Sporting briefs...

Catania appeal: Catania will appeal against the ban imposed on their Massimino Stadium, the club's president said yesterday. Last week the Italian Football League ordered Catania to play the rest of the season's home games at neutral venues behind closed doors as punishment for the violence that broke out at a Serie A match on February 2, in which a policeman died. "We have examined the sentence and have decided to appeal. It will be up to the disciplinary committee to decide whether or not our ban will be reduced," Catania president Antonio Pulvirenti said.

Inzaghi: Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi will miss tomorrow's Champions League match against Celtic after failing to recover from a muscle strain. The Italian international was left out of the squad for the first leg of the last 16 tie at Celtic Park. Inzaghi's place in the squad was taken by 18-year-old Davide Di Gennaro, a youth team striker who has never played for Milan's first team in Serie A. Of Milan's first-team strikers, only two - Alberto Gilardino and Ricardo Oliveira - have been picked to make the trip to Scotland.

Al Ahli: Egypt's Al Ahli added another continental title to a long list of successes with a record-equaling third African Super Cup title yesterday. But the Egyptians needed penalties for a second successive year to overcome fellow north African opposition, beating Tunisia's Etoile Sahel 5-4 in a post-match shoot-out in Addis Ababa after the two had played out a dour goalless draw at the end of extra time. The African Super Cup is traditionally played at the home venue of the preceding year's Champions League winners but was moved to neutral Addis Ababa as part of the Confederation of African Football's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Pessotto: Former Juve defender Gianluca Pessotto has denied his fall last year from a top floor window at the club's Turin headquarters was a suicide attempt. The 36-year-old Juve team manager suffered multiple fractures after falling 15 metres from a fourth-floor window in June. Reports shortly after he fell suggested he was receiving treatment for depression following the end of his playing career, and that he had been found with a rosary in his hands. "I believe it was an accident. But we should not be afraid to speak out and express clearly whatever it is that we feel," Pessotto said. "If someone is sad, it is right that he says so. If someone is depressed, it is right that he says so."

Ligue 1: Played yesterday - Monaco vs Racing Lens 0-0; Olympique Marseille vs Nantes 0-0. Leading standings - Lyon 57; Racing Lens 44; Lille, Sochaux 39; Toulouse, Olympique Marseille 38; St Etienne, Stade Rennes, Bordeaux 36.

Snooker: Welsh Open final - Robertson bt Higginson 9-8.