Michael Ballack completed his free transfer to Chelsea yesterday but it was after emerging from the dressing rooms at Bayern Munich's Olympiastadion on April 12 last year that he had an inkling he might want to join the Premiership champions. He and Oliver Kahn had aimed orchestrated shoves on John Terry as they walked past. Kahn went a step further, threatening the Chelsea captain with a scowled "After, after"

The Derby found its favourite yesterday in the Parisian suburb of St Cloud, as Visindar stretched clear of his field in the Prix Greffulhe to maintain a perfect racing record of three wins from as many starts. The opposition was weak for a Group Two contest, as his pari-mutuel price of 1-10 confirmed, but Andre Fabre's colt did as much as any punter could expect in a trial race, and is now no better than 9-4 for the Epsom Classic on June 3

The gloom that descended on Lord's yesterday evening, taking the players from the field for the final time in the first Test, was no more than Sri Lanka deserved. Underrated, inexperienced and in turmoil before and during the early part of the match, Mahela Jayawardene's side, digging deep into their reserves, national pride at stake, produced one of the great rearguard actions in the game's history. They were 359 behind England's first innings total when they followed on on Saturday

It was not only Terry the Terrier, the Huddersfield Town mascot, who departed here feeling wounded last night. From a position of apparent control the home side allowed a place in the play-off final to slip from their grasp, two goals in eight second-half minutes enabling Barnsley to profit at their Yorkshire rivals' expense

Liverpool supporters may still be revelling in their FA Cup success but Steven Gerrard says the club's sights are already fixed on ending a 17-year league championship drought next season. The captain's stunning last-minute equaliser earned the Merseysiders the chance to take West Ham to extra-time to prevail, ultimately, on penalties

What a week to be Spanish, wouldn't you agree? Last Wednesday, in thrashing Middlesbrough by four unanswered goals, Sevilla hinted that La Liga leads the Premiership in terms of sophistication. Then on Sunday came a triple success

"It's bubble time," says Willie Power. "Everyone thinks they have a Derby horse, but some bubbles will be burst. And some bubbles will be put on ice." Aidan O'Brien's start to the season has been pistol-cracking, immense, and I say put some bubbles on ice and back his Alexandrova in the Musidora Stakes at York tomorrow

Hector Barbera of Spain beat Italian Andrea Dovizioso to win his maiden 250cc victory at the China Grand Prix motorcycling here on Sunday. The pair raced ahead of the rest of the field with the Aprilia rider clinching the lead as they approached the home straight. Japan's Shuhei Aoyama, who won the last race in Turkey, swept past Spain's Jorge Lorenzo in the closing stages to finish third for Honda

It is difficult to imagine any team being lulled into a false sense of security when Thierry Henry is on the field, but Barcelona could be forgiven for believing all roads will lead to European Cup glory if they can nullify Arsenal's talisman. The message coming out of Catalonia yesterday was a very different one, however, as Henrik Larsson and Ronaldinho spoke of the combined threat posed by Arsène Wenger's side and not only the sublimely gifted Frenchman