If the NBA and its players ratify a new contract in time play on Christmas Day, a shortened season would run through April 26 and require each team to play at least one stretch of games on three consecutive nights.

The NBA posted an outline of a possible schedule "assuming the season tips off on Christmas" on its website on Sunday.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini accused Liverpool's players of getting Mario Balotelli sent off as the Premier League leaders were held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield.

Substitute Balotelli was given his marching orders in the 83rd minute following a second yellow card for elbowing Liverpool's Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel -- 18 minutes after the Italian had come on.

Australia's football chief isn't convinced the 2022 World Cup will go ahead as planned in Qatar.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy on Monday said the "last word hasn't been heard yet" on the FIFA vote which awarded the event to Qatar in preference to bids from countries including the United States and Australia.

Roger Federer believes his record sixth title at the ATP World Tour Finals will be the ideal springboard to end his Grand Slam drought in 2012.

Federer has finished the season without a Grand Slam for the first time since 2002, but the Swiss star will go into the new campaign on the back of a 17-match winning run that brought him trophies in Basel, Paris and at the prestigious end-of-year event at London's O2 Arena.

Bayern Munich's director of sport Christian Nerlinger has demanded the Bavarian giants go back to basics after their shock 3-2 defeat at Mainz left them third in the German league.

Bayern's loss on Sunday saw them slip to third, with champions Dortmund seizing top spot in the wake of their win over Schalke in the Ruhr derby on Saturday.

Forget the titles, push aside the record books, most local fans packing into Interlagos here Sunday may even cast off their dream that Felipe Massa, driving a Ferrari, will win their home Brazilian Grand Prix.

Instead, they will be there to cheer another different kind of hero - the old sort, another Paulista, but one who has been there, seen it all, collected the t-shirts and suffered all the slings and arrows in Formula One's longest career.

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has insisted Bayern Munich are still the favorites to win this season's German league title despite his defending champions going top for the first time this season.

Bayern are at Bundesliga strugglers Mainz on Sunday, but Dortmund went top after Saturday's convincing 2-0 win over neighbors Schalke, their first home win over their rivals for more than four years.

Barcelona crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat at Getafe on Saturday and now trail Real Madrid, who came from a goal down to beat nine-man derby rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1, by six points.

It was the first defeat of the season for the reigning Spanish and European champions as Getafe frustrated their illustrious visitors, grabbing the three points thanks to a second half header from Juan Valera.

A tentative agreement to end the NBA's crippling lockout and save the season will have owners and players scrambling to get the details in place in time for a star-studded Christmas tip-off.

"There is a lot of work to be done in a lot of places, with a lot of committees and player groups and the like, but we are optimistic that it will hold and we will have ourselves an NBA season," NBA commissioner David Stern said as he and players' association executive director Billy Hunter sat wearily side by side around 3:00 am on Saturday to announce the handshake agreement.

Arsene Wenger is expected to make changes to his starting line-up for the League Cup this week after admitting tiredness played a part in dropping points against Fulham.

Thomas Vermaelen earned a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium with his late header, after scoring an own goal to open the scoring in the Premier League clash.