Soccer Capsules: Barcelona signs Dos Santos to extension to 2015
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona has signed Jonathan Dos Santos to a contract extension that keeps the Mexico midfielder with the Spanish champions until 2015.
Dos Santos, the younger brother of Tottenham player Giovani Dos Santos, has mostly been a regular in Barcelona's "B'' team with sporadic appearances for the senior squad, including in Wednesday's 3-2 Champions League win at AC Milan.
The European champions say the 21-year-old Dos Santos' contract includes a €30 million ($40 million) buy-out clause.
Dos Santos mostly plays as a defensive midfielder but has also filled in at fullback.
Defending champion Barcelona trails Spanish leader Real Madrid by three points going into Saturday's match at Getafe.
League Capsules
City to face Liverpool at start of tough schedule
LONDON (AP) — With its Champions League campaign in danger, Manchester City returns to the safe haven of the Premier League by putting its unbeaten start on the line in a testing trip to Liverpool.
City struggled again in Europe's elite club competition when it lost at Napoli 2-1 Tuesday, leaving the team as outsiders to finish in the top two of the group and qualify for the last 16.
The big-spending northwest side is finding it much easier domestically, holding a five-point lead over Manchester United at the top after going through the first 12 games undefeated. But a tough upcoming schedule will test City's mettle in the run-up to Christmas.
In the next month, City plays at Chelsea and Arsenal at home, but first it has to travel to Liverpool, which is unbeaten in its last seven league matches and fresh because it isn't in Europe. The Reds are also full of confidence after a 2-1 win at Chelsea last weekend.
"I am not taking anything away from them but they do have some tough games coming up," Manchester United defender Phil Jones said. "I don't care how good you are, teams can be put under pressure. This is a difficult league to be in. It would be nice (for United) to reach top spot by Christmas but it is not essential. Don't be writing us off if we are not there by January."
Since being thrashed 6-1 by City at Old Trafford last month, United has won three league games 1-0 to confirm its status as the team most likely to prevent its rival from steamrolling its way to a first title since 1968.
However, the defensive fallibility that affected the defending champions in the first two months of the season reappeared on Tuesday, conceding two soft goals in a 2-2 home draw to Benfica that left them needing a point from their last group game at Basel.
Just as concerning for United manager Alex Ferguson will be the injury picked up by Wayne Rooney, who missed the Benfica match because of a hip problem and could be absent for the game against fourth-place Newcastle on Saturday.
"We need to wait to see what he is like over the next few days," Ferguson said. "We will give him every chance."
Newcastle slipped to its first loss of the season last weekend when it fell 3-1 at City, but has the joint-best defensive record in the league and created enough chances against City to feel it can get something from the trip to Old Trafford.
Newcastle dropped one place in the table last weekend as a result of Tottenham's 2-0 win over Aston Villa, which extended the London club's undefeated run to nine matches — eight of them being wins.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said his team should even be considered as outside bets for the title based on current form ahead of their trip to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
"If you keep winning matches and believe in yourself, you will do it," Redknapp said. "If we keep up (Tottenham's) form, we'll win the league. But that will be very hard."
Having also lost in the Champions League this week to threaten its chances of a spot in the last 16, fifth-place Chelsea — which has lost three of its last four league matches, too — will be desperate for three points from a home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Twelve points behind City, Chelsea is level on points with Liverpool and seventh-place Arsenal, which is looking for a sixth straight league when it hosts Fulham on Saturday.
All eyes will again be on Arsenal striker Robin van Persie after his two goals in the 2-1 win over Norwich last weekend took his tally of league goals in 2011 to 31, becoming only the fifth player in Premier League history to surpass 30 goals in a calendar year.
The Netherlands international is the top scorer in the division with 13 goals.
Elsewhere Saturday, last-place Wigan looks for a first win since August in a match at Sunderland, next-to-last Blackburn travels to Stoke and Bolton — the other team in the relegation zone — hosts Everton. Norwich is at home to Queens Park Rangers.
