Ryan Giggs takes charge of his first Manchester United match Saturday, with Alex Ferguson suggesting his temporary role as manager should be made long-term.

Giggs will take charge of United’s remaining four games of the season as the club begins their search for a permanent successor to manager David Moyes, whose dismissal was confirmed on Tuesday.

Manchester United have dismissed press reports in the Netherlands that the club had agreed a three-year deal with Louis van Gaal for him to replace the sacked David Moyes as coach.

Popular broadsheet De Telegraaf said Saturday that "the national coach (Van Gaal) late last (Friday) night reached a deal with the top British club," to take over as manager after the World Cup.

Spanish newspapers bid an emotional farewell Saturday to former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, hailing him as a footballing great and lamenting his death from cancer at 45.

Vilanova's smiling face made the front pages of all the major sporting and general newspapers, even those of the partisan Madrid press.

Substitute Lima scored six minutes from the end to give Benfica a 2-1 win over Juventus in the Europa League first-leg semifinals on Thursday.

Benfica will take a slender advantage over the Serie A leader to next week's return leg in Turin.

Michael Phelps is going short, really short, in the second race of his comeback.

The swimmer who owns 18 Olympic gold medals in middle and longer distance races is going to try sprinting. Phelps will compete in the 50-meter freestyle at the Arena Grand Prix on Friday, except he plans to swim his morning heat using a butterfly stroke.

Atlanta and Memphis both capitalized on a return to their home courts by beating their more-fancied opponents on Thursday to take 2-1 leads in their NBA first-round playoff series, while the Los Angeles Clippers won a nail-biter to also go up 2-1.

Atlanta beat Indiana 98-85 to stay ahead in the series against the Eastern Conference top seed, while Memphis beat Oklahoma City 98-95 in overtime to also seize the initiative in the series. The Clippers edged Golden State 98-96 in Oakland to also go up 2-1.

FIFA is concerned about recent violence in Brazil less than two months before it hosts the World Cup but remains confident the country will stage "the biggest party on Earth," FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil said Thursday.

The latest outburst began on Tuesday when residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum rioted following the killing of a popular local figure, a death they blamed on police.

Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday published plans for the redevelopment of their Anfield home that would raise the stadium's capacity from 45,276 to around 54,000.

The club plan to add 8,500 seats to the arena's Main Stand, which would also become the new home of the memorial to the 96 Liverpool fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola said his side had struggled to contain Real Madrid's pace on the counter-attack as Los Blancos secured a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.

Karim Benzema scored the only goal of the game on 19 minutes from one of a series of Madrid counter-attacks in the first-half that caught the European champions wanting at the back.

Bernie Ecclestone started out as a simple second-hand car salesman and went on to transform Formula One into one of the most profitable sports in the world.

The 83-year-old British magnate's grip on F1 has remained utterly steadfast in the face of the German bribery trial which starts in Munich on Thursday.