Category: Sports

Lance Armstrong, the disgraced former cyclist, has once again divided opinion amongst the cycling community after the American posted a picture on Twitter of him posing with seven Tour de France winners jerseys.

Last month, the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the sanctions recommended by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), who concluded Armstrong and his US Postal and Discovery Channel teams ran “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen”.

All Armstrong’s results from Aug 1, 1998, were expunged from the record books, including his seven consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005, while the 41 year-old was banned for life.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) also announced last week that it would not appeal against the sanctions, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has opened an investigation which could see Armstrong stripped of his road time-trial bronze medal from the 2000 Games.

Armstrong did not co-operate with the USADA investigation and has always denied wrongdoing and though he has since removed the line ‘7-time Tour de France champion’ from his Twitter profile, Sunday’s picture is sure to be seen as provocative.

The fall-out from USADA’s verdict has been extensive, with 11 of Armstrong’s former team-mates receiving six-month bans after admitting their own doping offences in the course of their testimonies against him.

South African mountain-biker David George, who rode with US Postal from 1999 to 2000, was provisionally suspended on Tuesday after testing positive for the banned blood-booster EPO.

Manchester City playmaker Samir Nasri will be important to France in the future and should be recalled by manager Didier Deschamps, striker Karim Benzema said on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Nasri, who has served a three-game ban after he insulted a journalist at Euro 2012, did not make the 23-man squad for next Wednesday’s friendly in Italy.

Deschamps, who overlooked him for the 2014 World Cup qualifier in Spain last month, said the playmaker was part of a list of players likely to be called up one day.

On Sunday, Benzema, who has long been at odds with Nasri according to media reports, backed a return for his international team mate saying France have needed his experience.

“We have to leave him alone, to give him our trust and I think he will be very helpful to France because he has played at the highest level,” Benzema told French channel TF1.

“He also has a lot of caps. We have to have faith in him,” added the Real Madrid striker, who will miss the trip to Parma due to injury.

“This is my opinion. We will see what the coach does.”

Nasri, who did not feature in France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign where the squad refused to train to show support for excluded team mate Nicolas Anelka, has scored four goals in 35 caps for France since he first played with Les Bleus in 2007.

Who in your opinion has been the player of the season?

To my mind the best player around today is [Lionel] Messi. Barcelona have some great players and a fantastic team, which makes it easier for them to get results and for their individual qualities to shine through. Cristiano Ronaldo is a matchwinner too and scores a lot of goals. When you talk about the best player in the world it’s between those two, though my vote would go to Messi.

Has Messi caught your eye more than anyone else you’ve played against?

Yes. He’s got a great team by his side but he also does things differently. The way I see it he deserves to win again, not least because of the amazing number of goals he’s scored this season. He scores more than anyone.

And who would get your vote for FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year?

Picking a coach is harder because we don’t see what goes on with teams on a day-to-day basis. That’s why I think people always choose someone who’s won a trophy, like the UEFA Champions League, because they know how hard it is to win it. So I’d vote for Roberto Di Matteo of Chelsea. I don’t know if he’s the best coach but you only have to look at what he achieved in taking on the job halfway through the competition, beating Barcelona and then winning it. It was a job very well done. I watched Chelsea’s games, and in technical and tactical terms they played very well.

And who is in your FIFA/FIFPro World XI?

Hmm. I don’t know. There are so many good players around, and friendship comes into it too (laughs). All I know is that I’d put Messi and Ronaldo in my team and eight others. I’d also have Petr Cech in goal and I’d play myself too. The three of us up there in the front line: Messi, Ronaldo and I (laughs). After that there are a lot of options, a lot of quality players.

Finally, the FIFA Puskás Award. Which goal stood out for you this year?

Well, maybe it wasn’t the most stunning goal but I’d go for Ramires’ cracker against Barcelona at the Camp Nou. It was a fine strike and, above all, a decisive one.

EMartin Jol saw Dimitar Berbatov run Arsenal ragged on Saturday and admits Fulham are fortunate to have him on their side.

Eyebrows were raised when the mercurial Bulgarian striker opted to head for the exits at Manchester United and sign a two-year contract at Craven Cottage.

