D Thursday, December 10, 2009 METROSPORT 23 SOCCER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Manchester city have been hit by a swine flu scare. slovak midfielder Vladimir Weiss was ordered to remain at home instead of reporting for saturdays Premier League win over chelsea after it was discovered he had contracted the h1n1 virus. now city have also confirmed craig Bellamy has been suffering from the same problem. there is a little bit of it creeping into the camp, city assistant boss Mark Bowen said. Players come in every day with coughs and colds and the doctor has to determine if it is the onset of something more serious. Bellamy is believed to be over the worst, although he is still doubtful for saturdays short trip to Bolton with a knee injury. QPR manager Jim Magilton has vowed to resume his duties as soon as possible after being suspended following a bust-up with midfielder Akos Buzsaky. Reports on Tuesday alleged Magilton head-butted Buzsaky, 27, after the 3-1 Championship defeat at Watford on Monday. But Magilton, 40, insists he is looking forward to being reinstated following an investigation by the club. The former Northern Ireland international said in a statement: I categorically deny any wrong- doing following Mondays fixture. I understand the club has initiated an internal investigation with which I will co-operate fully and I look forward to resuming my responsibilities shortly. JOe cOLe has shrugged off chelseas champions League draw with apoel by insisting carlo ancelottis side must concentrate on staying on top of the Premier League. chelsea had already won Group D before tuesdays 2-2 draw with the cypriot minnows at stamford Bridge. But there is concern at a run of poor results which has seen their lead in the top flight whittled down from five points to two by Manchester United. the Blues entertain everton on saturday and will go into the game without a victory in their last three outings and cole insists they need to get back on track with a victory. it has been a bit of a bumpy week and we need to bounce back at the weekend and get back to winning ways, the england midfielder said. Ill be back: Magilton FOOTBALLDigest WEST HAM last night denied any knowledge of a 30million takeover by former Birmingham owners David Gold and David Sullivan. They are reported to be ready to make a formal offer for the Hammers, who are facing a Premier League relegation fight after a poor start to the season. CB Holdings, the Icelandic company currently in charge at Upton Park, are believed to want 80m to sell. They also want debts of nearly 40m to be taken over but Gold and Sullivan, who sold their interest in Birmingham to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung for more than 25m, will not agree to that. A West Ham spokesman said: We dont know anything about this. Even Fernando factor cant save sorry Reds BY CHRIS SToCKS Rain man: Torres tasted defeat on his return from injury Picture: Reuters LIVERPOOL 1 FIORENTINA 2 Leonardo brushes off Arsenes Euro rookies OLymPIAkOs 1 ARsENAL 0 LIVERPOOL signed off from this sea- sons Champions League with another woeful display as Fiorentina struck late to take all three points at Anfield. The game was a dead rubber for the hosts, who had already lost out to the Italians in the race to qualify from Group E. But Alberto Gilardinos injury-time strike gave Fiorentina the win they need- ed to top the group. The Italy strikers goal which came after Martin Jorgensen had cancelled out Yossi Benayouns first-half opener condemned Liverpool to a second suc- cessive home loss for the first time in their proud European history. However, there was some good news for the Reds, who saw star striker Fern- ando Torres come off the bench for the final 25 minutes to make his comeback from a groin injury after five weeks out. Midfielder Alberto Aquilani was also handed his first start by Reds boss Rafael Benitez and the 20million signing from Roma impressed in flashes before he was taken off in the 75th minute. If that pairs display