Kaka Dedicates Win To Puerta

As expected, the Brazilian midfielder wanted to dedicate the win of the Rossoneri on Friday evening ,in the European Super Cup, to the Sevilla player who just died prematurely this week.

Ricky Kaka was once again on the score sheet after he managed to head in a rebound from close range his penalty shot which was parried by the opposing goalkeeper.

However, Kaka's first thoughts following the win were directed towards Puerta and dedicated the win to his memory.

"It's difficult to play this game, for a series of reasons," commented the Brazilian player.

"When a person dies, nothing else matters. We are professionals and we went on the pitch, but our thoughts go to Puerta. He dedicated the goal and cup to him.

"I'm happy to have won another trophy with Milan," he continued. "I work every day to improve and to win. I'm honoured to wear this shirt and winning is always great."

Atletico agree deal for Motta

MADRID, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Atletico Madrid have agreed to sign Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta, the Primera Liga club said on Friday.

The 25-year-old product of the Barca youth system will take a medical later on Friday and sign a one-year deal after being told he was surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp.

Motta's arrival as a holding midfielder has facilitated the sale of Atletico's Frenchman Peter Luccin to Real Zaragoza on a three-year contract.

Luccin, 28, had been a first-team regular at the Calderon since moving from Celta Vigo in 2004. No financial details were released.

Motta joins Diego Forlan, Simao Sabrosa, Jose Antonio Reyes and Luis Garcia, among other new signings at Atletico, who have spent more than 70 million euros ($95.63 million) assembling their squad during the close season.

Both Atletico and Zaragoza are in the UEFA Cup this year.

Dida Doubt For Ancelotti Ahead Of Super Cup Clash

The Milan goalkeeper has a problem with his right shoulder and his presence for tonight's match against Sevilla is highly in doubt.

The Rossoneri are facing the possibility of playing without their number one goalkeeper Dida in tonight's all-important European Super Cup game against Sevilla at the Louis II Stade of Monaco.

The Brazilian shot stopper suffered a problem to his right shoulder on Thursday evening and it is yet unclear whether he will manage to recover in time for the big game.

If Dida will fail in the last tests before the kick-off time, veteran Australian goalkeeper Kalac will take over the responsibility of guarding the Milan goalpost and try to shut down the Sevilla attacks in what promises to be an exciting final.

Dida's injury occurred towards the end of the last training session and this could be an important loss for the Rossoneri , with the Brazilian playing well during the pre-season and in the first league game against Genoa last weekend.

Nilmar agent reveals Napoli contract talks

The agent of Nilmar has revealed the striker is set to join Napoli.

Orlando da Hora said: "We have spoken to Napoli and they have agreed to loan him to a Brazilian club for the first year of his contract."

Da Hora says Nilmar is close to signing a five-year deal with Napoli and would favour Internacional de Porto Alegre or Sao Paulo as where he would like to play this season.

Daniel Alves commits to Sevilla cause

Daniel Alves is set to end all hostilities with Sevilla and commit to the back-to-back UEFA Cup champs for this season.

The Brazil international fullback is angry after being priced out of a move to Chelsea and has traded insults with Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido through the press.

But barring any late developments, Alves will remain with Sevilla this season and is already in Monaco to be part of coach Juande Ramos' squad for tonight's Super Cup clash with AC Milan.

"He is here like the rest to perform one's duty. There is no significance with his presence. He is one more. I have not spoken with Daniel, nor with any other player since the burial of Puerta in the cemetery of San Fernando," said Del Nido last night.

Kaka club player of the year

Monte Carlo - AC Milan's Kaka was named European club player of the year by Uefa on Thursday.

The Brazilian also collected the award for best forward during last season's Champions League.

Chelsea's Petr Cech was named the best goalkeeper from last season's tournament. AC Milan's Paolo Maldini won the best defender award while team mate Clarence Seedorf was judged to be the best midfielder.

Real Madrid's Marcelo keen on Fluminense return

Real Madrid wing-back Marcelo has opened the door to a return to Fluminense.

The Brazil international is on the outer at Real following the arrival of left-back rival Royston Drenthe and is expected to leave on-loan before Friday's transfer deadline.

"Fluminense is my home, but at the moment I haven't had any official contact," said Marcelo. "Everything is in the hands of my agent and I leave him to work on my future."

Coachless Corinthians thumped 5-2 in

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Coachless Corinthians suffered more misery in the Brazilian championship on Wednesday when they were thumped 5-2 by a Atletico Mineiro led by a man they fired earlier this year.

Atletico coach Emerson Leao, who last year saved Corinthians from relegation, said he had no sympathy for his former club, who sacked him in April.

