London, Apr. 4: Manchester United have played down reports of Spanish football club Real Madrid offering 75 million pounds for Portuguese star striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sources at Old Trafford insisted last night that there was no substance to the claims, in line with the club''s public stance that Ronaldo, under contract until 2012, will not be leaving Manchester in the near future.
Bielefeld, Germany - Goals from Jefferson Farfan and Kevin Kuranyi gave Schalke 04 a 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld in their first match since the dismissal of coach Fred Rutten eight days ago.
Peru striker Farfan got on the end of a cross from Christian Pander to head Schalke ahead just before half-time, and Kuranyi notched the second three minutes into stoppage time.
The win was a boost for troubled Schalke who are now being coached by caretaker trainers Mike Buskens and Youri Mulder.
Mexico City - Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was sacked Thursday as Mexico's football coach, has good reason not to get too upset about the setback: the Swede earned some 7 million dollars in 10 months with the national team, the Mexican sports daily Record reported Friday.
"Sven-Goran Eriksson became the most costly investment in the history of Mexican football," the daily said.
London - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will have use all his managerial skills this weekend after Dimitar Berbatov added to his striking woes by being ruled out for two weeks with an ankle injury.
The Bulgaria striker suffered the injury in the defeat against Fulham two weeks ago and will therefore miss Sunday's clash with Aston Villa and both legs of the club's Champions League quarter-final with Porto.
United are already without the suspended Wayne Rooney, while Ferguson will assess the fitness of Carlos Tevez after his return from Argentina's 6-1 defeat in Bolivia in midweek.
Hamburg - The German football federation DFB believes FIFA will take no action against Lukas Podolski over a pitch altercation with captain Michael Ballack during Germany's 2-0 victory over Wales in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.
Podolski struck out a hand which made slight contact with Ballack's cheek during an angry exchange of words in a second-half incident.
A DFB spokesman said Friday it did not believe football's world governing body FIFA would punish the Bayern Munich striker for unsporting behaviour as the referee took no action at the time.
London, Apr. 4: Manchester United have played down reports of Spanish football club Real Madrid offering 75 million pounds for Portuguese star striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mexico City - Mexican Javier Aguirre was Friday designated to become Mexico's new football coach, replacing the Swede, Sven- Goran Eriksson.
Bielefeld, Germany - Goals from Jefferson Farfan and Kevin Kuranyi gave Schalke 04 a 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld in their first match since the dismissal of coach Fred Rutten eight days ago.
Mexico City - Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was sacked Thursday as Mexico's football coach, has good reason not to get too upset about the setback: the Swede earned some 7 million dollars in 10 months with the national team, the Mexican sports daily Record reported Friday.
London - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will have use all his managerial skills this weekend after Dimitar Berbatov added to his striking woes by being ruled out for two weeks with an ankle injury.
Hamburg - The German football federation DFB believes FIFA will take no action against Lukas Podolski over a pitch altercation with captain Michael Ballack during Germany's 2-0 victory over Wales in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.
