Cesc Fabregas' long awaited return to his boyhood club finally was finalized Monday when he signed a five-year contract with European champion Barcelona.
"It took a lot of years, months, days to get here ... it's nice to be home after eight years," the former Arsenal captain said in Catalan during his presentation to fans at Camp Nou, where he repeatedly kissed the Barcelona crest on his new No. 4 jersey.

Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 2-2 in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup on Sunday in front of 80,000 fans in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu as the two bitter rivals kicked off the new season.
Mesut Ozil gave Real a 13th-minute lead before David Villa and Lionel Messi put Barcelona ahead at the break.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic won the Rogers Cup on Sunday for his ninth tournament victory of the year and record fifth in a season in an ATP Masters 1,000 event, beating Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
The 24-year-old Serb, the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, is 29-0 this year on hard courts and 53-1 overall. He also won the Rogers Cup in 2007.

Eight weeks into her comeback, Serena Williams not only believes she can be as good as she once was. She can be better.
The 29-year-old American star made a pretty good point by capturing the Rogers Cup in commanding fashion Sunday, dispatching 10th-seed Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2 for her first Canadian crown since 2001.

Portugal advanced to the semi-finals of the U20 World Cup with a dramatic 5-4 penalty shootout victory over favorites Argentina as Mexico also booked their berth by beating hosts Colombia 3-1.
In a tie with few real chances on goal and a scoreline 0-0 after 120 minutes in Cartagena the Portuguese came back from a 3-1 penalty deficit to send Argentina crashing out of the competition they have won six times.

Foreign and local climbers have recently scaled Afghanistan's highest mountain, indicating that some areas of the war-torn country are ready for a revival of international tourism.
An expedition member says the summit of Mount Noshaq, located in the Wakhan Corridor of northeastern Afghanistan, was reached by a team on Aug. 4.

Barely a fortnight after beginning the one-year countdown to the London Olympics, Britain has been left bruised by a wave of rioting and now faces a struggle to restore its reputation among tourists.
Prime Minister David Cameron has led calls for Britain to put on a fresh face, after images of youths burning buildings and cars across the country were splashed across newspapers and television screens worldwide.

Number one Novak Djokovic lined up a Montreal Masters semi-final with a second straight French opponent after defeating fifth seed Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-1 on Friday.
Djokovic, playing is first event on the ATP top ranking, will Saturday face 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who followed up his third-round upset of two-time winner Roger Federer with a win over Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-4.

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri admits he would like to sign Italy forward Giuseppe Rossi, but not at the expense of losing Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Earlier this week, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis claimed he was interested in signing Rossi but suggested it might depend on raising funds through selling Lavezzi.

A Turkish official says Istanbul will bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
The official from Turkey's Olympic committee says Turkish Prime Minister will formally announce Istanbul's bid later on Saturday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make an announcement.
