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Sneijder should be okay for final

WESLEY Sneijder has played down fears he may miss the Champions League final against Bayern Munich after limping off against Roma in the early stages of Wednesday night’s Coppa Italia final.

The Dutch international was withdrawn after just five minutes at the Stadio Olimpico as Inter went on to beat the Giallorossi 1-0.

But he said afterwards: “I got a kick on my leg and some blood came out, but I feel better now.”

FAI confirm game for Doolin's men

GIOVANNI Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland development squad will provide the opposition for Ireland’s under-23s in a match behind closed doors at Malahide on May 18th, writes Paul Buttner.

Though mooted for some weeks, the FAI confirmed the match yesterday at the announcement of Paul Doolin’s under-23 squad ahead of their International Challenge Trophy clash with England at the RSC in Waterford on Wednesday, May 26th.

The Ireland under-23s, comprised solely of players playing in the Airtricity League of Ireland, will play a second game away to Estonia on September 28th with the group winners progressing to the semi-finals.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” said Doolin on the prospect of playing Trapattoni’s training camp squad. “Sometimes you can just meet on Sunday prior to the game and it doesn’t give you much opportunity to do what you want to do with the players.”

Duff should be ready to face Atletico

ROY Hodgson is hoping Damien Duff will be ready for the Europa League final next Wednesday after the Republic of Ireland midfielder limped out of Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Stoke City at Craven Cottage.

The Republic of Ireland international winger left the action with muscle cramp at half time but the prognosis is positive and it is not thought the injury will keep Duff out of Ireland’s friendly matches against Paraguay and Algeria later this month. Ireland face Paraguay at the RDS on May 25th and then host Algeria three days later.

“We think one of Damien Duff’s muscles was cramping up,” said Hodgson. “That was a blow of course. We hope its not too serious. I hope he’ll be fit for the final. The medical staff don’t think it’s a muscle tear or anything like that.”

Hodgson also has concerns over Bobby Zamora, but is less optimistic about the striker’s chance of facing Atletico Madrid.

Ireland and Hunt look set for pastures new

STEPHEN Ireland has admitted there is a major question mark over his Manchester City future, while Stephen Hunt has spoken about leaving Hull as the relegated side seek to ease their debts.

After earning a PFA young player of the year nomination with some stellar performances last term, Ireland (23) has struggled badly this yearand has only appeared 11 times under Roberto Mancini.

“There is a question mark over next year for me,” he said. “I don’t know what will happen. I am contracted to City and all I can do is carry on doing my job and performing well when I am called upon.”

Hull City midfielder Hunt reportedly remains a target for Wolves manager Mick McCarthy and is also being tracked by Newcastle United.

The Republic of Ireland winger is resigned to leaving and said: “If we had stayed up I would have been happy to stay but we’re not in the Premier League now and they might want to sell me.”

FA Cup final a bridge too far for Mikel

CHELSEA midfielder John Obi Mikel will miss the English FA Cup final against Portsmouth on May 15th after undergoing minor knee surgery.

The Nigerian, who will also miss the final Premier League game of the season against Wigan on Sunday, has not played for three weeks because of the injury.

Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack has confirmed talks will soon take place over his future with the London club, but he has not ruled out moving to another Premier League outfit.

The Germany captain’s contract expires at the end of next month and he has yet to find out whether the Chelsea are prepared to offer him an extension.

“After the season, we are definitely going to hold talks with the (Chelsea) decision makers,” he said. My primary aim is to stay in the Premier League.”

Fulham have final request refused

THE Premier League have turned down Fulham’s request to bring forward their final game of the season against Arsenal to give them extra time to prepare for the Europa League final.

The Cottagers, who play Spanish side Atletico Madrid in Hamburg next Wednesday, made a formal request to have the Emirates Stadium clash moved from Sunday to Saturday in order to aid preparations for the biggest match in their history.

However, the Premier League have turned the Cottagers down, citing the need for all matches to kick off at the same time in the last round of fixtures.

A statement said: “Given it was the final day of the season, when we always play all our matches at the same time for reasons of integrity, and being mindful of the travel plans supporters will have made, the board felt it wasn’t appropriate to move the Arsenal-Fulham match.”

Portsmouth hit with new €20m claim

PORTSMOUTH will have more than two-thirds of their debts written off after a deal with creditors was thrashed out yesterday but have been hit with a further €20 million claim from the taxman.

The club’s administrator Andrew Andronikou revealed the new claim to a meeting of creditors today which takes Pompey’s total debt to €162 million.

The creditors yesterday voted in favour of a Company Voluntary Arrangement, a repayment deal where most will get just 24c in the pound over five years, but that should secure Portsmouth’s future.

The big losers will be former owners Alexandre Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Ali Al-Faraj and the tax man, whose debts are unsecured.

Andronikou said the club was still up for sale but no offers have been made.