence.