The Court of Arbitration for Sport has heard appeals by the Serbian and Albanian football federations challenging UEFA sanctions after their European Championship qualifier was abandoned.

A chaotic match in Belgrade last October was stopped before halftime then called off when a drone carrying an Albanian nationalist banner flew into the stadium.

Novak Djokovic crushed Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-3 on Friday to move into the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The world number one and top seed took just 65 minutes, winning the first eight games against Croatia's reigning U.S. Open champion seeded eighth but still coming back from months of shoulder problems.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said Friday that injuries to key players had left him with the "worst possible scenario" ahead of their crunch clash with Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Third-placed United will travel to London without influential midfielder Michael Carrick (calf) plus key defenders Marcos Rojo (stomach), Phil Jones and Daley Blind (both ankle) as they seek to close an eight-point gap with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Liverpool and Italy striker Mario Balotelli has received more than 4,000 racist messages via social media this season, according to new research from British anti-discrimination body Kick It Out.

Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck and Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge have also been targeted with more than a thousand discriminatory messages.

The NBA playoffs are about to being without some of the most recognizable players in the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant and New York's Carmelo Anthony will miss the playoffs for the second straight year, and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Miami's Dwyane Wade are also out.

China thrived at the Beijing Games in 2008. Britain excelled in London in 2012. Next year, Brazil will try to show it can produce a historic performance at its home Olympics.

The nation is working hard to make sure its athletes can be successful at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, investing record amounts to get them ready to perform well in front of a home crowd.

Marek Hamsik scored twice as Napoli took a giant step toward the Europa League semifinals Thursday by beating Wolfsburg 4-1 away in the first leg of their quarterfinal.

Wolfsburg, which had won five of its last six games in all competitions, must now score four goals in the April 23 second leg in Naples to have any hope of progressing to the semifinals.

Bayern Munich team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt is stepping down after almost four decades at the club.

Bayern lost 3-1 at Porto in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday and news agency dpa quotes Mueller-Wohlfahrt as saying in a statement Thursday that the club's "medical department was made primarily responsible for the defeat for inexplicable reasons."

Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres has hailed former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard as the best player he has ever played with ahead of a host of Spanish World Cup winners.

Torres won back-to-back European Championships as well as the 2010 World Cup with Spain playing alongside the likes of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, but he said Gerrard, who he shared a successful spell with at Liverpool between 2007 and 2011, is his ideal player.

Daniel Ricciardo admitted Thursday that he and his Red Bull team are disappointed with their start to the season, but remain keen to make amends starting with this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Australian, winner of three races last year, said he had hoped for more than three minor points finishes in the opening three races and said he and the team – powered by Renault engines -- were working on improved starts.