Aside from Liverpool-City, Sunday's other game will see Aston Villa travel to Swansea.
-- Steve Douglas
Atletico hoping to end winless run against Madrid
MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid has failed to beat Real Madrid in the past 12 years despite winning multiple trophies and fielding Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan among an array of talented players.
The crosstown rivals meet Saturday in the Spanish league at Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the site of Atletico's last capital derby win in 1999 — Madrid then going on an unbeaten run of 21 games against its neighbor across all competitions.
Atletico was eventually relegated that season, and the team is again closer to the drop zone than the lead this campaign, trailing Madrid in top spot by 15 points and only seven points in front of 18th-place Granada.
Oddly, Atletico has managed to beat Barcelona eight times in the past 12 years, only one victory fewer than Madrid has achieved against its fiercest rival.
"We have to play a perfect game," Atletico midfielder Diego said on Thursday. "We have to take advantage of any opportunities, which will probably be few."
While Madrid is waiting to know whether forwards Kaka and Angel Di Maria and defenders Alvaro Arbeloa and Ricardo Carvalho will be available after missing the past two games, Atletico is counting on the return of Colombia striker Radamel Falcao.
Brazil fullback Marcelo trained on Thursday and should return after missing Madrid's 6-2 demolishing of Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Madrid has won 12 straight games in all competitions ahead of the Dec. 10 match against Barcelona, which trails the Spanish leader by three points going into Saturday's crosstown match at Getafe.
Barcelona hasn't lost since last season, a run of 27 games that includes Wednesday's 3-2 Champions League victory at AC Milan. The Spanish and European champions are one match away from equaling the club record set last season.
Valencia is also coming off an impressive European victory, bouncing back from a loss to Madrid by thrashing Belgian club Racing Genk 7-0 on Wednesday.
Valencia is seven points behind Madrid in third place and travels to the Spanish capital on Saturday to play Rayo Vallecano.
Vallecano has been the top performing promoted team this season, sitting in 10th place and level on points with Atletico.
Athletic Bilbao is on a 10-game unbeaten run heading into Sunday's match against Granada, which was on the verge of a second victory in three games against Mallorca before a fan's umbrella hit a referee in the cheek to force the game to be abandoned.
Bilbao center back Jonas Ramalho is expected to remain in the squad after debuting in the victory against Sevilla. The teenager is the first black player to feature for the club, which has fielded only those born in the Basque region since its inception in 1898.
Bilbao is one point behind sixth-place Sevilla and a Europa League qualifying place, with the Andalucians looking to end a five-game winless run at Zaragoza on Sunday.
Malaga has won three of four matches to sit fifth, three points behind Levante and the last Champions League qualifying place. Malaga plays Villarreal on Monday while Levante hopes to end a three-game losing streak when it plays Sporting Gijon on Sunday.
In other games this weekend, Mallorca plays Racing Santander, Espanyol hosts Osasuna and Real Betis looks for its first win in eight games against last-place Real Sociedad.
-- Paul Logothetis
Juventus looking to go clear with win over Lazio
MILAN (AP) — Still undefeated this season, Juventus has a chance to move clear of Serie A co-leader Lazio when the teams meet Saturday at the Stadio Olimpico.
Juventus, which beat Palermo 3-0 last weekend, took advantage of Lazio's goalless draw at Napoli to move back to the top of the standings.
"For us this is a game with a capital 'G,'" Juventus coach Antonio Conte said. "I've been saying for a while that Lazio has the ability to have a top season. We will have to be careful.
"We have grown but none of us want to focus on where we are. Our feet will remain firmly on the ground. I'm hearing a lot of compliments but we still haven't done anything."
AC Milan and Udinese are both one point behind. Milan will have to recover from its midweek loss to Barcelona when it hosts Chievo on Sunday.
Milan lost 3-2 at the San Siro on Wednesday, but the manner of the defeat and the flowing football the teams played will do little to dissuade Conte and many others that Milan remains favorite to retain its Serie A title.
However, Milan vice president Adriano Galliani is eager to see the team get back to winning ways after it was held to a goalless draw at struggling Fiorentina last week.
