Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp questioned his side’s desire after they were held at home to a 2-2 draw by Augsburg on Saturday.
The point means Dortmund now trail league leaders Bayern Munich by 14 points while the Bavarians have a game in hand against Stuttgart on Wednesday.
That gap now looks insur-mountable.
“We had such high hopes, but then the team suddenly cramped up at a certain stage and we lost all the ease of our play,” he said.
“I could only very rarely see the joy in this wonderful game. Our opponents showed it a lot more because they liked to make a physical game out of it.”
Monaco’s Falcao keeps hoping
Radamel Falcao has been given a 50-50 chance of playing at the World Cup in June after undergoing a successful knee operation.
The Colombia striker sustained cruciate ligament damage in his left knee while playing for Monaco in a French Cup tie last week.
Colombian fans fear he will be unable to recover in time for the tournament in Brazil but Portu-guese orthopaedic surgeon Jose Carlos Noronha did not rule out the 27-year-old, nicknamed Tiger, being fit in time.
“I’m going to exaggerate a little but I think he’ll have a 50 per cent chance of going to the finals,” Noronha said.
Freiburg sign striker Zulechner
Freiburg have signed Austria striker Philipp Zulechner on a three-year contract from SV Groedig as they look to boost their squad to avoid relegation, the Bundesliga club said.
Neither club disclosed details of the transfer fee.
Freiburg, who kicked off the year with an encouraging 3-2 win over second-placed Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, are in 15th place, one point above the relegation play-off spot.
Zulechner, who has netted 15 goals in 20 Austrian league matches for Groedig this season, has signed his contract and now needs to pass a medical in the coming days, Freiburg said.
Everton’s Oviedo breaks leg
Costa Rica defender Bryan Oviedo could miss the World Cup in Brazil in June after suffering a double fracture of his left leg in Everton’s 4-0 English FA Cup fourth round win at third tier Stevenage.
The 23-year-old was injured while attempting to tackle Stevenage midfielder Simon Heslop early in the first half.
The player has been capped 26 times by his country and was almost certain to be named in the squad for the World Cup where Costa Rica will play Italy, England and Uruguay in the Group D.
Llorente eyes World Cup spot
Juventus striker Fernando Llorente (picture) is staking a claim for a place in Spain’s World Cup squad after his red hot form has made him a fixture in the Italian champions front line.
The 28-year-old scored his ninth league goal this season, his fifth in as many games, when he met a cross with a deft headed finish as 10-man Juve drew 1-1 at Lazio on Saturday.
Llorente faces a fight for a spot with Fernando Torres, Alvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado plus Atletico Madrid’s free-scoring Diego Costa and veteran David Villa.
“Being a footballer is a long career and all sorts of things can happen,” said Llorente.
“I know that I need to work hard if I want to be at the World Cup, and the most important thing for now is to carry on winning with Juventus.”
Chelsea complete Salah signing
Chelsea have completed the signing of Mohamed Salah from Basel.
The Blues announced last week the signing of the 21-year-old Egyptian winger, subject to the agreement of personal terms and the completion of a medical.
And, before yesterday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with Stoke, the club confirmed the deal has been concluded.
The transfer is for a reported fee of £11 million as Chelsea signed the forward ahead of Liverpool.
Salah has played against Chel-sea four times in the last 12 months, scoring three times, in-cluding in Basel’s two Champions League Group E victories over Mourinho’s men this season.
Sao Paulo protests
The year’s first major protest against the World Cup drew more than 2,000 demonstrators into the streets of Brazil’s largest city late Saturday, as frustration over the cost of the tournament lingers in the host country.
But the demonstration in Sao Paulo fell far short of the more than 20,000 people who confirmed attendance on Facebook, highlighting the diminished energy of recent protests compared to the public unrest during the Confederations Cup tournament held last June.
As the largely peaceful Sao Paulo demonstration wrapped up around sunset, local television registered isolated acts of vandalism, including a smashed police car.