Pro Eleven Headline News

Juve looking to overcome injuries to keep up with Inter

Injury-plagued Juventus face a stern test of their title credentials when they host Fiorentina in the standout match of the weekend.

Claudio Ranieri's team closed the gap on leaders Inter Milan to just three points last weekend but things could have been even better for them had they come away from Rome's Olympic stadium with three points instead of one against Lazio.

Now they are up against a team that have lost their last two matches and are desperate for a win to reignite their own Champions League ambitions.

Fiorentina were unlucky to come away from the San Siro with nothing last weekend as they went down 1-0 to AC Milan despite having much the better of the match.

And while they are still missing Romania captain Adrian Mutu, Juve will be without David Trezeguet, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giorgio Chiellini, Mauro Camoranesi and possibly also Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon among others.

And Ranieri says Juve's participation in the Champions League this season -- which was not on their agenda a year ago as they had just been promoted from Serie B -- has hampered them.

"Last year we had much fewer injuries. We didn't have the midweek matches but our preparation was more or less identical and the fact that we're playing more means that we have almost no time to make little refinements and we can't do any heavy work," he said.

It all means that the suspensions that Momo Sissoko and Christian Molinaro will serve against Fiorentina could not have come at a worse time, while in goal Ranieri potentially has a huge problem.

Buffon is not fully-fit while his understudy Alex Manninger has the flu. Even so, Juventus come into this match having been the best team in the league since the first seven games of the season.

They won only two of those, picking up just nine points, leaving them seven points behind Inter and looking in trouble.

However, they have hunted down the Champions and are in striking distance should Jose Mourinho's team slip up.

And Brazilian forward Amauri, a summer acquisition from Palermo, who has been a revelation this campaign with 11 goals in 19 Serie A matches, is determined his side won't let up the chase.

"We have to make as few mistakes as possible because anything can happen. We're only three points behind Inter and we can become kings of Italy again," he said.

Inter will be looking to make up for last weekend's debacle in Bergamo where they lost 3-1 to Atalanta in what Mourinho described as their worst performance of the season.

They bounced back in midweek with a 2-1 Italian Cup victory over Roma at the San Siro, although their winner was offside and the visitors had a stonewall penalty waved away by the referee.

And they will have to do without star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the visit of stuggling Sampdoria as the Sweden international is suspended.

AC Milan travel to Bologna looking to try to end Sinisa Mihajlovic's nine-match Serie A unbeaten run since taking over the reins at the beginning of November.

It will be Kaka's first match since turning down a prospective move to Manchester City which should give Milan a boost.

They will have to improve on recent performances, though, where they have been unconvincing, as Bologna have become very difficult to break down under former Inter number two Mihajlovic, drawing seven times and winning two of his games in charge.

Down the other end of the table, the bottom two go head to head as Reggina entertain Chievo.

Fixtures

Saturday

Juventus v Fiorentina, Reggina v Chievo

Sunday

Bologna v AC Milan, Genoa v Catania, Inter Milan v Sampdoria, Lazio v Cagliari, Lecce v Torino, Napoli v Roma, Palermo v Udinese, Siena v Atalanta. AFP


Ferguson misses a trick to ease fixture congestion

Should Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur draw in Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round clash at Old Trafford both managers may curse the fact that they did not take a closer glance at the rulebook.

A little-known FA law states that clubs can agree between themselves to play 30 minutes of extra time at the end of the original tie in a bid to avoid having to play the match again.

With United manager Alex Ferguson facing a crippling injury crisis as his side chase silverware at home and in Europe the last thing he needs is a replay in London squeezed into an already packed schedule, especially with the Champions League about to resume.

Likewise, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, whose side will face United in the League Cup final, has vowed to field a "mish-mash" side for a match he described as secondary to their relegation six-pointer against Stoke City next week.

A quick glance at FA Cup Rule 12b may have spared both men the inconvenience of an unwanted extra fixture but Ferguson appeared unaware on Friday when he read out a long list of players unavailable for Saturday's tie.

The rule states that extra time can be played at the end of match if both clubs agree in writing within seven days of the draw being made and the referee is notified before kickoff.

In normal circumstances there is only extra time at the end of a replay with penalties to follow if it is still level.

"Someone has informed me that I could apply to The FA to have extra time tomorrow," Ferguson told reporters. "This has come out this morning, I've never heard of this in my life.

"It's in the articles of The Association that both teams can apply to have the game decided tomorrow and notify the referee before the game.

"I'm going to speak to David Gill and ask him first of all if this is actually correct. I've never heard of it. The criticism would be that we're not adhering to the principles of the FA Cup or the spirit of it -- but why have The FA got it in there?"

An FA spokesman said on Friday that the rule has not been invoked from the first round proper onwards for at least 50 years but is sometimes used in preliminary rounds to spare amateur clubs huge travel costs. Reuters


Shevchenko To Leave Milan For Dynamo Kiev?

Before joining Milan for the first time back in 1999, Andriy Shevchenko spent five seasons with the Ukrainian outfit Dynamo Kiev, where he managed to score 60 times in 117 appearances.

In fact, Shevchenko joined the club as a 10-year-old, way back in 1986; however, it would not be until 1994 that he would break into the playing squad. He would go on to win five domestic league titles with the club before moving to the Rossoneri.

Following an unbelievable seven-year stint in Milan, he controversially joined Chelsea; however, his poor form in the Premier League saw him make a quick return to the Milanese club just two years later.

Unfortunately for his sake, though, the Ukrainian superstar has been unable to replicate his good form of previous years with the club this time around, and consequently there have been several rumours surrounding his future in recent times.

The latest reports suggest that his former club, Kiev, are keen to bring him back home, as the club president, Ihor Surkis, has confirmed his desire to see Sheva wear the ‘Bilo-Syni’ shirt once again.

The president has also confirmed that a deal is currently being put together, meaning that the 2004 Ballon d’Or winner could be set to leave Milan once again. Goal


France and Bayern defender Sagnol retiring - Rummenigge

France and Bayern Munich defender Willy Sagnol is retiring after failing to recover from an Achilles' tendon injury, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Thursday.

"I spoke to Willy on Wednesday and he told me it made no sense because no matter how he trained, he always felt pain in his Achille's tendon," Rummenigge told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung's website (www.sueddeutsche.de).

"Therefore we can only show understanding when a player tells us 'I quit'", Rummenigge added.

Sagnol's decision was no surprise after Bayern team manager Uli Hoeness had said on Monday he expected the Frenchman to retire.

The 31-year-old Sagnol, who has a contract with the German champions until 2010, should officially announce his retirement at a news conference shortly, Rummenigge added.

Sagnol, who underwent surgery before the start of the season after an already injury-plagued previous year, has not played a competitive match since France's early exit from Euro 2008.

A solid defender capped 58 times by France, he has been with Bayern since 2000, winning the Champions League the following year.

A 2006 World Cup runner-up, Sagnol has also won the German championship five times and the German Cup four times. He started his career at St Etienne, his birthplace, before moving to Monaco, winning the French title with the principality team in 2000. Reuters