Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 300th competitive Real Madrid goal as they beat Rayo Vallecano to stay four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona. Real had goalkeeper Iker Casillas to thank for being level at the break after being outplayed. Gareth Bale’s diving header was just wide after the break for the improved visitors before Ronaldo was denied a clear penalty. Ronaldo finally headed home before James Rodriguez curled in a second. The Portuguese’s 300 Real goals have come in 288 games since joining from Manchester United for £80m in 2009. He is the third player after Raul (323) and Alfredo Di Stefano (307) to reach 300 goals for Real. His rivals needed 741 and 396 matches respectively to reach that mark.

Napoli president Aurelio Di Laurentiis threatens to send his players to a training camp if they do not improve. Di Laurentiis was furious after his team continued their recent poor run of form by losing out to Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-final. A run of five Serie A matches without a win has seen the Italian club drop from third place to sixth in the league table. “I want discipline,” Di Laurentiis said. “I have never failed to pay salaries or even delayed them. I have spent 386 million euros (£280m) on the purchase of players in 10 years and I demand commitment.”

Paris St-Germain remain in contention for a quadruple as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s hat-trick helped them reach the French Cup final with a 4-1 victory over St Etienne on Wednesday. Ibrahimovic is now PSG’s second highest all-time scorer on 102 goals, behind former Portugal forward Pauleta, who scored 109. The Ligue 1 leaders play Bastia in the League Cup final on Saturday and are still in the Champions League, of course, having knocked Chelsea out in the last 16 to set up a quarter-final with Barcelona.

Ex-Premier League footballer Andrea Dossena has been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting at London department store Harrods, the BBC has learned. The Leyton Orient defender, who used to play for Liverpool, was held in Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, on Tuesday, the BBC reports. The Met Police said a 33-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were arrested and taken to a west London police station. They have been bailed until late April. Dossena scored against Manchester United and Real Madrid while he was at Liverpool. After joining Liverpool for £7m in July 2008, Dossena scored in the Reds’ 4-0 win against Real Madrid in the Champions League in March 2009 and then again in the club’s 4-1 away victory at Old Trafford against Manchester United. The Italian, who won 10 caps, joined Napoli in January 2010 before a spell at Sunderland in 2013-14. He joined League One Leyton Orient in November last year.

Former Portugal midfielder Luis Figo does not believe the Confederation of African Football’s claim that all 54 votes from the continent will go to Sepp Blatter in the Fifa presidential elections in May. Figo, along with Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan and the Dutch football association president Michael van Praag, is standing against current incumbent Blatter. “I feel there’s a lot of respect for CAF among all the African federations but I’m positive that (CAF president) Mr (Issa) Hayatou did not speak in the name of the 54 members of the confederation. “Even when he (Hayatou) announced he would support Blatter, we could notice a difference from past congresses when a statement like that normally is followed by a standing ovation. “This time we heard just a normal applause, which confirms my idea that a lot of African countries understand and agree with the need to change for the better of everyone, especially the national associations.”

The draw for the 2017 African Cup of Nations is as below:

Group A: Tunisia, Togo, Liberia, Djibouti

Group B: Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, Madagascar

Group C: Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, South Sudan

Group D: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Botswana, Comoros

Group E: Zambia, Congo, Kenya, Guinea Bissau

Group F: Cape Verde, Morocco, Libya, Sao Tome

Group G: Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania, Chad

Group H: Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mauritius

Group I: Ivory Coast, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gabon

The winners of the 13 groups will book their place at the tournament along with the two best-placed runners-up excluding the group which contains hosts Gabon, whose matches will be considered friendlies and where only the winner will qualify.

Gabon have been chosen to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals. The 2012 co-hosts won a vote by the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee in Cairo on Wednesday ahead of Algeria and Ghana. It will be the second time as hosts for the country, which is located on the west coast of Africa, having previously shared duties with Equatorial Guinea. Original hosts Libya, where a civil war has halted football, withdrew last year from staging the tournament. Gabon will use four venues for the 16-team tournament, which will be played in January and February. They will be in Libreville and Franceville, which were used in 2012, plus Port Gentil and Oyem where the stadiums will be ready in 14 months, Gabon Football Federation officials said. All three candidate countries made presentations to the CAF executive committee on Wednesday before the ballot was taken. CAF did not make details of the voting immediately available. CAF have already designated the hosts of the 2019 (Cameroon), 2021 (Ivory Coast) and 2023 (Guinea) events.

Montreal Impact winger Dominic Oduro claims fans of Costa Rican side Alajuelense were racist towards him as the Canadian side reached its first Concacaf Champions League final. The Ghanaian, 29, set up the opener in a 4-2 second-leg defeat but the MLS team won the semi-final on away goals. Oduro tweeted: “So sad that in this generation some fans still make monkey noises when black players are playing the game. “Shame to all #alajuelense fans.” He later added: “Say no to racism on the field.”

Italian champions Juventus secured their place in the Coppa Italia final by overturning a first-leg deficit to beat Fiorentina, BBC reports. Massimiliano Allegri’s side trailed 2-1 going into Tuesday’s game but levelled on aggregate when Alessandro Matri fired home a rebound. Roberto Pereyra poked in a second before Leonardo Bonucci volleyed in. Juventus, who had Alvaro Morata sent off late on, will face either Napoli or Lazio in the final. Juve are looking to complete a treble this season. They have a 14-point lead at the top of Serie A and are in the Champions League quarter-finals where they face AS Monaco. Juventus’s win on Tuesday came despite the absence of the injured Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Stephan Lichtsteiner. They are looking to win the Coppa Italia for the first time since 1995.

