Bajevic: Dusan Bajevic has quit as coach of AEK Athens for a third time in his career after a string of poor results. The final act for the 62-year-old Bosnian Serb as AEK coach came Sunday when his team suffered a 3-1 away loss to newcomers Olympiakos Volos.
Gago: Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago has returned to training more than a month after being sidelined through injury. However, he was not named in Real’s squad to face Auxerre in the Champions League today.
Lampard: Frank Lampard will miss Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Marseille today as he continues to recover from hernia surgery. Lampard has missed five matches since the operation on August 31.
Guedioura: Wolves midfielder Adlene Guedioura could be out for up to six months after fracturing his tibia in Sunday’s Premier League defeat to Aston Villa. The Algerian sustained the injury in the closing stages of the 2-1 loss following a challenge from Villa midfielder Steve Sidwell.
Larsson: Alex McLeish said Birmingham will keep trying to “entice” in-form winger Sebastian Larsson to sign a new contract. The Swede is in the final year of his current deal and negotiations over a new deal started more than a year ago. But all attempts to persuade Larsson to commit his future to Blues have so far drawn a blank.
Naval: Struggling Portuguese club Naval sacked coach Victor Zvunka. Frenchman Zvunka, 59, will be replaced for the moment by his Portuguese assistant Fernando Mira. Winner of the French Cup with Guingamp in 2009, Zvunka was recruited by Naval last May, but the club currently sit 14th in the championship with just four points after six games.
Results:
Serie B: Modena vs Triestina 2-2.
La Liga: Malaga vs Villarreal 2-3.
Ryder Cup: Seve Ballesteros has been chosen as the most popular Ryder Cup golfer in the tournament’s history by golf fans in the United Kingdom. Nine times a player and once a victorious captain on Spanish soil, Ballesteros earned 32% of the votes ahead of Nick Faldo (25%) and this week’s captain Colin Montgomerie (14%). Ballesteros was also deemed the best European Ryder Cup captain in history. The 53-year-old is still recovering from the brain operations he had after the discovery of a tumour in 2008.
Boxing: Former bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa moved up to the featherweight class to challenge World Boxing Council title-holder Juan Carlos Burgos of Mexico. The bout will be held on November 26 in Nagoya, along with a WBC super featherweight title bout between holder Vitaly Tajbert of Germany and Japanese challenger Takahiro Aoh, the former WBC featherweight champion.
Cricket: Mohammad Asif, who is being investigated by police in a major spot-fixing scandal, is to celebrate his wedding this week. Asif and bride Sana Hilal signed a formal wedding contract in March but a series of celebrations are due to take place in Pakistan’s cultural capital of Lahore from today. The 27-year-old was one of three Pakistani players provisionally suspended by the ICC after a British tabloid claimed no-balls were delivered to order during last month’s Lord’s Test against England.
Golf: Jim Furyk won the US PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta on Sunday and claimed the 10 million-dollar bonus as the winner of the FedEx Cup play-off series. With the title on the line at the final hole, Furyk nearly holed out from a bunker then drained his three-footer for par to complete a one-shot victory over England’s Luke Donald. Furyk’s triumph was also worth $1.35m for the tournament victory.