Italian soccer club AC Milan played the famous music from the Champions League in their dressing room on Sunday to try to motivate the players. The only thing was they weren't playing in the Champions League -- it was a domestic match at home to Bologna.

Milan have stuttered in Italy for a few years now but they won the Champions League, Europe's top club trophy, in 2007 and had produced a good performance to beat Olympique Marseille in the same competition the previous week.

Club bosses decided that making the players hear the Champions League music even for a domestic game would give them the same battling mentality they show in Europe. They won 1-0.

What other strange motivational tunes are played in dressing rooms across the sporting world?

Unconventional English soccer club Wimbledon, known as the 'Crazy Gang', used to play heavy metal before matches in the late 1980s and early 90s.

The English cricket team run out to the hymn Jerusalem when playing at home while when David Lloyd was coach at the end of the last decade, he made the players listen to Winston Churchill speeches to gee them up. It didn't always work.

NFL's Cincinnati Bengals often play Guns n Roses' 'Welcome to the Jungle' in the stadium to get the crowd excited.

Of course there are lots of tunes especially used at sports stadiums, like Queen's 'We are the Champions' and Blur's 'Song 2'. What's your favourite?

PHOTO: Clarence Seedorf celebrates after scoring in AC Milan's 1-0 home win over Bologna in Serie A, Sept. 20 The hosts had listened to the Champions League tune to motivate themselves ahead of the match. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

If Renault are found guilty of the race-fixing charge they face in Paris next week -- and the Formula One team announced today they would not be contesting it -- the incident will go down as one of the most brazen attempts at rule-breaking in sport.

As our F1 correspondent Alan Baldwin asked on this blog last week, What would you do if someone asked you to drive into a wall?

There are seemingly endless ways to cheat at sport. Here are a few of the most notorious examples from the depths of the sporting archives:

CHICAGO WHITE SOX - After the heavily favored Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, eight players were charged with being paid by gamblers to throw the championship. The players, including the legendary "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, were banned for life.

BORIS ONISCHENKO - Russian pentathlete Boris Onischenko was sent home in disgrace from the 1976 Montreal Olympics after the Soviet Army Major was found to have rigged the electronic scoring system thanks to a circuit-breaker in the handle of his epee.

DIEGO MARADONA - Argentina won a 1986 World Cup soccer quarter-final against England in Mexico 2-1, with Maradona scoring the first of his two goals with his hand. "it was a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God," the player said in his post-match news conference, coining one of the most famous quotes in sport.

BEN JOHNSON - Days after winning the 100 metres in a world record time at the 1988 Seoul Olympics the Canadian athlete Johnson tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol and was stripped of his gold medal. The media had been captivated by the rivalry between Johnson and Carl Lewis ahead of the race and the Candian's subsequent positive test shocked the world.

TONYA HARDING - Harding was banned for life from Olympic skating for trying to cover up a 1994 knee-clubbing of rival Nancy Kerrigan by her then-husband Jeff Gillooly and an associate.

HANSIE CRONJE - In 2000 former South Africa captain Cronje stunned the cricket world after admitting he had accepted about $130,000 from bookmakers to influence the course of matches. He
was subsequently banned for life from the game. Cronje died in a plane crash in June 2002 aged just 32.

PARALYMPICS - In 2000 Spain's Paralympic basketball team were ordered to hand back gold medals won at the Sydney Games after 10 of their players were found to have no disability.

HARLEQUINS - In August Dean Richards resigned as director of rugby at Harlequins, and was then suspended from world rugby for three years for his role in a faked blood injury to wing Tom Williams during a Heineken Cup game against Leinster.

With a large tip of the hat to Dave Cutler and Chris Barnett of the Editorial Reference Unit here at Reuters.

I just came across an interesting blog on the bleacher report comparing the greatness of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.

Here in Italy, the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper has been running a series called "Impossible duels" where the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt have gone up against each other in a bizarre statistical battle.

But if there is even a debate about whether we can say Federer is the greatest player in tennis, how can we start to compare across sports?

We can talk about desire, mental toughness etc but the sports are so radically different.

Despite my doubts, here goes. Who was/is the greatest sports personality ever?

CAPTION: Can you name all the sporting figures in this photo?

The South African sporting public were a little underwhelmed by the early stages of the Confederations Cup and the British and Irish Lions tour but the last few days has seen a major turnaround and there is now something in the air.

Relatively high ticket prices combined with the Sprinboks' decision to keep their players out of their Super 14 teams combined to ensure the early provincial games were played against a backdrop of empty seats.

Now, however, with the first test looming on Saturday, a ticket for King's Park is like gold dust. The few thousand Lions fans who followed the team round the country over the first three weeks have been joined by a massive influx for the tests.

Estimates are that more than 30,000 will arrive for some part of the tour and they were out in force in Durban this week. Balmy seaside temperatures, good cheap food and, vitally, even cheaper beer, makes the coastal resort a dream destination for rugby tourists.