Swimming great, Michael Phelps is to return to competition after his six-month competitive ban for drink-driving ends. Phelps, 29, was stopped by police after being caught travelling at 84mph (135km/h) in a 45mph zone in Baltimore, Maryland, last September. The most decorated Olympian in history will compete in Mesa, Arizona from 15 to 18 April. He tweeted:  “My suspension is finally up! Time to get back in the pool and race again! Looking forward to #mesa!!” Phelps had previously been charged with driving under the influence in Maryland in 2004. Following the latest incident, he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in exchange for 18 months’ probation as well as receiving a one-year suspended prison term. The 18-time Olympic gold medallist had also been banned from taking part in this summer’s World Championships in Russia. But in March, USA Swimming director Chuck Wielgus told ESPN  that there may be a “pathway” for Phelps to take part. Having initially retired after the 2012 Olympics, Phelps , a swimmer with 58 Olympic gold medals, changed his mind and had been preparing for the 2016 Games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

Two people suspected of being involved in a gun attack on Fenerbahce’s team bus that left the driver in hospital have been detained by Turkish police. No players were injured in the incident, which took place as the team were travelling to Trabzon Airport after a 5-1 win at Caykur Rizespor. Trabzon governor Abdil Celil Oz claimed the attackers had fired two shots at the bus with a rifle. The Turkish Super Lig has since been suspended for a week. Celil Oz said two suspects were detained on Tuesday.

Italian side Roma have been ordered to close part of their stadium at their next home game after fans displayed banners insulting the mother of a Napoli fan who died following clashes between rival supporters last year. Serie A’s disciplinary tribunal said the banners were “by their content provocatively insulting to the mother of a supporter of the opposing team, who died in dramatic circumstances”. The mother of the Napoli fan has spearheaded a campaign against soccer violence since her son’s death.

Macedonia have sacked coach Bosko Gjurovski after a poor start to Euro 2016 qualifying which has seen them pick up just three points from five matches. No truth to the rumours that he was dismissed over that unforgivable mustard jacket.

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso says he is happy with the team’s progress after his difficult start to the campaign. The Spaniard blamed a “steering problem” for the pre-season crash that led to him missing the first race of the calendar in Australia. Alonso, 33, retired from the subsequent Malaysian GP but says he is looking forward to Sunday’s race in China. “That sort of progress really gives the whole team belief and confidence in the path we’re taking,” said Alonso. “The steps we took between Australia and Malaysia were extremely impressive.”

Russian Premier League side Torpedo Moscow will play two home games in an empty stadium in what is their fourth racism-related punishment this season. The Russian Football Union said Torpedo fans displayed a Nazi symbol during Sunday’s 3-1 win at Arsenal Tula. The punishment will take place in May, as Torpedo’s next two home games are already set to be behind closed doors. That follows an incident in which fans abused Zenit St. Petersburg striker Hulk with monkey chants.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has backed misfiring forward Neymar, who has not scored for the club in La Liga since 15 February. “I am not worried at all,” says Enrique, whose side play Almeria at home on Wednesday. “We are talking about an outstanding player, a top player. “And from what I see in training I am sure his scoring streak will soon return and he will be back on top form. “Now he is helping us in a less spectacular way, less visible for you, but he gives the team a lot of things that I consider important.”

English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has returned a £16,000 watch given to him by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The commemorative gifts were handed out by one of the CBF’s sponsors to various people at the 2014 World Cup, including 28 members of FIFA’s executive committee. “Mr Greg Dyke has returned the CBF Parmigiani watch,” read a FIFA statement. “As a consequence, the adjudicatory chamber of the Fifa Ethics Committee has decided to close the proceedings in respect of a possible breach of the FIFA code of ethics.”

The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou, has called for the organisation’s 54 members to vote for Sepp Blatter in the Fifa presidential election in May. Blatter is the current incumbent and is going for a fifth term in his role but faces competition from Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Dutch Football Association President Michael van Praag and former Portugal international Luis Figo. “His action in favour of Africa speaks for him. To us, he is still the man of the situation,” Cameroonian Hayatou said at the start of CAF’s two-day general assembly in Cairo.

Manchester City’s defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday meant a fourth successive defeat on their travels as they dropped from second to fourth in the Premier League. They face a trip to rivals Manchester United on Sunday and City skipper Vincent Kompany believes the game could help his side rediscover their form. “A derby is a derby. It doesn’t matter what place you are in the league, it’s a derby. If anything, it’s a good moment to go into a derby,” Kompany told the Daily Mirror. “I guess the momentum is a little bit with our neighbours at the moment, but it’s the perfect place for us to go and try to rectify what we’ve had here [at Palace].”

Former South Africa striker Richard Henyekane has died in a car accident at the age of 31. The news was confirmed by his club, Free State Stars, who play in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League. Henyekane won nine caps for South Africa between 2009 and 2013. Last year, South African runner and former 800-metre world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was also killed in a road accident.