Madrid keep tabs on Cannavaro injury

Fabio Cannavaro is a doubt for Real Madrid CF's Matchday 5 trip to FC BATE Borisov after straining a thigh muscle in training, with Rubén de la Red also a concern for Bernd Schuster's side ahead of next Tuesday's Group H game.

Warning sign
The 35-year-old Cannavaro – ever-present in the group stage this season – complained of pain in his right leg towards the end of Madrid's final preparatory session for Saturday's Liga visit of RC Recreativo de Huelva. After consulting his medical staff, coach Schuster discounted the Italian international for the Recreativo match, putting a question mark against the defender's availability for the BATE game in Belarus. Midfielder De la Red, meanwhile, is still under observation after fainting in an on-field incident on 30 October. Mahamadou Diarra (thigh) and Arjen Robben (calf) are also nursing injuries, while Ruud van Nistelrooy (knee) is a long-term absentee. However, the Spanish titleholders received better news on Friday with Christoph Metzelder and Pepe returning to training following respective ankle and thigh problems.

Gallas 'stripped' of captain role

Arsenal defender William Gallas has been stripped of his captaincy role after his public attack on the team, BBC Sport understands.

Gallas, 31, was left out of the squad for Saturday's game against Manchester City with Manuel Almunia named captain.

On Friday, he reported to Arsenal's London Colney complex for training.

Ex-Arsenal defender Lee Dixon backed the club's decision, made after Gallas questioned team-mates' bravery and accused a player of disrupting morale.

"Quite rightly, in my view, Arsene Wenger has acted on it," Dixon told the BBC's Football Focus programme.

"I think in the dressing room they're pleasantly surprised that Wenger has taken some action and not just sat back.

"Yes, if you've had a conversation in the dressing room about what's going on, you can come out and say it. But you can't come out and just slag off players and the team spirit."

Last season the Frenchman's skills as a captain were questioned as the club failed to win a trophy for a third year running.

Gallas joined Arsenal in September 2006 from Chelsea and was given the captain's armband by Wenger in August 2007.

He was heavily criticised following his petulant reaction to last season's draw with Birmingham.

During the match at St Andrew's in February, Gallas kicked an advertising hoarding and stood in the other half of the pitch as James McFadden scored a last-minute penalty.

The two dropped points reduced Arsenal's then lead at the Premier League summit to two points and many believed Gallas' actions undermined Arsenal's title challenge.

They won just two out of 10 subsequent games as their league and Champions League bids came to an end.

Last month he was criticised by Wenger after he was photographed with a cigarette in his mouth leaving a nightclub last month.

"What William Gallas has done is to undermine his manager Arsene Wenger by making these statements to the public," said former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn.

"When Wenger is at training he is a master at observing players. He will know if anything is going on around the training ground and if one or two of the players have fallen out. There is no need for the captain to come out and tell us all."

Following the departures of Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb and Brazilian Gilberto in the summer, Arsenal have struggled for consistency in the Premier League this season.

At home, Wenger's side have been beaten by Hull and Aston Villa and on their travels Arsenal have slipped to defeats at Fulham and Stoke.

After the Stoke defeat Arsene Wenger accused Tony Pulis's side of overly aggressive tactics, condemning Rory Delap and Ryan Shawcross after Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor were both hurt.

"Wenger will be very, very frustrated. He believes they were very, very close last season to having something special and they just fell away in February," added Winterburn.

"He believes they had a good enough squad to deal this time but they have been inconsistent."

More encouragingly, Arsenal are on course to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League and the club's youngsters have won rave reviews for their displays in the Carling Cup wins over Sheffield United and Wigan.

Walcott ruled out after surgery

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has undergone surgery on his dislocated right shoulder and will be sidelined for at least three months.

Walcott, who has a hereditary shoulder problem, suffered the injury in training with the England squad ahead of Wednesday's friendly with Germany.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: "After three months he can play but it takes longer to be completely competitive.

"After this injury it takes a while for a player to use his shoulder again."

Walcott, 19, has suffered from a series of shoulder injuries in his career.

He had his left shoulder pinned in 2007 and had to be stretchered off during Arsenal's recent game with Stoke after he fell on it and suffered spasms as a result.

The operation was carried out by the same surgeon who operated on Walcott in 2007.

The winger had been due to play in England's friendly against Germany in Berlin, a match that Fabio Capello's team won 2-1.

