Andres Iniesta signed a three-year contract extension Monday that will keep him at Barcelona at least through the end of the 2017-18 season.The contract includes a clause that from 2018 the midfielder will automatically extend his contract on a yearly basis if he plays in a non-disclosed number of games per season.The 29-year-old Iniesta has helped Barcelona win 21 trophies, including three Champions League titles and six Spanish league titles. He has scored 48 goals for Barcelona.Iniesta has al

Adebayor, Tottenham down Southampton 3-2

Pedro Rodriguez filled in for Barcelona's missing star forwards by netting a hat trick in 10 minutes before setting up Cesc Fabregas twice as the visitors erased a two-goal deficit in a wild 5-2 win at Getafe on Sunday.Barcelona's entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital.Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to s

SYDNEY (AP) ― Reigning Serie A champion Juventus will play an Australian A-League all-star team next August in Sydney. New South Wales state Premier Barry O‘Farrell said Friday the Italian team’s appearance on Aug. 10 will follow up on the successful Australian appearance by Manchester United in July. More than 83,000 fans attended a match at the former Olympic stadium in Sydney won 5-1 by the reigning Premier League champion over an A-League all-star side. One of the A-League’s marquee players

SAO PAULO (AP) ― Brazilian authorities have detained 19 people for their alleged involvement in fan violence that marked the final round of the Brazilian league this month, with some of them likely to be charged with attempted murder. Police in three states had arrest warrants for nearly 30 people in a joint operation being called “Red Card,” with detentions made throughout the day on Thursday. Authorities used television images and photographs to identify the fans, among them a former council m

South Korea’s key defensive back Kim Young-gwon will be rested for the national team’s winter training camp in Brazil and the United States ahead of the FIFA World Cup, his head coach said Thursday.Hong Myung-bo, the national team bench boss, told reporters that Kim, who plays for Guangzhou Evergrande in China, will not be traveling with the rest of the team when South Korea sets up its pre-World Cup training camp on Jan. 13.Kim, 23, played 28 out of 30 matches for Guangzhou in the Chinese Super

Neymar scored his sixth goal in seven days to cap Barcelona's 3-0 win over Cartagena on Tuesday as it advanced in the Copa del Rey on a 7-1 aggregate score.With the round-of-32 matchup practically decided after Barcelona's 4-1 victory in the first leg, the match lacked pace at the start and Cartagena's Diego Segura almost snatched a goal for the third-division side when he curled a free kick off the upright in the 28th minute.But three minutes later Pedro Rodriguez scored his third goal of the s

NYON, Switzerland (AP) ― Barcelona will play Manchester City, a team that emulates its values, in the second round of the Champions League.The home-and-home matchup starts Feb. 18 with the four-time champion traveling to England’s Etihad Stadium, where Manchester United and Arsenal have lost in routs in the Premier League this season.“I think Barcelona will be very concerned that they have drawn us,” City coach Manuel Pellegrini, who spent the past nine seasons in the Spanish league, said after

FIFA has banned Croatia defender Josip Simunic for 10 games _ including the entire World Cup _ for leading fans in a pro-Nazi chant after the team qualified for the tournament in Brazil.Simunic invoked a World War II-era slogan used by Croatia's then-puppet regime following a 2-0 playoff victory against Iceland last month.``After taking into account all of the circumstances of the case, and particularly given the gravity of the incident, the committee decided to suspend the player for 10 officia