"Saturday night we were happy and we didn't win," Galliani said. "Against Barcelona it was the same. I hope to have a really awful Sunday night but with a victory this time."
Fiorentina will take that draw against Milan as a sign of improvement in Delio Rossi's first game as coach. Sinisa Mihajlovic was fired after the Tuscan side lost at Chievo 1-0 in its previous game.
Udinese can move temporarily into first place when it hosts Roma on Friday. Roma is looking for its third straight win, but both those victories came against teams in the bottom three — Lecce and Novara.
"I'm curious to see how Roma will act against Udinese, a team which is doing very well," Roma coach Luis Enrique said. "I want to see the hunger that we always have to have. I'm very interested in seeing what we manage to do against them."
Roma's chances could depend on whether Francesco Totti plays. The Roma captain is recently returned after almost two months out injured, but he limped out of training Wednesday with an ankle injury.
Marco Borriello is also a doubt.
Napoli has not had a good run of form lately and had won only one of its past seven matches heading into the Champions League game with Manchester City.
However, Edinson Cavani scored two goals Tuesday to hand Napoli a 2-1 win and what could prove to be a decisive advantage in the race for the knockout stage.
Napoli travels to Atalanta knowing that a win could push it into fifth but a loss could send it spiraling further down a tight table.
Inter Milan, which was held to a 1-1 draw at Trabzonspor in the Champions League, travels to Siena.
Inter beat Cagliari 2-1 last weekend but is still dangerously close to the relegation zone with only 11 points from 10 games.
Also, it's: Lecce vs. Catania; Novara vs. Parma; Cagliari vs. Bologna; and Cesena vs. Genoa.
-- Daniella Matar
Gladbach looks to rise to the top of Bundesliga
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A new generation of "foals" is galloping out of Borussia Moenchengladbach's stables, reminiscent of the champion team of the 1970s.
Led by young star Marco Reus, Moenchengladbach is on its way to reclaiming some of its past glory after spending years in the bottom half of the Bundesliga and two seasons in the second division.
If Gladbach wins in Cologne on Friday, the team will rise to the top of the standings. Even if it does not stay there for more than a day, the club seems set to remain in the top third of the league.
That's a huge transformation for a side that barely escaped relegation last season.
When Lucien Favre took over as coach in February, the team was seven points from safety at the bottom of the Bundesliga, with easily the worst defensive record. Gladbach managed to finish third from bottom and then won the relegation playoff to stay in the top division.
The club began the new season by winning 1-0 at Bayern Munich and has by now shown that it was no fluke.
Last weekend, the team thrashed Werder Bremen 5-0, a win that had many fans looking back nostalgically to the 1970s, when 'Gladbach teams nicknamed the "Foals" won five Bundesliga championships, two UEFA Cup titles and reached one European Cup final.
Under coach Hennes Weisweiler, the "Foals" ran their opponent's ragged with a relentless attacking style. The stars were Berti Vogts, known as the "Terrier" for his dogged defending, elegant playmaker Guenter Netzer, striker Jupp Heynckes — now coach of Bayern Munich — and Allan Simonsen, one of the "Danish dynamite."
The current team boasts some promising youngsters, including Reus, who has 10 goals this season and who is openly being courted by Bayern Munich, Patrick Hermann and 19-year-old goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Favre set three targets when he became coach and says the team is already "very far along the way."
"The first job was to firm up the defense," Favre said of a team that has the second best defense after Bayern this season. "The second stage was to create more chances and the third stage was to win even when we are playing badly."
With 20 goals in 13 games, Moenchengladbach is in the top third of the Bundesliga. Its three losses were narrow 1-0 affairs.
"We have a system and each player knows what to do," said Mike Hanke, a former Germany forward. "But to be a great team, we need to win the German Cup and two straight championships."
Another stalwart is Juan Arango, a Venezuela midfielder.
"His left foot is really something special. His passing is very accurate and he understands football," said Favre, who is Swiss.
