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Samp too strong for Inter

Sampdoria have slowly improved after a poor start to the season and they went into the clash full of confidence after a six-game unbeaten run in the league.

It took just nine minutes for Samp to open the scoring through Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini then made it 2-0 in the 30th minute.

Pazzini struck again three minutes before half-time to further stun Jose Mourinho's side.

Daniele Gastaldello was sent off for a second bookable offence on the hour mark but Sampdoria held on with ten men to secure victory.

Inter will now have to mount a magnificent comeback in the second leg to advance to the final.

Lazio came from behind to beat Juventus 2-1 in the first leg of their semi-final on Tuesday evening. Sky Sports


Berbatov gives United a good look

When Sir Alex Ferguson comes to St James' Park he is accustomed to saying something mildly patronising about the locals' passion for their club, patting them on the head and then taking all three points. At least last night Newcastle United put up something resembling a fight but they still ended it just one more subjugated corner of Ferguson's English football empire.

With 11 games left, time is running out for those who have pretences of catching the champions, and for those who can barely live with them there is always the name-calling route. Steven Taylor's half-time retort to Cristiano Ronaldo – "Yeah, but you're ugly" – was, on the grand scale of witty comebacks, more Vicky Pollard than Oscar Wilde. Yet, in its own inarticulate way, it summed up the helplessness that the rest of the League is experiencing in the face of United's onslaught.

Are United feeling the pressure from Chelsea and Liverpool's wins on Tuesday night? It did not look like it. Can they still be caught now that their seven-point lead, not forgetting that game in hand, has been restored? The chances look slim. Peter Lovenkrands' ninth minute goal, as well as Newcastle's early energy, had the champions rattled but when they regained their composure they swatted aside the Geordies.

Wayne Rooney was outstanding, scoring the first and then hitting the pass that caused the chaos in Newcastle's defence which led to the second from Dimitar Berbatov. Only in defence did Ferguson's team look occasionally hesitant, especially in Newcastle's good spell in the first half when, even the Manchester United manager admitted, Edwin van der Sar made a "mess" in the lead up to Lovenkrands' goal. His unbeaten record went with a whimper.

Van der Sar's run of consecutive 1,311 minutes without conceding in the League ended when he dropped Jonas Gutierrez's shot at the feet of Lovenkrands for a tap-in. Last season, Ferguson's team scored 11 goals in their two League games against Newcastle so going one behind was not what they had planned. Yet by the 56th minute they were in the lead and cruising.

As for Newcastle, this was the latest chapter in an increasingly desperate season which, albeit more dignified than last season's 6-0 (at Old Trafford) and 5-1 (at home) defeat, could yet end in relegation. They are one point and two places above the relegation zone in 16th place. They cannot afford to lose their next game away at Hull on 14 March because their following two games are against Arsenal and Chelsea which means by the time they play Stoke on 11 April they could well be in the bottom three.

Steven Taylor's decision to aim a punch at Ronaldo in the minutes before half-time was stupid. There is always a temptation to lose one's temper with Ronaldo, but the arm to Ronaldo's head that Taylor landed was inexcusable. He followed it up by sweeping Michael Carrick off his feet and it is a miracle Steve Bennett did not dismiss him. As for Taylor's tunnel dispute with Ronaldo it is highly unlikely that he could ever persuade Manchester United's superstar that he is ugly. Ronaldo has long had the demeanour of a bloke who likes what he sees when he looks in the mirror.

Strangely, amid all the excitement of those early minutes when Newcastle took the game to United there was a truly ugly moment involving Alan Smith. The Manchester United old boy launched a terrible two-footed tackle at Ronaldo which in any other circumstances would have had Ferguson's players baying for punishment. Instead they just looked shocked, embarrassed even, that an old acquaintance had done that.

It was Smith's first start since the last match of last season, against Everton, and his influence soon waned. For a while Obafemi Martins had the beating of Nemanja Vidic, drawing the Serbian into a booking. Then Rooney equalised on 20 minutes. John O'Shea to Park Ji-Sung down the left, the ball cut back to Rooney who left Fabricio Coloccini standing before hitting his shot. A slight deflection off Steven Taylor and it was past Steve Harper.

It was just 11 minutes into the second half when Ryan Taylor made a terrible hash of chesting a long ball from Rooney back to Harper. Instead Taylor just cushioned the ball into the stride of Park, just behind him, and the Korean midfielder pushed it past Harper. Berbatov was at the back post to stroke the ball into the goal.

Only one team in it after that. Later, when Harper was stranded having come out to stop Ronaldo, Rooney failed to hit the target with his lob. On the touchline, Ferguson was enraged, flapping his arms in anger. He needed not have worried. His team are beginning to look unstoppable in this title race – even when they have to win ugly.

Goals: Lovenkrands (9) 1-0; Rooney (20) 1-1; Berbatov (56) 1-2.

Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Harper; S Taylor, Coloccini, Bassong, Enrique; R Taylor (Carroll, 77), Smith (LuaLua, 82), Geremi, Gutierrez; Lovenkrands; Martins. Substitutes not used: Krul (gk), Cacapa, Butt, Ameobi, Edgar.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Park; Berbatov (Giggs, 89), Rooney. Substitutes not used: Foster (gk), Anderson, Scholes, Evans, Tevez, Eckersley.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).

Booked: Newcastle United S Taylor; Manchester United: Vidic, Ferdinand.

Man of the match: Ferdinand. Independent


Soccer-River Plate's 100-kilo striker told to lose weight

River Plate's new signing Cristian Fabbiani, a cult figure nicknamed The Ogre by supporters, has been told to eat less by his coach after officially passing the 100-kilo mark.

The 25-year-old, who owes his nickname to an apparent likeness to the animated film character Shrek, has also been left out of the trip to Lima to face Peruvian champions Deportivo San Martin in the Libertadores Cup on Thursday.

Fabbiani's weight has been one of the talking points of the season with his mother giving television interviews on her son's dietary habits.

Although he initially laughed off the comments, the matter became more serious after River Plate lost 5-1 to San Lorenzo on Sunday.

"I've told him that even if he eats salad, if he eats three bowls of salad, it's the same as eating something else," said coach Nestor Gorosito in a radio interview.

"Because a cow eats grass and it's a cow, it eats all day and it's a cow.

"Fabbiani needs to accept responsibility and lose weight. I don't need him to go down to 92 or 93 kilos, but he has to get down to 97 and at the moment he's a hundred and a bit.

"We want him to play 90 minutes, not just half an hour."

Fabbiani, who alternates moments of brilliance with others of near-disaster and produced one of the misses of the Apertura championship last year, made an instant impact after joining River from Newell's Old Boys.

In two short substitute appearances, he set up an injury-time winner in a Libertadores Cup match against Paraguayan side Nacional, then scored in a 2-1 win at Rosario Central in the league.

He promised he would be ready to play 90 minutes against leaders Arsenal in the Clausura championship on Sunday.

"It's my physique and I can't change it much. But I'm going to play Sunday, I'm not going to get left out of the team again and I'm going to put an end to all this," he said. (Editing by Rex Gowar) Reuters