Spain Soccer News

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ Ronaldinho's muscle injury may be the least of his problems. The FC Barcelona midfielder has come under scrutiny after supposedly staying out late and breaking curfew, leading the Spanish media to doubt the legitimacy of the strain that will likely sideline him from the team's Spanish league game against Zaragoza on Wednesday. ``He spoke with the coach, who believed him,'' said Ronaldinho's brother and agent, Roberto de Assis. ``From here on, there's nothing more to ...

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon introduced the former Getafe coach Monday at Santiago Bernabeu stadium. ``This is a happy day for me,'' Schuster said. ``I thank the president and everyone here for giving me the opportunity.'' Schuster will take over from Fabio Capello, who was fired June 28, less than two weeks after leading Madrid to its first Spanish league title in four years and ending the club's longest major trophy drought in 53 years. Schuster, a former ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ David Beckham missed a Real Madrid training session on Tuesday to rest his injured left ankle. He was hurt in his country's 3-0 win over Estonia in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship last week, but played in Madrid's 2-2 draw at Zaragoza in the Spanish league on Saturday. Raul Bravo, Antonio Cassano and Miguel Torres also sat out the practice due to injuries. Madrid is unbeaten in 11 games since Beckham was ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos is reportedly talking to club directors about extending his contract when it expires at the end of the season. ``Great players want to play at Real Madrid and Roberto Carlos is a great player, the best in the world in his position,'' Madrid right back Cicinho told Punto Radio on Tuesday. ``His wish to stay is great.'' Cicinho said he and Roberto Carlos were still making common plans in ...

LONDON (AP) _ Sevilla will host Tottenham in the first leg of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals Thursday in a match between two former champions. Sevilla beat Middlesbrough in last year's final, while Tottenham won the trophy in 1972 and '84. Bayer Leverkusen, the only other team in the last eight that has won the UEFA Cup, will play at Osasuna in another quarter-final match. Also, Espanyol hosts Benfica and AZ ...

NYON, Switzerland (AP) _ Valencia defender David Navarro's suspension for his part in a brawl during a Champions League game has been reduced from seven to six months. Also Wednesday, UEFA halved Valencia defender Carlos Marchena's four-game suspension and reduced Inter defender Maicon's six-game ban from European club competitions to three. The ban for Inter's Ivan Cordoba was cut to two games from three. But European soccer's governing body upheld ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ Real Madrid is reportedly confident of signing Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of the season. In a story headed ``This one will get the Bernabeu on its feet'', sports daily Marca said Thursday that Madrid president Ramon Calderon has made the Portugal forward's signing ``an absolute priority'' even though ``he will cost a fortune.'' Calderon has reportedly been informed by Madrid's sports director Predrag ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ A Zaragoza player whose left knee was shattered in a tackle with Luis Figo two years ago has been forced to retire from the game. Central defender Cesar Jimenez said he had no alternative after attempts to rebuild his knee joint proved fruitless. ``It's a very hard decision to take because I feel powerless and hurt. I've done all I can but now I have nothing ...

Avoid Barcelona. That's the hope of many clubs in Friday's draw for the last 16 of the Champions League. There are several teams in the field who have won multiple titles but the team they most want to stay away from is defending champion Barcelona, which has only won the competition twice. Frank Rijkaard's team, which also won the European Cup in 1992 before it became known as the Champions ...

River Plate's teenage striker Gonzalo Higuain could soon be joining Real Madrid. ``I'm going to Madrid to continue talks on Higuain's move to (Real) Madrid,'' River's treasurer Hector Grinberg told Radio Marca. River is reportedly demanding 12 million euros (C$18.3 million) for Higuain, who scored his final goal of the Argentine league season in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Velez Sarsfield. The striker, who turned 19 the same day, was presented ...

Deportivo La Coruna defender Albert Lopo and midfielder Aldo Duscher will be sidelined for a month with injuries. Lopo hurt his right calf in Sunday's 4-0 defeat at Valencia, while Duscher damaged his right thigh during a friendly last week. The two players' absence adds to Deportivo's problems. The team has dropped to 13th place in the 20-team Spanish league after drawing three and losing four of its seven games ...

Ernesto Chevanton's 78th-minute goal gave Sevilla a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid on Saturday and moved it into sole possession of second place in the Spanish league. David Beckham gave Madrid the lead in the 14th with a 25-yard free kick before Frederic Kanoute tied it four minutes later with his league-tying 11th goal of the campaign. Earlier, FC Barcelona posted a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad to secure the top spot in the standings before it ...

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid denied having any links to a Spanish doctor at the centre of a major doping scandal. Both Spanish teams said Thursday they reserved the right to take legal action to defend their interests after an allegation in French newspaper Le Monde that Eufemiano Fuentes had treated some of their players. ``Real Madrid wishes to energetically deny any link, direct or indirect, between the club's medical ...

Real Madrid visits Sevilla on Saturday, with the Spanish league's second and third-place teams looking evenly matched. Sevilla boasts a perfect record at its Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan this season but Madrid's away form is formidable, with five wins in six matches. The sides have emerged as the biggest threats to leader FC Barcelona's hopes of a third straight league title. Barcelona has 30 points, while Madrid has 29 and Sevilla ...

Fabio Cannavaro may miss Real Madrid's Spanish league game with Sevilla after spraining his left ankle during training on Thursday. Cannavaro, on his first day back in training following a muscle injury which forced him out of Madrid's last two matches, was hurt by a strong challenge from teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy. The defender reacted angrily and refused to shake hands with van Nistelrooy, news agency Efe said. Cannavaro, Italy's ...

Ronaldinho will lead FC Barcelona at the Club World Cup. The Brazil playmaker was listed Tuesday on the Spanish League champion's roster for next month's tournament in Japan. The Club World Cup is a tournament for the continental champions of each of the six FIFA confederations. The European champions will be joined by Internacional (South America), America (CONCACAF), Al Ahly (Africa), Chonbuk Motors (Asia) and Auckland City (Oceania). Barcelona picked ...

Athletic Bilbao is reportedly set to appoint Jose Manuel (Mane) Esnal as its new coach to replace Felix Sarriugarte. Mane led Alaves to promotion in his first season in 1997-98. He then guided the team to the 2001 UEFA Cup final _ a 5-4 defeat in extra time to Liverpool _ before being fired two years later. In his most recent position, the 56-year-old Mane won promotion for Levante last ...

Valencia right back Miguel was ruled out for up to three weeks Tuesday after straining his left thigh muscle during training. The Portuguese international is expected to miss Valencia's league matches with Recreativo Huelva, Deportivo La Coruna and Zaragoza, and the Champions League game against AS Roma on Dec 5. Valencia's season has been disrupted by injuries. David Villa, Fernando Morientes, David Albelda, Asier Del Horno, Carlos Marchena, Emiliano Moretti ...

Raul Gonzalez scored in the 52nd minute Sunday to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Valencia and move the team three points off the lead in the Spanish league. Raul's third goal of the season came from Roberto Carlos' low cross following a swift break down the left wing which also involved Jose Antonio Reyes. Madrid's victory at Mestalla stadium was its third straight and was achieved without the ...

Ronaldinho scored his 50th and 51st Spanish league goals on Saturday to help FC Barcelona beat Villarreal 4-0 and establish a four-point lead in the standings. The Brazilian opened the scoring with a 35th-minute penalty and rounded off the defending champions' victory with a spectacular overhead kick just before the end for his league-leading 10th goal this season. Striker Eidur Gudjohnsen and midfielder Andres Iniesta also scored. ``It was the goal I dreamed about when I was young,'' Ronaldinho said ...

