Football news

Bayer Leverkusen’s former Germany captain Michael Ballack must wait to find out if he will face his former club Chelsea on Tuesday in the Champions League despite a commanding performance in the German league.

Ballack, who turns 35 at the end of the month, was impressive in Friday night’s 4-1 Bundesliga win at Augsburg.

“I was very happy with Michael Ballack, he was particularly strong going forwards,” said coach Robin Dutt.

“Whether he plays on Tuesday against Chelsea, I do not know yet.

“There are many players fit for Tuesday, we are going to reveal who will play, but not yet.”

Redknapp kept in dark over Sandro

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has revealed he had no idea chairman Daniel Levy had offered a new contract to Sandro.

The Brazil midfielder was rewarded for his first full season at the club by penning a new five-year deal yesterday.

The first thing Redknapp knew about it, the 64-year-old revealed yesterday, was when he saw it announced on television.

“I was pleased to see that on Sky Sports News last night. It was good,” Redknapp said.

“I never had a clue. I was pleased to see it but I didn’t know anything about it.”

Mancini strips Tevez of captaincy

Carlos Tevez’s ‘love hate’ relationship with Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini took another turn for the worse yesterday as the Argentinian was permanently stripped of the captaincy.

Tevez – who has recently spoken of his turbulent relations with Mancini – has been replaced by Belgian central defender Vincent Kompany, skipper in their three league matches this season.

“Carlos wanted to leave for family reasons. I respected his opinion but Carlos is still here because we didn’t find a solution,” said Mancini.

“I decided in the summer that Vinnie (Kompany) was the captain.”

Conte keen to end Parma jinx

Juventus coach Antonio Conte admitted yesterday he is excited about making his coaching debut for the club and vowed to end the team’s Parma hoodoo.

Juve start the Serie A season by hosting Parma at their new 41,000 capacity stadium, the first of its kind in Italy to be privately owned by a club.

“Ok, I admit it, I’m very excited, there’s no point hiding it,” the 42-year-old said.

“On Thursday at the inauguration ceremony (for the new stadium) I was very emotional. This isn’t a job like any other, I’ll be emotional but also very lucid, that’s for sure, but this eve of match is different to any other.

“We’re playing a Parma side who have beaten us in our last three matches so we’re going to put our antenna facing the right direction and start with a bang.”

Gattuso given all clear after tests

Milan’s veteran midfielder Gennaro Gattuso was given the all clear after undergoing tests to try to resolve a double vision problem he’s been suffering from.

The 33-year-old was forced off after just 20 minutes of Friday night’s 2-2 draw with Lazio in Serie A following a collision with team-mate Alessandro Nesta.

Prior to the game he’d been suffering from double vision for a couple of days but tests showed there was nothing wrong.

“Gattuso’s head is spinning a little but he’s basically fine,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Milan came back from 2-0 down in their scudetto opener to draw 2-2 in an entertaining encounter.

Gyan joins Al-Ain on season-loan

Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan made a surprise move to United Arab Emirates team Al-Ain on a season-long loan yesterday.

Gyan had fallen out of favour with manager Steve Bruce in recent months after a series of disappointing performances for the Black Cats and the Ghana star has been allowed to leave the Stadium of Light for the rest of the season.

“Anyone who has seen Asamoah play will know that he hasn’t been himself in recent months. This option suits all parties at the present time and the club is well-protected in the deal,” Bruce said.

“Asamoah has three years remaining on his contract and my wish would be that he finds his spark again and we see him in red and white stripes next season in the form that first attracted us to him.”

Armenia offered €3m to reach Euro

Armenian football federation president Ruben Airapetyan has promised the national squad a three-million-euro bonus if they secure qualification for the Euro 2012 finals, local media reported.

After eight of their 10 qualifying matches Armenia sit third in Group B on 14 points, one behind the Republic of Ireland and three behind leaders Russia. Slovakia are fourth, also on 14 points.

Airapetyan said: “Our team now has a real chance to secure qualification for the Euro. They will receive a three-million euro bonus if they make our joint dream come true.”

Armenia next face Macedonia at home on October 7 before winding their campaign up with a trip to Dublin to face Ireland four days later.