Gamberini: Fiorentina captain Alessandro Gamberini has been ruled out of Saturday’s Serie A trip to champions Milan with a calf injury. Gamberini was injured during Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat against Chievo.

Goetze: Mario Goetze yesterday said he was delighted to resume training with Borussia Dortmund after a nine-week injury lay-off. “It’s a great feeling to be back,” said the 19-year-old, who made his last appearance in the league back in December. “I haven’t got any niggling health problems anymore but I have to get myself fit again after the long lay-off.”

Good position: Clubs in eastern Europe are “buying” where they finish in the league, the head of the international players’ union FIFPro has claimed. Theo van Seggelen said players had told him the practice is widespread in Croatia and Serbia. “In eastern Europe, clubs are buying their position,” he said. “They know in advance who will be one, two, three, four and five etc. They deal with each other.”

Aldridge: Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge claims the Reds are now a club “in crisis”. The Reds recently beat Cardiff in the League Cup final but their form in the league has been poor. “There is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool are now in a crisis,” said Aldridge. “To lose six out of seven in the league is something the club won’t ever tolerate... that’s relegation form.”

Wolves: Wolves’ dwindling hopes of avoiding relegation suffered another blow yesterday with the news midfielder Jamie O’Hara and defender Jody Craddock could miss the rest of the season. O’Hara has undergone surgery on the groin injury which has sidelined him since the home defeat to Blackburn over three weeks ago while Craddock has also gone under the knife in a bid to cure a long-standing hamstring problem.

In England: The Championship – Burnley vs Birmingham 1-3. League One – Brentford vs Oldham 2-0; L. Orient vs Huddersfield 1-3. League Two – Barnet vs Swindon 0-2.