Football news

Inter fans will be too busy falling in love with Samuel Eto'o to weep for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Inter coach Jose Mourinho said.

Sweden striker Ibrahimovic, is set to join Barcelona in a complicated swap deal with Cameroon striker Eto'o. Barca will also pay Inter cash and loan Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb to the Italian side.

"He didn't manage to get the fans to fall in love with him though. They are not crying about his sale and are ready to love Eto'o," he said.

"This seems an extraordinary deal to me, a 100-million euro deal, the deal of the summer. For me it's worth 100 million because Eto'o is not worth a euro less than Ibra."

Beckham fined for fan incident

England midfielder David Beckham has been fined $1,000 by Major League Soccer (MLS) after an incident with a fan in Sunday's friendly between Los Angeles Galaxy and Milan.

"Our players should never engage in conduct that can be interpreted as encouraging fans to come out of the stands and on to the field, regardless of the reason," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said.

Beckham was booed by some of his own Galaxy fans during the game and before half-time went over to confront them, with one supporter being removed from the ground after jumping from the stands towards the player.

Coach quits over fielding son

Julio Cesar Baldivieso, the father of South America's youngest ever first division soccer player, has quit as team coach after the management of the Aurora club told him to leave the boy out of the squad.

Former Bolivia midfielder Baldivieso also withdrew his son Mauricio, who made his debut for the 2008 Clausura champions on Sunday as a 12-year-old, from the club.

Baldivieso's decision to send Mauricio on as a substitute for the last nine minutes of the 1-0 defeat at La Paz has caused a furore in Bolivia with many saying there should be a minimum age limit for boys in professional football.

Guardiola ready for Real challenge

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has warned big-spending Real Madrid that his side won't give up their reign as European and Spanish champions without a fight.

After playing second fiddle to Barcelona last season, Real have spent over £180 million to sign stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema during the close-season and are seen as favourites to win the title.

But Guardiola sees no reason why Barcelona can't retain both the Primera Liga and the Champions League.

"We are going to try (to win everything)," Guardiola said.

"We know Madrid paid a lot of money to get marvellous players but we are willing to attack and I am convinced we have the spirit to play good football and get something at the end of the season."

Vieira keen on Spurs move

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has admitted that former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira is keen to quit Inter for a shock move to White Hart Lane.

Vieira earned hero status at Arsenal during his nine-year spell with the Gunners, but the France midfielder is looking for regular first-team action after falling out of favour at Inter and Redknapp believes he would gladly join his former club's bitter rivals.

"I'm still interested in Patrick, I would like him," Redknapp said. "What's he done wrong? He hasn't killed anyone, he's just a great player who played for Arsenal.

"If he wants to come to Tottenham it shows you about his character. He's not interested in money. He wants to come and play, he's a fantastic player and wants to play here."

Villarreal charged with tax offences

The public prosecutor in Castellon has charged the members of Villarreal's board between 2004 and 2005 with tax and accounting offences, a local court said.

The charges include offences against the tax authorities, accounting irregularities and falsification of commercial documents, the court said in a statement.

It did not identify the board members by name or specify how many of them had been charged, and said the prosecutor was seeking to press charges against 15 others, also not identified.

Villarreal president Fernando Roig, who took over in 1997, denied the charges.

Benitez urges Alonso to stay

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said yesterday he had spoken to Real Madrid target Xabi Alonso and urged him to stay at Anfield, telling his fellow Spaniard that the fans loved him.

The unsettled Alonso has been tipped to join new signings Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka at the Bernabeu with Spanish media suggesting the move was imminent.

"I talked to Xabi yesterday and told him, as he can see here, that the fans love him and said to him 'Maybe you have to stay," Benitez said.

"You can see he is a really good player and I'll be really pleased if he stays. All the players and his teammates want him to stay. If we keep Xabi I will be very pleased."