Real Madrid's Brazilian Robinho (r) vies for the ball with Bayern Munich's Demichelis during the first leg of a last 16 Champions League football match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

MADRID, Spain, Feb. 21--Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy gave Real Madrid a narrow win over Bayern Munich in this Champions League first leg, said BBC.
Raul got the better of Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn in a one-on-one encounter, before Lucio’s header made
it 1-1.
By half-time Real were 3-1 up as Raul scored with header, while Van Nistelrooy volleyed in, with David Beckham setting up both those goals.
Bayern were more cohesive in the second-half and with two minutes left Mark van Bommel fired in a half-volley.
Beckham’s delivery at set pieces proved key to the nine-times European Champions’ win, with the Bayern defense proving uncertain whenever the ball came into the box.
Given this display Beckham must be wondering why he has spent most of the season on the Real bench and is no longer deemed worthy of a place in the England squad.
Not that Beckham’s performance was entirely blemish free.
Sent off on Saturday in a Spanish league match at times against Bayern in the first-half Beckham showed flashes of his temper, notably when he was riled by Van Bommel.
Early in the second half he set Gonzalo Higuain free with a raking diagonal pass before forcing Kahn into a fine save with a dipping free-kick.
Not that the Real defense were altogether comfortable at set-pieces as Fabio Cannavaro failed to pick up Lucio for Bayern’s equalizer.
Real might also have done better for Bayern’s second goal with Van Bommel punishing their inability to clear their lines.
Real’s first goal was created by Van Nistelrooy, the Dutchman passing with the outside of his right foot to bisect the Bayern defense and release Raul.
Kahn got a touch as he came out to challenge Raul, but the rebound fell kindly to the Real striker, who sidefooted into the empty net.
At times Real’s defence was equally uncomfortable at set-pieces as Cannavaro failed to pick up Lucio for Bayern’s equalizer.
Lucio slipped free of Fifa World Player of Year to guide a header past Iker Casillas from Willy Sagnol’s free-kick.
But Real were soon to regain their lead, Raul heading home on the line after Ivan Helguera had nodded Beckham’s corner goalward.

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 21--Vinko Begovic’s Iran Olympic team continued preparations for the first leg of the second round qualifying for the Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008 with a 3-0 demolition of their UAE counterparts here on Tuesday.
According to AFC, Adel Kolahkaj opened the scoring after 10 minutes while Milad Meydavudi and Ehsan Khorsandi added two more on 25 and 80 minutes respectively.
Iran play Australia in their opening Group D encounter on February 28 at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran. Also in the group are Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
In another friendly involving a West Asian team, Syria edged Kuwait 1-0, thanks to a Mahmoud Khadoui goal in the 58th minute at the Al Jalaa Stadium in Damascus.

United fans were involved in a security scare in Lille.

LONDON, Feb. 21--In a game marred by controversy at both the start and finish, Manchester United prevailed by a solitary goal over Lille, AP said.
The game began with startling scenes of fans seemingly being crushed against a ten foot barrier. Thankfully, no fans were hurt in the ensuing melee, although stadium security did not assit matters by using teargas to ’calm’ fans.
The players themselves seemed to be affected by these problems and it was only late in the first half when the first shot was struck in anger; Christiano Ronaldo profited from some neat interplay between Wayne Rooney and Hendrik Larsson, but could only fire his shot directly at Tony Sylva.
The only other action of a tough first half were the four bookings handed out by Dutch referee Eric Bramhaar, to Fauvergue and Debuchy of Lille, and Evra and Vidic of Manchester United.
The second half brought with it far more positive football and United in particular should have converted a couple of gilt-edged opportunities. First, Ronaldo waltzed beyond Gregory Tafforeau, but with only Sylva to beat, he could only blast his shot against the goalkeeper. Following up, Rooney should have done better than the skyed effort he produced.
Lille then had the ball in the back of the net in the 62nd minute, but Peter Odemwingie’s glanced headwer was deemed unlawful, although his challenge on Nemanja Vidic appeared perhaps less aggressive than the Manchester United defender made out. British sports minister Richard Caborn and Manchester United football club have called for urgent action after United fans appeared to be crushed on a safety barrier in their Champions League match.
The club is calling for eye witness accounts and Caborn has urged European football’s governing body UEFA to ensure safety in stadiums following United’s 1-0 victory in their last 16, first leg match at Lens’s Felix-Bollaert stadium on Tuesday night. UEFA are set to make a full inquiry into the incident, according to reports.
At least two supporters, one a schoolboy, were lifted over the barrier while security officials slammed shut a gate which had been pushed open by United supporters trying to relieve the pressure. What could have been a chilling reminder of the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989 was not aided by the arrival of French riot police who fired tear gas into the stand.

SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 21--Australia’s battered and beaten one-day cricket side limped home Wednesday insisting its World Cup defense was on track despite an unprecedented 3-0 series pasting from the Black Caps in New Zealand, said AP.
Australia’s winless New Zealand campaign, dubbed a “blackwash“ by the media here, followed two losses to England in the domestic tri-series final, with the five consecutive defeats representing Australia’s worst run in a decade.
Coach John Buchanan, who just last month complained that England and New Zealand were too poor to give his team of champions a competitive hit-out, said there was no need to radically overhaul World Cup preparations.
Buchanan said the Australians would simply put the defeats behind them as they rest for a week, and opening batsman Matthew Hayden undergoes tests on a right big toe fractured by a yorker in Tuesday’s loss to New Zealand.
“There’s no getting away from the fact we’d like to be winning, here’s no doubt about that,“ Buchanan told reporters.
“But I’m still very confident about the planning we’ve put in place, the preparations we’ll do when we get there and the team that we’ve got.
“So this is behind us now and we look forward to a week or so away and then heading off to the West Indies.“ Buchanan conceded selectors may need to consider their options once they receive information on a string of injuries including Hayden (toe), Andrew Symonds (torn bicep), Brett Lee (ankle) and Michael Clarke (hip).
“Once we get all that information it’ll then be over to the selectors and Ricky Ponting and myself and we’ll toss that all around and work out what the best solution might be,“ he said.
Veteran paceman Glenn McGrath was confident the floundering Australians could turn around their poor form to claim a third consecutive World Cup.
“It wasn’t the best tour for us over there in New Zealand, but we would rather get that out of the way now, a few weeks before World Cup, so we can go to the first game, sit down and work out what we need to do differently and turn it around,“ he said.
McGrath blamed Australia’s injury crisis for the loss against the Kiwis and also said he was looking forward to the return of captain Ponting and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, who were both rested for the New Zealand series.

MEMPHIS, USA,
Feb. 21--Fourth-seeded American Mardy Fish continued a successful start to the season with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded German Bjorn Phau in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Tuesday.
According to AP, the 25-year-old made an impressive comeback to the tour last year after undergoing a pair of wrist operations in 2005 and plummeting to 342nd in the ATP rankings. He kept the momentum going this year by advancing to the semifinals at Auckland and the last eight at both the Australian Open and last week in San Jose.
Fish is now ranked 25th in the world--just eight places shy of his career-best ranking--and never let Phau into the match at The Racquet Club.
Fish won 88 percent of his first-service points and converted four of eight breakpoints to gain a second-round match with fast-rising Argentine teenager Juan Martin Del Potro.
The 18-year-old Del Potro, ranked 69th, dominated former top-20 player Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-2. On the women’s side, in the Cellular South Cup, top-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel rolled to a 6-4, 6-3 first-round victory over Emma Laine of Finland.
Fourth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat unseeded Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-2, 7-5 to advance to a second-round meeting with Camille Pin of France. Pin defeated Uzbekistan’s Varvara Lepchenko 7-5, 6-1.
Also advancing to the round of 16 in the CSC were Milagros Sequera and Jarmila Gajdosova. Venus Williams, who won her first match Monday after a four-month hiatus for a wrist injury, was scheduled to face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark later Tuesday night.

