Pro Eleven Headline News

Real Madrid in trouble after losing 4-3 to Sevilla

Renato scored with a late header Sunday for Sevilla to withstand a spirited second-half rally from Real Madrid to win 4-3 in the Spanish league, leaving two-time defending champion Madrid trailing leader Barcelona by nine points.

Renato rose over Fabio Cannavaro in the 85th minute to head in Frederic Kanoute's low cross after Madrid had hit back from 3-1 down to draw level at 3-3.

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster all but conceded the title afterward with his team travelling to Barcelona next Saturday for the "classico."

"At the Camp Nou now, it's not possible to win," Schuster said. "They (Barcelona) are playing really well there and it's their year. We can just try and hopefully play a good game."

Madrid, which has now lost three of its past four league matches, will be without the suspended Arjen Robben and Marcelo in its desperate bid to keep its season from finishing before Christmas.

Barcelona, which thrashed third-place Valencia 4-0 on Saturday to stay unbeaten in 20 overall matches, leads with 35 points. Villarreal has 29, Sevilla and Valencia are on 27 and Madrid has 26.

Kanoute had coolly slotted past goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 39th for Sevilla to lead by two goals and result in Madrid being whistled off at halftime by 80,000 spectators.

The hosts, which played with little unity in the first half, rallied after quick goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Fernando Gago. But Robben was red-carded in the 78th as Sevilla won just its second game in its past 21 league visits to the Spanish capital.

"We made life complicated to win the game," Schuster said. "Without a doubt, we did things poorly, but also well. This isn't all bad luck, you have to go out looking for luck, which we need."

Sevilla took advantage of Madrid's shaky defence from the third minute, when Casillas tipped Jesus Navas' cross straight into the path of Adriano, who slotted in at the near post.

Raul Gonzalez leveled for Madrid in the 19th after heading Jose Maria (Guti) Gutierrez's quickly taken free kick in at the near post. But Ndri Romaric quieted the Santiago Bernabeu crowd three minutes later after getting over Fabio Cannavaro to head home.

Rafael van der Vaart forced Sevilla 'keeper Andres Palop into several saves after that, but Madrid was shaken by the second goal and sat back as the visitors patiently spread the ball while looking for space.

That came when two Madrid defenders rushed over to block Renato's shot at the top of the area, the rebound fell to the unmarked Kanoute and he slid it past Casillas.

Calls for Madrid president Ramon Calderon to quit also rang out as the players left the field at halftime under steady rain.

Higuain started the comeback in the 67th with his 10th league goal by lashing a right-footed shot from far outside the area past Palop. His Argentina teammate, Gago, then turned Guti's free kick in with a header two minutes later.

Palop denied Raul in the 73rd but couldn't reach a rebound four minutes later as Higuain slid to stab the ball off the crossbar.

"We believe a lot in our chances (to win the league)," Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez said. "You can already see the difference this year (to last). You can see the importance of this victory, which gives us confidence to believe in our chances."

Earlier Sunday, Angel Lafita and Mexico striker Omar Bravo scored second-half goals as Deportivo La Coruna beat Malaga 2-0 for its sixth win from seven games to stay in the hunt for a Champions League place.

Recreativo Huelva twice rallied on goals from Ruben Marco and Adrian Colunga before Javi Fuego's 54th-minute free kick secured a 3-2 win against Mallorca.

Mallorca, which is winless in six games, went ahead through David Navarro and Jose Jurado.

Osasuna replaced Recreativo in last place after blowing a three-goal advantage in a 3-3 draw with Valladolid.

Eduardo (Dady) Fernandes scored twice and Javad Nekounam the other for Osasuna inside 57 minutes before Henok Goitom started the Valladolid rally three minutes later.

Osasuna's Miguel Flano headed an own-goal and Bartholemew Ogbebeche equalized in the 85th to leave Osasuna with nine points.

At El Sardinero, Gonzalo Colsa's 83rd-minute curled shot beat 'keeper Gorka Iraizoz as Racing Santander drew 1-1 with 10-man Athletic Bilbao, which had gone ahead in the 49th through Fran Yeste before Pablo Orbaiz was sent off.

Asier Goiria poked through goalie Diego Alves from an apparent offside position for Numancia to beat Almeria 2-1.

Numancia went ahead at Los Pajaritos stadium in the 12th through Esteban Solari, before Javier del Pino equalized eight minutes later. Goiria scored the winner in the 53rd.

Also, Mane Esnal watched his Espanyol team draw 1-1 with Real Betis in his first game in charge.

Achille Emana opened for Betis in the 56th with his sixth league goal before Ferran Corominas answered in the 71st to snap Espanyol's three-game losing run.

On Saturday, Villarreal rallied to draw 3-3 with Getafe and Atletico Madrid routed Sporting Gijon 5-2. Canadian Press


Juventus and AC Milan both win to keep pace with runaway leader Inter Milan

Juventus and AC Milan did their best to stay in touch with runaway leader Inter Milan with victories Sunday in the Serie A after winning goals from Brazilian players.

Both teams were made to work hard and didn't make their breakthrough until the second half, with Juventus needing a last-minute goal from Brazilian striker Amauri to win 2-1 after Lecce had equalized following Sebastian Giovinco's opening goal.

AC Milan is third, level on 30 points with Juventus, but ended with an unimpressive 1-0 win over Catania, courtesy of Kaka's 63rd-minute strike.

"These are three important points for the pursuit of Inter. Now let's go and catch them," said Kaka, who indicated on Friday that he wasn't happy with his role in the side due to Ronaldinho's arrival.