bodes well for this weekends crunch Premier League game at home to Arsenal, the manner of this defeat does not. Benayoun gave them the lead two min- utes before the break, nodding home Ste- ven Gerrards free-kick. But the visitors levelled in the 63rd minute when Jorgensen ended a flowing move with a firm drive. And the visitors won it when young Liverpool full-back Stephen Darby was caught in possession by Juan Vargas and he crossed for Gilardino to convert. ARSENALS young guns put in a terrific performance but could not find a goal to earn a draw against Olympiakos. With qualification as Group H winners already secured, Arsene Wenger gave debuts to 18-year-old left-back Tom Cruise and reserve- team skipper Kyle Bartley while playmaker Fran Merida also made a rare start. And Arsenals top prospects were nothing if not impressive in Greece with Aaron Ramsey pulling the strings in midfield and Jack Wilshere again showing great promise. But ultimately it was Leonardos strike, two minutes after the restart, which separated the sides and ensured Olympiakos join Arsenal in the last 16. Theo Walcott was restored to the Gunners starting line-up and saw goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis parry his shot after just ten minutes. Kostas Mitroglou blazed over the crossbar at the other end while Luciano Galletti and defender Raul Bravo fired wide before the break. Wengers team were hit by a killer blow two minutes into the second half though, as Leonardo burst clear before beating Lukasz Fabianski to make it 1-0. The visitors threatened an equaliser but saw Carlos Vela blow their best chance. Walcott also had an opening but was denied by Nikopolidis as Arsenal did everything except score on a night when their young players did Wenger proud. Slide rule: Leonardo challenges Wilshere GoLF (until sunday) Alfred Dunhill Chship (Leopard creek cc, Malelane, south africa) US PGA Tour: The Shark Shootout (tiburon Gc, naples, Florida) RUGBY UNIoN Amlin Challenge Cup Pool 5: newcastle v Montauban (7.45pm) Varsity Match: Oxford Univ v cambridge Univ (2pm) FooTBALL UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP E Liverpool .....1 Fiorentina ...2 Benayoun 43 Jorgensen 63 Gilardino 90 Lyon ............4 Debrecen ....0 Gomis 25 Bastos 45 Pjanic 59 cissokho 76 P W D L F A Pts Fiorentina 6 5 0 1 14 7 15 Lyon 6 4 1 1 12 3 13 Liverpool 6 2 1 2 5 7 7 Debrecen 6 0 0 5 5 19 0 GROUP F Dynamo Kiev 1 Barcelona ...2 Milevskiy 2 Xavi 33 Mesi 86 Inter Milan ..2 Rubin Kazan 0 etoo 31 Balotelli 64 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 6 3 2 1 7 1 11 inter Milan 6 2 3 1 7 6 9 rubin Kazan 6 1 3 2 4 7 6 Dynamo Kiev 6 1 2 3 7 9 5 GROUP G Sevilla .........1 Rangers ......0 Kanoute 8 pen Stuttgart .....3 Uni Urziceni 1 Marica 5 trasch 8 Pogrebniak 11 P W D L F A Pts sevilla 6 4 1 1 11 4 13 VfB stuttgart 6 2 3 1 9 7 9 Unirea Urziceni 6 2 2 2 8 8 8 rangers 6 0 2 4 4 13 2 GROUP H olympiacos 1 Arsenal .......0 Leonardo 47 Stan Liege ..1 AZ ................1 Bolat 90 Lens 41 P W D L F A Pts arsenal 6 4 1 1 12 5 13 Olympiakos 6 3 1 2 4 5 10 standard Liege 6 1 2 3 7 9 5 aZ alkmaar 6 0 4 2 4 8 4 FA CUP SECONd ROUNd REPLAyS Millwall ........4 Staines ........0 COCA-COLA CHAMPIONSHIP Barnsley ......1 Scunthorpe 1 Coventry .....0 Newcastle ..2 P W D L F A Pts newcastle 20 14 3 3 33 10 45 West Brom 20 11 5 4 41 19 38 cardiff 20 10 3 7 37 22 33 nottm Forest 20 8 9 3 28 18 33 swansea 20 8 8 4 18 17 32 Blackpool 20 8 7 5 32 22 31 Leicester 20 8 7 5 23 23 31 Bristol city 20 7 9 4 25 23 30 sheff Utd 20 7 7 6 30 30 30 Watford 20 8 6 6 30 32 30 Middlesbrough 20 8 5 7 30 24 29 crystal Palace 20 7 8 5 24 23 29 QPr 20 7 7 6 33 29 28 Preston 20 6 8 6 24 25 26 Barnsley 19 7 4 8 24 30 25 Doncaster 20 5 9 6 26 26 24 Derby 20 6 4 10 23 31 22 scunthorpe 20 6 4 10 23 37 22 reading 20 5 5 10 22 32 20 coventry 20 4 7 9 21 31 19 sheff Wed 20 4 6 10 23 32 18 ipswich 20 2 12 6 19 29 18 Plymouth 19 4 3 12 16 30 15 Peterborough 20 2 8 10 23 33 14 FIxtURES RESULtS index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html