Normal service is set to resume in France on Wednesday with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar both set to feature for leaders Paris Saint-German as they restart their Ligue 1 season, 45 days after it was popped on ice for the World Cup, with a home game against struggling Strasbourg. 

Liverpool extended its winning streak in the Premier League by beating Aston Villa 3-1 on Monday to close the gap on the top four.

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk struck in the first half at Villa Park before Stefan Bajcetic scored near the end of the second. Liverpool's third straight victory moved the club five points adrift of the Champions League spots, with Juergen Klopp's side remaining sixth.

Arsenal showed how to fight back on Boxing Day, traditionally a busy time in English football, by beating West Ham 3-1 to stretch its lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.

Newcastle moved second with a 3-0 win at Leicester on Monday, pushing defending champion Manchester City down to third.

French Sports Minister  Amelie Oudea-Castera on Friday accused Argentine players of being "inelegant winners" and "vulgar" for mocking her country's star Kylian Mbappe after winning the World Cup final.

"As much as our French team knew how to lose with panache, so the manner in which this Argentine team acted after this victory was not worthy of the match we saw", the minister told French radio station RTL.  

Argentina's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was greeted by a crowd estimated at 100,000 in his home town, Mar de Plata.

It was Argentina's third title but Martinez is the first World Cup winner from the resort town south of Buenos Aires, where tennis player Guillermo Vilas was previously the most famous sports personality.

A day after Kylian Mbappe returned to work at Paris Saint-German, Brazilians Neymar and Marquinhos reported to the club's training center on Thursday, according to PSG's social networks. 

They "are back at the Training Center!", the club tweeted, 13 days after Brazil's penalty shoot-out elimination against Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals. 

World Cup winners Argentina have risen to second in the FIFA rankings with quarter-finalists Brazil still top, the global governing body announced on Thursday.

Lionel Messi's side, who lifted the trophy in Qatar on Sunday, move up one place, as do runners-up France, who are now third, with Belgium dropping to fourth.

France star Kylian Mbappe returned to training with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday just three days after he ended up on the losing side despite scoring a hat-trick in the World Cup final.

The 24-year-old cast a despondent figure in the aftermath of France's loss to Argentina -- led by his PSG team-mate Lionel Messi -- in a penalty shootout, despite his goals twice bringing the 2018 champions level.

A parade to celebrate the Argentine World Cup champions was abruptly cut short Tuesday as millions of people poured onto thoroughfares, highways and overpasses in a chaotic attempt to catch a glimpse of the national team that won one of the great World Cup finals of all time.

So many jubilant, flag-waving fans swarmed the capital that the players had to abandon the open-air bus transporting them to Buenos Aires and board helicopters for a capital flyover that the government billed as an aerial parade.

Morocco is hoping its unprecedented World Cup exploits can help it win friends and influence people, especially among an Arab public opposed to its 2020 rapprochement with Israel.

Support for the Atlas Lions surged as they battled their way to the semi-final of the football World Cup in Qatar -- the first Arab or African team ever to get so far.