Germany rounded off an impressive World Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win over a stubborn Uruguay on Saturday in a playoff for third place.

The Dutch did not serve up a footballing master class on Tuesday but the tide of orange attackers still proved too much for Uruguay in the World Cup semi-final in Cape Town.

Follow the first semi-final of the 2010 World Cup between Netherlands and Uruguay, on Tuesday.

Lionel Messi netted a brilliant first-half hat-trick and added a late fourth to fire holders Barcelona past Arsenal into the last four of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Coach Jose Mourinho believes playing on an artificial pitch will be like child's play for his Inter Milan team as they look to knock out CSKA Moscow in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.

World and Olympic champions Germany produced an outstanding first half performance to shock defending champions and unbeaten Australia 3-1 in the fourth round of matches in the Champions Trophy men's hockey tournament in Melbourne on Thursday. In other matches of the day's programme, Korea and Spain played out a thrilling 5-5 draw, while The Netherlands defeated England 3-2.

Troubled Liverpool conceded a last-gasp goal in a 1-1 draw at Olympique Lyon on Wednesday, leaving them in danger of an early UEFA Champions League exit, while Inter Milan were on the right end of some late drama. European champions Barcelona, beaten 2-1 at home by Rubin Kazan two weeks ago, were held to a goalless draw away to the Russians in freezing conditions.

Samuel Eto'o scored a spectacular goal to set Inter Milan on their way to a 2-0 win over Parma on Sunday while AS Roma came from behind to beat Siena 2-1 in Claudio Ranieri's first match in charge.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been killed in a helicopter crash in the dense Nallamalla forest.The wreckage has been located between Rollapenta and Rudra Koderu in Kurnool district.The helicopter had apparently met with an accident and crashed, according to Rudra Koderu Police Inspector Janardhan Rao.

Atletico Madrid grabbed the unlikeliest of points when they came back with ten men to draw 4-4 at Villarreal in the Primera Liga on Sunday. Barcelona tore apart Almeria 5-0 with another irresistible first-half display at the Nou Camp to go top of the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber stunned third seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-0 at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel.

Vicente Rodriguez scored in the 81st-minute to give Valencia a 3-2 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup.

Russia grabbed an unexpected place in the Euro 2008 semi-finals with a thoroughly deserved 3-1 extra-time win over Netherlands on Saturday. Goals from substitute Dmitry Torbinsky and playmaker Andrei Arshavin finished off a subdued Netherlands team in the extra period after the teams finished level at 1-1 on 90 minutes.

Netherlands qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 with a 4-1 win over France which left the hopes of the World Cup runners-up hanging by a thread on Friday.

Real Madrid took full advantage of slip-ups from the chasing pack by beating Villarreal 3-2 to move nine points clear in the Spanish Primera Liga.

World number one Roger Federer suffered a stunning 7-5, 6-2 upset defeat by Argentine Guillermo Canas in the Pacific Life Open second round on Sunday.

The Indo-Croatian pair lost to John Stephens and Wesley Moodie in the quarter-finals of the St Petersburg Open.

The Indian ace and his Croatian partner rallied from a set down to stun third seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson and enter the second round.

Dirk Kuyt, Mark van Bommel, Van Persie and Cocu all had gilt-edged opportunities to keep the Dutch run going but spurned them.

e 23-man lists of the 32 teams for the 2006 football World Cup after the May 15 deadline to confirm squads ended on Monday.

The top seed toiled for more than two hours to overcome Todd Martin 7-6, 1-6, 7-5 in the first round of the Kroger St Jude tournament.

Wesley Clark will seek a democratic ticket to challenge President George Bush.

The defeat is a severe jolt to Mahindra's hopes of making it to the semis in the under-19 NFL.