Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will add some extra spice to this year's Dakar Rally in which Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah will bid to defend his title in Argentina and Bolivia.

The Frenchman will seek to follow in the footsteps of Ari Vatanen, who won the Dakar in his first attempt in 1987, back when it was raced in Africa.

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez returns to Valencia, where he won two league titles with Los Che, fighting to hold onto his job on Sunday.

Madrid's awful 2015 began with defeat at the Mestalla which ended a 22-game winning run and led to the eventual sacking of Carlo Ancelotti after he failed to deliver a major trophy.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal remains in office after the most testing fortnight of his 18-month tenure, but he is not secure in his job just yet.

Van Gaal appeared to be in serious danger of being sacked following a run of four successive defeats, culminating in a feeble performance as his team were beaten 2-0 at Stoke City on Boxing Day.

Rafael Nadal is confident he will be "very competitive" in 2016 after a difficult 2015 during which the world number five struggled with his early form.

The Spaniard made a strong push at the end of last season to finish inside the top-five but his results in 2015 were the worst he has recorded in more than a decade as he admitted he was struggling with confidence.

Liverpool obeyed the pragmatic instructions of manager Jurgen Klopp in a 1-0 win at Sunderland where quality football was at a premium and there was an element of good fortune in a decisive goal scored by Christian Benteke.

As Liverpool ended the first half of the Premier League season, the result was all that mattered to Klopp, who ordered his team to go toe-to-toe with a Sunderland team fighting to avoid relegation.

Bahraini royal Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a FIFA presidential hopeful, has launched his campaign for the job with a promise to make the global soccer body rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

"FIFA today is a genuine Phoenix project: under my leadership, we shall employ all professional means to lift the organization out of its ashes and guarantee a solid lasting and successful rebirth," Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation chief, said in a statement posted on his campaign website Wednesday.

Frenchman Gael Monfils has pulled out of the Hopman Cup in Western Australia with a leg injury.

Monfils, the World No.24, will be replaced by fellow Frenchman Kenny de Schepper in the tournament from January 3-9 ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The Golden State Warriors fizzled without red hot Stephen Curry on Wednesday, falling 114-91 to the Mavericks in Dallas in just their second defeat of the NBA season.

The Mavericks made the most of Curry's absence with a lower left leg injury, racing to an early 17-point lead that they stretched to as many as 30 in the third quarter.

New York Knicks' reserve forward Cleanthony Early was shot in the leg in an apparent robbery after leaving a strip club overnight, reports and officials said Wednesday.

Knicks coach Derek Fisher said Wednesday afternoon that Early was "doing OK".

The Atlanta Hawks rallied from a 19-point deficit to snap Houston's home win streak, and LeBron James received an early birthday gift as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Denver on Tuesday night.

Al Horford and Paul Millsap posted double-doubles and the Hawks rallied to win a Texas-style shootout over the Rockets by a score of 121-115 at Toyota Center in Houston.