Football news

Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has given a thumbs-up to the job done by rookie coach Leonardo. The Rossoneri claimed their 11th win of the Serie A campaign on Sunday with a 3-0 defeat of Juventus in Turin to stay within striking distance of league leaders Inter.

"I believe the merit of our results is down to Leonardo," said Galliani.

"Our coach has evaluated in the best possible way the players he has available. There are many positive aspects to this team and now we must enjoy this great victory against Juve."

Leonardo endured a difficult start. The team eventually found their stride and are now eight points behind Inter with a game in hand.

Reds owner's son quits club board

Liverpool director Tom Hicks Jr has resigned from his position with the club and their parent company Kop Holdings in the wake of his foul-mouthed e-mail rant at a fan.

The American, son of co-owner Tom Hicks, became embroiled in controversy on Sunday when it emerged he had responded abusively when one supporter contacted him directly about the state of the club and their finances.

Having initially called the fan an "idiot", Hicks Jr reportedly then sent a second e-mail saying: "B*** me f*** face. Go to Hell. I'm sick of you."

Hicks Jr subsequently apologised but he has now quit the club.

Slump infuriates coach Jimenez

Sevilla began the season with aspirations to challenge for the Spanish league crown and a 2-1 win over Real Madrid back in October raised expectations but the weekend 2-1 home defeat by Racing Santander was their third consecutive loss to put the pressure on coach Manolo Jimenez.

Successive league defeats to Getafe, Atletico Madrid and Racing have seen Sevilla slump to fifth and Jimenez did not mince his words in his assessment of the Racing performance.

"Rather than others losing respect for us at home, we have lost respect for ourselves," he said.

"There are no excuses, we knew January would be tough, but not this tough."

Play-offs still in Keane's sights

Ipswich Town manager Roy Keane believes the Championship play-offs are a realistic target for his side despite yet another draw, 1-1 away at promotion chasing Leicester City.

Remarkably, it was the 13th time in 24 league matches so far this season that Ipswich had drawn a match.

The result left them in 20th place, and by no means out of relegation trouble, yet Keane said a play-off place was still a possibility for Ipswich.

"I'm disappointed we didn't build on our great start to the game.

"Draws won't get you too far up the table but I still think we are capable of having a good season, and that would include getting into the play-offs."

Lavezzi signs new deal at Napoli

Ezequiel Lavezzi has signed a contract extension with Napoli until June 2015, club president Aurelio De Laurentiis said. The Argentina forward had been a reported target of Chelsea and Liverpool.

"We started negotiating with Lavezzi back in November," said De Laurentiis.

"There have not been any problems between the two sides as we have always been open to negotiations. We have agreed a contract extension until 2015.

"Lavezzi has always expressed his wish to remain at Napoli as he loves the city and has always felt like an Azzurro player in the long term."

The 24-year-old joined Napoli two years ago from San Lorenzo.

Ronaldo sale boosts United's earnings

Manchester United reported pre-tax profits of £48.2m for the year to June 30, 2009.

The figure includes the world record £80m fee they pocketed for the sale of star forward Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and also £41.9m paid out in interest on a mammoth loan of £509.5m.

Turnover was also up, from £80.4m in 2008 to £91.3m a year later.

The figures were released on a morning when United officially confirmed their intention to raise £500m through bonds in order to refinance their debts.

Without the world record sale of Ronaldo, the reigning English Premier League champions would have been reporting a loss of £31.8m.

Roma's Okaka set for Fulham switch

Roma and Fulham have agreed terms on the loan transfer of Stefano Okaka to London but the player still has to agree terms with the Cottagers, according to his agent.

Roma are willing to loan out the 20-year-old following the arrival of Italy striker Luca Toni to the Eternal City from Bayern Munich.

"If the player reaches an agreement with Fulham, he will go to England on loan for the next six months, with an option of extending his stay for the following year," Okaka's agent Domenico Scopelliti said.

"Roma and Fulham appear to have reached an agreement on a loan deal."

Fulham are looking to reinforce their attacking line with Bobby Zamora currently sidelined through injury.