Arsenal fans voice ire over lack of spending

Angry Arsenal shareholders have asked the English Premier League club whether it has curbed spending to cushion against a possible failure to qualify for the Champions’ League after another disappointing season. Small shareholders represented by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) have also demanded greater engagement from Stan Kroenke, the American billionaire who owns a majority stake in the club. Arsenal have not won a trophy since 2005 and have suffered a disastrous week in which they were knocked out of the FA Cup and effectively eliminated from the Champions’ League following a 4-0 first leg drubbing by AC Milan in the round of 16. In an analysis of the club’s finances, the AST estimated that Arsenal had around 50 million pounds ($79.4 million)to “spend or to save for a rainy day”. It asked whether this was made available to manager Arsene Wenger to strengthen his squad. “Did the manager have the option to use all or some of these cash reserves in summer 2011 and January 2012, or are resources being held back as a contingency for failure to qualify for the Champions League?”, it asked in an online posting. Faulure to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition would cost Arsenal 45 million pounds, the AST estimated. Arsenal are currently fourth in the Premier League, level on points with fifth placed Chelsea in the battle for the final Champions League slot. The success of north London rival Tottenham Hotspur, 10 points ahead of Arsenal in third place, has added to frustration among the AST, who represent shareholders owning around 4.5 percent of the club. “Our wage spend is 40 percent higher than the payroll at another club in north London and Arsenal are in danger of being overtaken more than temporarily by those who spend their wages more efficiently,” it said. Owner Kroenke would attend the monthly Arsenal board meeting on Thursday, a club spokesman said. It was not clear if he planned to meet anyone from the AST and the club declined further comment on their financial situation ahead of the publication of interim results this month. Arsenal host Tottenham on Sunday in a game that will dictate the mood at the club for the short term at least.

CSKA Moscow 1 Real Madrid 1: match report

The late show: CSKA Moscow celebrate their equaliser in the Russian capital

An injury-time goal on his debut by Swedish midfielder Pontus Wernbloom grabbed CSKA Moscow a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in Russia on Tuesday in their Champions League last 16 first leg match.A goal from Real forward Cristiano Ronaldo in the 28th minute put the nine-time European Cup winners ahead and they looked set for their seventh successive win in this season's competition until Wernbloom blasted the equaliser.The hosts, supported by a 63,000 home crowd, started in lively fashion as they looked for weaknesses in the Real defence and created the first chance in the seventh minute.However, Alan Dzagoev's shot from 10 yards out went wide and was the hosts' only opportunity in the first-half.Real replied with a long-range shot by Karim Benzema, which also went wide forcing Jose Mourinho into an early substitution as the Frenchman pulled a muscle and was replaced by Gonzalo Higuain in the 16th minute.CSKA goalkeeper Sergei Chepchugov pulled off a great double save a minute later as first he beat away a Higuain effort and was able to get back up and deflect for a corner Sami Khedira's follow-up.However, he was unable to prevent Ronaldo from opening the scoring, as he drilled home from inside the area after Zoran Tosic failed to clear Fabio Coentrao's cross from the left.CSKA, who have never lost to a Spanish team before in European competition, poured forward seeking an equaliser but the visitors defence was solid and repelled the hosts attacks.After the interval CSKA continued testing the visitors defence but failed again to create any serious threat to Iker Casillas lacking accuracy in the decisive moments.Meanwhile Real, who were relying on rapid and dangerous counter-attacks missed a host of chances to increase their lead before the one-hour mark.CSKA, who were lacking match practice as the Russian league is on the winter break, nevertheless showed strong character trying hard to pull the scores level but Real looked comfortable.In the 82nd minute the hosts missed a chance to level as Casillas produced a diving save to prevent CSKA midfielder Keisuke Honda's freekick ending up in the net.But in the third minute of injury time Wernbloom had the CSKA fans on their feet as he sent tha ball into the net from six yards, converting an Alexei Berezutsky cross from the left.

SKorea vows 'no mercy' against match-fixing

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik is vowing to show "no mercy." Choe reportedly says there will be a zero-tolerance policy on match-fixing and that professional clubs will be responsible for protecting players from corruption. Last year, South Korea s football league was hit by a huge match-fixing scandal, with nearly 80 players and brokers convicted. South Korea s volleyball association has announced the banning of four players for life over alleged match-fixing. Recent media reports say a broker told prosecutors that match-fixing had also taken place in baseball.