"No, I don't belong to them anymore," former Brazil coach Leao told reporters.

"The only thing that worries me about Corinthians is that they pay me what they owe me."
Leao, who has claimed that Corinthians breached his contract, was replaced at the club by Paulo

Cesar Carpegiani, who himself was fired after a 3-0 home defeat by Cruzeiro at the weekend.

On Wednesday, hapless Jose Augusto was in charge on an interim basis.

Atletico raced to a three-goal halftime lead through Vanderlei, Danilinho and Marquinhos. Vanderlei added a fourth in the 55th minute.

Finazzi and substitute Clodoaldo pulled two back for Corinthians but Eder Luis added a fifth for Atletico in the 71st minute.

Corinthians, champions in 2005 and one of Brazil's most popular sides, dropped to 15th in the 20-team table with 27 points. The bottom four go down.

Leaders Sao Paulo won 1-0 at arch-rivals Palmeiras to stretch the gap at the top, midfielder Jorge Wagner finishing off a superb move, with the defending champions making it 14 wins in 22 games.

Wagner collected Dagoberto's pass on the edge of the area, played a one-two with Aloisio and flicked the ball past Palmeiras goalkeeper Diego Cavaleri before halftime.

Sao Paulo went eight points clear of Cruzeiro, who twice led at Parana but were held 2-2 after the hosts equalised with a controversial penalty.

Wagner and Marcelo Moreno scored breakaway goals for Cruzeiro while striker Josiel replied each time for Parana.

The second came from a penalty awarded for a foul on Everton, whose legs crumpled with the barest of touches from a Cruzeiro defender.

Botafogo stayed one point behind in third place after coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Flamengo.

Flamengo striker Souza had a 76th minute penalty saved by Max and was jeered off the field by his team's fans when he was substituted two minutes later.

Ghana eliminates Brazil from U-17 World Cup

Ten-man Ghana asserted its claim to the Under-17 World Cup title by eliminating three-time champion Brazil with a 1-0 victory Wednesday that put the Africans into the quarterfinals.

In a clash of teams that have played in a collective nine U-17 World Cup finals, Ghana triumphed after having been reduced to ten men before halftime.

Brazil had reached the final of each of the past five U-17 World Cups it has contested, but was facing a difficult opponent in two-time winner Ghana.

The west African's hopes looked to have taken a major blow when Francis Boadi was sent off in the 44th minute after collecting two yellow cards in the space of ten minutes.

But Ghana made light of its numerical disadvantage by taking the lead six minutes into the second half through Isaac Donkor and clung on in the face of Brazilian pressure to record a famous win.

Brazil-born Pepe gets Portugal call-up for Euro 2008 qualifiers

Pepe is set to be the latest player born in Brazil to play for Portugal.

The Real Madrid central defender, who recently took Portuguese nationality, was included in the 22-man squad Thursday for Portugal's two European Championship qualifiers.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari selected the 24-year-old Pepe — who moved from FC Porto to Madrid in the preseason — for games against Poland on Sept. 8 and Serbia four days later.

Pepe joins Brazil-born FC Barcelona midfielder Deco, also a former Porto player, who has 47 caps since adopting Portuguese nationality four years ago.

"Some of the best teams in the world have naturalized players," said Scolari, who is Brazilian. "That's how it is nowadays."

Brazil brews new law against exodus of football players

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated recently his preoccupation about the exodus of football talents, saying that a new law is under discussion to brake this trend.

In an interview published Sunday by the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, Lula pointed out that the law prepared by football legend Pele, which allows players above 18 years old to choose clubs, should be revised.

"It's absurd : in Brazil, you could not find a player under 20 years, nor a player above 30 years ... because players under 20 years go to those great clubs in Europe and players above 30 years choose Japan as destination", said Lula.

"Kaka is a good example. Sao Paulo sold him for just 8 million reals (4 million US dollars), but today he is worth 100 million reals (50 million US dollars). Ronaldinho was another case. He was sold at just 3 million reals (1.5 million US dollars). It's necessary that we watch over these cases," he added.

Since several months, Lula has been calling for a new law that will help detain players of good level in the Brazilian Championship and stop the exodus to foreign countries.

Actually, about 800 football players leave Brazil for other championships, but just a few with a multi-million contract.

Man City rival Liverpool for Real Madrid's Baptista

Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson is keen on Real Madrid attacking midfielder Julio Baptista.

The Guardian says Eriksson is turning to Baptista after being quoted £9 million for Bolton Wanderers striker Nicolas Anelka.

