Football news

Marco Tardelli is keeping his fingers crossed that Ireland avoid France in the World Cup play-off draw. The Irish have already booked their place in the draw as a result of the heart-stopping 2-2 draw with Italy.

Ireland will not be among the four seeds, and therefore will find themselves pitched into battle with a quartet likely to comprise France, Portugal, Russia and Greece.

However, assistant boss Tardelli, has his own ideas about how he would like next Monday's draw to go. Asked for his preferred opponents, he said:

"I would prefer Greece, maybe - and I would prefer not to meet France, because France have many good players, as do Portugal."

Robinho closes in on comeback

Robinho could return for Manchester City a week today when they face Scunthorpe in the League Cup.

The Brazilian is on the mend after suffering an ankle injury that has seen him miss five games for the club. Manager Mark Hughes said: "Robinho is not far away, he's probably got about 10 days and then he can return to the group.

"He's working every day, we're trying to get him back as soon as we can but with a bone injury there is a certain length of time to give the injury."

No green light for Driver yet

Andrew Driver's prospects of playing for Scotland could be scuppered by the fact neither he nor manager George Burley appears willing to make the first move in his switch of allegiance from England.

A recent rule change means Hearts winger Driver could become the first player born outside Scotland to be capped by them.

The apparent stalemate could prevent the 21-year-old from becoming the first beneficiary of new eligibility criteria that allows Burley to select British passport holders born outside Scotland who have been schooled there for five years.

Driver said: "The rule change opens a door for players like me. But if you are talking about me and Scotland, I haven't been picked yet and I can't expect to walk into a national team just because of a change in the rules."

Ronaldo banned from watching Portugal

Real Madrid have forbidden Cristiano Ronaldo from going to watch today's final World Cup qualifier against Malta.

Ronaldo is out of the game with an ankle injury and Real are reported as insisting he does not travel to Guimarães, according to sports daily AS.

"The important thing is recuperating perfectly to get over the problem," the player himself said though he did earlier ask for permission to make the trip.

Real are already upset that Ronaldo is set to be out for a month after he aggravated an existing ankle problem in Saturday's win over Hungary, during which he hobbled off. He suffered the original problem in the Champions League win over Marseille.

Ibrahimovic slams Inter

Former Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has launched an astonishing attack on his old club, claiming Barcelona are by far the better side.

Ibrahimovic left the Serie A champions in the summer after three years at the San Siro, moving to Barca as part of a swap deal which saw Samuel Eto'o go the other way.

"In Inter there weren't many players who could make the difference," Ibrahimovic said.

"When someone wasn't good, the game became difficult. But at Barca, even if there is an absentee there is always someone who makes the difference and we win.

"This is what makes Barcelona a great team."

Lega Calcio issues €100m tender

The Italian football league put out to tender the rights to televise its games outside the country for the next two years, looking for at least €100m.

Officials announced that bids were to be submitted by November 2 to the Lega Calcio for first and second division games covering the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons.

The package on offer has 380 Serie A and 462 Serie B matches and includes for the first time a game at midday on Sunday targeted at Asian audiences.

The tender follows the sale of the rights to air the same matches inside Italy to Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium, owned by Silvio Berlusconi.

Lippi not ready to sign new deal yet

Marcello Lippi insists he will not renew his contract before the World Cup finals, prompting speculation over the Italy coach's future. The Azzurri booked their ticket to South Africa on Saturday with a dramatic draw in Dublin.

There is now real confidence in the country that they can become the first team to successfully defend the title since Brazil in 1962. However, Lippi is adamant he will not be signing anything before next summer.

"Why?" he said.

"If then everything goes bad, would I remain just because I had a contract?"

Speculation is rife that the 61-year-old has already informed the federation of his desire to step down after the finals.