Sunday International Sports News

Milan ready to clinch
Ronaldino deal
‘Ronnie has rediscovered his joy’
Agence France-Presse . Milan
AC Milan are on the brink of completing their purchase of Barcelona’s Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho, the Italian press reported on Saturday.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, an agreement has been reached between AC Milan’s vice-president Adriano Galliano and Barcelona president Joan Laporta for a fee of 15 million euros, with Ronaldinho set to sign a two-year contract to 2010 worth 6.5 million euros per year.
It will be a major coup for the 2007 European Champions who are still licking their wounds after failing to reach the 2008-09 Champions League and needed a big signing to signal their intent for next season.
The club will also be delighted with the price that they have negotiated for a player they have been tracking for over a year, with the final total 20 million euros lower than Barcelona’s initial request of 35 million euros.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti is expected to pair him in an all-Brazilian attacking trident, along with Kaka and their young sensation, Alexander Pato.
The former AC Milan and Roma midfielder will have high hopes for a player who hit 70 goals in 149 matches at the Nou Camp and helped Barcelona to the 2006 Champions League title.
There was no mention made as to whether Ronaldinho will be able to take his place as part of Brazil’s squad for the Beijing Olympic Games.
He was initially named in the 18-man squad before new Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola refused to release him.
Since the end of the 2007-08-season Ancelotti has added Italy full-back Gianluca Zambrotta and French midfielder Mathieu Flamini to his squad, whilst he has also recalled striker Marco Borriello, who was on loan at Genoa.
Meanwhile, Paulo Paixao, fitness coach of the Brazilian national team and who is supervising the recovery of Ronaldinho, has added fuel to the fire of suggestions that Barcelona were responsible for the player falling out of love with football.
Paixao has been supervising Ronaldinho’s intensive physical training for a week now, and The Gaucho seems to have made significant progress.
In a statement made Friday, he spoke about the Barcelona star, who is whipping himself into shape to participate in the Olympics much against his club’s wishes.
‘He is very happy and motivated,’ said Paixao. ‘He has rediscovered his joy, and is once again the Ronaldinho we all knew.’
‘He has been very cooperative in the work we are doing to improve his physical form, and take him back to his best.’
‘Even though he has been idle for a long time, he may already be in top shape by the 22nd of July.’
Ronaldinho is determined to represent Brazil in the Olympics, despite opposition from Barcelona, and just as much from Dunga – who feels overruled after leaving him out of the national team.
The Brazilian will thus miss the club’s Champions League qualifiers, in which Barca will also be without Lionel Messi.


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Totti ready for Azzurri return
Agence France-Presse . Rome
Roma captain Francesco Totti has hinted that he may be open to a national team recall
following the return of World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi.
Totti won the last of his 58 caps for Italy in the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin before he dithered over whether to officially retire that summer and only did so in 2007.
Lippi recently declared that he will respect Totti’s decision to retire and that he has no plans to entice back the man who scored the last-minute penalty that beat Australia in the second round in Germany.
However, Totti told Sky Sports Italia that with Lippi back at the helm he would need to speak to the new coach before he changes his mind and that for the time being his is concentrating on his recovery from knee surgery.
‘I have an excellent relationship with him, away from the field as well and we are often in touch with one another.
It is up to him to see and for now I am only thinking about my recovery. I’ve not yet spoken to Lippi about this, we will have to weigh things up in the future.’
With Totti missing the last two months of the 2007-08-season, Mirko Vucinic was Roma’s only out and out attacker in the title run-in in which they finished second to Inter Milan.
Whilst the Stadio Olimpico club has strengthened its squad in the summer months, the 31 year-old is hopeful that another striker will be added and has high hopes that Fiorentina’s Romania striker Adrian Mutu will be lining up alongside him when the league kicks off on August 31.
‘I hope that we sign a top striker. The important thing is that it is a player who can make a difference. I would take Mutu over everyone else. He would enjoy himself here,’ Totti said.
‘(John Arne) Riise and (Simone) Loria are two excellent buys. Riise is an international player and in his role Loria is one of the strongest players in Italy.’
It has been a long summer for Totti, who has been battling back from his knee injury with the Italian Super Cup against Inter on August 24 his target, whilst all the while haggling over a new contract with his current deal set to expire in 2010.
‘The target (for his return from injury) is August 24, but the important thing is to return when I’m ready. I miss football, but even when I’m not supposed to, I will have a secret kick about.
‘The directors have always said that I will sign for life. My current deal ends in 2010, so this is the last year for renewing it.’


