Robin van Persie guided Arsenal through to the next round of the Champions League on Wednesday, scoring his 20th and 21st goals of the season in a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund dominated the opening exchanges and had Arsenal under pressure even after injuries to Sven Bender and Mario Goetze midway through the first half robbed the German champions of arguably their two key players.

Manuel Friedrich sent Bayer Leverkusen into the knockout round of the Champions League with an injury-time header Wednesday that secured a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Chelsea and left the London club in real danger of missing out on the next stage.

Friedrich — a defender — managed to beat Alex to the ball and score with a header from a corner that went in off the underside of the crossbar in the 91st minute.

Formula One team Renault has confirmed Robert Kubica will miss at least the early part of the 2012 season as he struggles to recover from serious injuries sustained in a rally crash this year.

Renault had been hoping Kubica would be fit to resume his role as the team's No. 1 driver from the start of 2012 but said Wednesday that he will not be ready to do so.

Real Madrid made light work of Dinamo Zagreb winning 6-2 to make it five straight wins in Group D of the Champions League on a rainy night in the Spanish capital.

The Spaniards proved their strength in depth by resting key players in Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe and sharing the goals around with Karim Benzema and Jose Callejon scoring twice and Gonzalo Higuain and Mesut Ozil also on the scoresheet.

France winger Franck Ribery scored twice as Bayern Munich booked their place in the Champions League's knock-out phase with a 3-1 win over Villarreal on Tuesday.

After Napoli beat Manchester City 2-1 to go second in the table, Bayern are now five points clear at the top and will win Group A regardless of their last game away to the Premier League leaders.

Roger Federer rated his masterful 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Rafael Nadal at the ATP World Tour Finals as one of the best performances of his life.

Federer has enjoyed many remarkable days during his illustrious career, but even the 16-time Grand Slam champion was surprised by how completely he overwhelmed his old rival at London's O2 Arena on Tuesday.

World and European champion Spain stays atop FIFA’s monthly world rankings, despite losing a friendly to England which climbs two places to No. 5.

The Netherlands remains second but third-placed Germany narrowed the gap after winning 3-0 in a friendly between the sides.

A finalist in three of the last four years, Manchester United is struggling to even get out of its group in this season's Champions League.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan were joined on Tuesday by two more of Europe's footballing elite, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, in the knockout stage of the game's biggest club competition.

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is relishing meeting his former team Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, but insists it will be just like any other game.

There was no return to the Nou Camp for Ibrahimovic in September as he was injured for the 2-2 opening draw between the sides.

World number one Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start to defeat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in his opening match at the ATP Tour Finals on Monday.

Djokovic, who joins David Ferrer at the top of Group A, has enjoyed a remarkably successful season but he had to show all his battling qualities to subdue the big-hitting Czech in over two and a half hours on court at London's O2 Arena.