Real hit four thanks to Ronaldo and Di Maria doubles

MADRID (Reuters) - Cristiano Ronaldo took his Champions Leaguetally to five goals in two outings this season when he scored with two headers to help Real Madrid to a thumping 4-0 victory over FC Copenhagen in Group B on Wednesday.

Angel Di Maria also struck twice at the Bernabeu and set up Ronaldo's second goal as Real put a couple of poor performances in La Liga behind them with another emphatic display in Europe following their 6-1 drubbing of Galatasaray last month.

The home team's firepower proved too strong for a stubborn Copenhagen side who despite struggling domestically put up some stiff resistance in their first meeting with the nine-times European champions.

Portugal forward Ronaldo followed up his hat-trick in Istanbul with another sparkling display and Argentina winger Di Maria also turned in a fine performance in the absence of injured world record signing Gareth Bale.

"It was a good match," said coach Carlo Ancelotti who came under fire after Real were beaten 1-0 at home by Atletico Madrid at the weekend.

"There was some good intensity and balance at the beginning," the Italian told reporters. "We were trying to score until the final minutes and the attitude of the team was good."

Ancelotti made a few tweaks to his formation for the visit of the Danish side who held Juventus to a 1-1 draw in Copenhagen in their opening game.

Luka Modric, Sami Khedira and Asier Illarramendi were deployed in a three-man midfield, with Karim Benzema up front alongside Ronaldo and Di Maria and fullbacks Marcelo and Dani Carvajal providing width.

With their fans providing impressive encouragement high up in Real's giant arena, Copenhagen made a bright start but the hosts quickly asserted themselves and Benzema headed narrowly wide from Marcelo's left-wing cross in the sixth minute.

Just as the home supporters were starting to grow restless, Ronaldo opening the scoring in the 21st minute when goalkeeper Johan Wiland failed to deal with Marcelo's floated cross and he nodded in from a tight angle.

HEAD WOUND

Real centre back Pepe then needed treatment to a head wound after clashing with Daniel Braaten before Copenhagen went close to an equaliser from a corner five minutes before the break.

Nicolai Jorgensen beat keeper Iker Casillas to the ball and his header bounced down off the crossbar before appearing to strike Modric's hand on the line.

The Croatia midfielder was able to clear the danger but there were whistles of discontent from the home fans as the players trooped off at halftime.

Ronaldo, however, settled the nerves in the stands with his second 20 minutes into the second half, his 55th goal on his 94th appearance in Europe's elite club competition and his 26th in his last 21 Champions League outings.

The 2008 World Player of the Year burst into the penalty area and powered Di Maria's clever chipped cross past Wiland.

Di Maria netted a fine curling effort six minutes later after cutting in from the right and another in the first minute of stoppage time as Real secured a maximum six points from their first two matches.

Copenhagen have one point along with Galatasaray who drew 2-2 at Juventus (two points) on Wednesday.

RED CARD

"I am very pleased, we played a great match," said Di Maria. "We changed the system a bit with three players up front.

"We have to keep this up now, we know that all the matches will be tough."

Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken, whose side have made their worst ever domestic league start this season, said he was pleased with his team's performance until the second goal.

He also suggested the referee should have awarded a spot kick and sent Modric off for the incident on the line late in the first half.

"It could have been a penalty and a red card," said Solbakken. "I can understand the referee didn't give it because it happened very fast.

"I don't blame the referee at all but it could have been a big turning point in the game."

He was full of praise for Ronaldo who was top scorer in the competition with 12 goals last season when Real were knocked out in the semi-finals by eventual runners-up Borussia Dortmund.

"His first one should have been avoided, the second I have seen him do it too many times to blame any of our players," said Solbakken.

"He can do that against anyone in the world and he is their match winner. He was obviously the man of the match with two decisive goals."

Messi evidence ‘clear and transparent’

Lionel Messi's lawyer insists that the Barcelona star has provided 'clear' evidence of his innocence, amid accusations of tax evasion.

The Argentina international began court hearings on Friday to answer allegations over unpaid tax on money from his image rights.

Messi has allegedly used countries outside of Spain - Belize and Uruguay - to sell his image rights, circumventing Spanish tax laws.

His father, Jorge, who made a payment of €5 million (£4.2m) to the tax authorities in August, has also been implicated in the case and he, too, appeared in a separate hearing to his son.

Both men have strenuously denied the charges that date back to 2007 and 2009, which were originally levied against the pair by the Economic Crimes Prosecutor Barcelona in June.

And the pair's legal representative, Cristobal Martell, said that Friday's proceedings are an opportunity for the Messi family to cooperate with Spanish authorities in an attempt to clear their name.