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Sanchez wins seventh stage
Agence France-Presse . Aurillac
Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez stepped out of the shadow of Caisse d’Epargne team-mate Alejandro Valverde to win a dramatic 7th stage of the Tour de France here on Friday.
Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen, of Team Columbia, survived an audacious attempt to loosen his grip on the yellow jersey by a determined CSC team to retain the race lead with a six-second cushion on Australian Cadel Evans.
A tumultuous stage, held over 159km of hilly terrain in the Massif Central, saw a number of crashes and retirements, including that of former French champion Christophe Moreau.
Agritubel team leader Moreau, who was fourth overall in the 2001 edition, is the biggest name to drop out of the race so far, abandoning shortly after he dropped off the back of a chasing peloton.
Italian Damiano Cunego crashed around the 60km mark, the Lampre rider getting back on his bike but spending a tough day in the saddle following the CSC team’s decision to subsequently up the tempo.
Sanchez had attacked several times throughout the hilly, second day in the medium mountains and got his just rewards following a final acceleration 4km from the finish line.
He left three of his former breakaway compantions in his wake, and won six seconds ahead of Schumacher and a 21-man bunch which included all the race favourites.
Sanchez pointed to the sky as he crossed the line to claim his first ever win in the world’s biggest race.
He later explained it was to dedicate his win to his dead brother.
‘I want to dedicate this victory to my brother who died in a motorbike accident three years ago,’ said Sanchez.
‘We were really close, we rode together until the age of 21 and with my other brother, who plays football, we were always dedicating our victories to each other.’
Sanchez, however, insisted that from now on he is likely to stick to Caisse d’Epargne’s gameplan of getting their team leader Valverde, or 2006 winner Oscar Pereiro, back into the yellow jersey.
‘We’re here to help Alejandro or Oscar win yellow in Paris, and that’s how we approach every stage of this race,’ added the 24-year-old Sanchez.
‘Today I won mostly because of the circumstances of the race.’
A disciplined start to the second day in the medium mountains eventually gave way to a thrilling day of tactical racing once Scotland’s David Millar was eventually reeled in by the chasing bunch.
The peloton seemed in no mood to allow escapes to go early on but Millar, of the Garmin team, attacked one kilometre from the summit of the category four climb at Villedieu and eventually found himself with company.
A four-man break formed but because Millar began the stage in fifth overall at just 47secs behind Kirchen, he was never going to be given much rein.
‘I decided last night that I was going to have one last try of trying to pull on the yellow jersey after I looked at the stage profile,’ Millar told AFP after finishing the stage 33secs behind Sanchez, which pushed him down to seventh place overall at 1:14 behind Kirchen.
A 24sec lead on the chasing bunch was quickly reduced after several teams joined Kirchen and his Columbia team in upping the pace.
The quartet were caught minutes later, and a solo attack by Sanchez soon gave way to a mass acceleration by the CSC team of yellow jersey hopeful Carlos Sastre.
CSC’s decision came shortly after Cunego’s crash at the 60km mark, but it appeared more designed to tire out Kirchen’s Columbia team than leave the diminutive Italian climber behind.
It is a badly-hidden secret on the Tour that CSC’s Schleck brothers Andy and Frank are no friends of their yellow jersey-wearing compatriot Kirchen.
After the race, CSC team manager Bjarne Riis refused to feed that theory.
‘We have our own tactic like everybody else,’ he said.
‘I can’t speak for the other teams but we do what suits us best. Today’s stage was very difficult, there was a lot of wind when we accelerated so for me it was the right time.’
CSC’s tactics left many riders trying to catch up as the main peloton split into pieces.
Around 25 leaders - including all the yellow jersey favourites - were then left in front, only to be joined by a larger group with 70km and three of the day’s most difficult climbs to race.
Sanchez then launched his second big attack of the day on the lower slopes of the Col d’Entremont, prompting fellow Spaniard Josep Jufre Pou of Saunier Duval to follow.
The pair were joined by David de la Fuente and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas and they went over the summit of the category two Pas de Peyrol with a lead of 1min 30sec on the peloton.
The descent, however, proved far trickier. De la Fuente’s downhill skills were exposed as he was forced to brake on the humid roads on several occasions while approaching tight corners.
He finally caught up with the leading trio and with 20km to the finish they held a lead of one minute on the peloton but in the end Sanchez was the only one capable of holding on.


