Football news

Brazil's Kaka got lost walking around Tallinn on Tuesday ahead of their friendly against Estonia and needed a police escort back to the team's hotel, Brazilian media reported.

The Real Madrid midfielder took an early morning walk around the old town on his own and was spotted by two policemen in a patrol car who stopped to talk to him.

On learning Kaka had actually lost his way back to the hotel, the officers took him there in the patrol car.

Brazil played Estonia yesterday in a warm-up for their World Cup qualifier against Argentina on September 5.

No Arsenal bid for Subotic

Arsenal have not approached Borussia Dortmund for Neven Subotic, the Serbian defender's agent has said.

Reports yesterday suggested Arsenal were preparing a bid for Subotic, who has also been linked with Everton, as they look to replace Kolo Toure.

Stephen Kelly, Subotic's agent, dismissed such claims. "There is nothing in the reports linking Neven with Arsenal," Kelly told skysports.com.

"He only recently signed a new five-year deal at Dortmund and it would take big money for any move to happen. I have had no contact with Arsenal and I have spoken to Dortmund. They have told me that they have had no contact with Arsenal whatsoever."

Match halted after fan attacks player

A Copa Sudamericana match between Blooming of Bolivia and Uruguay's River Plate was abandoned after 66 minutes when a fan attacked a visiting player.

Peruvian referee Hugo Carrillo suspended Tuesday night's match in Santa Cruz after the Blooming fan attacked River Plate forward Henry Gimenez from behind, sparking protests from home supporters, who threw objects and flares onto the pitch.

"The player is not badly hurt, but he is shaken. He was hit by a stone," River Plate team chief Donato Rivas said. Local media said the culprit, who was arrested, had a knife on him.

Shevchenko plans to stay put

Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko intends to see out his contract with the Premier League club.

Shevchenko has been tipped to move on after returning to the club following an unsuccessful loan spell at Milan last term.

The Ukrainian, who was not even on the bench for Sunday's Community Shield clash with Manchester United, is thought to have rejected the chance to return to former club Dynamo Kiev.

"I still have a year left on my contract with Chelsea and I want to stay in London until it expires," Shevchenko told the Daily Star.

"Only God knows what's going to happen then."

Blades boss rues lack of cutting edge

Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell was left to rue his side's erratic display in front of goal as they suffered the humiliation of a first-round League Cup exit at home to Port Vale.

Two goals from striker Marc Richards, one coming after a blunder by Blades goalkeeper Ian Bennett, either side of a Billy Sharp equaliser gave Vale the victory.

"We've had enough chances to win by a cricket score," he said.

"But if you don't take them you are going to get punished."

Blackwell was full of praise for young Vale goalkeeper Chris Martin. "There were two or three world-class saves there, he can be very proud of himself," he added.

Malta goalkeeper Justin Haber was in Sheffield United's squad on Tuesday but played no part in the match.

Call for quotas on foreigners in Italy

Italian football should restore foreign player quotas to ensure domestic talent has the chance to flourish, the head of the nation's professional footballers association (AIC) said yesterday.

"Useless foreign players have been flooding our championship for ages, making club presidents spend too much and taking places from Italians, who are often better," Sergio Campana told La Gazzetta dello Sport's website.

"I'm going to propose the introduction of a limit on foreigners in the regulations. It's legally possible both for non-EU and EU citizens. We have to go back to the past when there was a real limit on foreign players."

Restrictions on EU players risk facing legal challenges over whether they breach European Law on freedom of movement.

Melo receives Maradona boost

Felipe Melo is delighted about the praise he received from Argentina and Napoli legend Diego Armando Maradona.

The Argentina coach was commenting on World Cup qualifying when he described Melo as "a great find for Brazil".

"To receive praise like that from Maradona, one of the greatest names in world football, is truly fantastic," Juventus midfielder Melo said.

"This makes me really happy and I am grateful to him. All this is thanks to hard work and willpower, as I never gave up."