Tennis star Rafael Nadal will carry the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games, the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) announced on Wednesday.

The nine-time French Open champion, who will turn 30 at the start of June, won singles gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and he was chosen to carry the national flag at London four years later.

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane expressed hope on Tuesday that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will be fit for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City.

Ronaldo sat out the first leg at the Etihad Stadium, which finished goalless, with a thigh strain, while Benzema, who had been a pre-match doubt with a knee problem, went off at half-time.

In the star-studded surroundings of a Champions League semi-final, it is rare that the 22 men on the pitch are overshadowed by the two suited generals on the touchline seeking to outdo one another.

However, the clash between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich on Wednesday sees two of the world's best coaches in Diego Simeone and Pep Guardiola put their very different football philosophies to the test.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini vowed that his team would play with no fear in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid following a 0-0 first-leg draw.

Missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Madrid created the better chances in Tuesday's game, but substitute Jese saw a header hit the bar and City goalkeeper Joe Hart produced late saves to thwart Casemiro and Pepe.

On the streets of Rio de Janeiro, it feels like a long time since the heady days in 2009 when the city was named to host South America's first Olympics.

Then, a booming Brazil was the Latin American poster child for the seemingly unstoppable rise of emerging markets, and its president, the leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was at the height of his powers.

There are just 100 days until the Rio Olympics and defending women's high jump champion Anna Chicherova is in limbo as Russia fights for a place in the athletics contest.

While the Russian government and sports authorities race to overcome a huge doping scandal, Chicherova is perfecting her technique at a training center in Sochi.

Unless there's a penguin somewhere in Antarctica sporting a Jamie Vardy replica shirt, it's no stretch to describe New Zealander Rod de Lisle as Leicester City's most far-flung supporter.

De Lisle has kept faith with the Foxes from 18,500 kilometers (11,500 miles) for more than 40 years, candidly admitting there have been more lows than highs.

Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul faces an indefinite injury layoff with a broken hand while Blake Griffin will miss the rest of the season, the NBA team announced Tuesday.

A statement on the Clippers website said Paul, who broke his hand against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, had undergone surgery to repair the fracture.

DeMar DeRozan returned to form with 34 points as the Toronto Raptors overturned a double-digit deficit to defeat the Indiana Pacers 102-99 and seize control of their best-of-seven playoff series on Tuesday.

DeRozan, who had entered the game averaging just 13.3 points, turned on the style as the Raptors fought back from 13 points down to seal a win which gives them a 3-2 lead.

The 96 Liverpool fans who died in the Hillsborough football stadium disaster were unlawfully killed, a jury found Tuesday, blaming police for the worst tragedy in the history of British sport.

Following the longest-running inquest in English legal history, jurors concluded that policing decisions at the ill-fated match in 1989 "caused or contributed" to the deaths, and amounted to "gross negligence".