England striker Wayne Rooney was on Thursday banned for three matches by UEFA for his red card against Montenegro, a decision which will rule him out of the group stages of Euro 2012.

Manchester United star Rooney was punished for his 74th-minute sending off in the 2-2 draw in Podgorica last Friday in England's final qualifier when he kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic.

Arjen Robben has been ruled out of action for "several more weeks", according to Bayern Munich following the Dutch winger's successful operation on a troublesome groin injury last week.

Robben went under the knife last Friday in Germany after the injury flared up and ruled him out of the Netherlands' final Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Bologna president Claudio Sabatini has stepped up his attempts to land NBA star Kobe Bryant on a loan deal by taking his case right to the top.

Sabatini has written to United States President Barack Obama, a renowned basketball fan, to ask him to intervene and help convince Bryant to join the Italian side, if only for a single exhibition match.

Inter Milan have suffered a double injury blow as both Diego Forlan and Coutinho have been ruled out with hamstring injuries.

Forlan pulled his hamstring while on international duty with Uruguay against Paraguay earlier this week and now looks likely to face around a month on the sidelines, say reports.

Top seed Rafael Nadal was sent crashing out of the Shanghai Masters on a dramatic day of action Thursday.

World number two Nadal lost 6-7 (5/7), 3-6 to Germany's Florian Mayer, edged out in a first set tiebreak and broken twice in the second set, stunning the crowd at the Qi Zhong stadium.

Champions Borussia Dortmund travel to Werder Bremen on Friday knowing defeat could deal a further blow to their chances of stopping Bayern Munich steamrolling their way to a 23rd Bundesliga title.

Jurgen Klopp's side ended last season ten points clear of third-placed Bayern, but they already lie six points adrift of the Bavarians, and three behind Bremen, with just eight games of this campaign played.

Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o has been linked with a move back to Inter Milan, just two months after he left the club in a big-money move to Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala.

La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Eto'o has approached Inter about a possible loan move back to the nerazzurri during the Russian winter break, which lasts from November to March.

Portugal, losing finalists in 2004, will face outsiders Bosnia in their Euro 2012 play-off while Estonia take on the Republic of Ireland following Thursday's draw in Krakow, Poland.

In the other ties, 1996 runners-up the Czech Republic will take on Montenegro, who had only just achieved independence when the 2008 finals took place, and Guus Hiddink-coached Turkey will meet Croatia.

Defending champion Andy Murray survived a testing encounter with Stanislas Wawrinka to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters Thursday as David Ferrer saved three match points to progress.

Second seed Murray, on a red-hot run of form of 21 wins from 22 matches coming into the clash against the Swiss 13th seed, won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 under the roof at the Qi Zhong stadium.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso said Thursday he did not care about the race for second spot in the Formula One championship and would just try to enjoy the year's final events.

The two-time champion from Spain is third in the standings behind newly re-crowned champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Briton Jenson Button of McLaren, with four races remaining.