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Cannavaro looking ahead to 2010
Agence France-Presse . Rome
Italy’s World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro has declared his intention to still be available to Italy when they make the defence of their world crown in South Africa in 2010.
The Real Madrid defender will be 36 when the tournament kicks off in Africa for the first time ever, but told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he will still have plenty left to offer returning World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi.
‘If the coach wants me, I will be there to retain the World Cup in South Africa. I will always make myself available. Always,’ he said.
‘I will have to work more, as at 35 years of age (he turns 35 on September 13) everything becomes more complicated. But playing for Italy is a pleasure and an honour. It’s unique.’
Cannavaro, who is recuperating from his pre-Euro 2008 knee injury, doesn’t expect Lippi to radically change the Italy line-up, though is aware that a number of Gianluigi Casiraghi’s under-21 team will start to establish themselves in the senior squad.
Defender Giorgio Chiellini has led the way, the Juventus defender filling in for Cannavaro in Austria and Switzerland and is likely to be Cannavaro’s partner in central defence when he returns to action.
‘It’s true that my generation are starting to lose little things and that it is time to think about the future,’ he said.
‘Giuseppe, who I see in Spain (for Villarreal), is excellent and there is Aquilani (Alberto). They only need a bit of experience.
‘In defence Chiellini was excellent (at Euro 2008) and there is Barzagli (Andrea) and Gamberini (Alessandro). There’s lots of youngsters, but if one is truly excellent you will only tell in the big games.’
The Naples-born Cannavaro also feels that there could be return for a pair of heroes from the Germany 2006 campaign, if they want it.
AC Milan’s Alessandro Nesta and Roma’s Francesco Totti both retired from international football following the triumph in Berlin, but since the departure of Donadoni both are thought to be considering a return to international action.
He said, ‘I don’t think it would be bad. It happened in France with (Zinedine) Zidane and (Lillian) Thuram (before the 2006 World Cup). The door is always open and the rules are the same for everyone.’


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Butragueno backs Casillas
for Ballon d’Or
Agence France-Presse . Madrid
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas, who played a key role in Spain’s Euro 2008 victory, should win the Ballon d’Or award as the world footballer of the year, Spanish legend Emilio Butragueno said Friday.
‘Tradition dictates that only forwards win the award. But Iker is a special goalkeeper, not just this year, but throughout his career,’ the former Real Madrid striker and vice-president told the club’s website.
‘The fact that he’s a European champion and the role he played in the quarter-finals make him deserve it more than anyone. He must win the Ballon d’Or,’ he added.
Casillas, 27, only allowed two regular-time goals in the Euro 2008 tournament, both in the group stage. The captain became a national hero after he saved two penalty kicks in the quarter-finals as Spain beat Italy 4-2 in a shootout after a 0-0 draw.
The winner of the Ballon d’Or award is selected by a panel of journalists and soccer officials in a vote organised by France Football magazine since 1956.
The prize was restricted to European footballers until last year when France Football changed the qualifications, opening the award up to players from the rest of the world, regardless of nationality.
AC Milan’s Brazilian midfielder Kaka won the Ballon d’Or award in 2007.
Russia’s Lev Yashin of Dynamo Moscow was the last keeper to win the award in 1963.


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Pistorius misses out again
Agence France-Presse . Rome
South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius saw his hopes of taking part in the Beijing Olympics suffer another setback on Friday when he finished a long way outside the qualifying time.
Pistorius, who is bidding to make history by competing against able-bodied runners at the Games, clocked 46.62sec to finish in seventh place in the 400m B race at the Golden League meeting here, more than a second outside the 45.55sec qualifying standard.
The 21-year-old, however, improved on his season-best time of 47.78sec which he set in Milan last week. His best ever performance remains 46.34.
Pistorius already holds the world records for the 100m, 200m and 400m Paralympic events, and is nicknamed the ‘Blade Runner’ because of his J-shaped carbon fibre prosthetic lower legs.
A legal battle that ended in May when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ban on him competing with able-bodied athletes cost Pistorius precious training time.


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Adebayor value still too
high for Milan
Agence France-Presse . Rome
AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has told La Gazzetta dello Sport that Arsenal’s asking price for striker Emmanuel Adebayor remains too expensive to consider an approach.
On Friday Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger let the San Siro club know that he was prepared to discuss the possibility of the Togo striker moving from north London to northern Italy.
However, Galliani feels that the requested fee of 28 million euros remains too high for a club that will not have Champions League income to look forward to in the 2008-09-season.
‘We’ve stopped dealing with Wenger and have to reconfirm that up to now Milan has above all important sacrifices to make in negotiations with its current players, starting with Kaka,’ he said.
The paper does though suggest that there may be a surprise-return to San Siro for Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, albeit in a loan move.
Ukrainian Shevchenko scored 127 goals in 208 matches for AC Milan between 1999 and 2006, but has failed to settle in southwest London since he moved there following the 2006 World Cup.
He has often been linked with a second spell in the red and black half of Milan throughout his two-year stay in England.
Should he make the move, Shevchenko will not necessarily find life any easier second time around as he will have to battle for a place in the starting line-up with Filippo Inzaghi, Ronaldo and youngsters Alexander Pato and Alberto Paloschi.


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Deco is an underachiever: Barca
The Guardian . London
Chelsea’s new signing Deco has been criticised for what were described as sub-standard performances over the past two seasons by the Barcelona president who authorised his departure. Joan Laporta, who is clinging on to power at Camp Nou after narrowly surviving a vote of no confidence, described the £8m sale that took the Portugal international to Stamford Bridge as ‘great business’ and added that the midfielder should not be ‘idolised’.
‘In the previous two seasons Deco was one of the players with the lowest level of performance, for whatever reason,’ he said.
Deco, who was outstanding for Portugal at Euro 2008, has recently finalised his second divorce