PARIS, Feb. 21--The season could hardly have started in finer style for Lyon’s fleet-footed front manÊFred.
Seven goals in nine games in all competitions helped getÊOlympique Lyonnais off to a flying start and provided proof, if it were needed, that last season’s haul of 14 goals in 31 league matches as understudy to Norwegian international John Carew was no fluke.
According to Fifa.com, his superb early-season form was cut short by injury in a league game away to Marseille, however, forcing the Brazilian to look on from the sidelines as Lyon opened up a considerable points gap over the chasing pack.
Then, with Fred targeting a return to form in time for UEFA Champions League knockout rounds, the Lyon juggernaut suddenly ground to a halt.
In what by their standards was a disastrous start to 2007, the five-time French champions picked up a mere five points out of a possible 18. The slump prompted the club to make changes up front, with Carew heading off to Aston Villa and Czech strikerÊMilan Baros arriving in return.
The former Cruzeiro man’s chance to stop the rot came on match day 24. Faltering Lyon, the side with the worst record at the start of the second half of the season, entertained Lorient, the team with the best record in the same period and full of confidence on their travels after three straight wins. The Brazilian wasted little time in making his mark, controlling a long clearance from keeper Gregory Coupet eight minutes in before swivelling and firing home an unstoppable drive from 25 yards out to secure three welcome points.

Steve Nash No. 13 of the Phoenix Suns puts up a shot against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Monday.

LOS ANGELES,
Feb. 21--Steve Nash returned and restored order to the Phoenix Suns, reported AP.
Two-time MVP Nash had 13 points and 12 assists in his first game back from a shoulder injury, and Shawn Marion scored 31 points in the Suns’ 115-90 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
“On a personal level, it’s nice to just be out there with your teammates, and as a group, it’s a lot of fun to win after three straight losses,“ said Nash, who missed four games with inflammation in his right shoulder.
“It’s maybe good for us that we suffered a little bit, and hopefully we can regroup here.“
Marion obviously was glad to have Nash back orchestrating the show.
“He came out there, he kept the ball moving and everybody was making their passes,“ said Marion, who also had nine rebounds. “It was free-flowing and that’s how everything happens. That’s why we won.
“We were active, everybody was helping each other, we were more stable and didn’t have to rotate as much.“
Nash had been out since the shoulder soreness sidelined him for the second half of a victory at Denver on Feb. 5.
He looked the same as always in his return, driving the lane and dishing off assists to his teammates, and mixing it up by pulling up and hitting jumpers.
Nash had a big first quarter, with eight points and seven assists, to help the Suns jump out to a 38-26 lead. They stayed comfortably in front the rest of the way.
On a play in the first quarter that drew a collective “Ah-h-h“ from the pro-Clippers crowd, Nash made a no-look pass off the dribble to set up a dunk by Amare Stoudemire charging down the lane.
Stoudemire, who had 22 points and nine rebounds, said, “Our ball movement starts with Steve Nash, and once we get set, we swing it. Then the defense has a tough time keeping up with all of our weapons.“

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb. 21--Male spectators except family members will be banned when Pakistan hosts the eight-team International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World Cup qualifiers in November, officials said Wednesday.
But officials hailed the decision to stage the matches in this conservative Islamic republic as a sign that the country is becoming more moderate and making efforts to allow women to play sport, said AFP.
The qualifiers will be played in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore between November 18 and 24, the ICC said in a statement from its headquarters in Dubai.
Besides the hosts, teams from Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland and the Netherlands will all vie for the two available slots in the 2009 ICC Women’s World Cup.
Defending champions and hosts Australia, India, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies have all earned automatic qualification following their top-six finish in 2005 when the World Cup was held in South Africa.
“The decision proves that women’s cricket is progressing in our country and through this event we would promote a softer and moderate image of Pakistan,“ said Shamsa Hashmi, secretary of the Pakistan Cricket Board women’s wing.
Players would wear the standard international dress code, unlike earlier matches in Pakistan that have been played in strict Islamic baggy trousers and long shirts, she said.