Two Russian soccer fans invaded the pitch of Saturn's stadium and one of them stepped ahead of Spartak's Brazilian Alex, beating the local goalkeepe from the spot, while the other celebrated his
pal's goal.
Spartak Moscow's coach Valery Karpin cannot have expected to receive
help from the terraces when his team were one down at Saturn in
the Russian League. When the referee awarded a penalty for Spartak
and just as Alex was getting ready to take the shot, an unknown
fan proved just a bit too fast and launched the ball home past a
stupefied goalkeeper.
When the two unruly fans were removed from the field, the referee
ordered Alex to retake the spot kick, which he did, perfectly beating the keeper. Still, the cursed penalty had to be repeated since the visiting forwards had entered the area too quickly.
Finally, in his second attempt (third overall counting the fan's)
Alex scored a gool that stood. However, that was not enough for
Spartak as Saturn scored again for a 2-1 win. The Moscow team are
now seven points behind the reigning champions, Rubin of Kazan.
As soon as you think he's finished, too old, fit for retirement,
he strikes again. And powerfully.
Filippo Inzaghi, 36 last August, keeps on scoring at the highest
level. His two goals in the Champions League helped AC Milan overcome Olympique at Marseille's Velodrome stadium, where every local supporter was clad in blue or white.
"You wonder how I keep on scoring? It's simple. I immensely
enjoy playing soccer and I still have the time of my life every
time I come on the field," said the top scorer in the history of European cups, a goal ahead of his eternal rival Raul Gonzalez from Real Madrid.
Raul, who is four years Inzaghi's junior, will most probably go
on top sooner or later, but the Italian's feats will never be forgotten.
"The best thing of all is that I'm now the all-time top scorer
in Milan's history, ahead of Marco van Basten. That is a tremendous honour for me," admitted Pippo (Italian for Goofy).
The famous French coach, Roland Courbis, was detained on Saturday
to serve a 23-month prison sentence imposed on him for fraud.
According to La Provence daily, the former Olympique Marseille
coach was brought to a judge regarding the start of his prison term.
The sentence became final last October, when the Supreme Court turned
down his appeal. Previously, a Court of Appeal in Aix de Provence reduced the sentence from three years to 23 months. Courbis was
found guilty of charging illegal commissions for the transfer of
several of Marseille's players including Laurent Blanc, Christophe
Dugarry, Ivan de la Pena, Claude Makelele and Fabrizio Ravanelli.
Two players of Atletico Huila, the current Colombian League leaders,
died in a traffic accident, and their teammate is fighting for his life.
Forward Herman Cordoba (19) and Midfielder Mario Beltran (23) died
on Sunday after their car collided with a bus on a highway in the
north-west of Colombia. A woman, who was also a passenger in the
car, also lost her life, while the third player, Juan Restrepo,
sustained life-threatening injuries.
The players had gone out to celebrate the 2-1 league win over Pereira which put them on top after ten games in the present season. Cordoba
scored the equalizer in the 79th minute and was the third top scorer in the League with seven goals in ten appearances.
The rumours have it that Real Madrid's glamourous signings, Cristiano
Ronaldo and Kaka, are not the best of friends. Still, Kaka claims
he does not feel inferior to his teammate.
After Ronaldo has shone with a series of goals from free kicks, Kaka has been asked whether he will try to improve his play in order to come out of the Portuguese's shadow.
But, the Brazilian says there is no need for that, even though he has yet to score for Real Madrid.
"I assure you I don't feel overshadowed by Ronaldo. My primary
task is passing the ball around to create goal-scoring chances.
And I have assisted in three goals so far. Whatever Cristiano did
recently he did on his own. He played well, and the team profited from it. The only thing that counts is the team winning," said Kaka.
