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.
Madrid - Majestic Barcelona turned on the style once again, brushing aside third-placed Sevilla 4-0 Wednesday in a euphoric Camp Nou.
The latest exhibition leaves Josep Guardiola's sumptuous side six points ahead of second-place Real Madrid, who, in contrast, struggled Tuesday to beat lowly Getafe 3-2.
Barca now have 81 points from 32 games, while Real have 75.
Barca have won their last seven league matches without conceding a goal - and without their obvious superiority ever having been in doubt.
Barcelona - Clay-tough Spaniard Tommy Robredo ended the Barcelona Open dream of Gaston Gaudio as he hammered the former French Open champion out of the second round on Wednesday.
Sixth seed Robredo, who trailed 4-3 in a series with the last match played in 2006, piled on a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win after being made to work in the opening set.
Gaudio, 30 yearf age and ranked 966th, was on a high after winning his first match since 2007 and now pointing at a wild card request for Roland Garros after claiming the Grand Slam there in 2004.
München - Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are set to hire Brazilian right back Rafinha from Schalke 04, the Sport Bild weekly said in the run-up to the teams' league match.
Citing Schalke management sources, Sport Bild reported in its latest issue published on Wednesday that Rafinha has agreed terms to terms with Munich.
However, a transfer fee is yet to be determined as Rafinha has a contract at Schalke until 2011. It is also unclear whether Schalke will let him go.
Rome - Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri has said he'll ask his team to leave the pitch in case of racist chants from the stands, the la Repubblica daily reported on Wednesday.
Juve were on Monday sentenced to play a home game behind closed doors because of racist slurs and chants that their fans aimed at Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli during the teams' Serie A game on the weekend.
"I'll call (Alessandro) Del Piero, our captain, then the other side's captain, then the fourth official and of course the referee," Ranieri said.