A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Rangers start defence without Weir
RANGERS will be without suspended skipper David Weir for their Clydesdale Bank Premier League opener against Hearts today (kick-off 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports 2).
Kyle Lafferty is also out of the match at Ibrox with a hernia problem and should be back in action in around three weeks’ time.
New signings Juan Manuel Ortiz and Lee Wallace could make their competitive Rangers’ debuts.
Skipper Scott Brown is suspended for Celtic’s league opener against Hibernian at Easter Road tomorrow ( 12.30pm, live on ESPN). New signing Victor Wanyama could make his SPL debut after coming on as substitute against Cardiff in midweek.
Paddy McCourt, Darren O’Dea (both knee), Thomas Rogne and Jos Hooiveld (both calf strain) are all out. Aberdeen meet St Johnstone today without Joe Shaughnessy, who is away with the Republic of Ireland youths.
St Johnstone are awaiting clearance for striker Cillian Sheridan, who has joined on loan from CSKA Sofia. Goalkeeper Alan Mannus will be added to the squad after completing his move to the Perth club from Shamrock Rovers.
Barca sell striker Krkic to Roma
BARCELONA have agreed to sell striker Bojan Krkic to Serie A side AS Roma for €12 million in an unusual deal that includes a commitment to buy the Spain under-21 star back in two years.
The Spanish and European champions will repurchase Bojan at the end of the 2012-13 season for €13 million unless Roma decide they want to keep him. In that case, the Italian club will have to pay another €28 million.
“The buy-back clause can be blocked by AS Roma, but in that case the total cost of the transfer would be €40 million,” said Barcelona.
Weekend fixtures
Today
Uefa Under-19 Championship: Group A – Czech Rep v Rep of Ireland; Romania v Greece U19. Group B – Serbia v Spain; Turkey v Belgium.
Scottish Premier League – Aberdeen v St Johnstone (3pm); Motherwell v Inverness CT (3pm); Rangers v Hearts (12.30pm).
Friendlies – Borussia M’gladbach v Sunderland (2pm); Chicago Fire v Manchester Utd (10pm); Cologne v Arsenal (2.30pm); DC United v Everton (7.30pm); Hull v Liverpool (3pm).
League of Ireland Premier Division – Sligo v St Patrick’s Athletic. First Division – Longford Town v Cork City.
Copa America 3rd/4th Place Play-Off – Peru v Venezuela (8pm);
Tomorrow
Scottish Premier League – Dundee Utd v Kilmarnock (3pm); Hibernian v Celtic (12.30pm).
Friendlies – Bradford v Bolton (3pm); LA Galaxy v Man City (5am); Thailand All Stars v Chelsea (11.45am); Spartans v Man Utd XI (3pm).
Copa America Final – Uruguay v Paraguay (8pm).
Barcelona close in on Fabregas
BARCELONA looked to nudge their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas closer to a conclusion last night when the club’s vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu and director for football Raul Sanllehi travelled to London to renew negotiations for the midfielder, who did not join the Arsenal squad on a flight to Cologne.
But an increased bid understood to be around €37m is unlikely to get a positive response from the Emirates, with frustration growing as Barcelona still refuse to offer a figure more in line with Arsenal’s €45 million valuation.
Arsene Wenger insisted last night that there had been “no movement”.
Bartomeu and Sanllehi also met representatives of Chelsea as they sought to close a €5.7 million deal that would take the 19-year-old Barcelona midfielder Oriol Romeu to Stamford Bridge.
Indonesian duo lose out on chance
TWO Indonesian players could not travel to Turkmenistan for today’s World Cup qualifier after the country’s soccer body misplaced their passports, local media said.
Wahyu Wiji Astanto and Tony Sucipto were told about the problem barely half an hour before the team was scheduled to leave for the airport on Wednesday, the Jakarta Globe reported.
“I was shocked,” the 25-year old Astanto said. “When he (the manager) told me that, I didn’t ask any questions. I just went straight back to my room. That should have been my debut in the senior squad and I’ve been waiting so long for that moment.”
Indonesian soccer official Tri Goestoro said: “They made new passports on Monday. We did everything we could to obtain visas for them but failed.”