Walcott has been a regular for the Gunners this season and, having seen his team collect just four points from their last four league games, Wenger must do without one of his most potent attacking players.

Last season the Derby midfielder Stephen Pearson was ruled out for a month after suffering the same injury.

But Walcott is not expected to return until 2009 - ruling him out of the remainder of Arsenal's Champions League group campaign as well as at least seven Premier League games.

"During Tuesday's training session Theo Walcott dislocated his right shoulder after falling on the pitch," said an FA statement.

"Arsenal's medical staff were advised of the injury soon after the incident."

Berbatov & Brown out for Man Utd

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has been ruled out for two matches, while defender Wes Brown will miss up to five weeks.

Berbatov was substituted with cramp during Bulgaria's 6-1 defeat by Serbia and has a slight hamstring strain.

Brown, 29, last played in the 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park on 25 October and is recovering from an exploratory ankle operation.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said the news was "really disappointing".

Brown has endured a long list of injury problems. After establishing himself at Old Trafford during the Treble-winning season of 1998-1999 he missed the whole of the following campaign with a cruciate knee injury.

Despite another knee injury, he recovered to make England's World Cup squad in 2002, before breaking an ankle for United playing in the Champions League in the same year.

Brown has gone on to impress Ferguson and earlier this year agreed a new contract to keep him at United until at least 2012.

Ferguson added: "Fortunately we have plenty of cover at right-back, with Gary Neville, Rafael Da Silva and John O'Shea available to come in."

Berbatov will miss Saturday's visit to Aston Villa and Tuesday's Champions League game at Villarreal.

Commenting on his striker's injury, Ferguson said: "It's not a tear. It's a slight strain but with hamstrings you don't take any chances. There's no point in making it worse."

Lehmann may quit in ref protest

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann says he may retire from football in protest at the standard of refereeing in Germany's Bundesliga.

The Stuttgart goalkeeper was unhappy after picking up his third booking for dissent this season.

"I may as well not bother playing in future. I didn't even say anything nasty to the referee," he said.

"Surely there are better ones. Things can't go on like this. It's sad for the whole of the Bundesliga."

During the summer the 39-year-old returned to playing in Germany after five years playing in England.

"These are referees for us and not for the two people in the stands who are writing a report about him," he said after his booking in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.

"What that man did was unbelievable," he said.

"A Frankfurt player feigned an injury so we could not counter-attack.

"The referee said he had to stop play for the injury and then the man stands up and doesn't even leave the field to be treated.

"I told the referee, 'Look! There he goes!' and he shows me a yellow card - incredible."

Celtic pay for fan pitch invasion

Uefa has fined Celtic £42,000 after a supporter ran on the pitch at their Champions League match against Manchester United last week.

The fan's actions cost Celtic an extra 20,000 euros (£17,000) after that figure was suspended following a similar incident last season.

Celtic were fined £12,500 after a supporter confronted AC Milan's Dida.

John Paul Murphy entered the playing area in the 35th minute of the Group E match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Celtic were warned that the extra fine could be triggered should Uefa deem they had failed to control their fans again over the next two years.

John Paul Murphy entered Celtic Park's playing area during the match, when the Scottish champions were leading 1-0.

On Thursday, the 19-year-old pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a breach of the peace and being drunk in a sports ground - and was remanded in custody with his sentence deferred.

Uefa had awaited reports from the referee and match delegate before deciding on its next action.

Punishments for pitch invasions available to Uefa's control and disciplinary committee range from fines to docking points or instructing European matches to be played behind closed doors.

Part of the fine was imposed for the late start to the tie.

An appeal may be lodged within three days, but a spokesman for Celtic said: "We accept the judgement and there will be no appeal."

Manchester United could also face an investigation if match delegates mentioned alleged sectarian chanting by a section of their support at the same match.

Di Santo blow adds to Chelsea's woe

Franco Di Santo is expected to sit out Chelsea FC's UEFA Champions League trip to FC Girondins de Bordeaux on 26 November after tearing his hamstring during the Wednesday's loss to Burnley FC.

Three-week absense
On as a substitute, the 19-year-old Argentinian striker suffered the injury in extra time as Chelsea were sent crashing out of the League Cup, losing 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw against the second-tier side. "Di Santo normally will be out for 21 days," confirmed manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who also suffered injury scares to Juliano Belletti and Deco, though both should be available for Saturday's trip to West Bromwich Albion FC.