Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino said any coach would have taken the same decision as he did after leaving star forwards Lionel Messi and Neymar on the bench for his side's 0-0 draw away to Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

Both Messi and Neymar were introduced after half-time, but even they couldn't find a way through Atletico's watertight defense as the stalemate leaves both sides still level on points at the top of La Liga.

Olivier Giroud will return to boost Arsenal's hopes of returning to the top of the Premier League when they travel to face Aston Villa on Monday.

Chelsea's victory at Hull on Saturday dislodged Arsene Wenger's side from the summit, but a fourth successive league victory will ensure the Gunners are once again setting the pace in the title race by the time they leave Villa Park.

Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball, was given a record 162-game doping suspension by an arbitrator on Saturday, banning him for the entire 2014 season and playoffs.

The New York Yankees third baseman, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player who helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series, vowed to appeal the ban to a U.S. federal court.

David Moyes has brushed off suggestions that injured striker Robin van Persie is facing six more weeks out and insisted that he is coping with the pressure of Manchester United's current problems.

Those concerns were eased in a 2-0 victory over Swansea at Old Trafford on Saturday, a win that means Moyes avoids the unwanted distinction of managing the club to four consecutive defeats for the first time in 53 years.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray on Saturday said he was not getting his hopes up for the Australian Open after a long injury lay-off and that he could not predict when he would again be back to his best.

The Scot underwent a back operation in September, missing the rest of the season, and his preparations for Melbourne, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in last year's final, have not been good.

Juan Martin del Potro bludgeoned Bernard Tomic with his powerful forehand to win the Sydney International final on Saturday.

The Argentine world number five took just 53 minutes to put away the Australian defending champion 6-3, 6-1.

Denver and New York both pulled out wins against the odds on Thursday, continuing their recent form improvements at the expense of Oklahoma City and Miami respectively.

Denver's Randy Foye scored a season-high 24 points to steer the Nuggets to a 101-88 win over Oklahoma City, which fell into a tie with Portland for leadership of the Northwest Division.

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer witnessed Andy Murray's drought-breaking successes after he hired Ivan Lendl as coach, and decided they were due for an overhaul of a major kind.

Both took on past Grand Slam champions ahead of the Australian Open, with Djokovic recruiting Boris Becker to help him try to win a fourth straight title in Melbourne and Federer working out a part-time deal with Stefan Edberg.

Real Madrid overcame some uncharacteristic poor finishing from Cristiano Ronaldo to beat Osasuna 2-0 in the opening leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 match on Thursday.

Ronaldo failed to connect on an ample number of opportunities at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. But Karim Benzema and Jese Rodriguez scored in each half for Madrid to come out of the first leg with the firm advantage.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure was named African player of the year for a third straight time on Thursday.

He beat out Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel of Nigeria in the vote by Africa's national team coaches. Toure's fellow Ivorian Didier Drogba, the Galatasaray striker and two-time recipient, was third.