Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola declared Lionel Messi fit to play in Tuesday's Champions League showdown with Chelsea and laughed off concerns about the Argentinian's scoring record.

Despite a remarkable year which has left Messi four goals shy of equaling Gerd Muller's all-time single-season scoring record of 67, questions have been raised about the South American's failure to find the net in recent matches.

Tennis diva Maria Sharapova says she is relishing making her Stuttgart debut here as the clay court season gets under way with the statuesque Russian up against all four grand slam winners.

The 25-year-old has added Stuttgart to her usual WTA clay-court events in Rome and Madrid as she looks to prepare for the French Open at the end of May, which is the only grand slam event she has yet to win.

Roberto Di Matteo shrugged off criticism of Chelsea's tactics here Monday on the eve of his side's daunting Champions League semifinal assignment against Barcelona.

The Premier League side upset the reigning champions 1-0 in last week's first leg at Stamford Bridge, and now stand just 90 minutes away from a huge upset in Tuesday's return fixture at the Camp Nou.

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie was rewarded for his stunning goalscoring exploits in the Premier League by being voted the player of the season by his peers on Sunday.

The Netherlands international received the Professional Footballers' Association award after grabbing 27 goals to lead the scoring charts in England's top division with three rounds of fixtures remaining.

Chelsea and Bayern Munich will hope Saturday's energy-sapping "Clasico" takes its toll on Barcelona and Real Madrid when the Spanish giants try to overturn first-leg deficits in the Champions League semifinals this week.

Both contests are delicately poised, with Barca somehow 1-0 down to Chelsea despite dominating at Stamford Bridge and Madrid grabbing a potentially crucial away goal in a 2-1 loss to Bayern.

Rafael Nadal was dreaming of a seventh French Open title on Sunday after clinching his eighth successive Monte Carlo title by ending a seven-final losing streak to Novak Djokovic.

Nadal, who came into Monte Carlo with more question marks over whether or not his suspect knees would bear the stress of another grueling claycourt campaign, gave the perfect response with a swaggering 6-3, 6-1 defeat of world number one Djokovic.

Kobe Bryant scored six of his 26 points in the second overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half for a 114-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Metta World Peace scored 12 points before getting ejected late in the second quarter for a vicious elbow to the back of James Harden's head while celebrating a dunk.

The Miami Heat, led by LeBron James's 32 points, ended Houston's slim NBA playoff hopes with a 97-88 victory over the Rockets on Sunday.

The Heat were without stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Wade sidelined by a dislocated left index finger suffered on Saturday in a loss to lowly Washington.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was left with a familiar feeling after seeing his side fail to take their chances in a 1-0 Premier League defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion.

Albion's Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of Sunday's game 15 minutes from time to give the visitors a first win at Anfield 45 years to the day since their previous victory at the ground.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said the upcoming clash with Premier League title rivals Manchester City represents the most important derby match of his career.

United will go into the match on the back of a stunning 4-4 draw at home to Everton at Old Trafford here on Sunday that has revived a seemingly moribund title race.