Not looking to coach Barca: Xavi

Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez on Tuesday lamented his side’s lack of luck at key times this season as the Catalan giants sit ten points adrift of leaders Real Madrid. “This ten-point difference comes down to details. At key moments when it was double or quits luck wasn’t on our side,” said the Spanish international. “But we’re going to battle until the end, La Liga is still not lost.” The midfielder acknowledged that “unconsciously” Barca had “perhaps taken their foot off the pedal” slightly. “We’re always competitive but unconsciously the team may not have realised it and slackened off,” he said. Barca have failed to win seven away fixtures, a weakness not shown in previous seasons. Uncertainty also surrounds the future of coach Pep Guardiola, whose contract expires at the end of the season, with Xavi insisting that he wants him to remain at the Catalan side. “I’d love Pep to renew his contract, he’s the key element to this machine and hopefully he will sign an extension.” Xavi dismissed speculation linking himself to a coaching role with Barca. “Leave me alone, let me play. I’m not thinking about anything else but playing football. And besides, I don’t even have a coaching diploma,” he added.

Fifth-seeded Radwanska advances in Dubai

She defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-7 (6), 7-5. The 22-year-old Radwanska cruised through the first set in 27 minutes, but she needed another two hours to win her opening match in Dubai. After losing the second set on a tiebreaker, Radwanska struggled to regain concentration in the third and had to come back from 5-3 down to win it 7-5. Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is the top-seeded player in Dubai. The top-ranked Belarusian will meet Julia Goerges of Germany in her opening match on Wednesday. The field also includes defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and U.S. Open winner Sam Stosur, but Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open winner Li Na and Vera Zvonareva all withdrew because of illness and injury on Monday. Earlier Tuesday, two players joined the list of withdrawals. Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia retired with a hamstring injury while trailing Iveta Benesova 3-1, and Maria Kirilenko withdrew from a doubles match with Sabine Lisicki against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alicja Rosolska. Kirilenko has a neck injury but is set to play in the second round of the singles on Wednesday, organizers said. Later Tuesday, seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy will play Serbia s Ana Ivanovic and sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France will meet China s Shuai Peng in her opening match. Third-seeded Wozniacki will open the defence of her title on Wednesday when she meets Simona Halep of Romania in the second round. Halep advanced Tuesday after defeating Russia s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2. Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also advanced Tuesday after ousting Croatia s Petra Martic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Safarova will meet U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the second round.

Sri Lanka too strong for listless India

Virender Sehwag sliced a wide ball to third man and was caught for a duck 

Sri Lanka 289 for 6 (Thirimanne 62, Dilshan 51, Mathews 49*) beat India 238 (Kohli 66, Irfan 47, Kulasekara 3-40) by 51 runs 

