Valencia's French center-back Adil Rami says the only way to stop Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is to try a spot of man-to-man marking.

"I think you'd have to put a quick and gifted player on Messi who would follow him wherever he goes. We'd lose a player -- but then so would they," Rami told Wednesday's El Pais daily.

Iran's charismatic point guard Mahdi Kamrany scored 15 points and dished out five assists as the defending champions remained undefeated at the Asian Basketball Championships Wednesday, beating South Korea 79-62 in a fast-paced match.

Kamrany hit three three pointers as he directed Iran's offence, while Memphis Grizzlies centre Hamed Haddadi had 17 points and 11 rebounds and guard Aren Davoudichegani scored 10.

Inter Milan on Wednesday sacked Gian Piero Gasperini from his coaching role following the previous day's 3-1 Serie A defeat at newly-promoted Novara.

The club has been put in the temporary charge of assistants Giuseppe Baresi and Daniele Bernazzani.

Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez is set to resume training this week after avoiding serious injury in a late tackle by Ashley Cole in Sunday's defeat of Chelsea, the player's agent has confirmed.

Eduardo Hernandez said the Mexican international had suffered no more than a "bump" after the challenge by Cole which left United manager Alex Ferguson demanding a red card.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis rubbished criticism of under fire manager Arsene Wenger on Tuesday and ruled out any moves to replace the Gunners boss.

Wenger is currently enduring the most difficult period of his 15-year reign at Arsenal, having seen the club suffer a humiliating 8-2 defeat at Manchester United and winning only one of their first five games.

Barcelona striker David Villa claims the teams are fired up for the midweek trip to Valencia after they ended a blip in form with a resounding 8-0 win over Osasuna.

The reigning Spanish and European champions responded to draws against Real Sociedad and AC Milan by taking apart Osasuna at Camp Nou and now turn their attention to joint-leaders Valencia who have won their three opening matches.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the world tennis number one seed, has a back injury and hinted to a Serbian paper Tuesday that he might miss the China Open and the Shanghai ATP masters 1000 in October.

"I have a partial tear of a (back) muscle which needs rest (...) it is hard to say how much time off I need after only one exam, we will determine that in the days to come," Djokovic told the sports daily Sportske Novosti.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, stung by a shock 1-0 loss to Levante, accused the winners of acting and said his own players aren't comfortable with the "dirty side" of football.

Mourinho, whose side played much of the game with only 10 men after Sami Khedira got sent off for a second yellow card, blasted the referee, his own players and most of all the Levante style of play.

Manchester United beat title rival Chelsea 3-1 Sunday for its fifth straight victory in the Premier League, and Manchester City squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 tie at Fulham.

Wayne Rooney added to goals by Chris Smalling and Nani before missing a penalty kick, helping United (5-0) maintain its perfect start to the defense of its title. United won its 18th consecutive Premier League game at Old Trafford.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini insists he is still short of players despite splashing out a whopping £210 million since taking charge of the English Premier League club.

City failed to protect a 2-0 lead on Sunday and were pegged back to 2-2 by Fulham at Craven Cottage.