Football news

American sports mogul Stan Kroenke raised his stake in Arsenal to 29.9 per cent yesterday, the threshold beyond which he will have to make an offer for the remaining shares.

Kroenke, the club's largest shareholder, bought another 200 shares in the Premier League club at a price of £8,500 per share. Arsenal said 100 of those shares were sold by chairman Peter Hill-Wood.

Arsenal have been the subject of takeover speculation since Kroenke and Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov began building stakes in the club. Usmanov owns around 25 per cent of the club's shares.

Babbel half-time tirade lifts Stuttgart

Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel had to bawl out his players at half-time to inspire their comeback in a 1-1 Champions League draw at Sevilla on Wednesday.

"Our performance in the first half was the worst I have seen from my team in quite some time," Babbel told reporters.

"I had to raise my voice during the break because the first half defied belief," he added.

"I told them that we had to fight to stay in the Champions League and not to be so timid, and that I was the only one who had anything to be scared about."

Rangers charged over crowd trouble

UEFA has charged Rangers with improper conduct by their fans in Wednesday's 1-1 Champions League draw with Unirea Urziceni in Romania.

The case will be dealt with by the control and disciplinary body next Thursday.

"As far as we can establish it seems there were a number of Rangers supporters who came late into the stadium and we need to find out why," UEFA's director of communications Rob Faulkner told Reuters yesterday.

"There was then an issue about where they were going to sit because, apparently, banners were already placed in their seats which resulted in the request to remove some banners which seems to have ended in a clash between stewards and some supporters."

Warner to return 'free handbag'

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is returning a handbag given to his wife by England's 2018 World Cup bid because he says it has become "a symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment".

British newspapers reported that the CONCACAF president had written to FA chairman Lord Triesman to complain about media coverage of what was intended to be a goodwill gesture.

Warner, one of the FIFA executive members who will decide who gets the tournament, also told Triesman that "there is nothing that your FA can offer me to get my vote. If England does get it, it is because CONCACAF and I sincerely believe that England is deserving."

Bogdanovic set for Malta recall

Daniel Bogdanovic is poised to earn a call-up to the Malta squad for the November 18 friendly against Bulgaria at the Hibs Ground.

The Barnsley forward has yet to feature for Malta since John Buttigieg took over from Dusan Fitzel as national coach but the former has now informed Bogdanovic that he is in his plans for the forthcoming friendly.

Sources have told The Times that Buttigieg spoke to Bogdanovic on the phone on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Bogdanovic followed up his positive showing in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United in the League Cup with another decisive display in Barnsley's 2-1 league win over Peterborough. The Malta striker scored Barnsley's first goal against Peterborough.

Guardiola cautious after Rubin draw

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admits only time will tell how good a result their goalless Champions League draw with Rubin Kazan was.

The draw saw Barca, who suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Rubin two weeks earlier, slip to third in Group F after Inter defeated Dynamo Kiev, although there are still only two points separating all four sides and all to play for in the final two rounds of matches.

"We will see if the point is good or bad at the end," said Guardiola.

"There are two games remaining and we have to try to win them. If we don't manage to do it then we don't deserve to get through to the last 16.

It's a case of throwing away the calculator because we know that we have to win the final two games."

I'm happy in Madrid - Aguero

Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero is flattered by the interest Chelsea have shown in buying him but said he is happy to stay in the Spanish capital for the time being.

The 21-year-old scored two superb goals in Tuesday's 2-2 Champions League draw with the Londoners and Atletico reportedly turned down a Chelsea offer of around €35 million for him in the close season.

"I know that people were saying they (Chelsea) wanted me during the summer and that there were several teams tracking me but nothing ever came to me and I am happy at Atletico," Aguero said.

"I like it (Chelsea's interest) and it makes me happy but I am the same person as ever and I think the same as before."