AC Milan and defending champions Barcelona are hot favorites to progress to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, but Arsenal are on the brink of elimination.

Milan take a 4-0 lead to London on Tuesday evening, while Barcelona -- who got the better of the Italian champions in the group phase -- have a 3-1 advantage to defend when Bayer Leverkusen visit Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes the destiny of the Premier League title race will be decided by the outcome of Manchester United's trip to face current leaders Manchester City at Eastlands on April 30.

United manager Ferguson is convinced his side took a major step toward retaining the English crown with the hard-fought 3-1 victory at Tottenham on Sunday.

Claudio Ranieri's grip on his Inter Milan job appeared even more precarious on Sunday after his side had to fight back from two goals down to squeeze out a 2-2 draw against Catania.

Ranieri's team had lost seven of their previous eight games, without scoring a goal, and they were soon in trouble against their unheralded visitors from Sicily.

Real Madrid crushed Espanyol 5-0 on Sunday to record a 10th straight league victory and restore their 10-point advantage over Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

Two goals from Gonzalo Higuain, and one each from Cristiano Ronaldo, Sami Khedira, and Kaka gave Real victory after Barcelona had reduced the gap to seven points with a battling 3-1 victory over Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked by Chelsea after less than a season in charge at Stamford Bridge, the Premier League club announced in a statement on their website on Sunday.

Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto Di Matteo, who had been working as Villas-Boas's assistant, has been appointed interim manager until the end of the season.

West Bromwich Albion piled the pressure on Chelsea with a 1-0 victory on Saturday as Premier League leaders Manchester City downed Bolton to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table.

An 82nd minute strike from Gareth McAuley secured all three points for West Brom at the Hawthorns to deal a fresh blow to under-fire Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, reportedly battling to hang on to his job.

Roger Federer underlined his status as an enduring front line contender with the 72nd title of his career which extended his record of Dubai Open trophies to five with victory over Andy Murray on Saturday.

The 16-time former Grand Slam champion from Switzerland overcame the triple Grand Slam finalist from Britain 7-5, 6-4 in a tightly-contested final in which Federer escaped an early mini-crisis and then resisted a Murray mini-comeback.

Bayer Leverkusen warmed up for their Champions League clash at Barcelona with a 2-0 home win against Bayern Munich on Saturday, as the Bavarians' poor form continued.

The hosts took the lead on 79 minutes when ex-Germany striker Stefan Kiessling tapped the ball home from two yards after Swiss forward Eren Derdiyok's overhead kick took Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer out of the game.

Olympic champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany won her second straight World Cup giant slalom on Saturday, while overall leader Lindsey Vonn had a blazing second run to finish second.

Rebensburg's consecutive wins in two days put her in a good position to retain her giant slalom title.

Devin Harris scored the winning points by converting a three-point play with 4.5 seconds left as the Utah Jazz beat Miami 99-98, snapping the Heat's nine-game win streak.