Belgium striker Christian Benteke was ruled out of the World Cup after rupturing his Achilles tendon in training with English Premier League team Aston Villa on Thursday.

Benteke will undergo surgery and "will be out for a minimum of six months," Villa said in a statement.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the World Cup will be "well done," but he criticized Brazilian authorities for starting late on stadium projects and for not providing enough worker safety.

Blatter spoke on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, where he was attending the Under-17 Women's World Cup.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has conceded that his team will likely be playing catch-up to Mercedes throughout the Formula One season.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, which will be a night race for the first time, Domenicali said rival engine manufacturers Mercedes and Renault have an advantage on Renault because their road-car divisions have more experience with fuel-efficient six-cylinder engines, which have come into F1 this year.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho called his team's defending "a joke" after Paris Saint-Germain scored deep into injury time Wednesday to take a commanding 3-1 lead into their Champions League quarterfinal return leg next week.

A second straight defeat has turned the pressure back on Mourinho's Chelsea side, with big-spending PSG now favored to reach the last four in the European Cup for the first time since 1995 and Liverpool grabbing the impetus in the Premier League.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a record equaling goal before exiting to injury as Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 on Wednesday to take a big step toward the Champions League semifinals.

Ronaldo netted his 14th goal of the season in Europe's top competition to give Madrid a clear advantage ahead of next week's quarterfinal return leg in Germany. But it came at a price as the Portugal forward, who came into the first-leg nursing a sore left knee, came off in the 80th minute.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke has again raised concerns over Brazil's World Cup preparations, saying "we are not ready" and that the stadium for the opening game is one of two venues that worry him most.

Just two months before the showpiece tournament starts, Valcke told The Associated Press at a joint FIFA-Confederation of African Football conference in South Africa on Wednesday that the stadiums in Sao Paulo, where the opening game will be played June 12, and Porto Alegre in the south were "where we have more work to do than in the other 10."

FIFA on Wednesday banned Spanish giants Barcelona from buying or selling players for the next two transfer windows for "serious" breaches of rules on under-age players.

FIFA's Disciplinary Committee found Barcelona and the Spanish Football Association (RFEF) guilty of making or allowing illegal deals.

FIFA says people in the United States have bought more than three times more World Cup tickets than any other nation except for tournament host Brazil.

Football's governing body said Tuesday that of the 2,577,662 tickets allocated for this year's tournament, 1,041,418 have gone to people in Brazil.

Manchester United confounded grim pre-game predictions by drawing 1-1 with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday, with Bastian Schweinsteiger equalizing for the holders before being sent off.

Floundering in the English Premier League, United has delivered better performances in Europe this season and stunned Bayern by taking the lead against the run of play through Nemanja Vidic's header in the 58th minute.

An equalizer from Neymar saw Barcelona salvage a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday after a stunning opener by Diego Ribas in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

Atletico's chances were dealt a major blow half an hour in when striker Diego Costa came off injured, while Barcelona had lost defender Gerard Pique to injury before that.