14 November - 31 November 2001

13 NOVEMBER 2001

Ballon D'or Shortlist

Nominations For France Football's Ballon D'or (European Footballer of the
year award) are :

Henry, Pires, Vieira (Arsenal)
Effenberg, Elber, Kahn, Kuffour, Lizarazu (Bayern Munich)
Kluivert, Rivaldo (Barcelona)
Pauleta (Bordeaux)
Baggio (Brescia)
Larsson (Celtic)
Desailly, Hasselbaink (Chelsea)
Buffon, Del Piero, Nedved, Thuram, Trezeguet (Juventus)
Crespo, Mendieta, Nesta (Lazio)
Ferdinand, Kewell (Leeds)
Gerrard, Hyppia, Owen (Liverpool)
Barthez, Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Veron (Man United)
Rui Costa, Shevchenko (Milan)
Andersson, Carriere (Lyon)
Olisadebe (Panathinaikos)
Nakata (Parma)
Figo, Helguera, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Zidane (Real Madrid)
Batistuta, Cafu, Candela, Tommasi, Totti (Roma)
Sand (Schalke)

Francesco Totti and the King of England Michael Owen are the favourites.
The winner will be announced in December.

Mexes Rejects Man United

Olivier Jovenaux, agent of Auxerre's highly rated defender Philippe Mexes
said :

"The Giallorossi (Roma) were the first team to show an interest in Philippe
and their transfer maestro Franco Baldini has already seen him in action on
at least 20 occasions. The only certain thing is that we will choose a big club
to join but I don't think it will be Manchester United. Philippe has already
met Alex Ferguson and was offered a deal by the Old Trafford side but my
player wants to go to Italy. His decision won't be a financial one. He just
wants to measure himself in the best League in the world."

Mantorras Flattered By Juve Interest

"For me it's a great honour to learn that Juventus are interested in me. They
are a great club and they play in one of the best leagues in the world.
Anyone would want to play for them. I have received many other offers
but it will be up to Benfica to decide what happens." - Pedro Mantorras

Capello Concentrating on Roma

"It's an honour that one of the most important clubs in world football like
Manchester United are interested in me but I'm just thinking about Roma
and how we can improve." - Fabio Capello

Cuper Will Not Risk Ronaldo

"He's (Ronaldo) well and has returned to training. He could return to my
squad in the next couple of days but this doesn't mean that he will play
against Roma. It's one thing to get back to training but it is another to
do so with the same intensity of your team-mates." - Hector Cuper

Kahn - Shevchenko Just A Good Striker

"He (Shevchenko) has been praised to the skies but realistically he is just
a good striker who we know how to stop." - Oliver Kahn


8 NOVEMBER 2001

Parma Appoint Passarella

Former Argentina coach Daniel Passarella has been named as new coach of
Parma. Two of the teams star players were delighted with the news :

"He's a person that has clear ideas. He believes he knows what this side is
missing. He's told us that we will start from scratch and that he will only play
people that are 100 per cent fit physically and mentally." - Marco Di Vaio.

"He's the correct choice. Hernan Crespo has told me that Passarella transmits
stimulus to a side. Everyone I've spoken too speak highly of him. As a Coach
he's done well at River Plate and with Argentina." - Paolo Cannavaro

Trap Slams Organisation In Japan

Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has criticised the Japanese for their lack
of organisation following Italy's 1-1 draw with Japan in Tokyo :

"Let's start with the pitch. For only the first game to be played on a new surface
we should be alarmed. Each time a player pushed off with his leg it would tear
up about half a metre of turf, making it impossible to stay on his feet. The traffic
is murder. We have to find a retreat near to the stadiums we play in otherwise it
will be impossible to get to there in time. We were also promised excellent
security measures but did anyone see any agents or bodyguards around our
players? None at all." 

Agent Claims Bilica Tried To Break Baggio's Legs

Vittorio Petrone, agent of Roberto Baggio, claims that a Venezia player, thought
to be defender Fabio Bilica, told his star player "I'll break your legs. You're not
going to the World Cup" during Brescia's 3-2 victory over Venezia at the end of
October.

Venezia President Maurizio Zamparini angrily reacted to Petrone's claims :

"This is absolutely ridiculous. Baggio fell over by himself and that's how he
aggravated an injury he was already carrying. Let's ask anyone who has
played football how many times you've heard opponents threaten to break
your legs. It's a psychological tactic, nothing more. Besides, let Baggio's agent
go and work with ballet dancers. Football is not a sport for little girls."

Venezia's technical director Beppe Iachini added :

"The biggest mistake was Brescia's in letting Baggio play when he was carrying
an injury. He even scored against us and suffered the injury by slipping on the
turf, it had nothing to do with my players. He (Bilica) didn't even go near Baggio.
We played an honest and determined match at Brescia, the way we always have
an always will. This is not a team of thugs."

Reaction To Terim's Exit From Milan

"I must say that in all honesty the sacking did not take me by surprise. It's part
of this sport. I am only disappointed because I would have preferred that
conversation face to face, not on the phone, with those same directors who had
done so much to bring me to Milan. I thank them anyway for that chance and for
the support they have given me in these months. I feel it my duty to thank
President Silvio Berlusconi who has always supported me, the entire staff and
the players. I also salute the Milan fans who showed respect and affection
towards me."