City want to take Baptista on-loan, while it emerged yesterday that Liverpool had tabled a £13.5 million bid for the Brazil international.

AC Milan's Kaka: Roma just like watching Brazil

AC Milan ace Kaka believes Roma will give his team the greatest competition in the race for this season's championship.

The Brazilian midfielder said: "Inter remains favourites for the Scudetto, but Roma appeals very much to me. The Giallorossi do not give away the football and play with beauty, like Brazilians or like us at Milan.

"Cicinho is a quality player and Roma is the right team for him."

On Brazil teammate Adriano, Kaka said of the Inter striker: "It does not appeal to me to see Adriano in the stands, it is a wasted talent."

Leiva Relishing Gerrard Lessons

New Liverpool signing Lucas Leiva made no secret of whom he has been idolising of late.

"I love watching Steven Gerrard play," he told LFC Magazine. "I have been watching him a lot, picking up a few things and I am learning from him already. "When my English improves I hope to be able to talk with him more, and ask for tips on what to do in different situations on the pitch.

"You can learn a lot from coaches in training but even more from someone like Gerrard, who has been there and done it on such a consistent basis."

Leiva also spoke about how he came to Liverpool amid interest from other clubs from across Europe.

"I was aware of interest from Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and also Everton," said the young Brazilian. "There was a lot of talk from other clubs but I always got the feeling Liverpool were most interested in me.

"When I heard Liverpool were interested I said 'Yes' straight away. The club has won so many things – everyone in Brazil knows about them."

He has already featured for Brazil, and expressed his pride at being called up by Dunga: "It's great to be thought of and included along with some of the best players in the world. To train and play with Brazil alongside so many stars is a massive honour."

Alves Hits Back At Del Nido Claims

Daniel Alves has hit out at Sevilla president José María Del Nido for publicly attacking him instead of keeping the focus on Antonio Puerta.

The Brazilian is furious that the club supremo labelled him as unprofessional and stated that he refused to play against AEK in the Champions on Tuesday evening. As well as denying those charges, Alves said that he was upset that Del Nido had looked to continue their spat at a time when Puerta is battling to recover from two heart attacks at the weekend.

"It is unfair that some of his public declarations in which he has criticises me professionally and personally are mixed in with news about the state of my team-mate Puerta," Alves said."Now is not the time to talk about me or my situation as we should all be joined in thinking about giving Antonio Puerta our complete support to help him pull through this delicate time.

"The only one people in Sevilla should be thinking about is Antonio. Not Mr Del Nido or me."All our thoughts and prayers are with Antonio now."

Alves was angered last week when Sevilla turned down a €36m bid from Chelsea after agreeing before the summer that he would be allowed to leave if a huge offer came in.Having not travelled to Greece for the game in midweek, Del Nido stated that Alves had refused to travel and the player has claimed that he did not.

"My professionalism should not be questioned by anyone, and even less so by the president whose main duty, in theory, is to defend the interests of everyone at the club," Alves continued"To talk badly in public about some at the club is break his commitment as president.

"I want to clarify that I have never refused to go on the trip and it was decided by both the club and myself together that it was best for me not to travel."In fact, the coaching staff suggested to me before the trip that I train with the second team and, of course, I complied with these intructions so that I could recover from a slight knock that I picked up in my last game.

"The time will come, without doubt, to talk about my exit. That time is not now though."When it happens, in th same manner that the president has publicly stated his reasons for being greedy and rejecting good offers and turn the fans against me, I will defend my honour.

"Until then, I can only ask that the supporters focus on just one thing and that is the health of my team-mate and friend, Antonio."Get well Antonio, me and all my family are with you."

Daily Video : Kaka Scores His First Goal Of The 2007/2008 Season For AC Milan

AC Milan coach Ancelotti: Kaka can finish Serie A top scorer

After seeing Kaka hit a double in yesterday's opening Serie A victory at Genoa, AC Milan coach

Carlo Ancelotti insisted the Brazilian was capable of finishing the season as the league's top scorer.

"I thought about that after the game," said Ancelotti. "I must admit, I wouldn't be surprised. He has all the qualities needed in order to reach any goal he sets himself."

On the win, Ancelotti added: "I was concerned with the heat. I thought we might struggle a little, but the attitude of the players has been perfect."

Mancini ready to send Adriano to Man City

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini has opened the door to Adriano moving to Manchester City.

City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has held talks with Mancini about taking the Brazilian on-loan to Eastlands and last night the Inter boss said: "Adriano is a champion who, for a while now, has had a few problems.

"I do not exclude his departure, because if he can resolve his issues by playing regularly without having to fight for a place, then it could be the best option for him and for us."