Ter Stegen said Favre's methods played a big role in Moenchengladbach's revival.
"He is a perfectionist, he looks at details," Ter Stegen told the German dapd news agency. "He works very closely with players. As a person, he talks a lot with players and always listens to them. We are very grateful for what has happened in the last few months."
"We stuck together after nearly getting relegated. We are on the right path to become a good team, but we are still not even at the halfway mark."
Moenchengladbach is two points behind Bayern, and equal with defending champion Borussia Dortmund. Bayern, which lost to Dortmund last weekend, has a tricky trip to Mainz on Sunday.
Dortmund travels to neighboring Gelsenkirchen to visit fourth-place Schalke on Saturday.
While Bayern advanced to the last 16 in the Champions League by beating Villarreal 3-1, Dortmund is on the verge of being knocked out after losing at Arsenal 2-1. Midfielder Sven Bender broke his jaw in London and will be out for two months.
Fifth-place Werder hosts Stuttgart, which is one slot lower, on Sunday.
In other matches Saturday, Nuremberg hosts Kaiserslautern, Hoffenheim meets Freiburg, Augsburg plays Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen visits Hertha Berlin and Hamburger SV travels to Hannover.
-- Nesha Starcevic
PSG playmaker Pastore looking to rediscover form
PARIS (AP) — Argentina playmaker Javier Pastore will be looking to overcome a poor run of form when leader Paris Saint-Germain visits bitter rival Marseille in the French league on Sunday.
Marseille won the league title in 2010 while PSG finished 13th, but the positions have since been reversed with PSG top of the standings on goal difference and Marseille 12 points off the pace in the middle of the standings.
"We must absolutely win if we want to retain the top spot," Pastore told French daily Le Parisien. "I want to be a champion this season with PSG and then play the Champions League."
Pastore was signed from Palermo in the offseason for a French-record fee of €42 million ($60 million) as part of a player overhaul after wealthy Qatari backers took over the club.
Pastore has played a key role in PSG's rise to the top, scoring five times and setting up two goals in his first seven league matches.
"I was the first person surprised by how quickly I had adapted," Pastore said. "I didn't think I would score so many goals within such a short time. I needed three to four months to adjust in Italy."
His form has dipped lately, scoring only one goal in his last five league matches, and he blames that on long trips to South America to join up with the Argentina squad. But he's aware an outstanding performance at Marseille would endear him to the fans.
"It's a match that people apparently follow with a lot of passion," Pastore said. "On the day of my signing, fans were already mentioning that match to me. They talked about Marseille, telling me to absolutely win this match."
The rivalry dates back to the end of the 1980s when both clubs were fighting for the league title.
"I love those matches," Pastore said. "I give the best of me in that kind of atmosphere. Those are matches in which I want to give a bit more. If we had played Marseille last Sunday instead of Nancy, I don't think I would have performed that poorly."
PSG's 12-game unbeaten run in the league ended with a 1-0 loss to Nancy last weekend. Despite increasing pressure from club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, PSG sporting director Leonardo says he is still backing coach Antoine Kombouare.
"Antoine is the coach," Leonardo said. "He'll remain the coach even if we lose at Marseille."
Marseille is under even greater pressure after losing 1-0 at Montpellier last week in the league and going down by the same score to Olympiakos on Wednesday to miss an opportunity to qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
"It's forbidden to lose three straight matches," Marseille winger Andre Ayew said. "The only option is to win on Sunday. It's a tough moment, but in the past we've managed to bounce back."
Marseille announced Thursday that Andre-Pierre Gignac has been dropped from the squad to face PSG. A club statement said he reacted inappropriately when the team for the Olympiakos game was announced by coach Didier Deschamps.
Gignac, a €16.5 million ($22 million) signing in 2010, was named on the substitutes' bench and came on in the second half against the Greek side.
The odds are against Marseille on Sunday having lost all its matches this season against the higher-placed teams — Lille, Rennes, Lyon and Montpellier — and with PSG undefeated on the road this season in the league.
Marseille's four league wins have come against promoted sides Ajaccio, Evian and Dijon and a team in the relegation zone, Nice.