Organised groups, more often than not bedecked in matching tour shirts, are fillling the oceanside bars by night, while taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities South Africa has to offer by day.

While everyone has an opinion on whether the Boks should or should not have played a warm-up match and on the Proteas' prospects in cricket's World Twenty20, the efficiency of Iraq's back four in the Confederations Cup has not been at the conversational fore.

However, South Africa's victory over New Zealand on Wednesday has stirred things up and, with the World Cup less than a year away, previously pessimistic fans are warming again to their side, who are well-placed to reach the semi-finals of this dry-run tournament on home soil.

It's not exactly World Cup fever just yet, but the temperature is definitely rising.

PHOTO: A fan cheers before South Africa take on New Zealand in their Confederations Cup soccer match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg June 17, 2009. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Cristiano Ronaldo's obsession with scoring an unforgettable goal in the Champions League final makes perfect sense now the world knows he always intended to leave Manchester United afterwards for Real Madrid.

Reaction in England to his departure was captured in a Guardian headline: "United fans will miss outrageous talent but not a charmless man". Ronaldo, it was said, possessed sumptuous talent coupled with obnoxious self-regard.

What, in the end, will Ronaldo be remembered for? His artistry as a footballer or his perceived failings as a man?

John Updike, who died this year aged 76, gives a clue.

A prodigiously prolific novelist, short story writer, playwright, literary critic, art critic and poet, Updike also produced one classic piece of sports writing entitled "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu". It is a wonderful account of Ted Williams's last game at Fenway Park in 1960, which turned out to be the great slugger's last game anywhere.

Updike cuts to the essence of all great athletes.

"He radiated, from afar, the hard blue glow of high purpose... For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill."

Baseball, says Updike, and by extension any sport, is maintained "...not by the occasional heroics that sportswriters feed upon but by players who always care; who care, that is to say, about themselves and their art."

Williams's craftsmanship and rigour appealed to Updike's puritan soul. His achievements, like Williams's, depending on unsparing daily endeavour.

There was, though, a contradiction between Williams the athlete and Williams the man. He was, the sportswriter Roger Kahn said bluntly, "not a man to match the deed but an egocentric emotionalist who seems most of all to need a spanking".

Updike did not avoid the controversies which dogged Williams's career. He just didn't think they mattered. Kahn cared no more than Updike about the personal foibles of Williams or of any other ballplayer. "They are all players in a drama larger than themselves," Kahn wrote. "There is a classic tragedy within major league
baseball that catches and manipulates the life of every athlete as surely as forces beyond the heaths manipulated Hardy's simple Wessex folk into creatures of imposing stature."

Art, not the artist, is what matters in the end. Lord Byron, as a recent biography by Edna O'Brien confirms, was a moral monster. Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra were deeply flawed. Their poetry, pictures, films and music will endure, regardless.

So, too, will the memories of Ronaldo's mesmerising feats at Old Trafford when the narcissism and petulance we read so much about last week have been long forgotten.

Pau Gasol's triumph with the LA Lakers has prompted more articles in the Spanish media celebrating the country's incredible run of sporting success.

Gasol was a vital cog in the Lakers machine this season and joins a long list of Spanish champions in individual and team sports.

Spain's soccer team, after winning Euro 2008, has cemented its hold on the number one ranking by extending its unbeaten run to 33 matches, Barcelona strolled to the Champions League title last month with a humbling of holders Manchester United, Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked men's tennis player and Spain Davis Cup champions, Jorge Lorenzo is joint leader in the MotoGP world championships and Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France, the third Spanish victory in a row.

"Another success for Spanish sport," Nadal wrote of Gasol on his website on Tuesday. "It's hard to take in everything that we are achieving," he added. "We should be very proud."

"Gasol has passed a new milestone for Spanish sport, even if there are not that many goals left to achieve," said sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky.

Writing in Marca newspaper on Tuesday, columnist Santiago Segurola said the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 were a turning point for the country, changing the way people outside Spain viewed the nation and laying the foundations for today's sporting achievements.

While Spain might not be the strongest sporting nation overall, it was among those that produced the widest variety of champions, almost all in sports with huge media impact, he added.

However, the recent success of athletes like Gasol and Nadal could be a mixed blessing for the team bidding to bring the Olympic Games to Madrid in 2016.

It helps raise the nation's global profile but also serves to underline the relative weakness of Spain in the key Olympic sports of athletics and swimming.

"We are enjoying the luxury but lacking in the basics," Segurola wrote.

Spain's performance at the last Olympics in Beijing, where they came 14th in the medals table behind the likes of Jamaica, Netherlands and Ukraine, underscored their athletes' deficiencies, Juan Bautista Martinez wrote in Tuesday's La Vanguardia.

But at a time of economic crisis, with unemployment soaring and firms closing down, sport had become a kind of motor of society that had helped lift damp spirits, he said. "When everything is going down the tubes, sport comes to the rescue."

Whether or not Madrid pips Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to win the right to host the 2016 summer Games, the elusive dream for many Spaniards remains winning the soccer World Cup for the first time.

If Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta maintain anything like their current form, South Africa next year could well be the icing on the cake for this over-achieving nation of 40 million people.

PAU: Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol reaches for a rebound in the 3rd quarter during Game 4 of their NBA Finals series against the Orlando Magic in Orlando, Florida June 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski

INIESTA: Barcelona's Andres Iniesta holds the trophy after their Champions League final victory against Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, May 27, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

As expected, Japan booked their place in next year’s World Cup soccer finals with two games to spare, sparking wild celebrations after a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan on Saturday.

Perhaps he had celebrated too much on the flight back from Tashkent, but less than 24 hours later Japan coach Takeshi Okada was talking about reaching the World Cup semi-finals in South Africa. It is hard to imagine Spain's Vicente del Bosque or England's Fabio Capello losing much sleep.

The Japanese have had a bit of a bee in their bonnet ever since South Korea stole their thunder by becoming the first Asian side to reach the last four in 2002, when the two countries co-hosted the tournament.

An embarrassing flop at the 2006 finals in Germany under Brazilian coach Zico stung even more – so much so that Japan’s best player Hidetoshi Nakata lay sobbing on the pitch after their last match and promptly quit the game. Japan have done little since to suggest they are on the verge of breaking into the world’s top four.

Okada is no Guus Hiddink, who masterminded South Korea’s remarkable run to the 2002 semi-finals.

Asia’s allotment of four automatic World Cup berths, with a possible fifth via a playoff, means the likes of Japan, South Korea and Australia can hardly fail to qualify.

It is what happens once they get there that counts and only South Korea – and plucky North Korea in England at the 1966 finals – have made any real impact on the world’s biggest tournament thus far.

Spain showed they have taken the game to another level with their inspired Euro 2008 triumph, England have improved beyond recognition under Capello, while Brazil and Argentina will also be among the favourites in South Africa. Japan still lag behind South Korea, and arguably Australia, in Asia.

Okada’s bravado raised a few eyebrows, and may have put unnecessary pressure on the Japanese.

Photo credits: REUTERS/Issei Kato (file photos)

(Corrects paragraph 8 to ... Euro 2008 ..., not ... Euro 2006)

It has been quite a day in the world of sport, especially for tired sports journalists.

Rafael Nadal lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round at the French Open. Yes you read that right. The four-time champion's 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros is over.

Less of a surprise was Carlo Ancelotti saying he was leaving as AC Milan soccer coach, although he refused to confirm he is heading for Chelsea.

To cap a frenetic day, Russia's Denis Menchov won the Giro d'Italia despite falling over only seconds from the line.

I forgot why I love sport so much....

I am not exactly sure why being able to kick a ball or drive a car well means you would be good at card games, but the number of sportsmen indulging in professional poker tournaments has now reached ludicrous proportions.

The latest to declare his love for poker is the France soccer team coach Raymond Domenech.

“I want to take on the world champions in Las Vegas,” he told Italy’s poker-obsessed Gazzetta dello Sport this week.

“My job helps me as I have learnt the capacity to analyse an opponent. Like football, a glance is all that’s needed, a feeling.”

Former Italy striker Chiristan Vieri is thinking of making a career out of poker and a raft of other ex-soccer players with too much time on their hands are taking part in various tournaments. I guess they practiced poker a lot on all those long coach rides to Middlesbrough, Lecce and Celta Vigo away.

Formula One drivers have thier own poker tournament which is televised by an Italian network.

Personally, I don’t understand the attraction of watching 10 people sat around a table for a few hours, but I guess the world’s obsession with the Big Brother programme proves I’m out of sync.

Come to think of it, the whole thing is a bit like the Big Brother house. The poker tables have to be transparent so the cameras can sneak under to see what cards the players have while the sets often look like some wine bar on the 50th floor of a skyscraper.

PHOTO: Jamie Gold of Malibu, California becomes the new World Series of Poker champion, winning $12 million in Las Vegas, Nevada August 11, 2006. REUTERS/Tiffany Brown

With the new Star Trek film out, we thought we’d have a bit of fun and see which soccer players could play the famous characters.

They’ve changed all the actors anyway and brought in a youthful crop, so why not?

Over at Kottke.org, they’ve already done it with NBA players. Captain Kirk is Tony Parker they reckon.

Reuters resident Trekkies Kevin Fylan and Alison Wildey had a bash at a soccer version but please come up with your own ideas in the comments below.

1. David Beckham as Kirk (if not John Terry or Steven Gerrard)

2. Someone logical and Germanic as Spock, so maybe Arsene Wenger

3. Scotty would have to be a little powerhouse who fixes it just in time like Maradona (or a Scotsman like Archie Gemmill)

4. Bones is tricky. Are there any doctors in football? Dr Josef Venglos? Did Norman Whiteside go off and get a physio qualification?

5. We need the guy in red who gets shot at the start of each episode. Darren Fletcher?

PHOTO: Cast member Zachary Quinto poses at the premiere of the movie “Star Trek” at the Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California April 30, 2009. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni