ALL THE REST OF THE NEWS
From the official site:
United crashed out of the FA Youth Cup after a 2-0 defeat against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday.
Brian McClair's side, who won the trophy last season, rarely reached their usual high standards and were deservedly beaten by a hard-working Rovers side.
The Reds fell behind to a 16th minute penalty from Joel Byrom and their fate was sealed by Keith Barker's header seven minutes from time.
Becks off to Chelsea?
Roman Abramovich will have to spend £140MILLION if he wants to sign David. That is the buy-out figure in Beckham’s Real Madrid contract. And Becks, 28, reckons it prices him out of the market.
He said: “It is a massive amount of money, about 200m euros — something like that, something silly.”
The England captain cannot believe any club would be prepared to pay up and force Real’s hand.
He said: “That is the only way it could happen this year. People keep saying I might leave in the summer but I don’t know where that’s coming from.” [Why even mention it then?]
From the Guardian:
The three Leicester City footballers being held in a Spanish jail will today be informed of the charges they face after prosecuting lawyers meet the presiding judge.
After the meeting, the legal team representing Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie, which is headed by the respected local lawyer Ana Ruiperez, will receive a letter from the senior criminal judge who will be appointed to consider their cases.
The three men may be formally charged with "sexual aggression with penetration", which equates to the British offence of rape.
They have been in the Sangonera La Verde prison since Friday, when the investigating judge, Pilar Perez, determined there was sufficient evidence to pursue the case. Under Spanish law, another judge now takes over from Ms Perez whose first task will be to discuss the grounds for prosecution with Encarnación Gomez Diaz, the lawyer representing the three alleged victims.
The women, believed to be Africans, were about to board a flight for Germany when they made the accusations on Tuesday at Alicante airport. They have been persuaded to stay in Spain by police.
Ms Ruiperez accompanied Gillespie's girlfriend, Kelly Maguire, yesterday during a two-hour visit to the medium-security prison where he, Dickov and Sinclair are among 400 male and female inmates.
Ms Ruiperez's father, Luis, a dean of law and the head of the firm acting for the Leicester players, also visited the men. He confirmed that a request for their release had been lodged. "Whether they will be released depends on the judge. The three men are very well."
However, Ms Gomez Diaz is confident that the case will be brought to court.
"There is reasonable evidence of criminal behaviour and of damage to property and persons." If the criminal judge considers there is sufficient reason to proceed with the case after studying forensic reports today, a trial date will be set.
Some Euro news:
AS Roma coach Fabio Capello insisted his side remained in the Serie A title race after they crushed Inter Milan 4-1 at Rome's Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
The result gave second-placed Roma 56 points from 24 matches, five behind leaders AC Milan, who continued their near-perfect progress at the top by beating Sampdoria 3-1 earlier in the day to record their 10th victory in their last 11 league games.
Asked whether he believed Roma could overhaul Milan in the remaining 10 fixtures, Capello said: "I think when an opponent plays that well all you can do is pass on your compliments.
"Juventus and Roma are very good sides and are definitely in with a chance, but Milan this year are out of this world.
"We can't keep thinking about what the other teams are doing. We've got to concentrate on our own game. But as long as our forwards continue to create chances and score like they did tonight, I feel confident."
From Spain:
Resurgent Barcelona survived a late bout of nerves to beat Real Mallorca 3-2 at the Nou Camp on Sunday and stretch their winning league run to seven matches.
Two eye-catching goals from Luis Garcia, either side of a tap-in from Luis Enrique, set Barcelona on their way and the home side held on despite a 90th-minute chip from Samuel Eto'o and an Andrija Delibasic strike deep in injury time.
Victory for Barcelona took them to within a point of third-placed Deportivo Coruna and kept second-placed Valencia in their sights.
With 11 games remaining, Real Madrid lead the standings with 60 points, following their 1-1 draw away to Racing Santander on Saturday, with Valencia now six points behind them after their 3-0 win at home to Deportivo Coruna.
Deportivo remain third on 50 points with Barcelona breathing down their necks.