James Harden will not feature in Tuesday's clash with the Toronto Raptors after becoming the latest Brooklyn Nets player to enter the NBA's health and safety protocols.

Harden entered COVID-19 protocols alongside team-mate Bruce Brown prior to the game against the Raptors, the Eastern Conference-leading Nets announced.

Brooklyn now have seven players sidelined due to those protocols, including LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre' Bembry, James Johnson, Jevon Carter and Paul Millsap.

Kevin Durant was in doubt for the matchup because of right ankle soreness, however, the superstar has been cleared to face the Raptors.

The Nets have scored 100 or more points in 12 straight games, only the Minnesota Timberwolves have a longer active streak in the NBA (14), according to Stats Perform.

Brooklyn are 18-4 this season when hitting the century mark and 1-4 when they do not reach 100 points.

Durant scored a season-high 51 points against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, which is the most by any player this season.

The former MVP has seven career 50-point games with the haul in the win over the Pistons being his first for Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving is the only Nets player with multiple 50-point games all-time (two).

Dominic Thiem's comeback has been further delayed as the 2020 US Open champion does not feel ready to return at this week's Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

Austrian star Thiem has been out of action since suffering a wrist injury at the Mallorca Championships in June.

The 28-year-old missed Wimbledon and was unable to defend his title at Flushing Meadows, but he appeared to be on course to make his comeback before the end of 2021 after revealing in October he does not require surgery on his wrist.

However, the world number 15 is now facing a battle to be back to full fitness for January's Australian Open after withdrawing from an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

"I was looking forward to making my return to competition at Abu Dhabi but I feel that I am not yet ready to compete at the highest level," the 17-time ATP Tour champion posted via Twitter on Tuesday.

"It's disappointing to not take part this year but I need to continue my preparation for the upcoming season."

Thiem follows Casper Ruud in pulling out of the tournament, which begins on Thursday, while Emma Raducanu is out of the women's singles after testing positive for coronavirus.

Dan Evans and Taylor Fritz have taken the places of former world number three Thiem and Ruud, joining Andrey Rublev, Denis Shapovalov, Andy Murray and defending champion Rafael Nadal in the draw.

Xavi hailed "sensational" Dani Alves and tipped the full-back to have a big impact at Barcelona after making his second debut for the club on Tuesday.

Alves returned to Camp Nou on a free transfer last month following his departure from Sao Paulo in September over a contractual dispute.

The 38-year-old, who played 391 times for Barca in his first spell with the club, cannot be officially registered for the Catalan giants until the January transfer window.

However, the Brazil international was able to pull on the Blaugrana strip in Barca's exhibition friendly with Boca Juniors and played a full part in Saudi Arabia.

Alves impressed in the first half in particular but could not help his side overcome Argentine giants Boca, who went on to win the penalty shoot-out 4-2 after a 1-1 draw.

Xavi may not be able to call upon Alves competitively for another few weeks, but the recently appointed Barca boss is glad to have the veteran defender in his squad.

"His second debut is very positive for the team," Xavi said after the Maradona Cup match. "Everyone has seen he will help us a lot. He is a sensational player. 

"He's a team player and has a lot of character and soul. He will do very well for us.

"He has shown what he can contribute both in defence and attack. He plays with a lot of intensity and his final pass makes a difference."

Questions were raised regarding the timing of the game, which was held in memory of the late Diego Maradona, who represented both clubs during his legendary playing career.

But Xavi felt it was a good opportunity to give certain fringe players a run-out, with Philippe Coutinho among those to feature from the beginning.

"Those who have played less, like Neto or Riqui Puig, performed at a very good level, as did all the youngsters," Xavi said.

"The conclusions I take from this game are positive. We lost on penalties but are happy. Losing on penalties is the least important thing – getting minutes is what matters."

Ferran Jutgla gave a much-changed Barca side the lead at King Saud University Stadium, but Exequiel Zeballos struck 13 minutes from time to take the game to penalties.

Xavi's side now turn their focus back to LaLiga matters with a home match against Elche on Saturday, before travelling to Sevilla three days later for their final game of a testing year.

Barca have been linked with Erling Haaland as they prepare for 2022 after the Borussia Dortmund striker's agent reportedly met with club president Joan Laporta.