India abandoned their rotation policy and played all three senior batsmen. They also brought in a spinner in place of a fast bowler. They still leaked runs at the death. Their heavyweight top order still caved in cheaply.Sri Lanka were on a different plane. Their old guard provided the base and the new order built on it to boost them to a substantial total. Their disciplined bowlers, led by Nuwan Kulasekara, dismantled a shaky India line-up, minus the in-form MS Dhoni, to take Sri Lanka into second position behind Australia with a game in hand. Parthiv Patel, Dhoni's replacement, lasted seven deliveries and made 4.Faced with a stiff chase, Virender Sehwag threw away his wicket yet again, Sachin Tendulkar wasted another start and Gautam Gambhir guided one straight to gully.Sehwag had missed the previous two games and was stand-in captain today but that did not bring about any change in his approach. He went after the second delivery of the chase, a short and wide one from Lasith Malinga, reaching out to slice it tamely to third man.Tendulkar and Gambhir played some pleasing strokes but Kulasekara snapped up both batsmen, a reward for disciplined line and full lengths. He kept Tendulkar guessing with a few that came in and some that moved away. The batsman was a little late in deciding to leave a good length delivery and edged it onto his stumps.With two 90s as an opener in his previous three games, Gambhir dropped down to No. 3 to allow Sehwag and Tendulkar to open. He lasted longer than the two but ended up dabbing Kulasekara to gully after walking down the pitch.Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina struggled initially but benefited from three dropped catches to keep India in the game with a 92-run partnership. Raina's leading edge off Angelo Mathews was put down at point by Tillakaratne Dilshan. He was on 4 at the time. Kolhi was let off twice, both times by Dinesh Chandimal at deep midwicket, first on 14 off Thisara Perera, then on 32 off Malinga.Raina could not capitalise, though, and, on 32, popped another leading edge, off Farveez Maharoof this time, straight to cover. Kohli carried on for a while longer but he was always battling against the climbing asking-rate and the thin batting. After having taken six runs off the first two balls of a Perera over, Kohli, on 66, looked to smash the third one and ended up slogging it to mid-on. Kohli's departure left India 172 for 5, and with no chance against an asking-rate of over eight an over.Irfan Pathan cracked a few boundaries to reduce the margin of defeat and deny Sri Lanka the bonus point, but the match had been decided much earlier, with Sri Lanka in control right from their opening partnership.Mahela Jayawardene started the innings again, and gave Sri Lanka another strong start along with Tillakaratne Dilshan. Lahiru Thirimanne led the young middle order's charge as Sri Lanka shrugged off the successive departures of their three senior batsmen in the middle overs.India's bowling followed a characteristic route, the spinners bringing them back in the middle of the innings before the fast bowlers and part-timers leaked runs at the death. Sri Lanka took 81 off the last eight overs, including 24 off two from Vinay Kumar, and 24 off two from Kohli and Raina.Thirimanne kept the runs coming with some enterprising strokes to ensure 124 for 3 did not turn into something worse. Mathews, who backs himself to score from any position and in any situation, smashed 49 off 37 deliveries at No. 6 as India's bowling came apart.With Vinay and Umesh Yadav each having two overs left, Sehwag showed scant confidence in his quicks and turned to the part-time bowling of Raina and Kohli for the 49th and 50th overs respectively. The result was the same, as Mathews plundered more runs.Sri Lanka's final score was a reflection of the kind of start that their former captain and his replacement had given them. Jayawardene and Dilshan batted with assurance for 95 runs at over five an over and India did not look like making a breakthrough till Sehwag pulled off a stunning catch to send back Jayawardene. Dilshan punished the slightest width outside the off stump for boundaries.India sneaked back through a double-strike. On 45, Jayawardene swung Pathan hard into the on side, but Sehwag got in the way with a big dive at midwicket, and held on to a sharp catch. Dilshan fell for 51 on the cut when R Ashwin got one to bounce.Kumar Sangakkara came in and swung Yadav straight to fine leg, and at 124 for 3 Sri Lanka were in danger of frittering away an excellent start. Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal did not allow that to happen with a 71-run stand that came at a run-a-ball.Thirimanne did not hold back with the big strokes. He favoured the off side, mostly point and third man, as he steered and dabbed for boundaries. Irfan ended Chandimal's stay with a yorker on leg stump but India ran into Mathews next. The scoring-rate picked up, as the pair added 49 in seven overs.Thirimanne's batting was classy but the same could not be said about his backing up. Despite the changed law on run-outs while backing up, he repeatedly left his crease even before the bowlers were into their delivery stride. Ashwin was well within his rights to remove the bails in the 40th over as Thirimanne went walking early again, but India decided to withdraw the appeal in good spirit after a discussion with the umpires. It made no difference to Thirimanne, though, as he continued to take an early start at the non-striker's end.He eventually fell chipping Ashwin to sweeper cover but Mathews was around to lift Sri Lanka to a big total, which proved to be well beyond India's reach.

Pietersen key after spinners strike

Alastair Cook fell second ball in England's chase 

25 overs England 123 for 4 (Pietersen 63*, Kieswetter 18*) need 115 more runs to beat Pakistan 237

Pakistan's spinners gave their team a chance of avoiding a whitewash by taking advantage of a wearing surface to leave England's pursuit of 238 in the balance. Two wickets in three balls for Saeed Ajmal gave Pakistan the edge and left Kevin Pietersen, unbeaten with a half-century, needing to produce another matchwinning inningsAfter two quiet games Ajmal was back at the forefront of England's problems as one of five spin options for Misbah-ul-Haq. In his third over he removed Eoin Morgan lbw when the left hander missed a sweep. Morgan, who had move briskly to 15, considered using a review but, as replays soon showed, wisely headed straight for the dressing room as the ball struck him in line with off stump.Two balls later and Jos Buttler's first innings in ODIs was ended via an inside edge onto the pad that looped to short leg. Buttler's appearance had been eagerly anticipated following an impressive Lions tour in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but Ajmal is a class apart from the spinners he'll have faced on those trips. He'll get plenty more chances.For the first time in this series England's innings didn't get a solid base. Alastair Cook, having made 319 runs in the previous three innings, was lbw second ball having cut the opening delivery of the chase from Junaid Khan through point. Junaid, the lone quick in Pakistan's team, successfully lobbied to use the DRS after Cook had initially been given not out although Misbah's request was half-hearted at best.The early boundaries of the chase came from Jonathan Trott as he drove Junaid and clipped Abdur Rehman who had been given the new ball against Pietersen. Soon, though, Pietersen made his mark as he advanced down the pitch at Rehman and twice drove Ajmal exquisitely through the covers.Trott had eased to 11 off 13 balls but could only managed four from his next 17, which was threatening to put the pressure back on Pietersen, before he top-edged a pull against Rehman. Ajmal's impact then left England needing a period of consolidation to keep the target within sight.Craig Kieswetter, still settling into his new home in the middle order, wasn't convincing against spin but between the edges, jabs and appeals began to find the boundary. Pietersen, riding on the confidence of his hundred three days ago, continued to play the lead role as he reached fifty from 66 balls. Both sides knew his presence was crucial to the outcome.

