Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfielder Pirmin Schwegler is likely to miss at least two UEFA Cup group-stage matches after suffering a knee injury on international duty.
Schwegler ruptured a knee ligament playing for the Switzerland Under-21s in Norway on Friday and is expected to require two months of rest and rehabilitation.
The lay-off will rule the 20-year-old out of Leverkusen's Group E games at home to Toulouse FC, on 25 October, and away to FC Spartak Moskva, on 8 November.
His availability for the Bundesliga club's concluding two group fixtures – the December meetings with AC Sparta Praha and FC Zurich – remains a question mark.
Schwegler had been sidelined for several weeks at the start of the season by another knee injury. He has managed four Bundesliga appearances this term for eighth-placed Leverkusen. Switzerland lost the match in Oslo 2-1.
08 October 2007
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)
01 October 2007
Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura says his knee injury is 'getting better' but is still unsure as to whether he will be fit to face AC Milan.
The Japanese international picked up the problem in the Hoops' Champions League qualifier against Spartak Moscow and has missed Celtic's last three matches.
Nakamura is due to return to training with the rest of the squad on Monday and is expected to have a late fitness test ahead of Wednesday's Champions League home clash.
The midfielder told the Daily Record: "My injury is getting better, but it is a case of slowly. I will go to training on Monday and will see how things go there with my knee. Within myself, when I start training, I will know exactly how it is."