Montpellier is level on points with PSG and will visit mid-standings Sochaux on Saturday.
"We hope to snatch a European spot," Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud said. "We will try to stay the course until the winter break. We can feel that there's less fluency in our game, which means that we are getting tired. But we will try to keep racking up points."
Montpellier is on a six-game unbeaten run and has won four of its last six league matches. Sochaux finished fifth last season, but has been very inconsistent this term under new coach Mecha Bazdarevic.
Sochaux has one of the most porous defenses in the league, conceding 27 goals in 14 matches. Only promoted Ajaccio and Dijon have leaked more.
Also on Saturday, it's: Bordeaux vs. Caen; Nancy vs. Dijon; Rennes vs. Evian; Saint-Etienne vs. Ajaccio; Toulouse vs. Valenciennes; and Lille vs. Brest.
On Sunday, Auxerre hosts Lyon and Lorient faces Nice.
-- Trung Latieule
Samoa, American Samoa draw World Cup qualifiers
APIA, Samoa (AP) — Samoa and American Samoa retained unbeaten records after two matches at the Oceania World Cup stage one qualifying tournament on Friday as both followed first round wins with second round draws.
American Samoa drew 1-1 with the Cook Islands after an own goal cost it its second win of the tournament at Sepp Blatter Field in the Samoan capital, while Samoa conceded a late equalizer to draw 1-1 with Tonga.
American Samoa's 2-1 win over Tonga on Tuesday was its first-ever international victory and it went close to achieving its second when it led the Cook Islands 1-0 after a 24th-minute goal to striker Shalom Luani.
But the unlucky Tala Luvu headed Paavo Mustonen's free kick into his own net in the 62nd minute to leave American Samoa with a draw, but still unbeaten at the round-robin tournament.
Shaun Easthope gave Samoa a 1-0 lead with a goal from the penalty spot in the 44th minute, but Lokoua Taufahema headed home the equalizer for Tonga eight minutes from fulltime.
Only one of the four teams contesting the first round will progress to the next stage in Oceania qualifying, which involves seven other teams — including 2010 World Cup qualifier New Zealand — playing a tournament at Fiji next June which doubles as the 2012 Oceana Football Confederation Nations Cup.
The top-four teams from the Nations Cup will advance to the third and final round of Oceania qualifying for Brazil 2014.
Elsewhere
Commentary: Arsenal's van Persie rivals Messi
PARIS (AP) — Robin van Persie was a better soccer player than Lionel Messi in 2011. Or are statistics which suggest that misleading? Either way, this is official: It is plain absurd that the captain of Arsenal isn't a nominee with Messi for FIFA's Golden Ball award.
Seems Van Persie and injustice are bedfellows. Remember his sending off against Messi's Barcelona in the Champions League in March? Van Persie claimed he did not hear Massimo Busacca blow his whistle. Seemed plausible given the din from the 95,000-plus Nou Camp crowd. The Swiss referee didn't want to know and he ordered Van Persie off. Whether Arsenal might have won that match if Van Persie's hearing had been better and if the Dutchman had stayed on the field remains one of soccer's unanswerables.
In fact, "What if?" follows Van Persie around. That the question is posed in relation to Van Persie shows his importance to Arsenal and the London club's ambitions and future.
If the strong, reliable and intelligent scorer had not hurt his knee volleying home his strike in the League Cup final in February, forcing Arsene Wenger to replace him in the second half with Nicklas Bendtner, might Arsenal have won the trophy, instead of losing 2-1 to Birmingham? Possibly.
If Van Persie hadn't torn ligaments in his right ankle playing for the Netherlands, forcing Wenger to muddle on without him for five months (he even resorted to the bottom-of-a-barrel measure of playing the ill-suited Andrei Arshavin as a central striker), might Arsenal have won the Premier League title in 2010, instead of Chelsea? Maybe.
If Van Persie picks up another long-term injury now, will Arsenal finish out of the English league's top four places this season and not qualify for Champions League soccer and its financial riches next season? Quite likely.
