London, Mar 22 : The decision by David Beckham to stay at AC Milan may have cost him a cool two million pounds, but has saved his World Cup dream.

England boss Fabio Capello has confirmed Beckham would have been axed from his squad if he had returned to LA Galaxy this month.

Instead, Beckham sacrificed two million pounds of his personal fortune to help broker an extended loan spell with Milan and so is in line to pick up his 109th and 110th caps for his country in the clashes with Slovakia and Ukraine at Wembley, The Sun reports.

Madrid  - Striker Frederic Kanoute hit a handsome hat-trick on Saturday, in Sevilla's 4-1 thrashing of hapless Valladolid.

The comfortable win consolidates Sevilla in third place in La Liga, six points ahead of fourth-placed Villarreal, who beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 earlier on Saturday.

Kanoute is in the best form of his career, at the ripe old age of 31. He started the rout after just eight minutes by turning in a centre from Koffi Romaric.

Henok Goitom made it 1-1 for Valladolid in the 22nd minute by heading in a free-kick from Fabian Canobbio.

Madrid  - A 2-0 defeat of cup finalists Athletic Bilbao on Saturday has left Villarreal fourth in the Spanish Liga.

Villarreal won thanks to late goals from Santi Cazorla and Matias Fernandez, and a couple of sharp saves from goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who was called up by Spain manager Vicente del Bosque on Friday.

The "yellow submarine," as Villarreal are known, now has 48 points from 28 games, five points more than Atletico Madrid and Malaga, who share fifth place.

London - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his side's 2-0 defeat at Fulham on Saturday could prove costly in the race for the English Premier League title.

The title battle was blown wide open as goals from Danny Murphy and Zoltan Gera gave United, who ended the match with nine men after Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were sent off, their second straight defeat - the first time that has happened since 2005.

Rome  - Michele Paolucci was on target and Albano Bizzarri saved a spot kick to help Catania beat visiting Lazio 1-0 Saturday in a Serie A weekend-opener played in the eastern-Sicily town.

Paolucci put Catania in front on 24 minutes, flicking home after Pablo Ledesma misfired a great assist from Giuseppe Mascara.

Catania kept up their aggressive tactics in the remainder of the first half, running minor risks when Pasquale Foggia on 44 minutes aimed a wide header and Swiss Stephan Lichtsteiner had a fast drive saved.

Stuttgart - Arne F