Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has entered into the festive spirit by granting his players Christmas Day with their families ahead of Friday's Premier League meeting with Newcastle United.

Traditionally, players around England will be given Christmas morning off, to spend with their families, before training in the afternoon and playing fixtures on Boxing Day.

A fourth man has been remanded in custody suspected of taking part in the killing of a rival fan in a football riot in Madrid last month, officials said.

A 43-year-old Deportivo La Coruna fan died after being beaten and pushed into a river on November 30 near Atletico Madrid's stadium before a match between the two sides.

British boxer Amir Khan Wednesday promised help to rebuild a Pakistani school where 150 people were massacred by the Taliban in the country's deadliest ever terror attack.

Khan, who has Pakistani roots, traveled to the troubled country to show solidarity with the victims and their families.

Louis van Gaal has revealed he feels under pressure to succeed at Manchester United to repay the generous support of Old Trafford legend Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson has given his backing to van Gaal in recent interviews, claiming the United manager can restore the team to the lofty levels which Ferguson himself attained in his 27 years as boss.

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson confirmed on Tuesday that he will not appeal his touchline ban for swearing at one of his club's supporters.

Pearson was handed a one-match touchline ban and fined £10,000 ($15,517) after being found guilty of misconduct following a heated exchange with a fan during Leicester's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool earlier this month.

Miami forward Josh McRoberts has undergone successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee but will probably miss the remainder of the NBA season, the Heat said Tuesday.

An MRI exam last week revealed the tear, which led to the 45-minute operation and several months of rehabilitation to come.

Portugal's tenacious Tiago Machado will front the Katusha team at the Tour Down Under, the first UCI World Tour event of 2015, organizers said Wednesday.

Machado, who battled on after a serious crash in this year's Tour de France, will be joined at Katusha by Russian all-rounder Maxim Belkov, who won stage nine of the 2013 Giro d'Italia.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not take kindly to being voted Sweden's second greatest sportsman of all time.

Named runner-up to tennis star Bjorn Borg in the poll by newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the irrepressible Ibrahimovic said he felt he should have filled all five first places.

United States defender DeAndre Yedlin is joining Tottenham in January, the north London club announced on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old signed a four-year deal with Spurs in August with his move to White Hart Lane from the Seattle Sounders delayed until the end of the Major League Soccer season.

Former Premier League defender Clarke Carlisle is "very poorly" but "alive and stable" after being hit by a truck, his wife Gemma announced on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old who played for Burnley, Leeds and Queens Park Rangers was struck by a lorry in North Yorkshire on Monday.