Aston Villa will be without Belgium striker Christian Benteke for four to six weeks after he sustained a hip injury in last weekend’s win at Norwich City, the club said.
“Paul Lambert confirms Christian Benteke will be out for four-six weeks. Better news than he first feared,” Villa said.
The news is a blow for Villa as Benteke had begun the season superbly, scoring four Premier League goals.
He was unable to play in Villa’s 4-0 League Cup defeat by Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday and is likely to miss Belgium’s remaining World Cup qualifiers.
Lewandowski agrees Bayern deal
Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski has confirmed he will sign a pre-contract agreement with Bayern Munich in January.
Lewandowski revealed his desire to join the European champions over the summer, but accepted he would have to remain at Dortmund until next year when his contract expires.
The 25-year-old has reportedly already agreed terms on next summer’s switch to the Bavarian club and had no reservations in making his intentions clear.
When asked by SPORT1 tele-vision channel whether he could announce his switch to Bayern, the Poland international respon-ded: “Yes, because then I can officially sign a contract.”
Balotelli must calm down – Mancini
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini does not believe Mario Balotelli will realise his full potential unless he learns to curb his anger.
The Milan striker has been banned for three games for making insulting and intimidating comments towards the referee after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Napoli.
Mancini told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “There is only one way to end this and that is for Mario to learn to resist those anger attacks.
“He must break that spiral. If word spread that he no longer reacted to that, then he would not be a target.”
Messi denies spat with Martino
Lionel Messi has rejected sug-gestions he made a disrespectful gesture towards Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino after being substituted in the Catalan club’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Tuesday night.
The Argentine admitted he was unhappy at his substitution, but refutes media suggestions that he deliberately snubbed Martino whilst being withdrawn.
“I didn’t mean to make any gesture when Martino took me off,” Messi said on his Facebook page.
“Nobody likes to be out, but we must accept it because it is the best for our team. What I will not accept is that certain media tell lies about any situation that happens around me.”
Gattuso sacked by Palermo
Manager Gennaro Gattuso has been sacked by Palermo after a string of bad results in Serie B.
“It’s with great sadness that I write to say that I have relieved Gennaro Gattuso of his duties as first-team manager,” club president Maurizio Zamparini wrote on the club’s website.
“Unfortunately for both me and him, we might have bitten off a little bit too much for his first experience as manager, at a club with a demanding public like Palermo’s. Results have shown that we were wrong (to offer Gattuso the job).”
Gattuso was fired after losing 2-1 at Bari on Tuesday. He will be replaced by Giuseppe Iachini, who managed Siena last season.
Pellegrini pleased with City style
Manchester City made 10 changes but carried on where they left off against Manchester United to power into the League Cup fourth round.
Stevan Jovetic struck his first two goals for the club while Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas were also on target in a comfortable 5-0 win over Wigan at the Etihad Stadium.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “I spoke with the players before we started the game, telling them we must always try to play the same way.
“We can change names but for me it was very important to see the same team we saw last Sunday, the same philosophy of football and the same high performance.”
‘Awful stuff’ by Di Canio – Quinn
Paolo Di Canio attempted to manage Sunderland using “unprecedented levels of fear”, according to former Black Cats chairman Niall Quinn.
The Italian was fired on Sunday amid talk of widespread unhap-piness within the squad about his management style.
Quinn, a former player, manager and chairman at the club, told the Sun: “Paolo’s idea to rule through fear was to an incredible level. I think they were unprecedented levels of fear.
“Players weren’t allowed to speak to staff – their own work colleagues. It’s awful stuff.
“If I was a senior player, and I saw it coming to breaking point, I think I would have been hard-pressed not to stand up and give it back to him as well.”