Football: Real on top as Barca falter

Real Madrid returned to the top of the table in Spain after edging past Racing Santander 1-0 on Saturday, while previous leaders Barcelona could only draw 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out of Manchester United’s Champions League trip to Wolfsburg on Tuesday, leaving manager Alex Ferguson with a threadbare defence as his team attempt to secure top spot in Group B.

Luke Donald holds a one-stroke lead over fellow Englishman Simon Dyson and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy going into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Monday.

David Beckham’s prospects of crowning his football career with one final World Cup appearance this year appear to be in tatters as he suffers a suspected Achilles tendon injury playing for AC Milan.

Nelson Piquet Jr admitted he will have to wait until the dust has settled on the “crashgate” scandal before he can attempt a return to Formula One.

World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his IBF, WBO and IBO titles against mandatory challenger Eddie Chambers in Duesseldorf on March 20.

Venus Williams is looking forward to a continuing her winning run after retaining her Abierto Mexicano Telcel title in Acapulco on Sunday.

Pakistan stumbled to a five-wicket win over West Indies in their Champions Trophy opener at the Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Tiger Woods apologized on Wednesday for “transgressions” that “let his family down” in another twist in the saga which began with him crashing his car into a fire hydrant last week.

Nathan Hauritz starred with bat and ball as Australia took complete control of the first Test against Pakistan in Melbourne on Sunday.

The top two seeds, holder Dinara Safina (above) and Venus Williams, are both sent crashing in the second round of the Pan Pacific tournament in Tokyo on Monday.