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Mid-Day Ticker: Rooney to miss Valencia clash, Messi comeback looms and more

WayneRooney (ISIphotos.com) 
  
  
Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's Champions League visit to Valencia with an ankle sprain suffered in Manchester United's 2-2 tie vs. Bolton on Sunday.

Rooney is one of a handful of Premier League players who will miss mid-week Champions League action with injuries. Chelsea's Frank Lampard won't yet return from sports hernia surgery and Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is out with an elbow injury.

Here are some other stories to keep your Monday going:

MESSI INCLUDED IN BARCELONA SQUAD

Barcelona star Lionel Messi could return from an ankle injury in time to play in his club's Champions League match against Rubin Kazan on Wednesday.

Messi was injured by a vicious tackle from Atletico Madrid's Tomas Ujfalusi, but will make the trip to Russia for this week's Champions League match. He has yet to be cleared to play, but appears ready to return to action.

SEVILLA FIRES MANAGER

It took just five matches for Sevilla to make a head coaching change.

The Spanish club dumped Antonio Alvarez and replaced him with Gregorio Manzano after Sevilla's loss to Herculez. Sevilla has struggled in European competition, having been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League and having lost its first Europa League match.

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Paul Gascoine is close to landing a managerial job. No, really.

Tottenham defender William Gallas is set to miss three weeks with an injury.

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What do you think of these developments? Think Manchester United can win in Spain without Rooney? Hoping Messi comes back this week?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Sevilla never should have hired Alvarez in the first place. Luis Fabiano has been given 120 minutes in 5 games, and they were knocked out of Champion’s League qualifying by Braga. They needed to hire an experienced manager and thankfully they did that.

    Reply
  2. one problem- no one can drink alcohol if it’s in quatar. who the hell would go to a World Cup where the average temperature is 125 degrees in the shade and you can’t even have a single drink before or after the game?

    if FIFA was smart, they would realize that they would sell even less tickets for this one than they did in South Africa.

    every single game would sell out in the US hands down

    Reply
  3. Agreed.

    Was reading about Qatar though, and they have a much more competitive bid then I ever would have thought. They wouldn’t be able to reach the scale of the U.S. but it is an intriguing bid.

    I just think the US is not as much of a shoo-in as we’ve been led to believe. Could be Chicago 2016 all over again…

    Reply
  4. Australia is a real possibility for 2 reasons:

    They’ve never had it before, unlike the USA; and giving it Australia can put off having to consider China as a host, for a generation.

    The weather also probably favors Australia, because there aren’t enough retractable roof facilities here.

    One compelling thing favors the USA: $$$

    Reply
  5. Ives – could you and your crew do any further digging regarding the Dec. 2 ’18/’22 World Cup decisions?

    I’m starting to think that the US will likely not receive either bid, unless Sunil & Co. have really been greasing the political wheel here. I thought we would be a shoe-in for one, however I’ve read some commentary from Europe that seems to favor Australia or even Qatar in some circumstances.

    Reply

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