London - Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has played down the significance of Steven Gerrard's injury, saying his captain will be in the squad to face Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Rumours in the British media suggested that Gerrard could be out for a couple of weeks, but Benitez said it was not that serious.

"Steven has some problems with his adductor," he said.

"He will be in the squad but we still have to decide whether he will start.

Rio de Janeiro - Troubled Brazilian international Adriano will not return to Inter Milan for the foreseeable future, the striker told reporters in Rio de Janeiro late Thursday. Adriano, who did not return to Italy after going to Brazil for two World Cup qualifiers, said that he was taking time away from football to "rethink his career".

"I just did not like living in Italy," he said.

London, Apr 10 : Chelsea is set to make an astonishing 40 million pound bid for David Villa.

The Spainish striker is cash-strapped Valencia’s prize asset and billionaire Blues owner Roman Abramovich is ready to test their resolve, The Sun reports.

Villa, 27, was four-goal top scorer in Euro 2008 as Spain lifted the trophy and has been linked with a move to Manchester City.

But Abramovich is desperate for a high profile signing this summer and is sure the lure of Champions League football will be enough to beat City in the race for Villa.

London, Apr. 10 : Chelsea has the Euro fear factor, especially after it stunned Liverpool with a 3-1 rout at Anfield in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg tie.

The club’s mid-fielder, Frank Lampard, believes that result has sent out a chilling message to the other teams left in the competition.

“If we can carry on playing like that, we will put fear into a lot of teams. It was a superb display. From five minutes on, we were fantastic and we came in at halftime knowing we could do even better. There was just a feeling about the game,” The Sun quoted Lampard, as saying.

London, Apr 10 : Manchester United's wage bill has increased to a whopping sum of 121million pounds in 2008, an increase of 29 million pounds.

The 30 per cent rise comes after improved deals for ace players Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

United's Premier League and Champions League Double last season saw them splash 13.3 million pounds in bonuses, compared to 8.6 million pounds the previous year.

Hamburg - Forward Lukas Popolski faces grave consequences if he misbehaves in the Germany jersey again, coach Joachim Loew said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

Loew told the Badische Zeitung daily that Podolski "lost a lot of sympathy" when he slapped captain Michael Ballack in the face during a heated argument between the two in the second half of last week's World Cup qualifier in Cardiff against wales.