Serbia starlet Branislav Ivanovic has played down talk linking him with Chelsea and a number of top Italian sides.
Ivanovic caught the eye during the European Under-21 Championship in Holland over the summer and has reportedly been scouted by none other than Chelsea manager Avram Grant when playing for Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia.
Juventus and Inter are believed to be interested in the 23-year-old and reports in Italy on Tuesday morning claim that Milan are aiming to sign either the Serb or Chelsea's own Brazilian defender Alex.
However, Ivanovic is only focused on the job at hand with Lokomotiv at present and is unwilling to let himself dream of Serie A or The Premier League.
'For now I am only thinking about Lokomotiv,' Ivanovic is quoted in a national newspaper.
'England or Italy? That's a hard one. I don't want to mess my head up by worrying about that.'
22 October 2007
Reports in Serbian media suggest that Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson joined the race to sign highly-rated Lokomotiv Moscow defender Branislav Ivanović.
Ivanovic's spell with Lokomotiv Moscow is nearing its end and his future seems to lie in Manchester after City reportedly joined the chase for the €11m defender.
Some reports claim City already tabled an offer for Serbia international defender, even though they are facing tough competition in their city rivals Manchester United and Serie A titans Juventus who also expressed interest for the 22-year old.
Ivanovic is set to become the second Serbian defender after Nemanja Vidic to swap Russian Premier League for the Premiership.
11 October 2007
Aberdeen have appealed to fans who travelled to Ukraine with them last week to help identify the supporter who has landed them in trouble with UEFA.
The Dons are likely to face a sizeable fine after a flare was set off by one of their followers during their game with Dnipro.
Now Pittodrie chiefs want the person named and shamed - and banned from their games for life.
Operations manager John Morgan said: "We must track down this idiot and stop the club's reputation being damaged any further. Ukrainian officials praised the behaviour of the 500 Dons fans who were at the game but we've all been let down by the actions of one person."
Italian club Lazio were fined £5000 and Romania's Dinamo Bucharest £4000 after fans set off flares before their a Champions Leagueclash in Rome in August.
Both clubs were warned any repeat could lead to their grounds being closed and a ban on fans attending games abroad. The Dons' fate will be decided next month.
Meanwhile, Panathinaikos hitman Dimitris Salpingidis is ready to call on Hearts defender Christos Karipidis to help the Greeks in their UEFA Cup clash against the Pittodrie side.
The striker will ask his countryman, a former team-mate at PAOK Salonika, for a dossier on the Dons who make up Group B along with Atletico Madrid, Lokomotiv Moscow and Copenhagen.
Jimmy Calderwood's take on the Greeks in Athens in the group opener on October 25.
The 26-year-old Salpingidis reckons the draw has been kind because they play the Dons at home - and expects to take all three points.
He said: "I will contact Christos to find out about Aberdeen. We also have Takis Fyssas, who was at Hearts, in our squad so their knowledge will be useful to us. The draw is very good for us regarding the fact three teams will go into the next stage. In front of our home fans I am confident we can win."
Panathinaikos are fourth in the Greek League after four games and trail early leaders AEK Athens by five points.
Midfielder Alexandros Tziolis admits there will be no excuses should they fail to reach the UEFA Cup knockout stages.
However, having learned of how Aberdeen disposed of Dnipro in Ukraine in the first round proper he insists the Greeks will not underestimate them.
He rates Spanish cracks Atletico Madrid as the strongest side in the group but feels his side's European know-how could be vital.
He said "The Spaniards are strong but all the teams can cause problems, especially Aberdeen. But we are an experienced team and that will help us."
09 October 2007
Mali have a full strength side for their decisive African Nations Cup qualifier away to Togo in Lome on Friday where the winner will progress to next year's finals in Ghana.
Coach Jean-Francois Jodar will have Sevilla's Frederic Kanoute to lead the attack while Mahamdou Diarra of Real Madrid and the Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko are expected to start in midfield.
Mali and Togo are both on nine points in the Group Nine standings.
Mali failed to qualify for the last Nations Cup finals in 2006 but were semi-finalists in 2002 and 2004.
Tottenham have missed out on a top seeding for Tuesday's Uefa Cup group stage draw in Switzerland.
Spurs were rated ninth in Uefa's seedings and join Bolton in pool two, while Everton are in the third tier with Aberdeen in the bottom eight.
This means they could face a top seed such as Villarreal or Bayern Munich.
The 40 clubs will be drawn into eight groups of five, with each playing two home and away matches. Clubs from the same country cannot be paired together.
The top three in each of the groups will join the teams finishing third in the Champions League groups for the knockout rounds, which start with 32 sides.
Russia coach Guus Hiddink named a 19-man preliminary squad Friday for his team's European Championship qualifier against England.
Hiddink dropped Udinese midfielder Viktor Budyanskiy and Spartak Moscow half back Vladimir Bystrov from the 23-man squad named for matches in September.
The list, however, can be extended after Russian league matches this weekend.
The team's first practice is scheduled for Wednesday. Russia, which is idle on Oct. 13 when England hosts Estonia, will have a week to prepare for the crucial match against the English.
Russia is third in Group E with 18 points from nine matches, two points behind England. Croatia leads the standings with 23 points.
To qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament in Switzerland and Austria, Russia must win its remaining three matches against England, Israel and Andorra.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Vyacheslav Malafeev (Zenit St. Petersburg), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Kuban)
Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Alexei Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vasiliy Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow)
Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Ivan Saenko (FC Nuremberg), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dmitry Torbinskiy (Spartak Moscow)
Forwards: Alexander Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St. Petersburg), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Mosocw), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow)