'To start a procedure like this we are following just one instruction: to cooperate with the administration to explain my client's actions and provide them with financial information,' Martell commented.

'The instruction from the Messi family has been to be transparent, clear and cooperative.

'In terms of transparency, the hearings began today and we have provided evidence to show a complete unwillingness [by my client] to commit fraud, a strong effort to be transparent for the tax office and a desire to avoid entering into any kind of bitter fight with the State about these matters.'

Celtic 0-1 Barcelona: Fabregas fires to down 10-man hosts

A second-half header from Cesc Fabregas gave Barcelona a 1-0 victory in a fiery Champions League clash against 10-man Celtic on Tuesday.

Fabregas found the net 14 minutes from time in the Group H encounter as the Liga champions took advantage after Scott Brown had been sent off in controversial circumstances just before the hour mark.

Celtic - who overcame Barcelona 2-1 in last season's competition - created the better chances for much of the encounter, but they were left to rue Brown's dismissal, which came following a clash with Neymar.

They were ultimately made to pay as former Arsenal man Fabregas struck to end their hopes of a repeat of last year's heroics.

Celtic made just one change to the side that beat Kilmarnock 5-2 at the weekend, midfielder Mikael Lustig coming in for Teemu Pukki.

The visitors, meanwhile, had to cope without talisman Lionel Messi, who missed out due to a hamstring injury, with Neymar replacing him at the head of the attack. Xavi came back into the side in place of Alexis Sanchez.

Barcelona dictated possession in the early stages, but it was Celtic who created the game's first chance, Georgios Samaras forcing a near-post save from Victor Valdes after being played through by Anthony Stokes.

Despite their dominance, it took Barca 16 minutes to craft their first opportunity as Neymar fired wide from range.

Andres Iniesta and Adriano then both saw chances go begging, although Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster still had little to do in the first half as Gerardo Martino's men laboured to try and find a way through.

However, the Catalan club went close to taking the lead five minutes before the break when Neymar turned Dani Alves’ right-wing cross narrowly wide of the post.

The hosts made the better start to the second half as they pushed to try and take an unlikely lead, but their hopes were dealt a huge blow when midfielder Brown was sent off in the 59th minute for appearing to kick Neymar in the back after the 28-year-old had brought down the Brazilian following his surging run into the Celtic half.

Barcelona unsurprisingly seized control once again from there as they looked to make their numerical advantage count.

Still, Celtic defended resolutely, with Barca reduced to speculative efforts from Marc Bartra and Fabregas.

Neil Lennon's men did look dangerous on the break despite Brown's dismissal and James Forrest forced a fine diving save from Valdes after 73 minutes before Charlie Mulgrew headed wide from the resulting corner.

But the hosts’ strong resistance was finally broken by a superb Barcelona counter-attack a few moments later as Fabregas met substitute Alexis' pin-point cross with an excellent header that looped beyond Forster and into the net.

Forster produced a fine double save to deny Neymar and Alexis in quick succession, before again preventing Neymar from adding a second, as one proved to be enough for Martino's men.

Injury-affected Nalbandian announces retirement

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina's former tennis world number three David Nalbandian announced on Tuesday he was retiring because of a persistent problem with his right shoulder.

The 31-year-old -- whose most prestigious victory was in coming from two sets down to beat Roger Federer in the 2005 Masters final -- will play a final exhibition match against Rafael Nadal on November 23 in Buenos Aires. "It is a difficult day for me," said Nalbandian, who has slipped to 231st in the world rankings after another injury-affected season. "It is a sad day but my (right) shoulder simply can't cope any more at the highest level."

Nalbandian, who was world number three in 2006, won 11 ATP titles and reached the 2002 Wimbledon final when an unknown 20-year-old, but lost to Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Nalbandian, Argentina-born but of Armenian-Italian ancestry, also inspired Argentina to three Davis Cup finals, although they lost all three.

Nalbandian, who in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe a few years ago said he would also like to compete in the Rally World Championship, started the year well enough reaching the final in Sao Paulo where he lost to Nadal but then his shoulder problem intervened and an operation did not improve the situation. 

Ajmal sees nothing special in coaching of Whatmore

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan off spinner Saeed Ajmal says the only differences between national coach Dav Whatmore and his two Pakistani predecessors are the salary package and the language barrier.

Ajmal told the TV sports channel Geo Super late Tuesday that former Pakistan internationals Waqar Younis and Mohsin Khan had handled the players very well during their coaching stints, while Whatmore _ an ex-Australia test batsman who has previously coached the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh national teams _ ``doesn't have know how of our language.'' ``It's just the difference of money which we are giving to (foreign coaches), otherwise there's no difference,'' he said, defending the credentials of homegrown coaches.

