BOSTON -- Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo "is feeling better" but remains week-to-week from the head hit that earned Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson a seven-game suspension, coach Bruce Cassidy said Sunday.

"He's obviously going to be out for a while," Cassidy said.

The NHL suspended Wilson for the fifth time in his career on Saturday, after his hit in the first period of Friday night's game sent Carlo to the hospital in an ambulance. The Capitals wing will also lose $311,781.61 in pay.

"What separates this hit from others is the direct and significant contact to a defenseless player's face and head, causing a violent impact with the glass," the league said in a statement. "This is a player with a substantial disciplinary record taking advantage of an opponent who is in a defenseless position and doing so with significant force."

Although no diagnosis has been released, Carlo was woozy leaving the ice after Wilson smashed his head into the glass, a telltale sign of a concussion. Cassidy called the hit "predatory" but declined to go into details on the suspension.

"I was glad they looked at it, and they did assess some discipline," he said. "I've made my feelings known on what I felt with the hit. ... I've kind of moved on and getting ready for New Jersey."

The Bruins return to the ice Sunday night against the Devils.

"The guys are in a good place," Cassidy said, adding that he texted Carlo on Sunday morning. "They're concerned about Brandon. Getting good news that he's feeling better helps our group. We're a tight-knit group."

Even by his standards it has been an eventful week for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who signed off after performing at the Sanremo music festival by declaring: "I love you Italy, my second home."

The week got off to a difficult start for the AC Milan striker as he was forced to respond to widespread criticism over his comments that sportspeople like four-time NBA champion LeBron James should avoid getting involved in political matters.

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James, one of the NBA's leading voices against racial injustice and police brutality, responded by vowing to "never shut up about things that are wrong," but Ibrahimovic stood by his comments.

"Racism and politics are two different things. Athletes unite the world, politics divides it," the Swede said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old then made the first of four appearances on stage at the five-day music festival in Liguria, before returning to Milan for treatment on an injury that has kept him out of his side's two fixtures this week.

On returning to Sanremo on Thursday to sing an awkward duet rendition of "Io Vagabondo" on stage with Bologna's manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, he had to hitchhike the final 60km on a motorbike after encountering traffic problems.

"After three hours in the car, I told my driver to open the door to let me out," Ibrahimovic said. "I stopped a motorcyclist and asked him, 'Can you take me to Sanremo?' Luckily he was a Milan fan.

"I know, it seems incredible. I made the video because otherwise no one would have believed me."

For his final performance on stage before joining up with his teammates to watch Milan's match at Hellas Verona on Sunday from the stands, Ibrahimovic signed off with typical hubris.

"Everyone knew Zlatan before this festival, so why did Zlatan come here? Because he likes challenges, adrenaline," he said on Saturday night after his final appearance.

"If you don't challenge yourself, you cannot win. If Zlatan can make a mistake, so can you, the important thing is to make a difference every day with effort, dedication, perseverance and concentration.

"I am at this festival to tell all of you that in your own small way, you can be Zlatan. Thank you to Italy, my second home."

Without their injured top scorer -- the Swede has 14 goals in as many Serie A games this season -- second-placed Milan are trying to close the gap on city rivals Inter Milan at the top.

Real Madrid remain alive in the La Liga title race after Karim Benzema struck an 88th minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

Defeat would have left Real eight points off their rivals with 13 games remaining but Benzema buried a late strike to salvage a draw and keep the deficit to five points.

Luis Suarez struck for the home side in the first half and Diego Simeone's men looked set to take a giant stride towards winning their first title since 2014, but Zinedine Zidane's men had other ideas.

Suarez opened the scoring after 15 minutes in a crucial clash at the Wanda Metropolitano, with a fine effort using the outside of his boot, following good work from Marcos Llorente. The goal ended a five-game goal drought and marked Suarez's 498th for club and country in his career.

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Zidane's side went into the match five points behind Atletico, who also have a game in hand, and the Madrid coach said the title race would not be decided by events on Sunday.

Real Madrid, second best for most of the first 45 minutes, called for a penalty late in the first half after Felipe appeared to handle in the area but following a VAR review, nothing was given.

