Football news

The agent of Rafa Benitez insists the Spanish coach is staying at Liverpool.

Benitez has been strongly linked with a move to Italy as a possible candidate to replace Ciro Ferrara at Juventus. Both men have been under immense pressure following their teams' poor form this season.

But Benitez's agent has dismissed reports linking the Spaniard with the Turin giants.

"I have had no contact with Juventus or with any other club regarding an interest on Rafa," agent Manuel Garcia Quilon said.

"There have been rumours linking Rafa to Juve. But they are all media speculation and there is no truth in it."

Africa Cup semi will be 'war' - Zidan

Egypt striker Mohamed Zidan says his team's Africa Cup semi-final against Algeria tomorrow will be a 'war'. Egypt failed to qualify for this year's finals after rivals Algeria pipped them 1-0 in a play-off in Sudan.

In November, both the World Cup qualifier in Cairo and the subsequent play-off in Sudan witnessed several violent scenes that FIFA are now investigating.

"It will be a matter of life and death in that game. For both sides it will be like a war," said Borussia Dortmund's Zidan.

"For us it is a chance to show that we deserve to go to the World Cup."

Rooney ready to stay at United

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney said that while interest from other clubs was flattering, he had no plans to leave Old Trafford. The England striker has been in superb form this season, scoring 19 goals in the league alone.

Rooney's goals have been a huge boon to United in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who left before the season started for Real Madrid in an £80m move. Real and Barcelona are both reportedly interested in Rooney but the 24-year-old said he was happy to stay.

"There's always speculation, and when other big teams are talking about you, it's nice that you're talked about. But as I've said many times before, I'm a United player and I'm very happy here," he said.

50,000 attend Haiti fund-raiser

More than 50,000 people turned out at Lisbon's Stadium of Light late on Monday for a gala fund-raiser for victims of the Haiti earthquake, as stars such as Zinedine Zidane and Kaka donned their boots to do their bit.

The massive earthquake on January 12 killed around 150,000 and has left around a million people homeless and the football match, a seventh annual gala game to aid poverty-stricken nations, was designed as a charity fund-raiser.

"The most important thing is to raise as much money as possible to help Haiti," said former French World Cup winner Zidane ahead of kick-off, which was preceded by a minute's silence.

The match between two all stars sides ended 3-3.

Materazzi criticised for mask prank

Ignazio La Russa, Italy's Minister of Defence, has criticised Marco Materazzi for wearing a Silvio Berlusconi mask after Inter beat Milan in Sunday's derby.

Materazzi was on the subs' bench but ran to the pitch at the final whistle to celebrate with his team-mates in the guise of Prime Minister and Milan owner Berlusconi.

La Russa, who supports Inter, said: "Marco is a friend, but his actions were an enormous fall in style. I have never seen anyone mock the president of a football team.

"And since Berlusconi is the Prime Minister, and Materazzi's gesture can be manipulated, I will call for Marco to apologise and make it understood that he didn't mean to offend Berlusconi."

Levein wants Ferguson back

Scotland manager Craig Levein is aiming to convince former captain Barry Ferguson to return to international duty along with Allan McGregor and Kris Boyd.

Levein, whose first game in charge is a friendly against the Czech Rep. on March 3, has confirmed Boyd and McGregor are in his thoughts after discussions with the Rangers duo. Now he hopes he can have a similar conversation with Ferguson, who plays for Birmingham.

"I very much want him to be part of the international set-up, I think he's one of our best players," Levein said.

Ferguson and keeper McGregor were banned for life for their behaviour before and during a World Cup qualifier against Iceland in April.

Fernandes rules out West Ham stake

Malaysia tycoon Tony Fernandes ruled out becoming a minority stakeholder in West Ham, after he lost out in a bid to take control of the club.

David Sullivan and David Gold on January 19 said they had won full control of the east London club after acquiring a 50-per cent stake in a move they admitted only made sense to them as lifelong supporters.

Sullivan secured an option to buy the remaining 50 per cent at any time in the next four years but said he would prefer to attract other wealthy West Ham fans, including Fernandes.

Asked whether he was interested, Fernandes replied: "No".

"My main concern is I went for 100 per cent because I think you need to have one leader."