McLaren chief executive Ron Dennis has insisted that Fernando Alonso should be ready to race at the opening Grand Prix of the season in Australia despite spending three nights in hospital following a crash in testing last week.

The 33-year-old Spaniard was airlifted to hospital after crashing into a wall at the Circuit de Cataluyna in Barcelona on Sunday, where he stayed until being released on Wednesday afternoon.

Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion stadium was evacuated on Thursday after an unexploded WWII bomb was found during renovation work, the club announced.

The 250kg bomb (551 lbs) was found during morning work on the stadium's VIP area and the surrounding area was quickly evacuated with a scheduled press conference moved to the club's training ground.

Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has extended his contract with the Catalan giants until 2019, the club confirmed on Thursday.

"FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Sergio Busquets for the renewal of his contract until June 30, 2019 with the option for another year," said a statement on the club's website.

After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang compared winning the Ruhr Valley derby to "an orgasm" now his Borussia Dortmund team-mate Marco Reus says losing at home to Schalke on Saturday is "forbidden".

With just 35 kilometers separating Dortmund from Gelsenkirchen-based Schalke, their Ruhr Valley rivalry is Germany's top derby and is perfectly poised with 30 wins each and 25 draws in their 85 previous meetings.

The Atlanta Hawks seized control with a 13-0 run during the third quarter and went on to win 104-87 on Wednesday against a Dallas Mavericks team which struggled in the absence of suspended point guard Rajon Rondo.

The Hawks stretched their lead in the NBA Eastern Conference to eight games while the Mavericks missed a chance to make up ground in the more hard-fought Western Conference playoff race.

Shapoor Zadran hit the winning runs to give Afghanistan its first victory at its inaugural Cricket World Cup and followed it up by running around with his arms outstretched in wild celebration.

Then, as if the reality of the feat sank in for him and some of his teammates, many who learned cricket while growing up in refugee camps in Pakistan due to years of war in their homeland, he fell to the ground, overcome with emotion.

The news that Derrick Rose will have knee surgery again hit the Chicago Bulls and their fans hard and left them in a familiar spot — trying to get by without their star point guard.

The injury to his right knee was announced Tuesday night, another tough twist for a club, a star, his sponsors and a fan base that thought the Bulls were entering another golden era just a few years ago, with the Chicago product leading the renaissance.

Inside Arsenal's match-day program was a cardboard cut-out of Arsene Wenger; a memento for visiting Monaco fans of their former manager. But not many Arsenal fans will want that model perching on their desks after a timid 3-1 loss in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Booing at the final whistle was a demonstration of the impatience toward Wenger, whose only titles in the past decade are two FA Cups.

Hakan Calhanoglu's second-half strike gave Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 home win over 10-man Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday, leaving it all to play for in the second leg.

"You could see from the first minute that we wanted to make an impression in the Champions League, to put ourselves in a good position to get through and I think we did that," Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt said. "We deserved to win."

Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso has left hospital following a crash during testing in Barcelona last weekend, his McLaren team announced on Wednesday.

"We are pleased to confirm that Fernando Alonso has now left hospital. He has returned to his family's home in Spain for further rest and recuperation," McLaren said in a statement.