The home side continued to force the issue in the second half, with Llorente and Yannick Carrasco both going close, while Suarez also called Thibaut Courtois into action in the visiting goal.

Benzema squandered a glorious opportunity to equalise 10 minutes from time but his effort was turned behind by Jan Oblak. The striker made amends, though, eight minutes later when he met Casemiro's pass to level it.

Barcelona are three points behind Atletico Madrid following Sunday's derby, and Simeone's side have a game in hand on them.

Liverpool's miserable run at Anfield continued with a 1-0 defeat to relegation-threatened Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.

Mario Lemina capitalised on Mohamed Salah's mistake to score the winner in the first half as Liverpool suffered their sixth consecutive defeat at home.

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Liverpool have also failed to score at home since their 4-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City last month.

The result means that Jurgen Klopp's side remain four points of the top four places while Fulham go level on points with 16th-placed Brighton.

"There were moments we could have had more of an impact on the game -- conceding that goal before half-time was a massive blow," Klopp told Sky Sports.

We tried to react and the boys showed that. In the end we don't score goals and that's a big problem."

He added: "We never had a momentum in the season. You can see it's still in the boys. They still have it all but at the moment can't show it. It would be a masterpiece to find out how we change that overnight."

Despite Klopp saying he wouldn't turn his attention away from the Premier League, Liverpool made seven changes for the game ahead of their Champions League clash against RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

The visitors were a constant threat from the start but their first big chance came after 30 minutes when Alisson denied Josh Maja from close range.

Ademola Lookman enjoyed an impressive afternoon on the left-hand side and almost opened the scoring moments later but his shot was blocked by Neco Williams.

Fulham took a deserved lead on the stroke of half time when Andy Robertson failed to clear a corner and Lemina stole the ball off Salah on the edge of the box and produced a low shot into the corner.

Liverpool went close to an equaliser two minutes after the break but Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola produced a fine save to stop Diogo Jota's well-timed volley inside the box.

Substitute Sadio Mane also came close to scoring after 70 minutes but his looping header clipped the post.

Liverpool pushed for a late goal but Fulham held on to secure an important win in their bid to remain in the league.

"It's a big win. There's a lot of emotion and I am very proud. I am happy for the players and the team because they got nothing short of what they deserved," Fulham boss Scott Parker told the BBC.

"We deserved this result and we have deserved better results over the last few weeks," Parker added.

Bangladesh Emerging Team 264 for 8 (Joy 66, Shamim 53*, White 2-45) beat Ireland Wolves 263 for 7 (Pretorius 90, Rakibul 2-39, Sumon 2-51) by two wickets

Shamim Hossain played a match-winning hand in the Bangladesh Emerging Team's four-wicket win over Ireland Wolves in Chattogram. Shamim, who was part of Bangladesh's title-winning team at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, struck an unbeaten 53 off 39 balls, with three fours and two sixes, to seal the 264-run chase with two balls remaining.

Shamim arrived at the crease in the 36th over, at the fall of Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who top-scored with 66, and added 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Towhid Hridoy. Akbar Ali, the World Cup-winning captain, was run out for a duck with 44 left to win off 28 balls. Shamim and Sumon Khan took them home, the latter scoring a nine-ball 11.

Earlier, Ruhan Pretorius was Ireland Wolves' top-scorer with 90 as they made 263 for 7 in 50 overs. Pretorius struck nine fours and a six off 125 balls as he anchored the innings. He added 88 runs for the first wicket with James McCollum, who made a 62-ball 41.

Pretorius tested negative for Covid-19 yesterday after returning a positive test ahead of the first match, resulting in the game being abandoned.

For the home side, Rakibul Hasan and Sumon took two wickets each.

Jofra Archer has emerged as an injury doubt for the T20I series in India - and perhaps beyond - after suffering a recurrence of an elbow problem.

Archer missed the final Test in Ahmedabad due to an elbow issue which first became apparent ahead of the Cape Town Test at the start of 2020. The injury was subsequently diagnosed as a stress fracture and ruled Archer out of England's originally scheduled tour of Sri Lanka and the IPL; both events were subsequently rescheduled due to Covid-19 restrictions.

