France defender Raphaël Varane announced his retirement from the national team on Thursday, the second major player to leave Les Bleus following the World Cup final defeat to Argentina.

The 29-year-old Varane made his debut 10 years ago and played 93 times. He was arguably the tournament's standout defender when France won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

João Cancelo might have been the missing piece in Bayern Munich's puzzle.

The Portuguese fullback, for so long a key player at Manchester City, looked a perfect fit on his Bayern debut, needing only 17 minutes to set up the opening goal in a 4-0 win over Mainz in the German Cup on Wednesday.

The dispiriting jeers turned to encouraging cheers, even though the result was still bad for AC Milan.

The fans' quick change in attitude wasn't exactly a surprise, however, with a derby against Inter Milan next on the Serie A schedule.

Bayern Munich bolstered its struggling team with the loan signing of Portugal left back João Cancelo from Manchester City on Tuesday, the last day of the transfer period.

The 28-year-old Cancelo joined "on an initial deal through to the end of the current season," Bayern said. The German club has the option to make the transfer permanent for a fee of 70 million euros ($76 million).

Vinícius Júnior had his share of chances to break the deadlock. More than once, the Brazil forward was in front of the opposition goal with only the 'keeper to beat.

But Vinicius and his teammates couldn't get the job done on Sunday as Real Madrid was held to a 0-0 draw at home by third-place Real Sociedad to lose ground to Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.

Striker Folarin Balogun equalized deep into stoppage time as Reims earned a 1-1 draw at French league leader Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, keeping PSG three points ahead of second-place Lens.

Balogun, who began his career at Premier League team Arsenal and stood out throughout the game with his movement, latched onto a long pass in the sixth minute of injury time. He easily beat veteran defender Sergio Ramos for pace before confidently shooting past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

AC Milan's woeful start to the year went from bad to worse on Sunday, potentially putting title-winning coach Stefano Pioli's job at risk.

Milan was humiliated 5-2 at San Siro by Sassuolo to leave the defending champion without a win in its last six matches. Next up is the Serie A derby against fierce rival Inter Milan next Sunday.

Novak Djokovic's Australian Open championship returned him to a rather familiar spot on Monday: No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

His four-place rise from No. 5 to replace Carlos Alcaraz at No. 1 is the largest jump to the top spot in the 50-year history of the computerized rankings for men's tennis.

It wasn't so long ago that Mikel Arteta was widely considered a Manchester City manager-in-waiting.

Now Pep Guardiola's former assistant has emerged as the greatest threat to his mentor's Premier League dominance after deciding to go it alone at Arsenal.

Novak Djokovic put aside some shaky play in the early going and took over his Australian Open semifinal against unseeded American Tommy Paul on Friday, winning 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to close in on a 10th championship at Melbourne Park and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.

Djokovic's parents and brother are in town for the tournament for the first time since he claimed major trophy No. 1 there back in 2008, but his father stayed away from this match after getting caught up in a flap connected to spectators who brought banned Russian flags on site earlier in the week.