Sometimes, sports stars are never more in peril than when they’ve stepped away from the action. From the gruesome to the outlandish, brace yourself for some of the more unusual injuries of the sporting year

Portuguese rider Nelson Oliveira took the biggest win of his career on stage 13 of the Vuelta A Espana yesterday as he outsmarted a 24-man breakaway to win alone in Tarazona.

There’s an appeal to home hunters either end of a long spectrum, at the end of a short terrace, at Cork city’s Shanakiel suburb by the 1870’s Gothic revival church St Mary’s.

Tottenham 3 Swansea 2: Bafetembi Gomis of Swansea suffered a dramatic collapse at White Hart Lane last night, close to the spot where Fabrice Muamba had a cardiac arrest three years ago, but fortunately the French forward fared better than the former Bolton midfielder.

Tottenham 3 Swansea 2

West Brom 2 Swansea 0

Premier League

Lava has been slowly snaking its way towards rural Hawaii communities for months, but it took an oozing stream of molten rock just 45 minutes to burn down an empty house.

People living near an active Hawaii lava flow have been warned to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes.

People living near an active Hawaii lava flow have been warned to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes.

Northern Ireland 2 Portugal 4

The lifelong determination of Oscar Pistorius to transcend traditional sporting boundaries turned him into the most high-profile Paralympic athlete of all time.

Valencia 1 Paris Saint-Germain 2

True confession: your columnist had forgotten all about Ireland playing Germany until I stumbled across the post-match analysis on Friday night’s television.

They tell me Alanis Morissette brought out a new album last week.

Oscar Pistorius and the International Paralympic Committee are to meet to discuss concerns over regulations governing running prostheses after the South African apologised for the timing of his criticism of Brazilian rival Alan Oliveira.

Come back England, all is forgiven.

Substitute Silvestre Varela kept alive Portugal’s hopes of qualifying from Group B with a late strike to spare the blushes of some of his more illustrious team-mates in Lviv.

“Six years ago we were the predators, now we are the prey,” said Portuguese paper Publico yesterday, of a match where the Danes can afford to wait to catch their opponents on the break, whereas Portugal have to score.

Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate)

Benfica produced a dynamic performance to overturn a first-leg deficit against Zenit St Petersburg and earn a place in the last eight of the Champions League last night.

Grieving families gathered today to bury 12 children gunned down in the halls of their Rio de Janeiro school, an unheard-of act of school violence which left stunned Brazilians struggling for answers.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has revealed he tried to offload Didier Drogba while Chelsea manager and confirmed the pair had “conflicts” during his short reign at Stamford Bridge.

JEFFERSON FARFAN struck twice as Schalke fought back from an early deficit to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Valencia last night.

A television news helicopter today crashed near a busy road in Brazil's largest city, killing the pilot and seriously injuring a cameraman on board.

Firefighters using heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands dug for survivors today but only found bodies under a mountain of red earth and crushed lodgings - the worst of a spate of mudslides and floods which have killed at least 64 people in south-eastern Brazil.

A small army of rescuers clambered across a mountain of red earth and crushed homes today in a bid to find survivors of a massive mudslide which killed at least 26 people at an island resort in Brazil.

IT had been a sharp learning curve for Mick McCarthy in his first campaign as Irish manager.

DAVID BECKHAM’S advisers have insisted the England midfielder has no intention of staying at AC Milan beyond March.

David Beckham’s advisers have insisted the England midfielder has no intention of staying at AC Milan beyond March.

David Beckham has no intentions of staying at AC Milan beyond his agreed two-month loan deal, his spokesman insisted today.

Former Portugal coach Agostinho Oliveira believes Carlos Queiroz is the “right man” to replace Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Real Madrid 2 Real Zaragoza 0

The most senior central criminal court judge has commented on the large number of immigrants to Ireland coming before the courts following drunken stabbings.

THE jury in the trial of a Brazilian, accused of murdering his best friend during a party at a flat in Charleville, were yesterday shown video recordings of Garda interviews.

AC MILAN coach Carlo Ancelotti admits an injury to Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will play into his team’s hands for the Champions League semi-final.

Brazilian goalkeeper Dida has been included in AC Milan’s 25-man squad for Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

CRISIS CLUB Real Madrid are set to cut their losses during the transfer window and ditch their two remaining Galacticos, Ronaldo and David Beckham, according to Spanish newspaper AS.

David Beckham will not leave Real Madrid during the current transfer window and is about to reopen talks over a new deal at the Bernabeu, according to the former England captain’s spokesman.

Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko has dismissed talk he wants to return to Italy.

THE long road to the 2007 Champions League final in Athens starts for AC Milan with a game against a side from the host city tonight.