Madrid  - Spanish champions Real Madrid announced on Monday evening that Mahamadou Diarra will be out of action for between six and nine months.

The Mali midfielder was operated on in Madrid on Monday morning, for a complicated break in the external cartliage of his right knee, an injury he originally sustained playing for Mali against Chad in October.

Diarra, 27, is Real's second lon-term knee injury victim, after Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

The club's other absentees at the moment are Pepe, Gabriel Heinze, Ruben de la Red and Wesley Sneijder.

Madrid - Spanish giants Atletico Madrid announced on Monday that they would travel to Marseille, for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Olympique just hours ahead of the kickoff.

Like most European teams, Atletico normally travel the day before the game, in order to get used to the city, the stadium and the weather.

This time, however, Atletico have decided to fly later because of serious security concerns.

Atletico have received several threats from Marseille "ultras", because of the sentence handed out on Friday by a Madrid court to OM fan Santos Mirasierra.

Madrid  - Spanish authorities intercepted three boats carrying 108 African migrants on Sunday in separate incidents.

The largest of the boats was intercepted off the coast of Gran Canaria, the largest of the Canary Islands. One of the 69 passengers on the boat died, possibly due to dehydration, according to sources.

Two other boats were stopped near Tarifa and Malaga on Spain's southern coast. Those ships had four babies among their passengers.

Madrid - Barcelona went six points clear at the top of the Spanish Liga on Saturday by thrashing hapless Valencia 4-0.

Barca now have 35 points from 14 games, six points more than Villarreal, who did well to force a 3-3 draw against Getafe earlier on Saturday.

With Samuel Eto'o suspended, Thierry Henry took centre stage, banging in a handsome hat-trick and looking more comfortable than ever in a Barca shirt.

The French veteran made it 1-0 in the 20th minute by latching on to a classy through-ball from Yaya Toure and scoring with the outside of his right foot.

Eight minutes later, with the Valencia defence looking shaky, Henry made it 2-0 by turning in a short pass from Alexander Hleb.

Madrid  - Villarreal came from 3-0 down to force a dramatic 3-3 draw against Getafe on Saturday, and thus retain second place in La Liga.

Getafe had coasted into a 3-0 lead within 30 minutes, thanks to early goals from Esteban Granero, Jaime Gavilan and Francisco Casquero.

But Villarreal were a transformed team in the second half, faster and more imaginative. Robet Pires pulled a goal back in the 56th minute, Sebastian Eguren made it 3-2 with just eight minutes left.

With Getafe against the ropes, Guiseppe Rossi made it 3-3 in the 86th minute - then almost won the game for the "Yellow Submarine" in injury time.

Madrid  - The Spanish government Friday denied allegations that the United States had illegally flown terrorist suspects via Spain to its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

"There has not been nor will there be violations of human rights on earth, sea or air" under the current Socialist government, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.

The conservative opposition earlier claimed that nine out of 11 flights organized by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took place under current Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who took office in 2004.