Football Dispatch

Monday Football
28 May 2007
Victor Yushchenko may have avoided further political turmoil in Kiev, last week. The Ukrainian President made a last-ditch pact with his arch-rival, Victor Yanukovich, to circumvent the spectre of an emergency election call. Still, the chummy image of the two politicians sharing a box at the Ukrainian Cup Final between Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk was not enough to prevent the significant crowd violence which disrupted much of the match. After Kleber opened the scoring for Dynamo, the Kiev supporters celebrated by hurling rockets and flares onto the playing surface. Riot-police intervened; and an all-out brawl ensued. Despite the interruption, Dynamo prevailed with a 2-1 win -- Oleg Gusev scoring the match-winner.

While the scene in Kiev was frenzied, to say the least, the Belgian Cup Final in Brussels was outright chaotic. Over 50-fans and 10-policemen were injured as rioting ensued after Club Bruges defeated Standard de Liege 1-0 through Manaseh Ishiaku's 17th-minute winner. Fourteen Bruges supporters were arrested after hurling rocks and projectiles at police -- leaving several in hospital with serious injuries. Police spokeman Christian De Coninck cited "broken bones and neck injuries" as some of the more severe casualties. The incidents in Ukraine and Belgium come after several months of calm following a violent winter by UEFA standards.

David Beckham has been recalled into the England team. The former captain will take part in Friday's friendly with Brazil at the new Wembley and the EURO 2008 qualifier in Estonia on 06 June. Beckham has been in superb form for Real Madrid since coming back from a mid-winter injury. He was influential in all three Madrid goals in their 3-1 win over Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday. Since his comeback, Madrid have assumed 1st-place in La Liga and are in pole position to win a first trophy since his arrival in the summer of 2003.

Roman Abramovich has done a complete about-face regarding Chelsea's business operations. Last week, the Russian owner informed his board of directors that the club will, from this point forward, operate on its own profits. Abramovich will no longer finance the big-money transfers for which Chelsea has become notorious and manager Jose Mourinho will receive minimal funds for summer re-tooling. As it stands, Chelsea are in the midst of completing three free-transfers. Steve Sidwell has already arrived from Reading; and Claudio Pizarro and Alex are due to follow him to Stamford Bridge from Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven, respetively. The new fiscal prudence at Chelsea throws captain John Terry and talismanic midfielder Frank Lampard into further contractual limbo. Each have two years remaining on their current deals and are looking to sign extensions ahead of next season. More to the point, both expect to earn wages on par with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack.

Juventus are believed to be the frontrunner to land Frank Lampard. The Italian giants will be back in the Serie-A next season after spending a year in the Serie-B as punishment for their part in the match-fixing scandal. Barcelona and Real Madrid are in the mix for the 28-year-old as well. Should Chelsea refuse to increase his salary, Lampard could exit London for as little as 9M-pounds.

Real Madrid are closing-in on securing Manchester United left-back Gabriel Heinze. The 29-year-old Argentina international is seeking a move from the Premiership champions after falling behind Patrice Evra in Sir Alex Ferguson's pecking-order. Madrid will be releasing Roberto Carlos at the conclusion of the season and are keen to have Heinze assume the role. Juventus are also monitoring the situation. Manchester United bought Heinze from Paris Saint-Germain in 2004 for 6.9M-pounds.

Roy Keane is the first manager to have made a formal bid for Preston striker David Nugent. The Sunderland boss offered 5M-pounds in cash and Stern John in exchange for the 22-year-old. Preston, however, will continue to hold out for an offer of around 8M-pounds. Everton remain frontrunners; although Wigan and Middlesbrough have made overtures as well.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are involved in another transfer tug-of-war. The subject, this time around, is 20-year-old Sporting Lisbon prodigy Nani. Seen as a player in the mold of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani will be exiting Portugal over the summer and has let it be known that the Premiership is his destination of choice. "The Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world," he remarked, "and it will be a big challenge." Last week, Spurs beat United to the signature of Southampton and Wales left-back Gareth Bale. Nani is expected to command an offer of approximately 12M-pounds.

The curtain closed on the 2006-2007 Ligue-1 season at the weekend. And while Olympique Lyonnais had the title under wraps by Christmastime, the run-in for places two through four and the accompanying European berths went right down to the wire. Lyon, for their part, concluded the season with a ho-hum 3-1 win over Nantes. Florent Malouda scored twice, including the match-winner; and Karim Benzema rounded-out the scoring in the 84th-minute.

Toulouse earned a France's lone qualification place for next season's Champions' League by dispatching Bordeaux 3-1 at Stadium Municipal. Bordeaux looked to have the upper hand after Wendel opened the scoring in the 17th-minute. But it was the Johan Elmander show from thereon in. Elmander leveled the affair before half-time and fired two more to complete the hat-trick by the 72nd-minute. The loss leaves Bordeaux joint-fourth in the table -- but 6th-place on goal-differential.

As it turned out, four sides finished with a share of 4th-place. In addition to the Girondins, each of Rennes, Lens, and Sochaux recorded 57-points. Rennes, however, was the only one of the quartet to secure a European place. Their 1-1 draw at Lille, Saturday, ensured that their +8 goal-differential would earn them 4th-place and a berth in the UEFA Cup.

Lens, by virtue of their disastrous 3-0 loss away to Troyes, finished the season with a goal-differential of +6. Had they managed to defeat the relegated side, Lens would have earned a qualification spot in the Champions' League. As it happens, their May-long spiral saw their European aspirations evaporate. Joining Troyes in Ligue-2 next season will be Sedan and Nantes.

Villareal kept their European dreams alive and ended Valencia's title hopes by defeating their hosts 3-2 at the Mestalla, Saturday. David Villa managed two goals for Valencia; but Diego Forlan managed a brace as well and Jan Dal Tomasson also found the scoresheet. The win leaves Villareal with 56-points -- just a single point removed from Atletico Madrid and 6th-place in the ledger.

Real Madrid continued to pace the league through the 36th-round of play in La Liga. Sergio Ramos opened the scoring in the 1st-half and Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy added the match-winner and insurance-marker, respectively, in the second period. David Beckham, freshly recalled to the England squad, produced two goals and was influential in all three.

Barcelona won at home to Getafe, Saturday, and kept pace with leaders Madrid atop the ledger. Ronaldinho was at the centre of everything at the Nou Camp on this night. His goal in the 2nd-minute proved the match-winner and he was sent-off just prior to the break. After being tackled by Getafe's David Belenguer, referee Perez Burrull showed the Brazilian a straight red-card for kicking his opponent between the legs.

Sevilla maintained their hopes at a treble by defeating Real Zaragoza 3-1 at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Sunday. Luis Fabiano opened the scoring just short of the half-hour -- a tally that remained the only goal of the match until D'Alesandro's equalizer in the 74th-minute. Alexander Kerzhakov put the hosts back in front with just 7-minutes to play; and Freddie Kanoute made ammends for his previous penalty miss by providing a bit of safety with his goal in added time. Sevilla are just 2-points back of Real Madrid and Barcelona with two rounds to play.

Barcelona will host local rivals Espanyol next week before concluding the season at last-place Gimnastic de Taragona. Real Madrid will travel to 5th-seeded Zaragoza before wrapping this up at home to Mallorca. And Sevilla will visit Mallorca before facing red-hot Villareal.