Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United will recover from the worst result of his career after the Premier League champions were thrashed 6-1 by Manchester City at Old Trafford.

The extraordinary defeat represented City's biggest win at Old Trafford since January 1926 as Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko claimed two goals each, with further strikes from David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini tipped Mario Balotelli to join Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the world's top three players after his two-goal starring role in the 6-1 demolition of Manchester United.

Balotelli had made headline news on the morning of the game after the fire brigade were called to his Cheshire home to put out a blaze caused by fireworks being let off in his bathroom.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas is fit to return to Spanish league action on Saturday after being sidelined for three weeks by a hamstring injury, the club said.

"Cesc Fabregas is fit again. On Friday he was given the medical all-clear," the Spanish and European champions said in an online statement.

Germany's Schalke 04 said Friday they had signed up former international goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand to compensate for the injury absence of Ralf Faerhmann, sporting director Horst Held said.

"We have reached agreement and it remains only to sign the contract," said Held of the move to net Hildebrand, Bundesliga champion with Stuttgart in 2007 before heading off to Valencia in Spain.

India's Supreme Court Friday ordered the organizers of the country's first Formula One race to freeze 25 percent of revenues from ticket sales in a bank account until a tax dispute is resolved.

Justice D.K Jain and A.R Dave directed the organizers to open a separate bank account and deposit the money until a ruling has been given on the case, which comes just over a week before the event.

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has been cleared of refusing to play against Bayern Munich but faces a charge of snubbing a request to warm-up, it was reported Friday.

Sky Sports television reported that Tevez would escape a charge of declining to come off the bench in City's Champions League defeat to Bayern after the club was unable to find evidence to corroborate the claim.

NBA basketball players are keen to end a row with management that has cancelled games but will not do so "at any price", Spanish LA Lakers star Pau Gasol said in comments published Friday.

"We are losing money but we think this is a necessary evil to make the owners understand that we players are all united," the seven-foot-tall forward-center from Barcelona told Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

The head of the English Premier League has dismissed fears of a plot to scrap relegation and promotion, branding the suggestion as "nonsensical scare-mongering."

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore told Sky Sports News that there was "absolutely no appetite" amongst the top-flight clubs to transform the league into a closed shop.

Talks between NBA players and owners broke down on Thursday, raising the prospect that more games will be cancelled after the two sides failed to resolve financial differences.

Thirty hours of negotiations over the past three days, under the eye of federal mediator George Cohen, had raised some hopes that the parties had made progress toward agreement over two key issues: the division of revenues and a salary cap system.

Real Madrid will try to put newly-rich Malaga in their place on Saturday when the aristocrats of La Liga travel to the sixth-placed side who are looking to upset the existing balance of power in Spain.

Malaga spent most of last season aiming to avoid relegation but the arrival of billionaire Qatari Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani has led to an influx of new players and bigger aspirations.