A delegation from Ahly arrived in Tunisia on Thursday, two days before the must-win African Champions League quarterfinals second-leg game against Esperance. Under the helm of coach Hossam El-Badry, the Egyptian giants Ahly, who saw a frustrating 2-2 home draw last Sunday, will hold their first training session on the opponent s soil Thursday evening.

Ahly s technical staff is confident of achieving a positive result against Tunisia s Esperance to ensure a place at the African Champions League semis according to assistant coach Ahmed Ayoub. "We didn t speak about the first leg as we our totally focused on the preparation for the next game," Ayoub told an Egyptian radio station on Tuesday.

Real Madrid says it has extended the contract of Karim Benzema until the end of the 2021 season. The French striker s current contract was valid until the end of the 2019 campaign. Spanish media says Benzema s buyout clause will remain at 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), similar to Cristiano Ronaldo s clause.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants the next edition of the Women s World Cup to draw a billion TV viewers across the world. Infantino, who attended the official launch of the tournament that will be organized in France in 2019, said on Tuesday that the previous edition in Canada in 2015 was watched by 750 million viewers.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said on Tuesday that he has renewed his contract with the Spanish champions, although the deal has not yet been announced officially. Madrid have renewed various players contracts in recent weeks and the Frenchman told a news conference that he too has extended his deal, which was set to expire at the end of this season.

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo will return to action against Real Betis on Wednesday after serving a five-match suspension, as the champions look to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Barcelona. Ronaldo was sent off during the Spanish Super Cup win over Barcelona on Aug. 13 and banned for five matches after pushing the referee, meaning he is yet to feature in the league this season.

Former England captain Wayne Rooney was Monday banned from driving for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to drink driving. The Everton forward was stopped by police when driving a woman s black Volkswagen Beetle at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) on September 1, while his pregnant wife and their three sons were on holiday.

Ahly coach Hossam El-Badry has stated that his side was better than their Tunisian rivals Esperance, regardless of the result, in the first leg of the African Champions League quarterfinals held on home soil Sunday. "Ahly wasted many scoring chances and were able to dominate the field, and but final result doesn t really represents that performance," the 59-year-old tactician stated on the club s official website.

Antonio Valencia s early thunderbolt put Manchester United en route to a 4-0 Premier League victory over Everton on Sunday, but they needed a flurry of late goals to finally subdue their unfortunate visitors. Valencia belted home Nemanja Matic s crossfield pass after four minutes but Everton responded well with United s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney, returning to Old Trafford for the first time since leaving earlier this year, wasting two good chances.

World champions Germany pushed Brazil back into second place to return to the top of the FIFA rankings, which was published on Thursday. Germany s 2-1 win away to the Czech Republic and their 6-0 drubbing of Norway in the World Cup qualifiers lifted them over the already-qualified Brazil, who dropped points in a draw away to Colombia.

Egypt s Mohamed Salah scored his fourth goal for Liverpool since joining in the summer but the English side were denied in an exciting 2-2 draw with Sevilla in their Champions League group E opener at Anfield on Wednesday. Liverpool paid a heavy price for a first-half penalty miss as Sevilla grabbed a late equaliser. The Premier League side had been cruising after overcoming the shock of Wissam Ben Yedder s fifth-minute goal to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Real Madrid vice-captain Marcelo extended his 11-year stay with the Spanish giants by signing a new contract until 2022, the club announced on Wednesday. The Brazilian, 29, has won three Champions League and four La Liga titles in over 400 appearances since joining from Fluminense in 2006.

Liverpool s Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah said on Tuesday he is excited to start the Champions League games at Anfield, asking his teammates to put their disappointing defeat by Manchester City behind them and to look forward to the future. The Reds, who slumped to an embarrassing 5-0 loss to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday, will start their Champions League group-stage campaign on Wednesday when they host Spanish side Sevilla.

Cristiano Ronaldo is eager to return to action as he prepares for his first start of the season when Real Madrid begin their Champions League defence on Wednesday against APOEL Nicosia, coach Zinedine Zidane said on Tuesday. Ronaldo, who was the top goalscorer in Europe s elite competition last season for the fifth consecutive year and scored twice in the 4-1 win over Juventus in the final, has been starved of football so far this season due to a long suspension.

Egyptian football icon Mahmoud "Bebo" El-Khatib has revealed his intention to run for the presidency of Ahly club in elections due to take place before 30 November. "I have decided, along with some of my colleagues, to run in the upcoming Ahly club board membership and presidency elections," Bebo told journalists in a statement on Tuesday.

Ahly coach Hossam El-Badry has blamed referee Ahmed Hamdy for the team s surprise 1-1 draw with Talae El-Geish in their opening Egyptian Premier League game on Sunday. "The referee s decision affected the outcome of the game," El-Badry said at the post-match press conference. "We can accept the referee s mistakes, but with this huge number of bad decisions it s difficult to accept," he said.

Antonio Conte says he is ready to rotate his squad as Chelsea return to the Campions League after a one-year abasence with a home clash against Group C outsiders Qarabag on Tuesday. The Azerbaijan side visit Stamford Bridge three days after Chelsea s hard-fought 2-1 victory at Leicester City in the Premier League and ahead of the champions home game against London rivals Arsenal this weekend. It is a dilemma Conte was spared last season when he masterminded Chelsea s Premier League title triumph in his first season coaching in England - a legacy of a 10th placed finish the year before which captain Gary Cahill calls "a freak".

Zamalek s new Montenegrin coach Nebojša Jovović told journalists on Saturday that his team will continue to apply "attacking" tactics in search of victory, following the club s 1-1 draw against El-Entag El-Harby, in Zamalek s first match of the Egyptian Premier League season. At the post-match press conference, Jovović thanked his players for the "good game", despite their failure to start the season with a win, while calling for better finishing in the attack.

The referee took over five minutes to award Inter Milan a penalty after consulting with the video assistant (VAR) in their 2-0 win over SPAL in Italy s Serie A on Sunday. Inter midfielder Joao Mario went down on the edge of the penalty area under a challenge from Francesco Vicari in the 22nd minute and referee Claudio Gavillucci quickly called for the video replay.

Egypt coach Hector Cuper says he is open to any decision by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) regarding his future with the team, insisting that “mutual trust” is essential for the Pharaohs to continue their World Cup bid successfully. "I have no problem if the association s officials are not satisfied or feeling uncomfortable with me leading the team," Cuper told ON Sport TV Channel after Tuesday s victory over Uganda.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino said Thursday he is confident new signing Serge Aurier will seize his chance after the player was dogged by disciplinary problems at Paris Saint-Germain. The talented Ivorian right-back joined Spurs for £23 million ($30 million, 25 million euros) from PSG on transfer deadline day last week. The deal was held up as Spurs request for a work permit was complicated by the suspended two-month prison sentence Aurier received after an assault on a police officer outside a Paris nightclub in May 2016.