Arsene Wenger hopes Arsenal's epic fight-back against Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round will act as a spark for his team's bid to qualify for the Champions League.

Wenger's men were heading for a shock exit at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday after Villa surged into a 2-0 lead by half-time thanks to goals from Richard Dunne and Darren Bent.

The Asian Football Confederation on Monday urged football's top lawmaking body to approve a headscarf with safety features for use by Islamic female players.

Football governing body FIFA banned the hijab or headscarf in 2007 for safety reasons, a move condemned by Islamic leaders and sports officials.

The Los Angeles Lakers reversed their recent road fortunes with a victory at Minnesota, holding off the tenacious Timberwolves for a 106-101 NBA triumph.

Kobe Bryant scored 35 points and Pau Gasol added 28 as the Lakers also ended a team-record streak of 13 straight games of less than 100 points.

The reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks seized sole possession of first place by beating their state rivals the San Antonio Spurs 101-100 behind guard Jason Terry's superb 34-point game.

Germany's Dirk Nowitzki returned to the lineup Sunday and scored 10 points for the Mavericks who were coming off an impressive 116-101 win over Utah two days ago.

Inter Milan's run of seven successive Serie A wins came to an abrupt end on Sunday as they fell to a 1-0 defeat by relegation strugglers Lecce, a loss made all the more bitter by AC Milan's 3-0 win over Cagliari which saw their rivals tuck in just a point behind leaders Juventus.

Uruguayan Guillermo Giaccomazzi struck for Lecce to give them their first home win of the season - they had previously taken just two points from the 27 available at home - while their 'keeper Massimiliano Benassi was in superlative form, denying Inter on several occasions.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic battled past Rafael Nadal in an epic, five-set Australian Open final which clocked in at 5hr 53min -- the longest title match in grand slam history -- early Monday.

Djokovic fought back from losing the first set to take a 2-1 lead, but he was then taken to a gripping fifth set by resurgent Nadal before winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 for his third consecutive major title.

Bayern Munich stayed top of the German league on Saturday as striker Mario Gomez claimed his 17th goal of the season in a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg, but Shinji Kagawa-inspired Borussia Dortmund are hard on their heels.

Japan winger Kagawa scored twice in Dortmund's 3-1 win over Hoffenheim, which means the defending champions remain second and level on 40 points with Bayern, but Munich stay top by virtue of goal difference.

Dirk Kuyt came off the bench to fire a dramatic late winner as Liverpool sent Manchester United crashing out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory in the fourth round at Anfield on Saturday.

Kenny Dalglish's side took the lead when Daniel Agger punished poor goalkeeping by David de Gea to head home in the first half.

A government-run Saudi Arabian newspaper reports that for the first time in the conservative Muslim country, women will be allowed to attend football matches in one of the country's stadiums.

Al-Sharq newspaper on Saturday quoted unnamed officials as saying that women will be able to watch the matches in a new facility that will be completed in 2014 in the western port city of Jeddah.

Ice dancers Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France retained their free dance title at the European figure skating championships on Friday by overhauling Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev.

Trailing the Russian pair by 0.17 points after Wednesday's short dance, Pechalat and Bourzat brought the crowd to their feet with a rousing performance to the moody "The Pharaoh and His Mummy" to score 99.29 points.