Given the LaLiga side's well-publicised financial issues, however, a move for the in-demand Norway international seems highly unlikely next year.

"These are all hypotheses," Xavi said when asked about the recent transfer speculation. "We will see, because we depend a lot on the salary limit and on financial fair play.

"We are not in our best moment but we will try to strengthen the team and the reinforcement of Dani will also go very well for us. In all markets we would like to strengthen."

Julian Nagelsmann hailed the "outstanding" Serge Gnabry after he scored a hat-trick in Bayern Munich's 5-0 thrashing of Stuttgart.

Gnabry marked his first start for almost a month with a superb display, helping himself to a treble and laying on the other two goals for Robert Lewandowski in the city where he was born.

The Germany forward gave Bayern a 1-0 half-time lead and they ran riot after the break, scoring three times in the space of five minutes behind closed doors at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Tuesday.

Gnabry was directly involved in five goals in a competitive match for only the second time in his career, with the only previous instance coming in the 7-2 win at Tottenham in October 2019 - when he scored four and provided one assist

Victory in Julian Nagelsmann's 200th Bundesliga match as a head coach put the champions nine points clear at the top of the table.

Nagelsmann lauded Gnabry, who has had to bide his time to force his way back into the team after a spell in quarantine and has also been hampered by an injury.

The Bayern head coach said: "He is an outstanding player who is currently struggling with his back and therefore maybe gets a tad less minutes than he deserves.

"He did very, very well today."

It was another devastating performance from the Bavarian giants, but there was concern when they lost Kingsley Coman to an injury in the first half

Nagelsmann said of the France winger: "We don't have an exact diagnosis for him yet. It's a muscular issue. We're hoping that it's nothing serious."

Lewandowski's double took him level with the great Gerd Muller on a record 41 goals in a calendar year in the German top flight.

Serge Gnabry scored a hat-trick and laid on a double for Robert Lewandowski as Bayern Munich moved nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with a 5-0 thrashing of Stuttgart.

Gnabry, making his first start for almost a month, opened the scoring in the first half and clinically doubled the champions lead after the break behind closed doors at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Tuesday.

The outstanding Gnabry then set Lewandowski up twice and completed his treble as the leaders ran riot in Julian Nagelsmann's 200th Bundesliga match as coach, scoring three times in the space of five second-half minutes.

Bayern lost Kingsley Coman to an apparent hamstring injury, but cruised to a sixth consecutive victory in all competitions.

Gnabry was a livewire from the start and he flashed an early shot across the face of the Stuttgart goal before Lewandowski fired straight at goalkeeper Florian Muller.

Omar Marmoush dragged a tame strike wide against the run of play before Gnabry put the champions in front, finding the back of the net with a classy first-time right-foot finish after Leroy Sane - on for the injured Coman - set him up five minutes before the break.

Stuttgart showed plenty of endeavour following the interval but Gnabry struck again in the 53rd minute, taking a pass from Thomas Muller and beating Marc Oliver Kempf before calmly slotting home with his left foot.

Gnabry then turned provider, picking out Lewandowski with a superb pass which the striker controlled on his chest and raced into the box before nonchalantly lifting the ball over the advancing Stuttgart keeper and into the net.

The same pair combined again as Lewandowski was on hand to slot home inside the six-yard box from a Gnabry cross.

Gnabry then capped a brilliant performance by tucking in from close range after the busy Muller could only palm into his path with 16 minutes to go.

The Brooklyn Nets listed Kevin Durant as questionable for Tuesday's game against the Toronto Raptors – and COVID-19 protocols have seen five others ruled out.

Durant has 'right ankle soreness', the Nets said, and that comes two days after he scored a season-high 51 points in the Nets' 116-104 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Kyrie Irving remains away from the team and unavailable having refused to be vaccinated, and Joe Harris is another confirmed absentee after undergoing ankle surgery.

The NBA's strict protocols in pandemic times mean the Nets also must cope without five more members of Steve Nash's squad.

It had been previously announced that Paul Millsap was on that list, before the Nets added LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre' Bembry, James Johnson and Jevon Carter on Tuesday.

Aldridge, Johnson and Bembry were starters, alongside Durant, in Sunday's clash with Detroit.

The clash with Toronto is due to be the first of five games in eight days at Barclays Center for the Nets, whose 19-8 record sees them lead the way in the Eastern Conference.

