Louis van Gaal admits Manchester United must bounce back immediately from defeat at Bournemouth if they are to retain any hope of challenging for the Premier League title.

The 2-1 loss on Saturday left Van Gaal’s side in fourth place and without a win in their last five matches, including the defeat in Wolfsburg that ended their interest in the Champions League.

Manuel Pellegrini believes Manchester City showed the spirit they will need to maintain their Premier League title challenge after securing a late 2-1 win over Swansea.

Pellegrini's side looked set to drop two points at home to their managerless opponents on Saturday when substitute Bafetimbi Gomis drove in a 90th-minute equalizer for his first goal since August.

Argentinian Mauro Icardi signaled his return to action with a first brace of the season as Inter Milan beat Udinese 4-0 to go four points clear of Fiorentina ahead of key title clashes on Sunday.

Udinese's last defeat at their refurbished Friuli stadium came nearly three months ago, in a 3-2 reverse to Inter's city rivals AC Milan.

Out of favor Italy striker Mario Balotelli left fans and critics guessing about his possible return to the Azzurri squad by leaving a cryptic message on social media on Saturday.

"Can't wait," Balotelli wrote on his Instagram account alongside a picture listing Italy with Group B opponents Belgium, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland for next summer's 2016 European Championships.

Former France international Franck Ribery will miss Bayern Munich's final three matches of 2015 after suffering a thigh injury, his team said on Friday.

Ribery only made his return from a nine-month injury lay-off a week ago, making a late scoring cameo off the bench in a 3-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on Friday maintained a 90-day suspension from international football against Michel Platini, in a new blow to the Frenchman's hopes of entering the FIFA presidential race.

The CAS panel "determined that maintaining the provisional suspension for the remainder of the 90 days does not cause irreparable harm to Michel Platini at this point in time," a court statement said.

Germany coach Joachim Loew admits the world champions must improve in key areas if they are to back up their Brazil 2014 triumph with the Euro 2016 title next July in France.

"We all know that we have a few things to do," was Loew's appraisal after securing qualification for France with a 2-1 win in a poor performance at home to Georgia in October.

The sex-tape blackmail scandal in which Karim Benzema has become mired has cast a shadow over France's preparations for the European Championship that they will host next summer.

The announcement by French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet on Thursday that Real Madrid striker Benzema was suspended indefinitely from the France set-up has left national coach Didier Deschamps to focus on other options in attack in the build-up to the opening game on June 10.

Kevin Durant posted a triple double as the Oklahoma City Thunder won their eighth game in the last 10 with a 107-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks Thursday.

Forward Durant shot eight-of-14 from the field en route to 25 points, and added 10 assists and 12 rebounds in front of a crowd of 18,200 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Well-traveled coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has become an unlikely figurehead for China's soaring football ambitions as he takes Guangzhou Evergrande into the Club World Cup this week.

Just a year after leading Brazil's ill-fated World Cup campaign on home soil, the mustachioed "Big Phil" is thriving with the megabucks club after helping them secure their second Asian title in three years.