Sporting briefs...

Bundesliga: Marek Mintal scored his 22nd goal of the season to help Nuremberg to a 3-0 win at home to fellow strugglers H. Rostock yesterday. Nuremberg, sitting precariously one place and two points above the danger zone at start of play, took the lead in the 59th minute with Maik Wagefeld's long-range strike. Mintal headed in 10 minutes later before Wagefeld notched his second to make it 3-0. The win took Nuremberg up to the relative safety of 13th place on 31 points, while leaving Rostock in deep trouble in second from last place. Other result: A. Bielefeld vs Kaiserslautern 0-2.

Pizarro: Bayern Munich should be able to field their first-choice strike partnership for tomorrow's Champions League clash with Chelsea after Claudio Pizarro said he had fully recovered from his hamstring injury. "I feel fit and I have no more problems," the Peruvian international said after coming through a training session yesterday. Dutchman Roy Makaay, Pizarro's regular partner up front, returned for Bayern in Saturday's 2-1 win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Di Canio: Paolo Di Canio, 36, has confirmed that he will stay at Lazio for another season. The veteran forward returned to Lazio last summer from Charlton and has pledged to remain in Rome. Di Canio has agreed a new deal and admits all that is waiting is for Lazio president Claudio Lotito to sign the contract. "My future will be here," Di Canio said. "I'll be a player for another year. To avoid any misunderstanding I have cleared the situation of my contract. The contract is ready."

Pires: Arsene Wenger has warned Robert Pires he will not be offered a long-term deal to extend his stay at Arsenal. Pires has just one more season left on his current deal. "Robert has a year to go because we took up the one-year option on his original contract, so he has no option on his current contract," Wenger stated. "He has the extra year already which finishes in 2006. Then, if he wants to talk about an extension, why not? But he will be 33 by the end of next year, and then we will go from year to year."

In France: Ligue 1 - Ajaccio vs Auxerre 4-3.

Tennis: Amelia Island Open final - Davenport bt Farina Elia 7-5 7-5.