In brief: Real Madrid rolls to open UEFA Champions League title defense
Soccer: Real Madrid started the defense of its Champions League crown with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Basel on Tuesday, while Liverpool celebrated its return to Europe’s top club competition with a dramatic 2-1 home win against Bulgarian side Ludogorets.
Madrid’s win should end talk of crisis following a poor start to the club’s domestic season.
Goals by Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and a Basel own-goal secured the 10-time champions’ victory in Madrid.
Five years after its last involvement in the Champions League, Liverpool needed a penalty from Steven Gerrard in the third minute of added time – just two minutes after Ludogorets looked to have snatched a draw – to earn all three points at Anfield. Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund beat visiting Arsenal 2-0 and last season’s finalist Atletico Madrid lost 3-2 to host Olympiakos in Athens.
Madrid’s win was much easier as Carlo Ancelotti’s players silenced their critics with a beautiful display of free-flowing football.
Tanaka ready to rejoin rotation
Baseball: Masahiro Tanaka is likely to rejoin the New York Yankees’ rotation Sunday after an absence of more than two months.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi says the Japanese right-hander tentatively is set to start against Toronto at Yankee Stadium.
• Springer done for season: Houston rookie George Springer, who has been out since July 20 with a left quadriceps injury, won’t play again this season.
Springer hit .231 with 20 homers and 51 RBIs in 78 games.
• Prado out after appendectomy: Martin Prado has had an appendectomy and will miss the rest of the New York Yankees’ season.
Prado hit .316 with seven homers and 16 RBIs in 37 games. He was obtained from Arizona on July 31.
• Braves name stadium SunTrust Park: The Atlanta Braves new suburban stadium already has a name – SunTrust Park.
The team announced the naming-rights deal at a ceremony to officially break ground on the 41,500-seat stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2017.
Governing body to allow head coverings
Basketball: International basketball’s governing body says players will be allowed to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs or turbans, on a trial basis.
FIBA’s central board met over the weekend at the men’s world cup and voted to allow a two-year testing phase that would let players wear head coverings.
Previous FIBA rules only allowed a player to wear a 5-centimeter headband to control hair and sweat. That drew objections that the group was discriminating against Muslim and Sikh players, who wear head coverings for religious reasons.
• Kings plan to retire Stojakovic’s No. 16: The Sacramento Kings are planning to retire Peja Stojakovic’s No. 16 jersey.
The Kings announced that Stojakovic’s jersey will be retired when they host Oklahoma City on Dec. 16. He joins Vlade Divac (21), Chris Webber (4) and Mitch Richmond (2) as the only players to have their jerseys retired by the Kings since the franchise moved from Kansas City in 1985.
In eight seasons with the Kings, he averaged 18.3 points.
McIlroy receives Vardon Trophy
Golf: Rory McIlroy is the Vardon Trophy winner and the PGA of America’s player of the year for the second time.
McIlroy won the points-based player of the year award on the strength of his two majors at the British Open and PGA Championship. Winning two majors comes with a 50-point bonus. McIlroy also won the Bridgestone Invitational.
McIlroy had an adjusted scoring average of 68.62 to win the Vardon Trophy over Sergio Garcia (68.95).
The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland also won the PGA’s player of the year and the Vardon Trophy in 2012.
Red Wings, DeKeyser agree to new deal
Hockey: The Detroit Red Wings agreed to terms with defenseman Danny DeKeyser on a two-year deal, with an average cap hit just under $2.2 million.
The 24-year-old DeKeyser is coming off a fine rookie season in which he had four goals and 19 assists in 65 games.