Pro Eleven Headlines

RUUD READY FOR JUVE

Ruud van Nistelrooy will be available for Real Madrid when the Spanish outfit welcome Juventus to the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Van Nistelrooy has been absent since picking up a knee injury in Madrid's 2-1 defeat to Juve in Turin a fortnight ago, but has been named in a 19-man squad for the Champions League Group H clash.

Madrid will be delighted to have the prolific Dutchman back in their ranks after suffering a string of indifferent results in recent weeks.

Since losing to Juve, Madrid have also suffered a shock Copa del Rey loss at the hands of third divisions Real Union and were also held to a 1-1 draw at Almeria at the weekend.

Their only victory in that time came with a narrow 3-2 home win against Athletic Bilbao, and the two-time reigning Spanish champions know they can ill afford another below-par performance when Juve come to town.

Juve had failed to win any of their previous five matches heading into the home meeting with Madrid, but they are now on a four-match winning streak in all competitions and sit top of Group H on seven points, one ahead of Wednesday's hosts.

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said on Tuesday: "I think the Juventus match is going to be difficult. They showed how they can cause us problems in the first leg. We'll try not to make the same mistakes tomorrow and take a big step towards the next round.

"Their win over us helped put them on track and they are picking up good results and morale must be high."

He added: "We were hurt by the defeat because we had many chances to draw the game. It is a defeat which will help motivate us to gain revenge tomorrow and, above all, return to the top of the group."

With regards to Van Nistelrooy, Schuster admitted he has not yet decided whether the former Manchester United hitman will start the match.

"Ruud feels very good but we don't yet know what we are going to do," he said. "It is going to be a very tough match from the outset, so we don't know if he is going to start the match."

Veteran defender Michel Salgado also returns for Madrid but Javi Garcia, Christoph Metzelder, Jordi Codina and Miguel Torres are all out.

Midfielder Ruben de la Red is still absent as he continues his recovery after being hospitalised following his collapse during last Thursday's cup defeat.

Juventus star Amauri, who scored Juve's second in their last meeting, is hoping for a similar result on his first trip to the Bernabeu.

"We are on the up and about to go into a beautiful game," he said. "It won't be easy but in the past few games we have done well and we are ready to go play for victory even in the Bernabeu.

"It's my first time at the Bernabeu, for me it's an entirely new emotion. But I am sure that I won't feel any tension and I hope to do well.

"We want to repeat the first game, and to do so we have to go onto the pitch 100% focused and play as we have done in the past few games."

Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri has a selection headache with Gianluigi Buffon, Jorge Andrade, Jonathan Zebina, Cristiano Zanetti, David Trezeguet, Christian Poulsen, Hasan Salihamidzic, Dario Knezevic and Zdenek Grygera all injured.


CHELSEA CRUSHED IN ROME

A Mirko Vucinic brace inspired Roma to a superb 3-1 victory over 10-man Chelsea in the Champions League Group A clash at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Romans, fourth from bottom in Serie A, were too strong for the Premier League leaders, for whom John Terry's late goal was nothing more than a consolation after Christian Panucci's strike before the break and Vucinic's second-half double.

Chelsea also saw Deco dismissed late on, perhaps harshly, after the Portuguese was shown two yellow cards.

The Blues had much the better of the possession in the opening half-hour but failed to test Doni with anything other than efforts from long range. The Brazilian keeper twice denied Frank Lampard from distance after he had turned away a Deco drive from outside the box as Chelsea made all the early running.

The hosts however grabbed the lead, against the run of play, in the 34th minute. Cicinho escaped the attentions of the Chelsea defence as Francesco Totti lined up a long-range free-kick, and the right-back's low cross was turned home by Panucci as the Chelsea defence stood and watched. The former Blues defender's strike was the first Chelsea have conceded in this season's Champions League campaign and it seemed to settle the hosts down.

Florent Malouda blasted high and wide of the target five minutes later when he was sent clear down the inside-left channel by John Obi Mikel's fine pass, and that was the French wideman's final contribution as he was withdrawn at half time, along with Joe Cole, to make way for Didier Drogba and Juliano Beletti.

Despite the decisive substitutions, things got worse for Blues boss Luiz Filipe Scolari when Roma doubled their lead only three minutes after the break. Matteo Brighi laid the ball off the Mirko Vucinic to unleash a superb 20-yard drive which flew past Cech and into the corner of the Blues net.