"Terim's failure was also our failure. Now the team must look at themselves as
there are no more excuses. Maybe it was the players' fault because we couldn't
put Terim's teachings into action. I only knew of the change of management
when everything had already been said and done and in any case I had an
excellent rapport with the Coach. I think that Terim always had to put up with
the pressure of the press from the start. On the first day of our summer
get-together the first question put to him concerned rumours of Milan's interest
in Ancelotti." - Paolo Maldini

Perez - Real Will Not Sign Nesta

"Real will not sign Alessandro Nesta. We have been offered Nesta five times but
we turned down every single offer. We'll take on board one 'crack' (Vieira or
Shevchenko) and that's it" - Real Madrid President Florentino Perez


5 NOVEMBER 2001

Milan Sack Terim - Ancelotti New Coach

"AC Milan inform that Fatih Terim has been fired and thanks the manager for
the work he has done with the team thus far.  The club would also like to
inform that Carlo Ancelotti has been placed in charge of the team with a
contract that will expire on June 30 2004."

"I had an excellent rapport with Terim but that is the irony of this sport. The
clubs can't fire all eleven of us players so the Coach pays for our mistakes.
I also get on very well with Ancelotti and won't have any personal problems.
However changing management during a season is a dangerous adventure
and we don't know how it will end. I am convinced that this Milan side can
fight for the Scudetto" - Filippo Inzaghi

O'Leary Expects More From Wizard of Oz

"Even though Harry (Kewell) scored the winner, we're still waiting for
him to explode this season." - David O'Leary

Roma Want Tristan

Serie A Champions Roma have made a £30 million bid for Deportivo's World
Class striker Diego Tristan. Tristan didn't rule out a move :

"If one scores goals it is obvious people speak about you but this is not the
moment to talk about joining another club. It is difficult I will be able to feel
as good in another club as I feel now at Depor but we will see what happens
later on in the season"

Serie A Post Match Reactions

"I do not rue the missed spot-kick so much as the first half in which we just
let Torino have their way. I can't comment on individual moments as if we
had played the first half the way in which we did the second, we would have
certainly come away with something. We need to change mentality and not
start playing only after we've conceded a goal." - Fatih Terim

"We struggled a great deal and had never conceded two goals in one match
before this season. Then again we also scored three doubling our total tally
from the first eight games. Now we are in a great position and will enjoy it
for the next two weeks considering the break for international duty. Then
we'll start the battle all over again." - Francesco Guidolin

"We had to spread the play out onto the wings for Gresko and Zanetti more
because Lecce were playing with five defenders and closing down our
forwards. It's a shame about Ronaldo but after two years out of action these
things can happen. It's not serious, so he'll recover very quickly." - Hector Cuper

"The 4-4-2 was the best tactic I could use for the men I had on the field
today. This win was not just thanks to that change but rather we made
hardly any mistakes on the ball and most of all rediscovered our confidence
in front of goal." - Alberto Zaccheroni

"I am very unhappy with the first hour of this match. We have to realise
that you have to start games the way we finished this one. It's a
psychological problem and I take responsibility for it as it is my job to
instil this attitude in their heads." - Marcello Lippi

Premiership & La Liga Post Match Comments

Real Madrid V Barcelona

"We conceded two soft goals but we played good football all evening.
Their chances were created by our mistakes but they were slick enough
to turn them into goals". - Barcelona coach Charly Rexach

Liverpool V Man United

"I've spoken to Gerard already and he is absolutely thrilled. He sends his
wishes and how proud he is to the players and says just keep it going. 
We are working well together as the days go by the more input will come
in from him and I welcome it.  I'm very, very satisfied. The boys were
absolutely outstanding - they worked extremely hard." -
Liverpool Assistant coach Phil 'Tommo' Thompson

"Maybe some of my players have been here too long. The players won't
enjoy getting beaten by Liverpool but maybe it's what they needed.
They simply didn't work hard enough and got what they deserved.
Rest assured the problems I've seen will be addressed.
Taggart Ferguson


3 NOVEMBER 2001

Serie A To Crackdown On Tactical Fouling

"In this initial period of the season there have been more fouls and the type of
irregularity has changed. In midfield we see tackles that are missed by the
referee, not terribly serious challenges but ones that interrupt the attacking
move so that his team can get back into position. These will now be met with
yellow cards and although there will be a sharp increase in players sent off for
double bookings we cannot do otherwise. Our job is to safeguard entertainment
and we cannot allow this phenomenon to continue."
Refereeing designator Paolo Bergamo. 

Champions League Phase 2 Draw - Reactions

"I think it's well balanced even if I do think we will need to be mentally strong to
play in stadiums that have unique atmosphere. It's definitely  one of the most
difficult groups. Barcelona have some exceptional players and play their home
games in one of the temples of world football but we won't be frightened. We
have a good squad and have recovered our form from last season. I know it will
be tough but I'm hopeful." - Fabio Capello

"Our group is the most difficult. I don't understand how we could be top seeds
yet still get handed these strong opponents. Am I worried? Ask Bayer and
Deportivo." - Roberto Bettega

"I think Bayern are the most powerful side in Europe at the moment. I must say
that. They won the cup last year and they have the great experience in their
team as well as great organisation. They'll be very difficult to beat. They are
formidable opposition." - Alex Ferguson

Trezeguet Wants Help

"When the market re-opens in January the club should make a move for another
forward. I'll be happy if that happens because we have lots of games to play and
we could do with a little more help." - David Trezeguet

Shevchenko Staying Put

"The situation with Andrei is that everything is fine with Milan now. I don't know
of any plan of him moving away from Milan. He has signed a five-year deal.
There was some problem at the end of the season, but he's since negotiated
a five-year deal and he's happy there. His family are with him so everything
is going well and his injury is not very serious. There are too many good players
at Real Madrid but no team." Sandor Varga, agent of Andrei Shevchenko


2 NOVEMBER 2001

Champions League Phase 2 Draw

	GROUP A	GROUP B	GROUP C	GROUP D
	Bayern Munich	Roma		Real Madrid	Juventus
	Man United	Barcelona	Panathinaikos	Leverkusen
	Nantes		Liverpool	Porto		Deportivo
	Boavista		Galatasaray	Sparta Prague	Arsenal