July 26, 2007
Barcelona FC is not interested in Lampard
Barcelona manager Frank Rikjard denied targeting Frank Lampard. He said "I don’t want to enter into details because we will have it all over the papers that we are working on Frank Lampard and that is not true. "We are working right now with the players that we have and we have to respect other players and the teams that they are playing for at the moment. "It is not my way to talk about other players but we all know that he is a great player."
And speaking about the possible departure of Deco, Rijkard also told the club’s website that he is "very pleased" with Deco, as is the player with the club, so his departure from Barcelona would be "difficult". The 29-year-old midfielder is under contract with Barcelona until 2010 but the media have suggested that his days at the Nou Camp are numbered after the club surrendered the Spanish league title to archrivals Real Madrid last season.
President Ramon Calderon hopes Real Madrid can wrap up the signing of Chelsea winger Arjen Robben "in the next few days". The Dutchman has been linked with a move to the Bernabeu in recent weeks, and the speculation was ramped up in the wake of the 23-year-old missing Chelsea’s pre-season friendly with LA Galaxy. And while Calderon admits Chelsea is yet to agree to the sale of Robben, he is hopeful there will be developments soon. He told Marca: "We are advancing and I hope the deal comes to fruition in the next few days. "But Chelsea have to decide to sell first."
French star Franck Ribery continued his impressive early form by scoring the opening goal and creating a second in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 League Cup semi-final win over German champions VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday.
Having cost Bayern 26 million euros from Marseille this summer, the French international is already proving his worth in Munich’s midfield. Ribery fired Bayern ahead on eight minutes and after Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld opted to play a lone striker, 19-year-old Sandro Wagner, the youngster sealed the win with a goal on 66 minutes. Bayern took the lead when Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel slid a pass through to Wagner, and the teenager set up Ribery who drove his shot past Stuttgart’s diving goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer. Bayern held the 1-0 lead into the break until Wagner prospered from Ribery’s pass to stab the ball home from six metres as the Frenchman returned the favour.
