Three-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo insists he could see out the remainder of his career at Real Madrid due to his love for the Spanish capital.

The Portuguese has been constantly linked with a move back to Manchester United or to Paris Saint-Germain despite becoming Madrid's all-time record goalscorer with 347 goals in just seven years at the club.

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent not one, but two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an Internet sensation last month when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with "Messi" scrawled on it in marker pen.

Murtaza Ahmadi traveled with his family from eastern Ghazni province to Kabul to receive the gifts sent by Messi through UNICEF, where he is a goodwill ambassador.

Serie A leaders Juventus will be without Claudio Marchisio for two successive games against Inter Milan after the influential midfielder suffered a thigh injury against Bayern Munich in midweek.

Marchisio was replaced at half-time in a 2-2 draw with Bayern on Tuesday which has left their Champions League last 16 tie delicately poised ahead of the return leg on March 16 in Munich.

Ten-man PSV Eindhoven battled to a 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday, comfortably surviving more than 20 minutes after a red card for striker Gaston Pereiro.

PSV coach Phillip Cocu said before the match that both sides would likely settle for 0-0, but he was far happier than Diego Simeone with the goalless stalemate after PSV held on following Pereiro's dismissal for two senseless fouls.

Sergio Aguero scored one goal and helped create another as Manchester City powered to a 3-1 first-leg win over Dynamo Kiev in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Aguero and David Silva's goals gave City a 2-0 cushion at the break before Vitaliy Buyalskiy pulled one back for Dynamo and Yaya Toure secured a valuable third away goal for City.

The powerbrokers of Asian football have long claimed that the sport's future rests in Asia, and given the recent spending boom by Chinese clubs, that future appears closer than even they dared predict.

Chinese Super League clubs have splashed out close to $300 million in the winter transfer window -- which closes Friday — on big names from Europe and South America such as Ramires, Alex Teixeira, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez and Gervinho. This has led to speculation as to whether it can become one of the leading domestic football competitions in the world and help propel the global balance of power eastwards.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini had their bans from football reduced from eight years to six by FIFA's appeal body on Wednesday, two days before the sport's ruling body tries to turn the page on years of scandals by electing a new president.

Blatter and Platini were initially found guilty of wrongdoing by FIFA's independent ethics committee, which is led by a German judge, over a previously-secret 2011 financial transaction.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors tied an NBA record Wednesday by making a 3-pointer in his 127th consecutive regular-season game.

The reigning NBA MVP and 3-point leader made a 3-pointer just 78 seconds into the Warriors' game at Miami, on his first shot of the evening. He shares the mark with Atlanta's Kyle Korver and has a chance to take the record outright when Golden State plays at Orlando on Thursday.

Russian football club Lokomotiv Moscow on Wednesday warned fans against using political slogans for the Europa League, round of 32, second leg match with Fenerbahce.

UEFA charged Lokomotiv midfielder Dimitri Tarasov for wearing a pro-Putin T-shirt in the 2-0 first leg defeat in Turkey.

Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane will miss the Europa League tie against Fiorentina at White Hart Lane on Thursday, manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed.

Pochettino said both England forward Kane and Mousa Dembele would miss the last 32 second leg match against the Italian side, which takes place with the tie all square at 1-1.