Luis Suarez scored four goals and Lionel Messi a hat trick as Barcelona defeated 10-man Valencia 7-0 on Wednesday to move into position to reach the Copa del Rey final for the third straight season.
Suarez scored in the seventh and 12th minutes, and Messi got on the board in the 29th, 58th and 74th before Suarez closed the scoring in the 83rd and 88th minutes.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored again as Paris Saint-Germain beat Lorient 3-1 to set a new French league record of 33 consecutive games unbeaten on Wednesday.
After creating the opening goal for strike partner Edinson Cavani early in the first half, Ibrahimovic grabbed his league-leading 20th of the season shortly after the break as PSG eclipsed the record set by Nantes 21 years ago.

For a guy who loved a good party, it's hard to imagine Ken Stabler ever thought he'd be crashing one this week.
Not at this Super Bowl, the 50th anniversary version that has been carefully choreographed to be a celebration of all things NFL. Not in the Bay Area, where Stabler has long been a cult hero of sorts for leading the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl win 39 years ago.

The NHL barred Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman 20 games on Wednesday for cross-checking a linesman last week, the second-longest suspension in NHL history for abusing an official.
Wideman was suspended for violating the league rule on physical abuse of officials after he knocked down linesman Don Henderson during the Flames' game against Nashville on Jan. 27. The league cited Rule 40 in handing out the harsh penalty.

Bayern Munich's bad luck continued on Wednesday as new signing Serdar Tasci suffered concussion in his very first training session and had to sit out his introductory press conference.
"He went into a collision with his head and was shaken, it means he has a slight concussion. It's a bit unfortunate," admitted Bayern's director of sport Matthias Sammer.

Atletico Madrid left-back Filipe Luis has been handed a three-game ban for his dangerous challenge on World Player of the Year Lionel Messi in Saturday's top of the table clash won 2-1 by Barcelona.
Luis was shown a straight red card just before half-time for catching Messi on his left knee with his studs, sparking wild protests from Barca boss Luis Enrique.

Seventeen-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer underwent "successful" surgery on his knee Wednesday and will be ruled out of action for one month, his agent said.
Federer underwent the surgery to repair a torn meniscus sustained the day after his semi-final match at the Australian Open, according to Tony Godsick.

Neymar and his father maintained their innocence after appearing before a judge on Tuesday in an investigation into alleged irregularities regarding the player's transfer to Barcelona.
The Brazilian striker was in court for more than an hour and a half, and his father — who is also his agent — was questioned for nearly three hours. Neymar left without giving any details about his testimony, but his father said their position has not changed and they again denied wrongdoing.

Mohamed Salah ended a three-month goalscoring drought to help Roma win 2-0 at Sassuolo and move provisionally fourth in Serie A on Tuesday.
Roma was almost made to rue its profligacy in front of goal when Sassuolo was awarded a penalty with three minutes left — and with the scoreline still 1-0 — after a foul on Lorenzo Pellegrini by Radja Nainggolan, who was sent off for a second yellow card.

Jamie Vardy's stunning volley set Leicester on its way to a 2-0 victory over Liverpool on Tuesday, keeping the unlikely title challengers top of the Premier League on a night Manchester United rediscovered its scoring touch at Old Trafford.
Manchester City and Tottenham also won to stay in touch with Leicester, but Arsenal was held 0-0 by Southampton and dropped to fourth place.
