FALCAO: Monaco will be without top striker Falcao when they host Stade Rennes in Ligue 1 tomorrow after the Colombia striker picked up a thigh injury, coach Claudio Ranieri said. “He’s been suffering from a thigh problem. Even if the medical checks have not shown anything worrying, we have decided not to take any chance,” Ranieri said.
HELD: Austrian footballer Dominique Taboga, released by his club two weeks ago over match-fixing allegations, has been arrested. The 31-year-old de-fender was arrested yesterday in the town of Kaernten. Taboga left first division club SV Groedig by mutual consent on Nov. 14 after the club said he had admitted trying to persuade four team-mates to manipulate matches. The club said the other players declined to get involved.
UKRAINE: FIFA has rejected Ukraine’s appeal against the decision to make them play their first home qualifier for the 2018 World Cup behind closed doors. In September world football’s governing body handed out the punishment after incidents of racist behaviour in a 2014 qualifier against San Marino.
BANNED: The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has banned fans of St Etienne from travelling to away games until the end of the year following an afternoon of violent clashes in Nice. Sunday’s league meeting between Nice and St Etienne at the Allianz Riviera stadium saw around 250 visiting supporters ejected from the venue after some of them began throwing seats at home fans around an hour prior to kick-off.
BRISTOL CITY: Bristol City have parted company with coach Sean O’Driscoll with immediate effect. The 56-year-old, who had been in charge for just 10 months, leaves Ashton Gate with the team 22nd in the League One table, having managed only two wins in 18 matches this season.
BANNERS: Celtic fans who un-furled a banner of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands at Tuesday’s Champions League loss to Milan – prompting a UEFA charge – are disrespecting the club, chief executive Peter Lawwell said. “Our supporters do not want this anymore. We are a non-political organisation,” he said. A group of fans held up banners referring to Sands, an IRA militant who died while in prison in 1981.