Ajmal's comments come less than two weeks before Pakistan's test series against South Africa starts in the United Arab Emirates.

Whatmore was appointed coach in March last year by the Pakistan Cricket Board despite the fact that Khan had guided the team to victory against the then No. 1-ranked England in the test series in the UAE.

Ajmal said Mohsin ``did very well'' and knew exactly how to encourage his batsmen and bowlers. And he credited Younis with improving the fitness of the team, which also produced on-field results.

Ajmal made his test debut in July 2009 against Sri Lanka _ four months after gunmen attacked a Sri Lanka team bus en route to a test match in Lahore, an episode which resulted in the suspension of international cricket in Pakistan.

Since then he has been an integral part of Pakistan team and taken 147 wickets in 28 test matches, all played away from home.

He was instrumental in Pakistan's success against England last year with 24 wickets in three tests and is expected to be a key player in the forthcoming series against South Africa, again in the UAE.

Whatmore isn't the first foreigner to coach Pakistan _ his predecessors in the job include Bob Woolmer and Geoff Lawson. But Ajmal thinks the senior players should be consulted before coaches are hired, whether they be foreign or local. ``Players' understanding with the coach is very important,'' he said. ``Players should be asked which coach you like so that he (the coach) is beneficial to the players, to the team and to the country.''

Australian Open boosts prize money to record level

Australian Open organizers on Wednesday boosted prize money for the 2014 Grand Slam to Aus$33 million (US$31 million) and said they expected all of the world's top 100 men and women to play.

The cash pool will be hiked by Aus$3million, after a Aus$4 million jump in 2013 to record levels, when organizers reacted to threats of a boycott from players pressing for a greater share of revenue. "We said it last year and we still believe it -- these incredible athletes deserve every cent and we will continue to do everything in our power to make the life of an international professional tennis player more worthwhile," said Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley.

The January tournament, the opening Grand Slam of the season, is expected to attract all the world's top players, led by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Tiley said he was particularly looking forward to the return of Nadal, who missed last year's event through injury but who has bounced back this year with nine titles so far, including the French Open and US Open. "Rafa has had an incredibly successful year and has to be a major contender to win the Australian Open for the second time," he said, adding that US great Pete Sampras will attend as a guest to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first of his two Australian Open titles.

Melbourne Park's third main showcase court, Margaret Court Arena, will be in use, but a retractable roof being built over it remains under construction and it will stay open throughout the tournament. The event already has retractable roofs on the Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena. In August the US Open prize pot jumped to a record $34.3 million, compared with $25.5 million in 2012. 

PCB announces 2013-14 domestic cricket season calendar

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Tuesday announced the 2013-14 domestic season calendar starting at various parts of the country from October 23. The new cricket season will start with country's premier first class cricket event-the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with 14 regional teams in the fray.

Teams will be divided into two groups with overall 61 matches will be played in the event that conclude on January 28, 2014.

One-day tournament between 14 regional teams will be played from October 28 to January 1, 2013 with 45 matches will be played in the competition. Country's toughest first class event, the President's Trophy will be played from October 23 to February 11. Eleven departments will be battling for honors in 56 matches played on single league basis.

President's Cup One-day tournament will be played from October 28 to February 4 played on single league basis.

3-day Inter Region Under-19 tournament will be played from October 26 to December 9. Twenty three teams divided into four groups will play in 58 matches.

One-day Inter Region Under-19 tournament will be played from October 30 to December 13 with 23 teams divided into 4 groups will be seen in action in 58 matches.

Country's most popular domestic Twenty20 tournament played between 17 regional teams of the country will be played from November 20-29. Teams divided into four groups will play 35 matches of the tournament.

Twenty20 tournament for departments will be played from February 18 to 24 with 11 teams divided into two groups will participate in 28 matches.

The last tournament of the season Patron's Trophy Grade-II will be played from March first to 31. Twenty four teams divided into four groups will feature in 63 matches.

Following is calendar of events 2013-14:

Oct.23, Jan.28, 2014: Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

Oct.28 to Jan 1, 2014: One-day Cup for Regions

Oct.23, Feb. 11: President's Trophy

Oct.28, Feb.4, 2014 : President's One-day Cup

Oct. 26, Dec 9, One-day Regional Under-19

Nov. 20-29: Twenty20 tournament for Regions

Feb.18-24, 20143: Twenty20 for departments

Mar 1-31, 2014: Patrons Trophy Grade-II