Mikael Silvestre’s two headers handed Manchester United their first win in five games on Monday and gave Rio Ferdinand a winning return in a 2-1 victory over Liverpool. A Premier League record crowd of 67 857 saw the French defender score his first two goals of the campaign.

Robert Sangster, Europe’s most successful racehorse owner of the past 30 years, died at his home on Wednesday after a long fight against pancreatic cancer. He was 67. Sangster’s horses won 27 European Classics. He also owned the 1984 Breeders Cup Mile winner, Royal Heroine, and 1980 Melbourne Cup winner Beldale Ball.

Forget Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Soccer’s biggest player in 2003 was Roman Abramovich. The 37-year-old Russian oil tycoon, with a personal fortune of £5,5-billion, admits he knows little about the game and is more interested in ice hockey.

Ronaldo scored twice as nine-time winner Real Madrid beat Olympique Marseille 4-2 in the opening round of Champions League games on Tuesday. Chelsea, fuelled by the millions of oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, gained a 1-0 win at Sparta Prague thanks to a late goal by French defender William Gallas.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela stepped into the debate over England’s World Cup cricket game in Zimbabwe on Wednesday by saying the game should go ahead in Harare and not be moved to South Africa.