Mexico defender Rafael Marquez is about to gain Spanish citizenship, making him eligible to appear for FC Barcelona as a European Union player. Marquez swore allegiance to the Spanish Constitution in the Catalan town of Gava on Friday and is now awaiting clearance from the country's soccer federation and Football League. ``It's good news,'' Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said in Saturday's edition of Mundo Deportivo. ``The club too has helped Marquez to get the passport.'' Marquez's citizenship will leave ...

Valencia badly needs an upturn in its domestic fortunes when it hosts Real Madrid in the Spanish league's standout match this weekend. The champions of 2002 and 2004 began the season confidently, sharing the lead after seven matches and suggesting it could wrest the title from FC Barcelona this season. But since then Valencia has gained two points from a possible 12, sliding down to eighth place, eight points behind ...

Ludovic Giuly and Andres Iniesta scored Wednesday to lead FC Barcelona to a 2-0 win over Levski Sofia 2-0 in Group A of the Champions League. Giuly scored in the fifth minute from inside the area, beating Levski goalkeeper Georgi Petkov. In the 65th minute, Petkov blocked a powerful shot by Deco and Iniesta scored from the rebound. The defending champions badly needed the victory to have a chance to ...

Sevilla coach Juande Ramos has apologized for suggesting that Frank Rijkaard will quit as FC Barcelona coach at the end of the season. ``It was a throwaway comment. If it has annoyed Rijkaard or anyone, I apologize publicly and to the whole of Spain,'' Ramos told Punto Radio. ``I respect Rijkaard's work very much.'' Ramos told Spanish TV on Sunday that he had ``a whiff'' that Rijkaard would leave the ...

Villarreal's Turkey forward Nihat Kahveci will miss the rest of the season after tearing knee ligaments. Nihat twisted his left knee in a collision with teammate Javi Venta during training on Wednesday. He is expected to be out of action for between six and seven months, Villarreal said. Nihat is the third Villarreal player to sustain a serious knee injury since August. Midfielder Robert Pires and defender Gonzalo Rodriguez haven't ...

Mexico defender Rafael Marquez will obtain Spanish citizenship on Nov. 24, sports daily As said Thursday. Marquez has been waiting several months for the call to swear allegiance to the Spanish Constitution. He will then be eligible to appear for Barcelona as a European Union player. Marquez's citizenship would free up a place in Barcelona's squad for a non-EU player, with reports suggesting it will go to another Mexican, 17-year-old ...

Spanish league leader FC Barcelona will look to Ronaldinho to surmount its injury crisis. The defending champion will lack three forwards _ Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi and Javier Saviola _ as well as midfielder Edmilson for Sunday's visit to Mallorca (GolTV, 1 p.m. ET). Eto'o, who will be out until February after damaging his right knee in September, has been joined by Messi, Saviola and Edmilson _ all injured in ...

Brazil left back Marcelo will join Real Madrid from Fluminense, club president Ramon Calderon said Tuesday. ``We are very happy because he was a pearl which half of Europe wanted,'' Calderon said on the website of sports daily Marca on Tuesday. ``He has come to Real Madrid, continuing what should happen, that the good players have to be here.'' Marcelo, for whom Madrid has reportedly paid six million euros (C$8.8 ...

Ronaldinho converted a first-half penalty and substitute Juan Rodriguez equalized after the interval for Deportivo La Coruna to draw leader FC Barcelona 1-1 in the Spanish league on Saturday. The result extended Barcelona's advantage in the standings to two points, although Sevilla will climb into first place if it wins its home match with Osasuna on Sunday. Barcelona has 20 points, and Sevilla 18. Real Madrid is third with 17 points, one more than Zaragoza, Valencia and Getafe. Deportivo, ...

Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello is considering starting Ronaldo for the first time this season Sunday in a Spanish league match. Capello said he will decide whether to pick the 30-year-old Brazil striker on the day of the home game against Celta Vigo. ``He is improving every day in training and regaining an acceptable physical condition,'' Capello told Madrid's website on Saturday. ``He's not at his best, he needs to lose a little weight, but he seems pretty ...