If the second goal was good, Roma's third 10 minutes later was even better, and it was Vucinic again. The Montenegrin striker robbed Mikel in the host's half and carried the ball fully 50-yards, outpacing and riding the tackle of the Nigerian before fooling Cech to slide the ball coolly inside the near post.

Chelsea looked ragged but Terry gave his side a lifeline, somewhat controversially, with 15 minutes remaining. Deco's shot was directed goalwards seemingly off the arm of the England skipper and despite Doni's point-blank block, Terry sidefooted home the rebound.

Deco, cautioned in the first half, was lucky to avoid a second booking when he up-ended Totti early in the second period. But his luck ran out in the 81st-minute when referee Luis Medina Cantalejo brandished a yellow card, followed by a red, when the Portuguese took a free-kick too quickly for the official's liking.

Despite the result, Chelsea remain top of Group A with seven points, one ahead of Roma and Bordeaux, with the French side due to arrive at Stamford Bridge in three weeks time.

Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was left to rue an under-par performance from his side.

Scolari felt his side made too many errors to merit taking anything away from their trip to the Italian capital.

"We didn't play well," Scolari admitted after goals from Christian Panucci and two from Mirko Vucinic gave the Italians a deserved victory.

"We made mistakes at critical times. We allowed Roma chances and individual mistakes cost us dearly."


GERRARD ON SPOT TO RESCUE REDS

Steven Gerrard netted a stoppage-time penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw for Liverpool in Tuesday's Champions League tie at home to Atletico Madrid.

The Reds dominated the clash at Anfield but fell behind on 37 minutes when Maxi Rodriguez netted on the counter-attack.

However, Gerrard rescued a point in controversial circumstances to keep Rafael Benitez's men in charge of Group D. Swedish referee Martin Hansson

pointed to the spot when Mariano Pernia challenged the Reds skipper for a high ball in the box, and Gerrard slammed home the spot-kick in front of the Kop.

Fernando Torres was deemed not yet fit to return against his former club as he recovers from a hamstring injury, so the Spain striker watched from the directors box at Anfield.

He almost saw the Reds score within the first minute, but Atletico goalkeeper Leo Franco was able to gather Dirk Kuyt's close-range effort following a Gerrard corner.

Gerrard went close himself soon after, and then Robbie Keane was inches wide with a volley from the edge of the area.

Simao fired over at the other end with the visitors' first real chance, but Liverpool were soon on the attack again with Javier Mascherano curling an effort wide and the Atletico defence scrambling to prevent Gerrard and Keane getting shots away.

But then, with 37 minutes on the clock, Atletico scored completely against the run of play. Antonio Lopez cantered down the right wing before cutting the ball inside to Maxi who was lurking in the box, and the Argentina international finished with a shot across Pepe Reina and into the far corner of the net.

Liverpool came out determined to find an equaliser after the break, but Keane was struggling to find space up front.

However, they should have had a penalty on 50 minutes when Atletico's Colombia defender Luis Amaranto Perea clearly handled in the area - but referee Hansson failed to spot the offence.

The Reds continued to press, with Daniel Agger twice squandering good opportunities from set pieces, but had to be wary of a Madrid counter-attack.

The dangerous Sergio Aguero was introduced for Atletico, while Liverpool threw on David Ngog and Ryan Babel.

With eight minutes to go, Agger spurned another good chance, heading wide of the far post, and Jamie Carragher also forced Franco to punch his curling shot from long range over the bar.

As the game entered the final minute of stoppage time Liverpool were granted a life-line as the referee adjudged Pernia to have fouled Gerrard in the box, the Liverpool captain grabbing a draw for his side from the spot.

Afterwards Rafael Benitez admitted he was bitterly disappointed after Liverpool failed to secure their passage into the last 16 of the Champions League.

But he insisted Swedish referee Martin Hansson was right to award an injury-time penalty for a foul on Steven Gerrard which enraged the Spanish team.

Even Gerrard said: "I was not sure it was a penalty. I got to the ball first and I suppose if that was outside the area it would be a free-kick."

Benitez added: "There was a clear handball in the second half that was not given, and had that offence against Steven taken place in the middle of the pitch it would have been a free-kick, so it was a penalty.

"The key for us was not to lose in such a tight match. We are still right up at the top with them, we can both qualify."