While Chris Silverwood, the England head coach, dismissed talk of surgery at this stage, he did admit the ECB's medical team "are talking about how we deal with this [issue in the] long-term".

He also said they will be "monitoring" Archer's fitness before any decision is made on whether he is fit to participate in the T20I series which begins on Friday and promised he will benefit from "every resource" in England's attempt to ensure he enjoys a long Test career.

"Jofra's elbow did flare up a little bit and the medical staff are managing that at the moment," Silverwood said. "Obviously we'll monitor his progress. The medical staff are talking about how we deal with this long term.

"He's trained today with the white-ball squad. We'll be monitoring his situation."

Archer also missed the second Test in India due to the issue although the England management said at the time the injury was not linked to any previous condition.

The timing of the injury might be of particular concern. Archer bowled only five overs in the third Test and only 35.1 in the entire series. To suffer a recurrence of the problem having been lightly used is sure to increase concerns over Archer's future at Test level, in particular. As one of the world's most valuable T20 players, he could make a fine living without risking further damage to his elbow from the strains of the red-ball game.

"I'll be guided by the medics," Silverwood replied to questions about workload management for Archer. "We'll see where we end up with him. I want Jofra to be fit for all forms of cricket. I want him to have a long, successful Test career.

"Could we limit the number of overs he bowls? It's not something I would go out and predict but we'll find out in the course of time. The important thing for me at the moment is that Jofra gets every resource we can provide to make sure he does have a long and successful Test career.

"I'm not sure surgery has come up yet. I'll be guided by the medics on that. I wouldn't say I'm concerned, no."

While England are sure to want Archer fit for the home Test series in England, which starts in August, their real aim is likely to be the T20 World Cup and the Ashes towards the end of the year. With that in mind, if they feel he needs prolonged rest or even surgery, it is likely to take place sooner rather than later. That could raise questions about his availability for this year's IPL, which starts in April and runs until the end of May.

Silverwood confirmed on Sunday that England players involved in the knock-stages of the IPL would not be required back before the end of the tournament. With the final due to be played May 30 and the first Test against New Zealand starting on June 2, that could rule out several first choice Test players. The Rajasthan Royals squad, for example, contains Jos Butter, Ben Stokes and Archer.

"They will be staying for the whole IPL as it stands at the moment," Silverwood said. "We'll be looking at the New Zealand Test series, working our way back and seeing what preparation time we need. We haven't done that at this time, but it's something we will be doing."

The investigation into the doomed handling of bio-secure procedures at the postponed Pakistan Super League will be headed by infectious disease experts Dr Syed Faisal Mahmood and Dr Salma Mohammad Abbas. The two-person fact-finding committee will investigate the protocols that had been in place for the league, look into what went wrong and submit their findings to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani by the end of this month.

The day PCB CEO Wasim Khan announced the league had been indefinitely postponed, he promised an independent investigation into what went wrong when an outbreak within the bubble began to spread, with more cases turning up with each round of testing. There have been well-documented instances of Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) not being adhered to, and the experts are expected to assess if those SOPs were fit for purpose in the first place.

Dr Syed Faisal Mahmood is an Associate Professor in the Section of Infectious Diseases, at the Aga Khan University, while Dr Salma Muhammad Abbas is an infectious diseases consultant with the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore.

"The PCB takes the health and safety of its players, player support personnel and match officials seriously," Mani said. "We have demonstrated our duty of care in the international series against Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as during the nine domestic events in which we successfully staged 220 matches. This included the 34-match National T20 Cup in Multan and Rawalpindi as well as the first and second elevens Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and the Pakistan Cup in Karachi."

The PCB has been keen to point out, in the wake of the PSL suspension fiasco, that the home season had been, up until that point, conducted with relatively few incidents. Towards the end of last year, the board highlighted that it had conducted nearly 3000 tests across the domestic season. But the fragility of the measures alongside it - such as bio-secure bubbles and protocols - was evident in, for example, the number of players turning up with positive Covid-19 tests in New Zealand; more relevantly, it was evident in the number of cases that emerged from the playoffs of the PSL's fifth season, played last November.

