Linebacker Harrison released by Steelers
James Harrison’s long tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers is over.
The AFC North champions on Saturday released the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker and 2008 NFL defensive player of the year to make room for right tackle Marcus Gilbert, who is returning from a suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy.
Harrison, 39, is the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks with 801⁄2 in 14 seasons.
He retired in September 2014 after playing with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2013 but returned when the Steelers ran into injury trouble.
Harrison has been active in only five of Pittsburgh’s 14 games.
Alonso joins Indians
Free-agent first baseman Yonder Alonso signed a two-year, $16million contract with the Cleveland Indians.
Alonso last season played with the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners, and hit a career-high 28 home runs. His previous best was nine with San Diego in 2012.
Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic broke a bone in his left hand during a game against the Washington Wizards and will be out indefinitely.
Vucevic, who played at USC, suffered the injury in the first quarter. He is Orlando’s third-leading scorer at 17.8 points per game.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored, and Barcelona beat 10-man Real Madrid 3-0 in the Spanish league to extend its unbeaten streak to 25 games across all competitions.
Barcelona increased its lead to nine points over second-place Atletico Madrid, which lost at Espanyol on Friday. Real Madrid is 14 points behind the leaders. Sergio Aguero’s two goals in Manchester City’s English Premier League 4-0 victory over Bournemouth helped give the club 101 goals for the calendar year and across two league seasons. Raheem Sterling scored his 16th goal for Manchester City, which has won 17 consecutive games.
Harry Kane scored a hat trick for Tottenham in a 3-0 victory at Burnley to equal Alan Shearer’s EPL record of 36 goals in a calendar year. Kane converted an early penalty and struck twice in the second half to match Shearer’s feat from 1995.
Midfielder Marek Hamsik became Napoli’s all-time leading scorer after netting his 116th goal for the Serie A club to surpass former Argentine striker Diego Maradona’s tally.
Hamsik ended a tie with Maradona by scoring after 39 minutes in Napoli’s 3-2 victory over Sampdoria.
It has taken Hamsik 11 seasons and 478 appearances to reach the record. Maradona set the 115-goal mark in 259 games in seven seasons with Napoli.