Carvalho: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho will have a full squad to choose from save for Portuguese fullback Ricardo Carvalho for the clasico encounter against Barcelona at the Bernabeu tonight. The club said Carvalho has pulled a ligament in his right knee and will be unavailable for the table-topping clash as Real bid to preserve their three-point lead over their rivals.
Gignac: Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac will be out of action for around six weeks as he was to undergo groin surgery yesterday, the club said. Gignac, who had an operation on a different groin problem last May, had only recently returned to the first team having been dropped to the reserves over a row last month with coach Didier Deschamps, who forced him to issue an apology.
Montolivo: Fiorentina skipper Riccardo Montolivo has been ruled out of today’s clash with Inter because of a thigh injury. The Italian international could be out for up to 10 days and possibly miss the December 17 clash at home against Atalanta.Inter are also without their captain Javier Zanetti, who is suspended, while Wesley Sneijder, Dejan Stankovic and Cristian Chivu are injured.
Corruption: Two top Croatian football officials were detained under suspicion of taking bribes and rigging matches, police said yesterday. Croatia football federation (HNS) vice-president and former referee Zeljko Siric and head of the national refereeing association Stjepan Djedovic had also their cars and houses searched. Local media reported that the two were detained after taking €30,000 in bribes from an undercover agent to fix Croatia’s First Division matches.
Portugal: Portugal have chosen the western Polish town of Opalenica as their Euro 2012 base, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said yesterday. The squad will stay at the Hotel Remes as they prepare for group matches against Denmark, fancied Germany and Holland.
Jorgensen: Kaiserslautern have signed Denmark forward Nicolai Jorgensen on loan from Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen. Kaiserslautern confirmed on their website yesterday that they had agreed a one-and-a-half-year deal for the 20-year-old, who has made 10 Bundesliga appearances and won two caps for his country.
Ireland: Ireland have confirmed they will be based in Gdynia, Poland at Euro 2012. Manager Giovanni Trapattoni and assistant Marco Tardelli have been making final visits to potential sites in both Poland and Ukraine this week and have settled on Gdynia, which is close to Gdansk, where they will train at the Municipal Stadium.
League Two: Torquay vs Barnet 1-0.
MFA Division Two: Żebbuġ vs Msida 1-0.