Champions League: Furious Deco Hits Out

Chelsea midfielder Deco has labelled his red card against Roma as "crazy".

The Blues playmaker will now miss their trip to Bordeaux at the end of the month after being dismissed by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo for attempting to take a quick free-kick.

Deco had already been booked in the first-half for a foul on Francesco Totti and the official showed him the red card for his 80th minute misdemeanour.

But Deco stormed: "The problem was the moment he said just wait, I touched the ball. It was crazy. I don't know why I was sent off.

"It was disappointing."

By the time Deco left the field, Chelsea were already 3-1 down and heading for a surprise defeat against their struggling Serie A opponents.

Christian Panucci's opener, which arrived as a result of Deco's foul on Totti, was followed by two second-half goals from Mirko Vucinic and although captain John Terry reduced the arrears in the 75th minute, Chelsea were well beaten.

"We didn't play well and we made mistakes," admitted Deco. "But at the moment we are in first position and if we win the next game we will qualify.

"I don't know why we made so many mistakes, I hope it's just this one game. We need to be more organised.

"We want to continue playing in an attacking way. We are doing well and scoring many goals, but this was a bad game and now it's finished we have to think about the next one."

more result
AS Roma 3 Chelsea 1
Liverpool 1 Atl Madrid 1
Anorthosis 3 Inter Milan 3
Werder B 0 Panathinaikos 3
Barcelona 1 Basel 1
Sporting Lisbon 1 Shakhtar 0
Marseille 3 PSV Eindhoven 0

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Bent: Redknapp Has Worked Miracles

Since leaving Portsmouth for White Hart Lane last Saturday, Spurs have picked up seven points, including incredible late comebacks to claim a draw with Arsenal and a win over Liverpool.

And Bent believes that Redknapp's man-management has made all the difference, in stark contrast to the style of Juande Ramos.

"Harry can talk to people one-to-one, have a proper conversation and know what he's going on about," said Bent.



"Harry has made people believe ... whereas Juande, with the Spanish, it's a bit hard. At one stage, the training ground was a horrible place to be. Everyone was down and there was no team morale.

"Harry seems to be able to work these miracles."

Bent thinks the Spurs dressing room is a completely different place with Redknapp in charge, and welcomed the decision to bring several players, including Hossam Ghaly, Kevin Prince Boateng and Ricardo Rocha back into the first team squad:

"It wasn't nice before. Ramos banished a lot of players to the reserves because he didn't want them but Harry has made everyone welcome and that's the respect you've got to show to people. If we can put in performances like we did over the last week then there's no reason why we can't push right up into Europe again."

And it seems like one player in particular is benefitting from Redknapp's new style.

"David Bentley is doing cartwheels and stupid dances," said Bent.

"Bentley is one player who has been fantastic since Harry came in."(football365.com)

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Udinese Edge Back To Top Spot

German Denis' late own goal gifted AC Milan a 1-0 victory at home to Napoli on Sunday night and sent them top of Serie A.

Denis headed Ronaldinho's free-kick into his own net with three minutes remaining - and just two minutes after Kaka had seen his penalty saved by Gennaro Iezzo.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Napoli who had looked like holding on for a point despite playing the entire second half with 10 men after the 44th-minute sending off of Cristian Maggio.

After losing their opening two games of the season, Milan have now won their last four - and conceded just one goal in their last six - to lead the standings by a point.

Napoli slipped to fourth, two points behind their opponents, with the loss.

Udinese are second, ahead of Internazionale on goal difference, after a fine performance by goalkeeper Samir Handanovic helped them earn a 2-2 draw against Genoa at the Stadio Friuli.

The hosts made the perfect start when Gaetano D'Agostino fired them in front from the penalty spot in the fourth minute.

Handanovic was in superb form to keep Genoa at bay, but was finally beaten shortly after the hour mark by Diego Milito's spot-kick and the visitors took the lead three minutes later thanks to substitute Giuseppe Sculli.

However, a Fabio Quagliarella volley in the 78th minute snatched a draw for Udinese.

On Saturday, Ivan Cordoba's late winner gave Inter a 3-2 win at Reggina.

The visitors had established a two-goal lead with first-half strikes from Sisenado Maicon and Patrick Vieira.

But the basement boys hit back with strikes from Francesco Cozza and Franco Brienza either side of half-time before Cordoba's intervention spared Inter's blushes.

Substitute Pasquale Foggia struck a late winner as Lazio claimed a 1-0 success over Catania to move up to fifth on Sunday.

Foggia converted a pass from Mauro Zarate with five minutes remaining as Lazio's incessant pressure finally told.

It had looked like turning into a frustrating afternoon for the Rome-based side as keeper Albano Bizzarri, aided by some last-ditch defending, kept them at bay.

Juventus are sixth after heaping yet more misery on beleaguered Roma with a 2-0 victory on Saturday.

Alessandro Del Piero scored a free-kick in the 38th minute before providing the second for Marco Marchionni three minutes into the second half.

Roma, last season's runners-up, are just one place and one point above the bottom three.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Cagliari romped to a 5-1 win over Bologna thanks to a brace apiece from Robert Acquafresca and Neves Capucho Jeda.

The Sicilians responded with a flurry of second-half goals after going a goal down to Marco Di Vaio's 18th-minute opener.

Acquafresca equalised on the stroke of half-time and Daniele Conti put Cagliari ahead three minutes into the second half, before Acquafresca again and a Jeda double sealed an emphatic win.

Palermo claimed a 3-0 win over Chievo, Fabrizio Miccoli with a penalty, Simon Kjaer and Edison Cavani settling the contest by half-time.

