Andre Villas-Boas believes his Chelsea side are back in the thick of the title race following their 2-1 win over Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Victory saw Chelsea move to within seven points of City who suffered their first defeat in 15 league games so far this season at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Real Madrid's first chance to exorcise the memory of its 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at the weekend comes with a visit to third-tier team Ponferradina in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday.

"This is very welcome to us. For any club of our level, playing against Madrid is the best," said Ponferradina president Jose Fernandez. "It's also important economically. For us, it's like a lottery win."

UEFA has started taking ticket applications for 2012 European Championship matches from fans of the 16 competing countries.

UEFA says it will sell at least 6,000 seats to fans of each team at each of the 24 group-stage matches.

Asian champions Al-Sadd play Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, a "dream" tie the Qatari side's coach has claimed they can win.

Stubborn Al-Sadd were up against it for long periods in Sunday's clash against Esperance of Tunisia, which was marred by fans of the African champions trying to get on the pitch at the end, with at least one succeeding.

Chelsea star Nicolas Anelka is to join Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year contract, the club said Monday, in a huge boost for China's scandal-hit Super League.

The 32-year-old French striker will join the club next month, Shenhua said in a brief statement, which did not mention the value of the ground-breaking deal.

London 2012 Olympics supremo Sebastian Coe has defended a controversial budget hike for the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, saying it will make for the "largest piece of television ever".

The British government last week agreed to more than double the budget for the ceremonies to 81 million pounds ($127 million), sparking criticism by Olympians such as world-record-holding marathon runner Paula Radcliffe.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp was unable to hide his frustration with referee Chris Foy after watching his team lose ground in the English Premier League title race.

Spurs old boy Matthew Etherington's first-half double was sufficient to earn Stoke a 2-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, ending a run of 10 wins and a draw from their previous 11 top flight matches for Redknapp's team.

Inter Milan will be eyeing a top six spot when they travel to Genoa in Serie A on Tuesday in a game postponed last month due to bad weather.

The nerazzurri have had a torrid start to the season in the league but due to the tight nature of the table, they could move into a top-six position with a victory.

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant was scratching his head Sunday amid reports that the club was shipping Lamar Odom to Western Conference rivals -- and NBA champions -- Dallas.

"To be honest with you, I don't like it," Bryant said at the team's training camp.

Shanghai Shenhua said Sunday that Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka had agreed to join the club, in a major coup for Chinese football.

Club spokesman Ma Yue told AFP the 32-year-old Frenchman could start playing for the team in January, "if all contract details are 100 percent confirmed." He was unable to reveal the value of the deal.