Barcelona - Seventh seed David Nalbandian completed a hat-trick of quarter-final placings at the Barcelona Open on Thursday as he beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-4.

The Argentine also reached the last eight at the Real club in 2004 and in 2007 but stalled in the third round a year ago.

The former Wimbledon finalist is more than likely to line up against king of clay Rafael Nadal if the world number 1 came through as expected later on Thursday in his third-round match with Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Dubai, Apr. 23 : Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer will help Cricket España and Madrid Cricket Club catch the spirit during ICC centenary year celebrations from April 25 to 27.

The man who played 46 Tests for his country between 1961 and 1975 will run three one-hour coaching sessions over the three days. These sessions will coincide with the Madrid Cricket Club hosting its second Solidarity Twenty20 Tournament at La Manga Club, Murcia in southern Spain.

London, Apr. 23 : Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson has expressed unhappiness over his team's 2-0 win over Portsmouth that saw them go three points clear at the top with a game in hand.

According to The Sun, Ferguson was unhappy his team did not finish off Pompey before Michael Carrick's 82nd-minute goal.

Fergie said: "We were too casual so I'm not taking anything for granted. We have got to put our foot down. There is no leeway unless you can keep performing properly. This could have been embarrassing as we could have thrown the game away when we should have been five or six up."

London  - Manchester United returned to the top of the English Premier League table thanks to a 2-0 win Wednesday over Portsmouth.

Goals from Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick secured victory for the champions at Old Trafford and took them back above Liverpool. With six games to go to Liverpool's five, United are three points clear.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was happy with the result but not with a couple of challenges that left Gary Neville and John O'Shea with injuries.

Rome  - Long-range drives from Mauro Zarate and Aleksandar Kolarov secured the Italian Cup final for Lazio in a 2-1 win Wednesday over 10-man Juventus for an aggregate 4-2 score.

Zarate's firing skills froze the home crowd at Turin's Stadio Olimpico and stunned Gianluigi Buffon on 38 minutes, when the international goalkeeper tried a desperate dive on his left only to watch the drooping shot find the net behind him.