The other soccer news stories of the day...
Wenger resigned to losing Fabregas for the weekend
ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger is awaiting scan results on Cesc Fabregas’s hamstring injury but is optimistic the problem is “not long-term”.
Fabregas limped off before the break during the draw with Burnley in a match that left Wenger fuming at the fixture compilers and the Premier League defending their schedule. Wenger immediately ruled his captain out of the clash against Hull tomorrow, although the injury may not be as bad as first feared.
“Cesc had a scan today,” Wenger said yesterday. “We have not had the result yet. The only thing that is sure is that he will not play on Saturday.
“Beyond that, it all depends on the scan. Is it a tightness that just presents a small risk on Saturday or is it a slight strain – grade one or two? We’ll know that later.
“If it is a tear it is a small one and the maximum would be 10 days. So it is not long-term.”
Denilson could deputise for Fabregas against Hull after recovering from a back problem.
Scotland job, not a done deal - Levein
CRAIG Levein yesterday revealed his desire to become Scotland manager – but insisted succeeding George Burley was far from a done deal.
Dundee United reluctantly gave their manager permission to discuss the vacancy with the Scottish Football Association (SFA), despite chairman Stephen Thompson expressing anger at the way their approach became public knowledge.
Levein said: “There has been an approach from the SFA asking to speak to me, and after meeting the chairman today he gave me permission to speak to them.
“The next stage will be speaking to the SFA and seeing what they have to say. Of course it is something that interests me; I would not have asked the chairman to let me speak to them if that was not the case.
“I am 100 per cent interested in being the Scotland manager. Whether that’s right now or at another time, I don’t know.”
Hart confirmed as QPR manager
QUEENS Park Rangers confirmed Paul Hart as their new manager yesterday after the London club parted company with Jim Magilton the previous day.
Hart, who was sacked as manager of Premier League strugglers Portsmouth last month, will be in charge of the Championship club until the end of the season.
Magilton was suspended by QPR last week following media reports of a bust-up with Hungarian midfielder Akos Buzsaky and left the club by “mutual consent”.
“That has nothing to do with me,” said Hart of the departure of Magilton.
“I’m here now, what has happened in the past has happened and I don’t know too much about it. We have to look to the future.
“We’ve got a strong squad of players and we feel we might cause a bit of damage in the Championship.”
Everton caught short, Celtic fight back
EVERTON manager David Moyes saw his young pretenders tumble to a narrow defeat in Europa League Group I, having already qualified for the knockout phase.
The experimental XI sent out by the Scotish-born manager held on until the 75th minute when a goal from Aleksandr Yurevich won the game for Belarus side BATE Borisov.
CELTIC staged a dramatic Europa League comeback to draw 3-3 against Rapid Vienna in the Ernst Happel Stadium Last night.
The Hoops found themselves three goals down after 19 minutes in the Group C dead rubber.
Marc-Antoine Fortune scored before the interval and he doubled his tally before Paul McGowan drove in an injury-time leveller to keep Celtic in third place.
Camoranasi out for two months
JUVENTUS’S Italy winger Mauro Camoranesi will be out of action for two months with a thigh injury he suffered in last weekend’s 3-1 defeat by Bari, the Serie A club said yesterday.
“The player is better, he is walking without crutches and the medical treatments are continuing,” the club said in a statement.
“The prognosis is still around two months and the Juventus staff are optimistic about his recovery time.”
CSKA pair get two match let-off
TWO CSKA Moscow players who failed drugs tests following a Champions League match with Manchester United have escaped with a one-match ban from Uefa.
Sergei Ignashevich and Alexei Berezutski tested positive for banned stimulants and were provisionally suspended by Uefa.
But as they missed a Champions League match against Besiktas, both will be eligible to play in the knock-out rounds next year. The club have been fined €25,000.
Uefa said in a statement: “The Uefa control and disciplinary body has imposed a one-match suspension on the two CSKA Moscow players Sergei Ignashevich and Alexei Berezutski after they failed to comply with the Uefa anti-doping regulations following the match against Manchester United on November 3rd.”
CSKA had claimed the two defenders were the victims of an error by the club’s medical staff, who failed to register cold cures given to the players while on international duty.
