Barcelona has recovered forward Lionel Messi from a minor leg injury and captain Carles Puyol after a seven-month absence in time for its upcoming games against AC Milan and Real Madrid.

Barcelona team doctors cleared Messi and Javier Mascherano on Friday after muscle injuries in their right legs.

Gareth Bale is fit and ready to play for Real Madrid as the club looks to improve on its recent lackluster showings for an eight-day stretch coach Carlo Ancelotti calls "very important," with games against Malaga, Juventus and fierce rival Barcelona.

Ancelotti said on Friday that "Bale is available" for Saturday's Spanish league game against Malaga with critical games against Juventus in the Champions League and the season's first clasico at Barcelona coming next weekend.

Germany coach Joachim Loew thinks his team will play a major role at next year's World Cup, although it would be "disrespectful" to single it out as the favorite without mentioning others such as Spain and Brazil.

Loew spoke on Friday after extending his contract past the World Cup by another two years. The German Football Federation (DFB) said the new contract runs through the 2016 European Championship in France.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame an awful second set to beat Daniel Brands of Germany 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open on Thursday.

No. 2 Tommy Haas and No. 3 Fabio Fognini also advanced from the second round, but No. 4 Philipp Kohlschreiber was upset 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (0) by Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium.

Just two weeks ago, Scott Dixon needed an enormous amount of help to take control of the overall IndyCar race. Helio Castroneves gave it to him with a broken gearbox during a wild doubleheader in Houston, allowing Dixon to head for California with his third series title in sight.

"It's been such an up-and-down season for us that it's kind of hard to believe we're here," said Dixon, the series champion in 2003 and 2008. "We started so poorly, but we managed to find some redemption at mid-season and got back in the hunt. And then Houston happened, and now we're here. It's been a wild ride."

Abusive price hikes of hotel rates and plane tickets during next year's World Cup will be monitored by a committee created by the Brazilian government on Thursday.

The group composed of members of different ministries was formed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

When it was all over, when the San Antonio Spurs had let their fifth championship slip through their fingers and succumbed to the Miami Heat in a classic seven-game NBA Finals, Manu Ginobili just needed to get away. And he wasn't sure he was coming back.

He was a pending free agent, coming off one of his most challenging seasons yet and staring his 36th birthday right in the face.

Valencia announced it has agreed to loan France defender Adil Rami to AC Milan during the January transfer window.

Valencia said the loan deal will be for the rest of this season and will include an option for Milan to buy the player.

Belgium, Colombia and Switzerland will be seeded in their World Cup groups after FIFA confirmed new world rankings on Thursday.

FIFA agreed this month that the seven best-ranked nations would be seeded alongside host nation Brazil, which is ranked No. 11.

The Egyptian Football Association says its board will meet on Monday to "discuss" the 6-1 loss to Ghana in the first leg of their World Cup playoff, a surprisingly one-sided defeat which has put American coach Bob Bradley's future in doubt.

The EFA is unlikely to make a formal decision over Bradley's immediate role for the second leg on November 19 until that meeting despite reports saying he has been asked to step aside for the game.