Football

Aubameyang was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday, narrowly edging out Yaya Toure at the Confederation of African Football award ceremony.

Paraguayan state prosecutors on Thursday raided the headquarters of South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL after a request for cooperation from US justice officials probing corruption inside world football, the prosecution office said.

Messi struck a spectacular free kick, scored another goal and set up two more in a 4-1 victory for Barcelona over nine-man city rivals Espanyol in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 clash

Defenders Aibanbha Kupar Dohling and Konsham Chinglensana Singh and forward Milan Basumatary completed their move to the club and they are expected to fill in the gaps created by Minchol Son and Cornell Glen.

Dele Alli enhanced his burgeoning reputation by scoring a superb equalizer to earn title-chasing Tottenham a 1-1 draw at Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.

The host nation fought back from 1-0 down to beat Afghanistan 2-1 courtesy of goals from Jeje and Sunil Chhetri.

Arsenal extended their lead of the English Premier League to two points by overcoming Newcastle 1-0 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Klopp has urged striker Christian Benteke to improve his performance further after the Belgian scored the winner in Wednesday's 1-0 Premier League win over Sunderland.

After bidding farewell to Celta Vigo by playing 77 minutes on Wednesday against Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, Fernandez went to Madrid for his medical, reports Efe.

Manchester City are expecting a strong response from shock Premier League leaders Leicester City after the Foxes slipped to only their second league defeat of the season against Liverpool.

"The injury situation is better - we'll have the complete squad recovered apart from Samir Nasri. Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando and Vincent Kompany have all worked with the squad normally," Pellegrini said.

Watford should not get carried away with their recent strong run and be on their toes when they travel to Stamford Bridge to take on champions Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday, defender Nathan Ake has said.

"I have no idea why these three Japanese guys, they have all the strength and power to referee these three important games. I know by the palm of my hand, the thinking of the Japanese referees," Zico said.

Arsenal's defence do not fear Barcelona's prolific front three, Messi, Suarez and Neymar, and are keen to test themselves against the world's best players in the last 16 of the Champions League, Ozil said.

The pair, who were also fined, had been suspended for 90 days in October while an investigation was carried out into a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.02 million) payment by FIFA to Platini in 2011. Both men denied any wrongdoing.

Barcelona's Club World Cup title is a victory for the club's unique and stylish way of doing things, coach Luis Enrique said after they beat River Plate 3-0 in the final on Sunday.