"I like being decisive, I am always ready to sacrifice myself for the team and change positions," he added. "Sometimes I say how I would like to play, but it is not to start arguments. I always try to do my best for the team."

Inter, which beat Lazio 3-0 in Rome on Saturday, leads with 36 points.

Fourth-place Napoli and No. 5 Fiorentina both maintained pressure on the top three with impressive wins.

Second half goals from Christian Maggio and German Denis gave Napoli a 2-0 home win over Siena to leave it three points behind Juventus and Milan.

Fiorentina are a further point back following a 4-1 away win over Torino. Adrian Mutu opened the scoring early on and Alberto Gilardino made it 2-0 before the break.

Second-half goals from Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Gilardino, his 11th of the season, made the result safe despite Alessandro Rosina's penalty for the hosts.

The loss could prove to be the final straw for the Torino board, which remained tightlipped over the future of coach Giovanni De Biasi.

Genoa's Diego Milito remained top of the scorer's charts with 12 goals when his header won the Genoa derby 1-0 over Sampdoria.

The Argentine striker headed home five minutes into the second half as his side rose to sixth place, a point behind Fiorentina.

It was the one clear chance in a frenetic 90 minutes that featured 11 yellow cards. Bruno Fornaroli thought he had equalized with eight minutes to go, but his effort was ruled out for offside despite replays showing him to be in line with the last defender.

Also Sunday, it was: Atalanta 3, Udinese 0; Cagliari 1, Palermo 0; and Reggina 2, Bologna 2.

Juventus began the match with Giovinco replacing Alessandro Del Piero, who was rested ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match with BATE Borisov, and most of the team's best moves came when the youngster linked with Pavel Nedved.

However, it took until the 56th minute before the breakthrough, when Giovinco curled a free kick over the wall to leave goalkeeper Francesco Benussi with no chance.

Giovinco is seen as the long-term replacement for Del Piero.

"He had a great game, aside from the goal. He was always incisive, a thorn in Lecce's side," said Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri.

With 11 minutes remaining, Lecce wasted an excellent chance to equalize when Jose Castillo headed over from in front of an open goal after Alberto Giuliatto had found him with a cross from the left.

Daniele Cacia drew Lecce level when he volleyed in Guilermo Giacomazzi's deep cross off the post with seven minutes remaining.

Juventus grabbed the win when Paolo De Ceglie's cross reached an unmarked Amauri at the far post, and the Brazilian headed home from close-range with one minute to go.

Milan, which meets Juventus in Turin next weekend, struggled to find its rhythm against a hard-working Catania side and nearly fell behind early on when Giuseppe Mascara hit the post.

In the absence of Ronaldinho, the creative responsibilities fell squarely on Kaka, with striker Andriy Shevchencko unable to make the most of the opportunities he was given.

It was Kaka who broke the deadlock on 63 minutes, heading in Alexandre Pato's corner just seconds after the young Brazilian had forced a fine save from goalkeeper Albano Benjamin Bizzarri.

Mascara brought out the best from goalkeeper Christian Abbiati late on, but Carlo Ancelotti's team held on for its first win in five matches. Canadian Press


Manchester United prepare £40 million deal for Cristiano Ronaldo

The 23-year-old arrived at Old Trafford on Friday evening for a meeeting to discuss what, should a deal be done, would become the biggest deal in the club's history.

United have been trying to secure Ronaldo's future since the summer-long saga linking him to Real Madrid ended.

According to the Express, Ronaldo met with Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill. After two hours of discussions, Ferguson is said to have left in an "upbeat mood", giving Ronaldo and Gill the chance to talk alone.

Ronaldo is currently paid £120,000 a week but should a new deal be struck an extra £30,000 could be added to that, putting him on £8 million a year.

Despite pledging his future to United when Real talks subsided, it seems Ferguson is not happy to take any chances on Ronaldo's current contract which still has three years to run. The Scot is all too aware that Madrid are prepared to spend as much as £50 million on the winger and so ensuring another five years would end all chances of any similar speculation in the near future.

Only last week Ronaldo made the shock revelation that he came "within an inch" of choosing Arsenal over Manchester when he first came to London.

The recently crowned European Footballer of the Year said he had seriously considered moving to London after Arsene Wenger expressed an interest in him. He had three meetings with the Frenchman and his mother before United had their £12.24 million offer accepted by Sporting Lisbon. Telegraph


Pompey officially up for sale

Alexandre Gaydamak seized control of Pompey in the summer of 2006 when he bought out then chairman Milan Mandaric, and by that point the multi-millionaire had already invested over £20 million as Harry Redknapp brought in players such as Glen Johnson.

Since then, the club have enjoyed one of their most successful periods in recent history, triumphing in the FA Cup last term as well as a Uefa Cup spot, and as late as February Gaydamak stated that he was "totally committed to the future of Portsmouth."

However, the global economic downturn is reported to have hit the 32-year old's fortune hard, and plans to build a new stadium for the club have been shelved for the forseeable future.

The France-born businessman now appears to have made further indication of his intention to leave Fratton Park, telling the Sunday Mirror of his desire to hand over control when a suitable buyer can be found.

He told the English newspaper, "I have come to realise over a period of time that I can no longer invest the time required to oversee the running of the club,"

Gaydamak, whose father Arcadi owns a majority stake in Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem, is reported to want £60 million for the club as well as assurances from any prospective bidder that they will construct the new stadium and training ground promised for several years.