Either way, what has happened over the past week or so at the PSL has undone any progress Pakistan had made in this regard, and Mani said he wanted the experts to provide an "honest, constructive and objective review. The independent panel will speak with all the relevant stakeholders, including the event and hotel staff, medical and compliance officers, team players and managements, so that we can get a better understanding how the cases occurred. The independent panel will make such recommendations as it considers appropriate."

Before the investigation has even begun, the debacle looks set to have claimed one scalp - the board's doctor and man in charge of setting protocols at the league, Dr Sohail Saleem. But it's unlikely he will be the last, especially as more damaging facts continue to emerge in the fallout. The report the experts are expected to submit is set to shed further light on precisely what went wrong.

Since Fawad Ahmed tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, organisers scrambled to try and get a potential outbreak under control, but it was already too late. Further cases were discovered at several different franchises, meaning the league wasn't just dealing with one outbreak, but any number of them. On Thursday morning, when further cases at various franchises turned up, PSL 2021 was officially suspended.

Chris Silverwood has warned England may extend their controversial rest and rotation policy into the Ashes if Covid restrictions are still in place.

Each of England's all-format players has been given a break at some point during the tour of Sri Lanka and India. While the arrangement provoked criticism in some quarters, Silverwood, the England head coach, insists the team management will continue to ensure they are "proactive" in "looking after the players".

In particular, it seems the policy will be utilised if players are obliged to remain within bio-bubbles while on international duty. With England having previously experienced several cases of burn out and anxiety exacerbated by prolonged exposure to high-pressure environments, they are keen to ensure the dangers are mitigated by opportunities to spend time out of the bubble and with family.

England's winter schedule includes limited-overs tours of Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. Although the dates of the Ashes are likely to be pushed back a couple of weeks - it seems they may start sometime around December 8 - it still presents an impossibly busy schedule. Two tours of the Caribbean, a T20I one starting in late January, and a Test one, in March, will also be confirmed in the coming days.

"We have to look after our players," Silverwood said. "We want to keep them fit, fresh, healthy and on the park and make sure we're trying to get it right. We're constantly talking about it and trying to make sure we're doing it to the best of our ability.

"I don't think it's acceptable to push somebody until they break and then try and pick them up. We have to make the intervention before anybody does break so we can get them back in an England shirt quicker.

"Equally, everyone misses their family. The families miss the players that are here. If we can't get the families to the players as we normally would, it's important we do our best to get the players to the families. From a well-being point of view, it's so important these players stay connected with their families.

"Will the policy continue into the English summer? It's certainly something we have to be aware of and consider because we don't know what the landscape will look like from a Covid point of view.

"Could players be flying home midway through the Ashes? We have to be proactive in looking after them, so it's certainly something that we may have to look at, yes.

"I know things are slowly opening up, but we will be guided by the medical advice and what's happening in the country. It's certainly something that we are probably going to have around."

The suggestion that England may consider resting players from the Ashes may assuage those angry that the policy was utilised during the India series. So, while Silverwood ultimately hopes he can build a squad of players strong enough to ensure that on-going rotation can take place without any noticeable weakening of the side, he insists this is no reflection of any diminishing desire for success.

"We are trying to grow a group of players where we can put a strong side all the time," he said. "Again, we have to be aware that we have to look after our players. There is a whole load of cricket coming up this summer, then we very quickly disappear abroad once our summer is finished. We've got to make sure we are proactive and look after our players.

"No-one took this series lightly, I can promise you that. Absolutely not. We came here wanting to win and we went hard in that first Test and won it. India then came back hard in the last three Tests. It's a very difficult place to come to and win. History tells you that. Don't for one minute think we took this series lightly because we didn't."

Meanwhile, Silverwood played down concerns about the quality of training facilities in Ahmedabad, insisting they were "the same for both sides". ESPNcricinfo understands the outdoor nets at the stadium have been considered inadequate since the eve of the third Test, with seamers unable to bowl to batsmen due to fear of injuring them.

That has led to fears that some players - especially those who have just joined the squad from England - could be obliged to go into the series without the preparation they might have liked. The T20I series starts on Friday. There are no official warm-up games ahead of it.

"The training facilities are the same for both sides and whatever we get, we will work around it," Silverwood said. "What we did have today was a very good indoor school so we have got facilities to make things work."