Will Arsenal be sorry if Wenger cannot get Van Persie to commit to a new contract before his current one expires in 2013? Definitely.
The departure of Cesc Fabregas this summer for guaranteed trophies with his boyhood club, Barcelona, and Samir Nasri's swoon for the petrobillions of Manchester City left Van Persie, a 2010 World Cup runner-up with the Netherlands, as Arsenal's only remaining, verified world-class player. Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott are still proving themselves.
Arsenal is without a trophy since 2005. Wenger's Catch-22 is he needs players of Van Persie's caliber to change that, but he also needs trophies, or at least a realistic hope of winning them, to keep attract stars.
The reported $5.7 million Arsenal paid in 2004 for the Netherlands international looks like a bargain now. Healthy, the 28-year-old has proven as reliable as English rain. As Arsenal fans say: "We don't need Batman, we've got Robin." A basic rule shown to be true in 24 Premier League games is that the club doesn't lose when Van Persie scores the first goal.
So far in 2011, he has scored 31 goals in 29 league games. He is only the fifth Premier League player to score 30 in a calendar year. He is the English league's leading scorer this season, putting away 13 of Arsenal's 25 goals as it has awoken from a lumbering start that included a horrific 8-2 mauling at Manchester United in August.
Van Persie's success rate in the league is outstripping even Messi's in La Liga. The world's best player has scored 29 in 31 Spanish games for Barcelona in 2011.
Van Persie's strength, quick feet and polished technique so prized in the Netherlands are often cited as reasons for his goals. But the intelligent way he spots, creates and sprints into gaps in defenses is exceptional, too.
"He is always in the right place at the right moment and he got two goals again tonight from positions that look easy but they are not. He just understands the game so well," Wenger said Wednesday after Van Persie scored both Arsenal goals in a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund that qualified his team yet again for the Champions League knockout stage.
"We hope we can keep him fit and with us for a long time."
Messi should be player of the year for 2011, just as he was in 2010 and 2009. The FIFA Ballon d'Or winner will be announced Jan. 9. But there's no real suspense. As good as the 22 other nominees are, Barcelona's star is better.
Still, Van Persie should have been on that list, too.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester@ap.org.
Relations improve between Barcelona-Madrid players
MADRID (AP) — Disappointing recent friendly results have helped improve relations between Barcelona and Real Madrid players in Spain's national team, according to coach Vicente del Bosque.
Spain followed up a 1-0 loss to England at Wembley by salvaging a 2-2 draw at Costa Rica, with the world champions appearing affected by another trans-Atlantic flight. Since its World Cup win in South Africa last year, Spain has lost four and won four of 10 friendlies that have featured matches in Mexico, Argentina, the United States and Venezuela.
While travel may have worn down the team, Del Bosque said worries over onfield spats between teammates from Spain's two biggest teams were being forgotten.
"After being asked so many times if these matches, long trips and concentrations have had a harmful and detrimental effect on our results, I think that in the human relations aspect the trip was very good," Del Bosque said on Thursday. "I noticed an improvement in relations, without a doubt."
Barcelona and Madrid are set to face each other for the seventh time in 2011 on Dec. 10 in a derby match that will close out a run of clasicos that has featured accusations of gamesmanship and racial insults, with the previous match erupting into an on-field brawl involving opposing coaches.
Del Bosque has always maintained that a key to Spain's success has been harmony inside the changing room.
"Obviously there have been episodes we don't like to witness, but these kinds of things happen in football," Del Bosque was quoted as telling Europa Press news agency. "These are football players and they will defend their clubs, but at the same time they represent something more as national team players."
The former Real Madrid coach said 2008 finalist Germany was setting up to be Spain's biggest rival to defend its title at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
"I like how they play, their style, the composure they show," Del Bosque said. "They've rejuvenated their team while maintaining the spirit and virtues that German players have always held."