Pakistan 237 (Shafiq 65, Azhar 58, Dernbach 4-45) v England

Pakistan's brittle line-up failed to make the most of a solid base provided by Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq during the final ODI in Dubai to leave England well-place for a whitewash. Azhar and Shafiq, the future of Pakistan's batting, added 111 for the second wicket but England's reshuffled bowling attack, including debutant Danny Briggs and the recalled Jade Dernbach, stifled the middle order with Misbah-ul-Haq left to gather what he could.It was another tale of Pakistan's batsmen failing to build on starts as four of them passed 20 but none bettered Shafiq's confident 65. On a surface being used for the second time in three days it was difficult for new batsmen to force the pace straight away, demonstrated by the way the innings fell away. England's bowling effort wasn't quite as slick as the previous three games, but without the resting James Anderson and Stuart Broad it was a performance that further demonstrated the depth available. Briggs claimed a commendable 2 for 39 and Dernbach 4 for 45 as he cleaned up the lower order with Pakistan losing their last six wickets for 35 runs.There were plenty of team changes for both sides; England due to injury and rotation, Pakistan largely because of form and an illness sweeping through the team. Briggs and Jos Buttler, the Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, were handed ODI debuts and Tim Bresnan was given his first outing of the tour. Pakistan shuffled their pack again, opting for just one quick bowler, the left-armer Junaid Khan, on a surface being used for the second time and expected to aid the spinners, of which Pakistan played five.Dernbach made an immediate impact on his return to England colours when he struck second ball to have Mohammad Hafeez caught behind. Dernbach had a difficult tour of India, where his obsession with variation worked against him, and then had a tough experience in Australia's Big Bash League where he was dropped after two games for Melbourne Stars.Consistency still proved Dernbach an occasional problem as a wide delivery was driven through the covers by Shafiq and in the same over he was flicked through square leg. He returned in the bowling Powerplay and two further overs cost 12 during which time Shafiq went to his half-century from 59 balls, but also maintained the happy knack of picking up wickets when he had Azhar athletically caught at point by Eoin Morgan.Bresnan was also a touch expensive in his first international spell of the tour following the elbow injury which kept him out of the Test series. Azhar, promoted to open in place of Imran Farhat, who has a groin strain, latched on to two short deliveries and Bresnan's three-over burst cost 20 runs.Both batsmen allied the solid defence that they had shown during the Test series with an aggressive intent which put the pressure back on to England's bowlers. Shafiq had the perfect opportunity, against a weakened attack, to score his maiden ODI hundred but chopped on against Bresnan in the 23rd over. From there life became much tougher for Pakistan.As Misbah had hinted at the toss, Umar Akmal was promoted to No. 4 with the chance to build an innings. However, he never gathered momentum and provided Briggs with his first international wicket when he lofted a catch to long-off. Briggs showed calmness and control in his first appearance, quickly recovering himself from a couple of loose deliveries against Azhar.The scoring rate had seized up as Azhar approached his maiden ODI fifty and Shoaib Malik struggled to time the ball. The sense with Azhar, albeit in the very early stages of his career, is that he doesn't have a range of gears to move through in the one-day game. Malik does not have the excuse of inexperience to fall back on and his return to Pakistan colours has not been a happy one in this series. Having used up 33 deliveries for 23 he missed a sweep against Briggs in the left-armers last over.Again the hope of late acceleration was in the hands of Shahid Afridi but he couldn't ignite and fell to a superb running catch at deep midwicket from Bresnan. Misbah remained solid, launching Samit Patel over long-on, and Abdur Rehman connected with a couple of swings but didn't do serious damage to England.