Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Injury crisis can't last for Evra


PATRICE EVRA is concerned that the injury crisis that has hit Manchester United could affect the club's title charge.

United's stand-in skipper had to move from left-back to central defence for the second half of Boxing Day's 5-0 win over Wigan after Jonny Evans became the latest defender to limp out of action.
Evra said: "I am a little bit worried because we need everyone if we are going to win the league.
"It is starting to get annoying." 
Evans is expected to be missing for a couple of weeks after tweaking a calf muscle joining a lengthy casualty list containing United's senior defenders.
There is no date set for Rio Ferdinand's return from a long-term back injury and Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out for the rest of the season after damaging his right knee in Champions League action against Basle.
But Evra says it's nothing knew for the Champions.
"It is not the first year we've got so many injuries. Two years ago I played with Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher at the back.
"The most important thing is that we won but I hope everyone gets fit because Blackburn is another big game and we need all the defenders."
Midfielder Ji-Sung Park, who scored in the rout of Wigan, believes the team has the character to battle through.
"I have never known anything like it," said the South Korean.
"Hopefully we will get our defenders back pretty quickly because we are coming up to some very important games.
United boss Alex ferguson is hoping to have Phil Jones and Chris Smalling back for the weekend.
source: www.thesun.co.uk

Thursday, December 22, 2011

no stopping Welsh wizard Giggs as goal at Fulham extends remarkable record

Ryan Giggs' goal against Fulham on Wednesday night saw him extend his unique record of scoring in every Premier League season.

But not everything went his way — when the 38-year-old winger scored United’s third goal at Craven Cottage, it turned out to be the 19,999th goal scored in the Premier League.

Guess who scored the 9,999th? Former United midfielder Paul Scholes.


Giggs’ first came way back in August 1992 in a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.

The Welshman has actually scored in 22 seasons, since making his debut for United in March, 1991.
It was a comfortable night for United at Craven Cottage, with the visitors 3-0 up at half-time following goals from Danny Welbeck, Nani and Ryan Giggs.
Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov scored superb goals late on to give United their heaviest win in three months.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men go into Christmas still two points behind their neighbours Manchester City in the title race.


source: www.dailymail.co.uk
 

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Barcelona's David Villa faces five months out after breaking shinbone


Barcelona have confirmed David Villa is set to be sidelined for between "four and five months" after the Spain striker broke his shinbone in Thursday's 4-0 Club World Cup semi-final victory over Al-Sadd.
The 30-year-old was carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time and Barça announced soon after that he had suffered a "fracture to the tibia in his left leg". The player was taken to hospital in Yokohama for further tests.
An updated statement on the Barça website read: "In the coming hours, Villa will return to Barcelona, via Frankfurt, to be operated on. He will be accompanied by doctor Ricard Pruna and Manel Estiarte. The approximate time he will be sidelined is between four and five months."
Villa remains optimistic he will be back in time for the European Championship, and also hopes he will be able to feature in the Champions League final in Munich on 19 May if the defending champions get that far.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Villa said: "Hello everyone. Thanks for your support. The injury is a tough blow, but I'm sure that I'm going to recover as soon as possible, thinking about playing the final in Munich (I know my team-mates will take me there) and the European Championships.
"I'm going to work hard for it. I want them to count on me. Tomorrow I'll be in Spain. A big hug."
The news means Villa is likely to miss the majority of Barça's La Liga and Champions League campaigns, but could be available to world and European champions Spain for Euro 2012, which begins in June.
On Wednesday Guardiola had denied the club had been actively trying to sell the 30-year-old Villa only 19 months into the four-year deal agreed following his €40m (£33.5m) transfer from Valencia.
Villa has scored five times in 15 league appearances this season, following his 18 goals in 34 games as Barça won the Primera División title last season.
source:www.guardian.co.uk


Thursday, December 8, 2011

FRENCH GAMING AUTHORITY OPEN FIX PROBE INTO LYON'S 7-1 OVER WIN OVER DINAMO ZAGREB



French online gaming authority ARJEL have opened an investigation into Lyon's 7-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb, which put them through into the knockout stages of the Champions League at the expense of Ajax Amsterdam.
Lyon began the night three points behind behind Ajax in Group D and needed a seven-goal swing to qualify, which was eventually attained with some ease as they crushed 10-man Zagreb and Ajax slumped to a 3-0 defeat at home to Real.
Bafetimbi Gomis scored a second-half hat-trick for Lyon in seven minutes - the fastest in the competition’s history - against a Dinamo side who had Jerko Leko sent off and nothing to play for after already being condemned to bottom place in the group.

But suspicions were raised when Lisandro Lopez hit Lyon’s fifth and TV cameras appeared to show Dinamo's Domagoj Vida winking and giving the thumbs up to Gomis as the striker tried to collect the ball from him.
The nature of Lyon's victory and footage has called for UEFA to intervene and investigate with Ajax boss Frank de Boer leading the calls following the astonishing result in Croatia.
De Boer said afterwards: "If there was something unusual, UEFA should investigate what happened in Zagreb. My assistants have told me that the goals came quick and easy, because you can’t normally score these goals in half an hour.
"Destiny was in our own own hands and we had chances to qualify because our game was very even. I will have to see video replays (of the disallowed goals)."

But Zagreb, who sacked manager Krunoslav Jurcic after the game, said in a statement that it was "scandalous and malicious to proclaim the Champions League match as suspicious". 
The statement said: "Of course, no one in club can't be satisfied after that result, but it is also obvious that Dinamo was fighting after taking the lead, after equalising and when Lyon took the lead to achieve the best possible result.
source: www.sport360.com