The hosts had Mark Bresciano dismissed in the 48th minute, but it did little to help Chievo, who remain in the bottom three.

Houssine Kharja scored 14 minutes from time to earn Siena a 1-0 win over Tuscan rivals Fiorentina and propel them away from the relegation zone.

Claudio Bellucci's 85th-minute effort gave Sampdoria a 1-0 win over Torino, who had earlier had a goal of their own ruled out.

Atalanta held Lecce to a goalless draw despite having Jaime Valdes sent-off midway through the second half.(sportinglife.com)

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I Feared Rooney Red - Fergie

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he feared Wayne Rooney would get sent off at Everton last Saturday.

Rooney was taken off after being booked for a foul on Mikel Arteta.

With the Goodison Park crowd baying for blood, Rooney kissed the badge on his Manchester United shirt, inflaming the situation further.

It left Ferguson with little alternative than to substitute Rooney against his former club when his skills were required to win a match which eventually finished level.

The Manchester United boss was unhappy at the decision of referee Alan Wiley to book Rooney but has waited in vain for an apology this week.

But he remains convinced if Rooney had stayed on the field there was a very real chance he would have been dismissed.

"I read in the paper a few weeks ago that Alan Wiley phoned David Moyes to apologise for the penalty kick Everton did not get at Stoke," said Ferguson.

"When you see that booking on Saturday you would think he might lift the phone to apologise as well because it was a ridiculous decision.

"It was unfair and put us under pressure. Wayne is a committed player and he tackles but any more and he would have been sent off.

"The crowd had got to the referee and it was difficult."

The FA decided not to take any further action against Rooney, as had been originally feared, but Ferguson felt they never had a case anyway.

"What damage did he do?" he said. "Look at the abuse he took off the Everton fans last week. It wasn't very nice either but nothing can be done about that." football365.com

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Mourinho Shrugs Off Stalemate

Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho was not concerned by his side's goalless draw at Fiorentina on Wednesday night and refused to criticise his players.

The Nerazzurri had chances to see off Cesare Prandelli's men but were held to their second successive stalemate, following the 0-0 draw with Genoa at the weekend which meant they dropped to fourth in the table.

"This was a very difficult game in which neither of the two teams risked too much," said Mourinho.

"We had three great goalscoring chances with Mancini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernan Crespo.

"Fiorentina also had a good chance but it has been a game without goals.

"I cannot complain about my players' performance considering the number of games we've had of late.

"In the last two games we haven't won but we haven't lost either. Both Genoa and Fiorentina are well organised teams."

Mourinho added: "I am not satisfied with the result because I always want to win but I'm happy with the fact that my team has played as a team."

Inter take on Reggina at the Oreste Granillo stadium on Saturday looking to cut the two-point gap to joint Serie A leaders Udinese and Napoli.

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Wenger: Gunners Were Naive

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was furious with his players after Harry Redknapp's magic touch led to rivals Tottenham earning a 4-4 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

The hosts were two goals ahead with a minute to play of the Premier League clash before Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon struck.

Wenger blamed naivety from his young side, insisting they must mature.



"I am angry," said the Frenchman. "We have to look at ourselves and improve. The players are very down. We were two levels above Tottenham and they were there for the taking. It was damaging.

"The maturity problem will improve with intelligence. They will learn from their mistakes. We have to work out why that happened and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Former Arsenal midfielder David Bentley opened the scoring with a stunning 40-yard volley that dipped over Manuel Almunia.

"I feel like superman, I could fly home," he said after Spurs' fightback ensured his strike did not go to waste.

Mikael Silvestre and William Gallas struck either side of the interval to establish a lead, which was extended by Emmanuel Adebayor's eighth in seven starts against Spurs.

Darren Bent was brought on and pulled one back, although there appeared to be no hope after Robin van Persie struck.

With time running out, Jenas found the top corner, then Lennon tapped in after Luka Modric struck a post.

Jenas saluted the effect of Redknapp, who was appointed on Sunday to replace Juande Ramos as boss. They secured a win against Bolton that day and now have a memorable result against their bitter rivals.

"Harry is great motivationally," Jenas said. "The lads have done him a favour by reacting to it. It showed complete team spirit and togetherness. We always believed.

"We just showed that never-give-in spirit. Any team who comes to the Emirates and gets a result has done well but given the circumstances, this is just brilliant."

Spurs remain bottom of the table but Redknapp wants to use the result as a springboard for their season.

"It's going to be a long season, but there was a great atmosphere in that dressing room," Redknapp said. "I've tried to make them believe in themselves. There's ability in the squad. Bring on Liverpool. We'll give them a good go on Saturday.

"I've not thought about points. I like to see us when we play and pass the ball. We had long spells in the first half where we passed the ball ever so well. We just encourage them to play."

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Milan Ready For Beckham Talks

AC Milan have confirmed that talks regarding a proposed loan deal for David Beckham will begin on Thursday.

With the England international having completed the MLS season at LA Galaxy, he is now actively seeking a switch to Europe.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid winger is desperate to remain part of Fabio Capello's international plans, and realises he must be playing regular football in order to achieve that aim.

As a result, he looks set to swap life in Hollywood for that in Milan as the Rossoneri close in on a deal with his American employees.

AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani revealed that discussions were due to start next week but have been brought forward in order to push a deal through.

Beckham's lawyers will now meet with San Siro bosses to thrash out an agreement which will see the experienced midfielder head to Italy until the MLS gets underway again in March.

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