Del Bosque also revealed that his vote for FIFA's World Player of the Year award had gone to Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who is favorite to win the trophy for the third straight season. Del Bosque said that his vote for best coach had gone to Pep Guardiola, who has steered Barcelona to four trophies in 2011 including a third straight Spanish league and the Champions League.
Current Madrid coach Jose Mourinho won the inaugural award after steering Inter Milan to a treble-winning season in 2010.
Turkey reduces prison terms for match-fixing
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's parliament has sharply reduced prison terms for match-fixing in a move that could lead to lighter sentences for more than 30 club officials and players arrested in a recent rigging scandal.
It is a dramatic U-turn by the government, coming eight months after it introduced prison sentences of a maximum of 12 years for people convicted of bribing players or paying fees to teams as incentives.
The parliament, with the support of lawmakers from the ruling party, voted Thursday to reduce that term to three years.
Sports Minister Suat Kilic has rejected accusations from some opposition lawmakers that the change is designed to save Fenerbahce President Aziz Yildirim, who is among those awaiting trial in an investigation that allegedly involves 19 games last season.
AC Milan stays silent on Tevez reports
MILAN (AP) — Amid rumours that AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani is meeting with Carlos Tevez's agent to discuss a possible move for the unhappy Manchester City striker, the Italian club is refusing to comment.
Italian TV station Sky Sports says Kia Joorabchian is in Milan to meet with Galliani on Thursday. However, Milan says, "We cannot possibly comment on that. There is nothing we can say at all."
City coach Roberto Mancini said last week that Tevez's decision to return to Argentina without permission had ended any hope the forward had of playing for the Premier League side again.
Tevez was previously suspended by City for two weeks and fined a fortnight's wages for refusing to warm up during a Champions League game against Bayern Munich in September.
Ibrahimovic plays down rift with Guardiola
MILAN (AP) — AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has played down his rift with former manager Pep Guardiola despite not shaking hands with the Barcelona coach after Wednesday's Champions League encounter.
The 3-2 defeat for Milan was Ibrahimovic's first game against Barcelona since his acrimonious departure in 2010, after falling out with Guardiola during his only season in Spain.
Ibrahimovic, who scored Milan's first goal, says, "it wasn't a goal against Guardiola but only to make the fans and the team happy," adding: "I didn't shake hands with my ex-coach but I don't see why it should be considered something so important."
In his recently published autobiography, Ibrahimovic describes a series of rows with players and coaches during his time at Barcelona.
Abidal on verge of extending Barcelona contract
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Eric Abidal says he is on the verge of signing a contract extension with Spanish champion Barcelona.
The France defender says a deal is "90 percent done," adding "the only thing left is to sign the contract ... the Barca adventure continues."
Barcelona beat AC Milan 3-2 in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old Abidal has been a regular in the team since joining from Lyon in 2007, making 168 appearances and helping the three-time defending Spanish champions win 12 trophies over that period. Abidal recovered from a liver tumor to help the Catalan club win its fourth European Cup in May.
Wanted striker Cavani happy to stay at Napoli
NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Napoli striker Edinson Cavani says he is happy to remain with the Serie A side despite being linked with a host of European clubs. Cavani scored a double to help Napoli beat Manchester City 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday and put the Italian club on course for the second round.
Reports in England suggest City coach Roberto Mancini is keen to bring in the 24-year-old Uruguay international as a replacement for unsettled striker Carlos Tevez. However, in Italian newspaper Il Mattino Cavani says, "I'm a Napoli player, I'm happy here."
Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are also said to be interested. Cavani signed a new deal with Napoli in May, tying him to the club until 2016.
Dynamo Dresden banned from German Cup
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The German Football Federation has banned second-division Dynamo Dresden from next season's German Cup because of violence by its fans.
Dresden supporters clashed with police and rival fans at the German Cup second-round match at Borussia Dortmund on Oct. 25. The match was briefly halted several times when Dresden fans threw firecrackers and flares onto the field.
Dortmund said the troublemakers caused damage estimated at €150,000 ($200,500). The visitors destroyed about 200 seats, damaged kiosks and set toilets on fire. Police arrested 15 people.
