Sporting briefs

Drogba: Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will discover today whether he is to be punished for throwing a coin at Burnley fans after the FA said he had admitted a charge of violent conduct. Drogba was charged last week following the incident at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday when he reacted angrily to objects being thrown from Burnley supporters while he celebrated his first goal of the season.

Llorente: Villarreal striker Joseba Llorente has torn a thigh muscle and will be out of action for a month, the Primera Liga club said yesterday. The 28-year-old, who picked up the injury during Sunday's 2-2 draw in Malaga, is their top scorer with six in the league and three in Europe. He will miss the Champions League Group E top-of-the-table clash with Manchester United.

Boumsong: Olympique Lyon's Jean-Alain Boumsong was added to the France squad for a friendly against Uruguay tomorrow. Defenders Bakary Sagna and Julien Escude and midfielder Lassana Diarra pulled out through injuries.

Shevchenko: Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko will not join Real Madrid, the Italian club's chief executive Adriano Galliani has said. Spanish media have linked Real with a move for the Ukrainian after Ruud van Nistelrooy was ruled out for the season. Inter's Hernan Crespo has also been mentioned as a possible replacement in newspapers. "Sheva is not going anywhere, he will start playing again soon," Galliani said.

Moratti: Inter president Massimo Moratti has kicked off the hype ahead of Saturday's game between the leaders and rivals Juventus by saying he would have loved to have signed Juve's Alessandro Del Piero. "It would always be Del Piero, who is really great. He deserves all the praise he gets because he is truly wonderful," Moratti told reporters.

MFA Division III: Kirkop vs Sta Luċija 1-1. Today - 7 p.m. Għaxaq vs Qrendi.

Serie B: Empoli vs Grosseto 1-1.

In England: FA Cup 1st round replay - Northampton vs Leeds 2-5.

Motorcycling: MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi was perky after finishing second in the Monza rally as he continues to try out four wheels ahead of a two-day Ferrari Formula One test from Thursday. "I would settle for winning the (MotoGP) world championship every year and finishing second here," Rossi said. "Our problem is that after winning everything in our categories we like to seek out new motivations."

Cricket: Yuvraj Singh blasted his second consecutive century and grabbed four wickets to guide India to a 54-run win over England in the second one-day international yesterday. The 26-year-old top-scored with 118 to lift India to 292 for nine before denting England's fightback, putting the hosts 2-0 up in the seven-game series. England collapsed to 238 all out after Yuvraj ended a 96-run second-wicket partnership by removing Owais Shah (58) and Matt Prior (38) in successive overs.

Motor racing: Jimmie Johnson secured a record-equalling third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title after holding off a determined challenge by Carl Edwards at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. Edwards won the race but Johnson only needed to finish 36th or better in his Chevrolet and his 15th place guaranteed him a tie with Cale Yarborough (1976-1978) for three straight cups.

Tennis: Argentina are favourites to win the Davis Cup final which starts in Mar del Plata on Friday, Spain captain Emilio Sanchez-Vicario has said. "Given they are playing at home in front of their own fans, I would say they are 65 to 70 per cent favourites to win," Sanchez-Vicario told Spanish Radio Marca. "Fernando Verdasco has tendinitis in a knee but is having treatment and doing exercises to combat the problem. It has improved today, and we hope it continues this way."