The proposed strike by the association of Spanish footballers (AFE) for this weekend has been called off.
The AFE announced last week plans to strike between April 16-19 over unpaid wages, a move that would have affected the top four league tiers in the country.
Before taking that measure though, the AFE said they would continue negotiating with the Spanish government's sports council, the Spanish football federation and professional football league in a bid to find a resolution to the demands of the players.
Lennon suffers further setback
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has given England manager Fabio Capello a World Cup scare by breaking down in training.
Lennon has been sidelined since the end of December with a groin strain that was expected to only keep him out for a few weeks.
But the injury has persisted and, although Lennon returned to training last week, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp revealed the wideman suffered a setback in a practice session this week.
The 22-year-old is generally regarded as England's first-choice right-winger but Capello, who names his preliminary 30-man squad next month before cutting it down to 23 players on June 1, will be loath to select someone who has not played in 2010.
Cagliari sack Allegri
Cagliari have sacked coach Massimiliano Allegri with five games remaining in the season.
The Sardinian outfit enjoyed a positive start to the Serie A campaign but had gone through a dismal run in which they claimed just two points from their last nine league games. Cagliari lost 1-0 at Juventus at the weekend to drop to 12th in the standings.
Allegri joined Cagliari in May 2008 and led his side in the 2008-09 campaign to a ninth-place finish.
As a result, he received the Panchina d'Oro, a prize awarded to the best Serie A football manager according to other managers' votes.
Pompey optimistic about Euro dreams
Portsmouth's administrator is confident the club will be able to satisfy UEFA financial rules and be allowed to play in the Europa League next season.
Pompey's appearance in the FA Cup final guarantees a place in the Europa League if they can get a UEFA club licence and administrator Andrew Andronikou has been pouring over the details of the regulations. He now believes that the club can make a strong case to be approved to play in Europe before the May 31 deadline.
Andronikou said: "Since Sunday we have been scoping out what we can do and trawling through legalities.
"I believe that we will satisfy all the criteria. We should be in a CVA (company voluntary arrangement) by the deadline."
Messi predicts Fabregas reunion
Lionel Messi expects former Barcelona youth team colleague Cesc Fabregas to rejoin him at the Nou Camp because the Arsenal skipper has the club "in his blood".
Speculation continues to link Barca with a bid for their former trainee this summer and world player of the year Messi believes his old friend is destined to return to Catalonia.
"Cesc has a place for Arsenal in his heart, but he has Barcelona in his blood," Messi said.
"He will want to win the biggest prizes in football, and I expect him to do that at Barcelona.
"I don't exactly know when that will be, but I expect him to be my Barcelona team-mate again at some point."
Hillsborough service all ticket
The Hillsborough memorial service at Anfield today, marking the 21st anniversary of the tragedy, will be an all-ticket 10,000-seat event.
Liverpool have chosen to do this for safety reasons as about 30,000 people attended last year's event.
The annual service, which remembers the 96 fans killed in the disaster, starts at 2.45 p.m. No tickets will be available on the day.
Liverpool stadium and operations manager Ged Poynton said: "We want everyone who wishes to attend the service to be able to do so but in the safest possible environment."
Problem pitch set to be replaced
Wembley have admitted the pitch is not up to scratch as Arsene Wenger heaped the pressure on stadium chiefs by warning the row over the poor surface could affect England's 2018 World Cup bid.
Stadium officials say they will "probably" replace the pitch again before the FA Cup final, for what would be the 11th time since the new Wembley opened in 2007.
Wenger has branded the pitch "not acceptable" and says the FA cannot merely continue replacing the turf without getting to the root of the problem.
Wenger said: "To have a bad pitch is not acceptable. I support personally the campaign for England for the World Cup in 2018. I try to be active on it so I can't imagine that England goes for the bid for the World Cup with a bad pitch."