Mario Balotelli believes he can earn a dramatic Italy recall in time for the World Cup play-offs, according to his club boss Vincenzo Montella.

The former Inter, Manchester City and Liverpool striker scored 14 goals in 36 games for the Azzurri before his international career ground to a halt in 2018.

Despite his long-time ally Roberto Mancini being head coach of the Azzurri, there has been little hint of a return to Italy duty since Mancini gave him three caps early in his reign.

Those three appearances were Balotelli's first for Italy since the 2014 World Cup, and he has not been called into a squad since September 2018, with his club career taking him in the meantime from Nice onwards to Marseille, Brescia, Monza and currently Adana Demirspor in Turkey.

Balotelli has scored five Super Lig goals this season for a team who sit eighth in the table after 16 games.

Former Roma frontman Montella, who also played for Italy, has floated the idea that there could yet be another chapter in the story of Balotelli's Azzurri career.

"Balotelli has extraordinary technical qualities. He is a good guy who sometimes goes off a little. But I found him very motivated, and I believe that in his career he has never been as concentrated as this year with us," Montella told Italia 1's Tiki Taka programme.

"He is growing a lot, it is a pleasure to coach him. He has the obsession to return to the national team. He is motivated, he believes in it, he knows he has to work hard, but he knows he has three months to convince Mancini that he knows everything about him, his strengths and weaknesses."

Italy won Euro 2020 just five months ago but face a battle to get to the World Cup, knowing they must beat North Macedonia on March 24 to set up a decider against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal or Turkey.

This is because, despite remaining unbeaten in qualifying so far, they finished only second to Switzerland in the group stage. Italy missed out on the 2018 World Cup, so to do so for a second successive time would be a major blow.

Montella said: "Mancini has done an extraordinary job since the beginning of his Azzurri adventure and winning the European Championship was a great thing. Getting to the World Cup will be difficult but Italy, in difficulties, always manage to bring out the best of its potential. I wish and hope that we will be able to qualify."

Australia have a 100 per cent record in day-night Tests and another victory at Adelaide Oval will leave England's hopes of regaining the Ashes hanging by a thread.

The tourists made a nightmare start to the series at the Gabba, slumping to a nine-wicket defeat after Joe Root had won the toss and opted to bat first on a green pitch under cloudy skies.

England were rolled over for only 147 on day one in Brisbane after Rory Burns lost his off stump to the first ball of the match from Mitchell Starc.

Captain Root (89) and Dawid Malan (82) showed some resistance in the second innings after Travis Head had made the third-fastest Ashes century, but another collapse left Australia with the straightforward task of chasing 20 to go 1-0 up.

Pat Cummins could not have wished for a much better start to his reign as Test skipper, taking 5-38 on the opening day as England crumbled meekly.

The Australia attack will be licking their lips at the prospect of doing more damage with the pink ball in Adelaide, where they will be hunting what would be a sixth win in seven matches in the longest format in Adelaide.

No side has a better record than Australia's eight out of eight in day-night Tests, while England have lost three day-nighters out of four and their only victory was against West Indies in 2017.

Stats Perform looks at some of the selection issues both sides will be weighing up and picks out where the second Test, which starts on Thursday, could be won and lost.

Anderson and Broad to shine under the lights?

Eyebrows were raised in the Australia camp and far beyond when both James Anderson and Stuart Broad were left out for the first Test.

With 1,156 Test wickets between them, the pace-bowling stalwarts would have been rubbing their hands together at the prospect of racing in at the start of the series but watched on as Australia's bowlers had a field day.

Broad should be back in for his 150th Test and Anderson will surely return under the lights.

The selectors face a tough call when deciding who to leave out as Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes came out the first Test with credit, while spinner Jack Leach endured a chastening start to the series.

Hazlewood injury forces Australia into at least one change

Australia will be without Josh Hazlewood after he suffered a side strain in Brisbane and Jhye Richardson is the favourite to replace him.

Hazlewood took 5-8 when Australia bowled India out for an embarrassing 36 last December, but either Richardson or Michael Neser will get a chance to exploit England's vulnerability with the bat.

Richardson has taken 23 wickets in four Sheffield Shield matches this season at an average of 13.43 and looks primed to make his Ashes bow in what would be his third Test.

