Roberto Di Matteo is increasingly confident Didier Drogba will win his fitness battle and face Barcelona next week.

The Chelsea striker has a knee problem and was left out of the squad that held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed his 54th goal of the season as Real Madrid moved closer to a 32nd La Liga title with a 2-1 win at Barcelona for whom Lionel Messi was reduced to a bit-part role.

"It was an important goal but the win for the team is more important, we have four matches left and with the seven-point gap (over Barcelona) we are in a comfortable position," said Ronaldo.

Borussia Dortmund were crowned German league champions for the second consecutive season on Saturday having proved their worth by beating main title rivals Bayern Munich home and away.

Dortmund's win at home to Moenchengladbach left the defending champions eight points clear with two games remaining and they will be presented with the Bundesliga shield in their final game at home to Freiburg on May 5.

Serena Williams put the United States into a commanding 2-0 lead in the Fed Cup World Group play-off tie with Ukraine at Kharkiv on Saturday by beating Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-1.

The 30-year-old Williams was never troubled by her teenage opponent who she was playing for the first time.

Chelsea missed the opportunity to break into the top four of the Premier League on Saturday after grinding out a 0-0 draw with third-placed Arsenal at the Emirates.

With Chelsea facing a daunting Champions League trip to Barcelona next week, manager Roberto Di Matteo rang the changes by naming only three members of the side that had beaten the Spaniards 1-0 in Wednesday's first leg.

A 30-year-old Nepali mountaineer died on Saturday attempting to scale Mount Everest, a government official said, in the second death this season on the world's highest peak.

Namgya Tshering Sherpa fell into a deep crevasse while climbing towards Base Camp Two, more than two-thirds of the way up the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain, said Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha of the Nepal Tourism Board.

Chinese prodigy Guan Tianlang, 13, missed out on becoming the youngest player to make the cut in a European Tour event when he finished 12 over par after 36 holes at the Volvo China Open on Friday.

The Guangzhou schoolboy followed up his first round five-over-par 77 with a 79 at par-72 Tianjin Binhai Lake Golf Club. Guan was tied 150th out of 155 players in the $3 million event co-sanctioned by OneAsia.

Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken to Ashley Young about his alleged diving in the wake of the controversy that has surrounded the Manchester United winger this week.

Young won a controversial penalty against Aston Villa's Ciaran Clark last week, the opening goal in a 4-0 victory that kept United in first place in the Premier League and on course for a 20th league title.

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton topped the times for McLaren in Friday morning's opening free practice session for this weekend's controversial Bahrain Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Englishman clocked a best time of 1min 33.572secs to dominate the session ahead of his nearest rival, defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.

Violence marred Bahrain's controversial Grand Prix race as a firebomb exploded near Force India team members and protesters clashed with police in the lead-up to the Formula One practice runs set to begin on Friday.

The incident prompted F1 officials to reassure participants that despite the violence, Bahrain was safe.