News

1. After a difficult start to his Formula One career, Nelson Piquet has vowed to emulate Heikki Kovalainen and begin to rise up the grid. Kovalainen, the Finnish rookie who switched to McLaren for 2008, was slammed by Renault boss Flavio Briatore following a dire debut in Australia last year. Piquet had a similarly grim Melbourne opener for the team, and has been consistently out-qualified by team-mate Fernando Alonso.


2. Real Madrid opened up the gap between them and Barcelona to nine points after they beat Real Murcia despite being down to 10 men for much of the match. The league title is now firmly in their hands after Wesley Sneijder's 58th-minute goal proved the difference between the defending champions and the struggling Andalucian side, who are now eight points clear of safety in 19th place.


3. Hamburg have given defender Vincent Kompany time off because of a drop in form following the death of his mother in November. The former Anderlecht ace signed for the Bundesliga club in the summer of 2006 for a fee of 8 million euros but failed to make an impression at the Nordbank Arena during his first season after sustaining an Achilles injury.


4. Paul Hartley insists Celtic are ready to pile the pressure on Rangers by cutting their lead at the top of the SPL to one point on Wednesday. The champions trounced Motherwell 4-1 at Fir Park on Sunday to get their title aspirations back on track, eight days after the Steelmen seemed to have derailed them with a shock 1-0 win at Celtic Park. Much-criticised striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink grabbed a double as the Hoops reduced the deficit between them and SPL leaders Rangers to four points, although the Ibrox side have two games in hand.


5. Milan striker Ronaldo has admitted it would be "difficult" to play for Flamengo as part of his recovery from knee surgery. Ronaldo was at the Maracana on Sunday to watch a Rio de Janeiro state championship match between Flamengo and Botafogo, wearing a white T-shirt with an "I Love Flamengo" slogan. The 31-year-old has stated he would like to play for a couple of months at Flamengo before making his comeback with Milan, while Flamengo president Marcio Braga claimed negotiations will start this week.



all source foto and news from reuters/eurosport