Sporting briefs

Barca: Mali international midfielder Seydou Keita scored only his second goal of the season as champions Barcelona moved ten points clear of Real Madrid in the Spanish Liga with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Real Zaragoza last night. The 31-year-old Keita, a fringe player this season, scored the decisive goal on 43 minutes as Barcelona made it three league wins in the space of eight days and piled the pressure on Real who travel to Racing Santander tonight.

Hammam: Asian football supremo Mohamed Bin Hammam has dropped a new hint that he may challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency. Bin Hammam, president of the Asian football confederation, has said there should be competition for the post. “Competition is the best way to make the organisation vibrant and alive. Competition is good for the organisation, whether president or any other posts,” he said. The deadline to announce a challenge is the end of March.

Azzurri: Cesare Prandelli’s Italy will play a friendly against Ukraine, in Kiev, on March 29. The match comes just days after a crunch Euro 2012 qualifier as the Azzurri will face Slovenia in Ljubljana on March 25.

Final: Central Coast will face Brisbane Roar in the Australian A-League grand final after a late Adam Kwasnik goal earned the Mariners a hard-fought 1-0 win over Gold Coast yesterday. The Mariners booked their third grand final appearance and ensured a place in next year’s AFC Asian Champions League with a gritty victory at their Bluetongue Stadium in the preliminary final. The Roar and Mariners will meet for the sixth time this season in the March 13 decider at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Alnwick: Tottenham goalkeeper Ben Alnwick, 24, has joined Championship side Doncaster on loan for a month, the Barclays Premier League club said. The deal was completed late Friday.

Castaignos: Feyenoord said Inter have signed teenage striker Luc Castaignos. He had already undergone a medical and reportedly put pen to paper last week but the Dutch club only confirmed his transfer yesterday. “I am very proud to join one of the strongest sides in the world. I haven’t yet spoken to Leonardo, but there is time for that,” Castaignos said.

Cricket: ICC chief Haroon Lorgat con­demned the attack on the West Indies team bus by Bangladesh fans but said there were no plans to move games. Home fans reacted angrily after seeing their side bowled out for just 58 by the West Indies in Dhaka on Friday in a World Cup match the visitors won by nine wickets. The bus came under attack as it was heading back to the West Indies’ team hotel after the match, in what police said was a case of mistaken identity, with fans thinking it was the home team’s vehicle.

Basketball: Manu Ginobili scored 20 points and Tony Parker returned to the starting line-up as San Antonio Spurs crushed Miami Heat 125-95. Parker, who the club thought might miss up to a month with an injured calf, returned to score 15 points in the first clash of the season between the two NBA giants. Parker returned less than a week after getting hurt. The Spurs improved the league’s best record and sent the Heat to another demoralising loss. San Antonio also made a franchise-record 17 three-pointers.

Skiing: Lindsey Vonn, of the US, won the downhill World Cup title for the fourth year in a row in Tarvisio, yesterday, when she placed second behind Anja Paerson, of Sweden. But Vonn had compensation enough in the form of the overall World Cup downhill title, her second Crystal Globe of the season after she captured the super-combined title on Friday. The American now has a 143-point lead over Germany’s Maria Riesch atop the downhill rankings with just one race to go, making her sure of winning the title.

American Football: Plaxico Burress, the ex-New York Giants Super Bowl star jailed on a gun charge, will leave prison in June after officials agreed to shorten his time behind bars by about three months for good behaviour. Burress pleaded guilty in August 2009 to a gun charge after shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub. Burress was at a Man-hattan night club when a gun he had tucked in the waistband of his trousers slipped down and discharged, wounding him in the leg. His permit to carry the weapon had expired.