Australia are hopeful David Warner is fit to open after he took a couple of blows to the ribs in the opening Test.

Antoine Griezmann faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering a thigh injury in Atletico Madrid's derby defeat to Real Madrid on Sunday.

Griezmann had to be withdrawn at half-time in Atleti's 2-0 LaLiga loss at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The France international underwent an MRI scan and discovered he sustained a muscle injury to his right thigh.

Griezmann will seemingly miss the trip to Sevilla on Saturday and is also set to sit out the visit to Granada next Wednesday.

The 30-year-old has scored seven goals in 18 games since re-joining the Spanish champions from Barcelona on transfer deadline day.

Diego Simeone's side are fourth in the table following back-to-back LaLiga defeats, 13 points behind leaders Los Blancos.

Griezmann scored in a 3-1 win at Porto last week that sealed Atleti's place in the last 16 of the Champions League, setting up a tie against Manchester United.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and will not be considered for selection to face West Ham following last week's disciplinary breach, the club has confirmed.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and will not be considered for selection to face West Ham following last week's disciplinary breach, the club has confirmed.

Mikel Arteta left Aubameyang out of the squad for the 3-0 weekend defeat of Southampton, confirming afterwards that the Gabon international was dropped for disciplinary reasons.

Aubameyang was reported to have returned to the club late after being granted a trip abroad, though Arteta did not elaborate on what the striker was being punished for.

Arteta did appear to suggest Aubameyang would be back in contention to face the Hammers on Wednesday, but Arsenal have since communicated he is to be left at home.

A club statement read: "Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday's match against West Ham United.

"We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed.

"We are fully focused on tomorrow's match."

Sergio Aguero will provide a statement on his future this Wednesday amid reports the Argentinian striker has decided to retire due to a heart condition.

The 33-year-old has not played since an early substitution against Deportivo Alaves towards the end of October, when Aguero had to be taken to hospital after complaining of chest discomfort.

Sergi Barjuan, interim coach at the time, said Aguero told him he was feeling "a little dizzy".

The former Manchester City player was subsequently ruled out for at least three months in order to undergo a "diagnostic and therapeutic process".

At the time, Barca said the "effectiveness of treatment will be evaluated in order to determine his recovery process", but ever since there have been mutterings in the media that Aguero decided to retire.

Head coach Xavi denied such reports a month ago, but they resurfaced in the past week, with claims an announcement was expected on Wednesday.

Barca have now confirmed Aguero will be making a statement on Wednesday.

A brief statement read: "We inform you that on Wednesday December 15 at 12:00 [CET] at the facilities of the Camp Nou, the appearance of Sergio 'Kun' Aguero to explain his future will take place.

"The event will also feature the participation of Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona and the player of the first team."

Joe Root is confident England will bounce back from their chastening loss in the first Ashes Test.

The tourists slumped to a nine-wicket defeat in Brisbane, having been skittled for a paltry 147 in the first innings as Australia seized the upper hand.

Root's side will seek redemption when the second Test, a day-night match, begins in Adelaide on Thursday.

And the captain has no fears of history repeating itself, with England having failed to win a single Test across their previous two Ashes tours.

"It doesn't feel like previous tours leaving Brisbane where we have been battered and completely on the wrong end of the result," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I think we're leaving Brisbane with a slightly different perspective.

"There is a lot more optimism. I thought our bowlers did a brilliant job and created a lot of chances, but when you don't take them it makes it really hard."

England's team selection came under scrutiny after James Anderson and Stuart Broad were left out at the Gabba. Spinner Jack Leach was included and posted 1-102 from 13 overs.

Anderson looks set to come back into the fold as he aims to build on his record haul of Test wickets for his country, but the need for a spin option could see Broad sidelined again, with Dom Bess the possible beneficiary.

"No selection is straightforward and this one looks like it could be a fascinating one," said Root.

"The great thing is we have got everyone fit and available and ready, so whoever is given the opportunity, you would like to think they will be champing at the bit.

"We obviously have big decisions to make."

The returning Ben Stokes suffered a knee injury while fielding in Brisbane and Root conceded there is some doubt over the all-rounder's involvement.

"We will find out about Ben over the next couple of days," said Root.

"Hopefully that is something he's shaken off now and he can get back to full intensity, but all options are on the table. We will have to manage that and see where we are at."