Sporting briefs

Angel: Roma have completed the signing of Spanish defender Jose Angel from Sporting Gijon for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old left-back, who was a target of Barcelona and Manchester City, was yesterday reported to be on his way to Italy to join Roma in pre-season training.

Twitter: Twitter users fired off a record number of tweets per second at the final whistle of Japan’s thrilling upset win over the US in the women’s World Cup final. The San Francisco-based real-time blogging service said Twitter users sent 7,196 tweets per second after Japan won in a penalty shoot-out. Twitter’s previous record was the 6,939 tweets per second sent on January 1, 2011 as the New Year arrived in Tokyo.

Gudjohnsen: Former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen signed a two-year contract with AEK Athens. AEK did not reveal details of the contract but local press reports said the Icelandic star would be receiving €650,000 yearly.

Gulacsi: Liverpool reserve goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi has joined Championship side Hull on loan after signing an extended contract at Anfield. The 21-year-old was Jose Reina’s deputy for the second half of last season after Brad Jones was loaned out to Derby, although he has still to play a first-team match.

Penalty: The scorer of a backheeled penalty is facing possible disciplinary action from the United Arab Emirates FA. Theyab Awana stole the headlines in the UAE’s 7-2 friendly defeat of Lebanon on Sunday for his 78th-minute penalty which he slotted home with his heel. He was shown a yellow card at the time and now the UAE association has hinted at a sanction.

SPL refs: Referees and the Scottish Premier League have reached an agreement over match fees ahead of the new Premier League campaign. Match fees will be increased from £800 to £840, with other match officials’ fees also increasing accordingly.

Lopez: Atletico Madrid have completed the signing of Spain Under-21 striker Adrian Lopez. The 23-year-old, who was the leading scorer at the recent U-21 European Championship with five goals as Spain won the tourna-ment, played for relegated Depor-tivo La Coruna last season and has also had spells at Alaves and Malaga.