MADRID- - Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez has been relying on second-string players to get the club through a mini injury crisis but should have several of his heavyweights back when Paris St Germain visit in the Champions League on Tuesday.
  Playmaker James Rodriguez, striker Karim Benzema and captain and centre back Sergio Ramos all look likely to be fit for the clash at the Bernabeu as the record 10-times winners look to pull clear of PSG at the top of Group A.
  Midfielder Luka Modric may not be available after he was taken off at halftime in Saturday's 3-1 La Liga win at home to Las Palmas with a sore hip, while it is unclear when forward Gareth Bale might return from a calf injury.
  With a string of regulars missing in recent weeks, Benitez has deployed youngsters like Casemiro, Jese, Lucas Vazquez and Nacho -- who all graduated from Real's B team -- to keep their season ticking over.
  Real remain unbeaten in La Liga and are joint top with champions Barcelona on 24 points after 10 matches. The goal they conceded to Las Palmas on Saturday -- a header at a corner -- was the first they conceded at home this season.
  "I told the players that these are the games they have to make the most of," Benitez said.
  "They are collecting points for us and they are helping us maintain our competitiveness so the team can keep growing.
  "When the other players return it will be harder but the important thing is that they are available and they contribute to keeping the team winning."
  PSG coach Laurent Blanc was pleased to come through Friday's Ligue 1 match at Rennes with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from former Real midfielder Angel Di Maria and without sustaining any injuries to key players.
  Blanc, whose side are also unbeaten this term, has been without centre back David Luiz after he sustained a knee injury on duty with Brazil last month.
  Real and PSG drew 0-0 at the Parc des Princes last month in their first competitive game in more than 20 years and are tied on seven points from three of six matches.
  A win for either side would earn a place in the last 16 should Malmo lose at Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

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LONDON-- England were 222 for four wickets in reply to Pakistan's 234 all out at the end of the second day of the third and final test in Sharjah on Monday.
  James Taylor, seeking a maiden test century, was unbeaten on 74 and Jonny Bairstow was 37 not out.
  Their stand for the fifth wicket was worth 83 at the close.
  Pakistan, hoping to maintain their impressive record since moving matches to the United Arab Emirates, won the second test after the first was drawn.
  England eventually had the better of a slow day's play, in which only 48 runs came in the middle session.
  Starting the day at four for no wicket, they lost Moeen Ali cheaply for 14, falling with a cross-batted slog at Shoaib Malik.
  That was the only wicket to fall before lunch, although Alastair Cook and then Joe Root perished in quick succession soon after the interval.
  Cook was outsmarted again by Yasir Shah, who had dismissed him in both innings of the previous test.
  The England captain was one run short of his 46th test fifty when he tried to glance a delivery from the leg spinner but only managed to deflect it onto his pads before Azhar Ali took the catch at forward short leg.
  Root (four) soon joined him back in the pavilion after wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed took a low, one-handed catch off Rahat Ali to leave England 97 for three.
  Taylor, returning to test cricket after an absence of three years, and Ian Bell saw them through to tea, only for Bell to be smartly stumped off Yasir for 40.
  That was Pakistan's last success of the day, however, Bairstow accompanying Taylor through to the close to leave England in the driving seat.

MEXICO CITY-- Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen, who was not even born last time Formula One raced in Mexico, set the pace in first practice as the sport returned to the country after a 23-year absence on Friday.
  The 18-year-old Dutch driver, whose father Jos made his F1 debut two years after the last grand prix in Mexico City in 1992, lapped the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in a best time of one minute 25.990 seconds.
  He appeared to cut a corner on the Esses sequence in doing so, however.
  Red Bull's Russian Daniil Kvyat, also born two years after Britain's Nigel Mansell won that 1992 race, was second fastest 0.305 behind in a Renault-powered one-two at the top of the timesheets.
  Britain's Lewis Hamilton, who took his third world championship last Sunday in Texas, was only 11th fastest and told to cool his brakes.
  His Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, who is fighting Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel for second place overall with three races remaining, was sixth despite his car's rear brakes catching fire.
  The German headed back to the pits with flaming wheels but returned shortly before the end of the session.
  Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel were third and fourth fastest.
  Mercedes have also won the constructors' championship, leaving Sunday's race with nothing to play for other than the race win and precious points for those further down the standings.
  The high-altitude circuit, much revamped from the old one with the daunting Peraltada curve now cut in half, has one of the longest straights on the calendar and Friday's start to practice was in damp conditions.
  "It's so slippery everywhere, it's like there's oil," commented Verstappen over the radio.
  Spectators queued outside from early on, amid a heavy police presence and the usual traffic gridlock, to get a glimpse of the cars and home favourite Sergio Perez.
  Mexico's only current Formula One driver, who is likely to be joined on the grid by Esteban Gutierrez next season, was ninth fastest.