Cagliari on Sunday sacked Davide Ballardini less than four months after hiring him, taking the number of coaches fired this season in the 20-team Serie A to 15.

The final nail in his coffin was Friday night's 6-3 thumping at Napoli that left the Sardinians one place above the relegation zone.

Wayne Rooney fired Manchester United to the top of the Premier League as the champions defeated 10-man West Bromwich Albion 2-0 to take full advantage of Manchester City's 1-0 loss at Swansea on Sunday.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side secured their fourth successive league win thanks to a brace from England striker Rooney and that allowed the champions to move one point clear of bitter rivals City, who surrendered top spot when Luke Moore scored Swansea's winner with just seven minutes left at the Liberty Stadium.

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 105-102 victory over Minnesota on Friday, a defeat made more painful for the Timberwolves by a late injury to Ricky Rubio.

Bryant surpassed a remarkable 29,000 career points with 12 in the first half, but the milestone was less important than the win after two disappointing defeats to lowly opponents in Detroit and Washington.

Michael Phelps posted the second-fastest 200m freestyle time in the world this year Friday, signaling that his preparations for the London Olympics are on track.

"It's crazy what training actually does," Phelps said with a laugh after he cruised to victory at USA Swimming's Columbus Grand Prix in 1min 45.69sec.

World number one Victoria Azarenka survived an opening-match scare to beat Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in a three-hour marathon at the Indian Wells tournament Friday.

The 22-year-old Azarenka appeared headed for disaster, trailing 4-1 in the third set but the unseeded German Barthel could not close the deal.

No new Formula One season would be the same without a raft of complex rule changes prompting teams to try and find any potential loophole in a bid to gain that vital extra miilisecond over their competitors.

For the 2012 campaign, which gets underway in Melbourne on March 18, the most obvious difference to last season is the car's nose - described unflatteringly as resembling that of a platypus.

The Orlando Magic let a nine-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate but toughened up in the waning minutes to claim a 99-94 NBA victory over Chicago that snapped the Bulls' eight-game winning streak.

Dwight Howard finished with 29 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks -- all game-highs.

Hailed as the greatest club side of all time after their European master class, Barcelona face humble Racing Santander Sunday, trying to hunt down Real Madrid, the best team in Spain.

Lionel Messi's record-breaking five goals in the 7-1 Champions League rout of Bayer Leverkusen eased Barcelona into the quarterfinals, but it's Real Madrid who rule the roost on the home front, boasting a 10-point lead going into the weekend.

FIFA will interview the match referee and players during a probe of Bahrain's "unusual" 10-0 win over Indonesia in a World Cup qualifier.

FIFA says it is "proceeding with this investigation as a priority" from security division offices in Jordan and Malaysia.

Six world champions on the grid for the opening Grand Prix of the season represents an unprecedented array of talent for Formula One, yet few would count on anything other than another Sebastian Vettel title this season.

Kimi Raikkonen's return from a year away in rally racing has added one more former champion to F1 ranks this season, joining Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button.