Messi, Xavi & Ronaldo up for Uefa award

Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Xavi will fight Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for the Uefa Best Player in Europe award after the list of nominees was announced.

The inaugural award will take place in August and the final trio have been announced after a jury of 53 sports journalists representing each of the Uefa member associations scaled down the list which included Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, and Barcelona's Andres Iniesta.

A deciding vote to determine which player will win the award takes place on August 25.

Porto face Falcao dilemma in Europa League

Porto face a growing Europa League dilemma over their Colombian striker Radamel Falcao as the more goals he scores, the harder it will be for the Portuguese champions to hang on to him at the end of the season.

Falcao, whose price tag seems to go up with every goal, notched a hat-trick as last week's 5-1 quarter-final first leg win over Spartak Moscow virtually guaranteed Porto a place in the last four, provided they avoid disaster in Thursday's return in Russia.