Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has laughed off the latest barb from Ramon Calderon. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Sir Alex Ferguson has weighed in once more in the war of words between Manchester United and Real Madrid over Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón yesterday branded Ferguson as “a bit senile” after the United manager [...]

Barry Ferguson could return this weekend to revitalise Rangers. Photograph: Chris Clark/PA
As Celtic’s worries edge towards injury crisis stage, Rangers fans are preparing for the latest welcome to their prodigal son.
Shunsuke Nakamura, Glenn Loovens, Georgios Samaras, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Stephen McManus are among Gordon Strachan’s walking wounded. McManus should recover for Sunday’s trip [...]

A David Bellion-inspired Bordeaux may pose a genuine threat to Lyon this season. Photograph: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images
The last time Bordeaux were top of Ligue 1, it was August 2002: at the time, Darius was No1 in the charts, Liverpool had spent £5m on Salif Diao, and David Bellion was a teenager at Sunderland spoken [...]

Justin Rose lies 81st on the Order of Merit. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters
Justin Rose’s hopes of making a better job of his Volvo Masters defence than his Order of Merit defence lay in tatters today after an opening nine-over-par 80 at Valderrama.
Playing on his own at the start of the 57-strong field - he qualified not [...]

The moment Mansell’s tyre blew and a nation’s hopes were dashed. Photograph: AP
The latest in our series of classic reports comes from this week in October 1986, when Nigel Mansell went into the Australian grand prix as favourite for the formula one drivers’ crown. It was the season finale and Birmingham’s finest racing driver only [...]

Gautam Gambhir helped put India in a commanding position after a slightly shaky start. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
Opener Gautam Gambhir completed an impressive century as India gained the upper hand on the first day of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in New Delhi. At stumps, the home team had reached 296 for three, [...]

England players could be celebrating in Thailand next year. Photograph: Mike Egerton/Empics/PA
England will play a one-off friendly in Thailand next year, according to the country’s football association. The English FA has yet to confirm that the game will take place.
Worawi Makudi claims that the FA board director Dave Richards said he was interested in a [...]

Newly appointed Steaua Bucharest coach, Dorinel Munteanu, left, will have to get used to the close attentions of club owner Gigi Becali Photograph: Mihai Stetcu/AP
One of football’s greatest fallacies is that continuity is in itself a good thing. When Sam Allardyce left Newcastle after 24 matches, a host of pundits repeated the observation that Sir [...]

Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan celebrates with team-mates during the remarkable 4-4 draw with Villarreal. Photograph: Diego Tuson/AFP/Getty Images
Twenty-seven games later Manolo Jiménez’s testicular fortitude finally failed him, just as Sevilla president José María Del Nido was preparing to climb to the summit and mwah-ha-ha up his expensively tailored sleeve at the Judas who jilted him [...]

Wayne Rooney kisses the badge of his Manchester United shirt, to the irritation of Everton fans at Goodison Park. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
The Football Association will take no action against Wayne Rooney for his badge-kissing antics at Goodison Park on Saturday. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he substituted Rooney for his own good at the weekend after [...]