He is proving to be one of the shrewdest pieces of transfer business carried out over the summer, with Fulham having acquired the services of a forward blessed with match-winning ability.

Berbatov was unable to help the Cottagers to three points at the Emirates in their latest outing, as they were held 3-3, but he illuminated a thrilling encounter and left his boss purring at the final whistle.

“I think Berbatov could play for any other club, any top club,” Jol told Sky Sports.

“He was top scorer in England two or three years ago and even when he was not playing a lot, he was still scoring for Man United.

“I took my chance and he was happy to come to us. He is happy now and he scored two goals again today. He caused them a problem and I thought Bryan Ruiz probably had his best game since he joined, so I am ever so pleased.

“The only thing is that in the dying seconds we could have lost the game. Before that, we could have won it.”

Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes believes his team cannot be expected to score six goals in every game after they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Bayern put six past Lille in the UEFA Champions League in midweek and they have beaten Stuttgart and Mainz by five-goal margins already this season, but Heynckes says the priority is getting the points and not the number of goals scored each week.

“It was a hard-earned win against a good team,” he said. “Frankfurt played very well and ran a lot. It’s not easy to change gear after playing in the Champions League and you can’t always score six goals and play super football. What we proved was that we can react to a difficult situation. The team did that fantastically and this experience and cleverness made the difference.”

The game was tighter than the final scoreline suggests with Frankfurt going close to scoring several times and hitting the crossbar once, while it was not until a controversial penalty was scored by David Alaba to make it 2-0 that Armin Veh’s side lost belief.

“It was a very intensive and quick game with chances at both ends,” said Veh. “Unfortunately, we were not rewarded for our performance, but we were playing against opponents who are in a league of their own.”

Bayern still lead the Bundesliga by seven points from Schalke while Frankfurt are now ten points adrift of the Bavarians.

Javier Hernandez hailed Manchester United’s latest comeback, which saw the Red Devils win 3-2 at Aston Villa, but the striker warned the team must improve and concede fewer goals.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came from behind to win for the eighth time this season in all competitions after trailing 2-0 early in the second period. Javier Hernandez was the inspiration after his half-time introduction, scoring twice and also seeing his shot deflect off Villa skipper Ron Vlaar for the other Manchester United goal.

But, although Manchester United’s never say die qualities have not been in doubt, the Mexican striker knows the Red Devils have to stop conceding so many goals.

Hernandez said: “Thankfully we got the three points. But we need to improve as well because we’re conceding a lot of goals. We’re very happy, we need to improve and this result is going to give us a lot of confidence.”

“The most important thing is that Manchester United are top of the league and after being 2-0 down that is a good result,” he added.

“We knew there was still plenty of time left and when we got one… we knew we can get two or three goals each game. We knew once we got that chance it would come.”

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling felt Javier Hernandez reducing the arrears so quickly after Villa went two goals ahead was an important factor.

He said: “We managed to get that goal straight away and make an impact. We know we can play like that from the start. I don’t know why we don’t. It just took that kick up the backside to get us going, and luckily it paid off. We had to come out in the second half and put on a performance and luckily ‘Chicha’ (Hernandez) paid off with the goals.

“We knew there was still plenty of time left and that we can get two or three goals each game.”

Bayer Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling says he still harbours hope of being called up for Germany despite not being involved in two years.

The 28-year-old last featured for Germany at the last World Cup, earning a third-place medal after appearing as a substitute in the wins over England and Uruguay.

Kiessling, who has hit six goals in 10 league games for Leverkusen so far in 201/-13, maintains he is still open to a recall, but concedes he has not had contact with Joachim Loew for years.

“Of course, one hopes. It is an honour to play for Germany. I am 28, and I have not yet written off my chances of a return. We will see in the next few years what is to come,” Kiessling told Bild.

“But it’s OK for me. I can fully focus on Bayer, my main job, and do not have to deal with this national team issue. After the 2010 World Cup, I was a bit broken.

“I’m not disappointed because I already expected this. I am focused on Leverkusen. We are still in three competitions and we want to achieve something.”