Soccer Shorts

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Ibrahimovic 'disgusted' by refereeing of Barcelona tie

ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC claimed he was “disgusted” by his side’s treatment by match officials during the 3-1 Champions League defeat in Barcelona on Tuesday night.

Ibrahimovic’s criticism of the referee Bjorn Kupers, who awarded two penalties against the Italian side, extended to an expression of sympathy for José Mourinho, the Real Madrid manager, who has claimed that Barcelona often receive preferential treatment.

“I’m just disgusted,” the Sweden striker said. “They are the best team in the world but at 1-1 and, playing with intelligence, you can do something. I understand better why Mourinho gets upset every time he plays here – in my opinion it was not fair.” Mourinho was banned last season when he accused Uefa of aiding the Catalan club to their title in 2009 and in subsequent games.

Hunt to undergo a minor operation for groin injury 

STEPHEN HUNT will undergo a minor operation on an ongoing groin problem this morning and is expected to be out of action for up to two weeks.

The Republic of Ireland and Wolves winger (30) pulled out of training on Monday before seeing a specialist yesterday for the second time in a fortnight over the injury.

Last night his younger brother and fellow international, Noel, tweeted that Stephen would undergo a small operation in a bid to play a part in Wolves’ desperate bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Wolves boss Terry Connor is already without midfielder Jamie O’Hara (hamstring) and defender Jody Craddock (groin) for the rest of the season.

Connor said: “Stephen felt it in training on Monday and, although he trained on Tuesday, the general consensus was that he should get it looked at.”

Olympiakos crowned champions 

OLYMPIAKOS PIRAEUS were crowned Greek champions on Wednesday after Panathinaikos failed in an appeal to the soccer federation to overturn a punishment for crowd violence at last month’s abandoned Athens derby. Panathinaikos have been docked three points and Olympiakos awarded a 3-0 win following the events at the March 18th match, meaning 10 points now separate the two clubs with three matches remaining, the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) said.Panathinaikos will also start the 2012/13 season with two points deducted as part of the toughest sanctions ever imposed by the Greek Super League.

Sunderland face FA charge 

SUNDERLAND have been charged by the Football Association with failing to control their players during Saturday’s Premier League match at Manchester City.

The charge relates to an incident in the 43rd minute of the 3-3 draw at the Etihad Stadium, when some Sunderland players reacted angrily when referee Phil Dowd awarded a penalty following Craig Gardner’s challenge on Edin Dzeko.

Mario Balotelli scored from the penalty to bring the home side level and later scored again as City recovered from 3-1 down to rescue a point.

Sunderland have until 4pm on April 11th to respond to the charge.

Ireland eye play-off spot

THE REPUBLIC of Ireland women’s set-up has come a long way since 1995 when Ciara Grant won the first of her 99 caps and tonight provides the chance to scale new heights.

With runaway Group Four leaders France expected to seal the one automatic spot into next year’s finals in Sweden, Ireland currently hold a two-point advantage in the chase for a play-off spot over Wales and tonight’s opponents, Scotland (Tynecastle, 7.0pm).

“This fixture is so important that I haven’t really thought too much about it being my 100th cap,” said 33-year-old Arsenal skipper Grant. “We’re sitting nicely in second spot right now and the aim is to keep distance between the Scots and ourselves.”

Chelsea full-back Sophie Perry is to be handed a competitive debut.

REP OF IRELAND(probable): E Byrne (Arsenal); S Perry (Chelsea), L Quinn (Peamount United), Y Tracy (Arsenal), G Murray (Peamount United); A O'Gorman (Doncaster Belles), C Grant (Arsenal, capt), N Fahey (Arsenal); D O'Sullivan (Cork), F O'Sullivan (Soyaux ASJ), JA Russell (Doncaster Belles).