Ronaldo: Who is Gotze?

Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo admitted he does not even know who Borussia Dortmund's Mario Gotze is.

The 19-year-old German has been a rising star in world football after helping the Bundesliga side to win their domestic league last campaign, and has even caught Arsenal boss Arsene 
Wenger's attention, with the Gunners considering a big money bid for the playmaker.

However, when asked by Bild about his thoughts on Gotze, Ronaldo replied: "Who's Gotze?"

The 26-year-old winger admitted sheepishly: "In what position does he play? Is he good? I have little opportunity to see Bundesliga games."

The Portuguese captain admitted he was not interested in other footballers, and was only keen on focusing on himself and his own game.

"I'm not interested in what people say about me," he crowed.

"I am always in top form. I work hard on myself. That's why nobody makes an attack on my sporting abilities."

After Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, the star laughed a tirade at the man in black, labeling him an "embrassment".

"He was an embarrassment," Ronaldo said, in quotes published by Marca.

"I hope this referee never takes charge of another of our games because he is an embarrassment."

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Chelsea, Milan plan Torres swap?

Chelsea and AC Milan could be planning a swap deal to bring Fernando Torres to Italy, and Brazilian Robinho to England.

According to reports in talkSPORT, the two football giants are looking at doing a deal in January as both look for filling missing links in their attack.

The Spaniard has simply not been able to shine for Chelsea after a big money £50 million transfer from Liverpool and January, and it has not helped matters that recent reports confirmed he slammed his own squad's midfielders as "very slow".

Although Blues manager Andre Villa-Boas has not blown up the matter, with six first team strikers in his squad, the Portuguese could well decide that Torres is surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge.

According to Sportmediaset, which is run by AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, the Serie A giants could make a shock move to bring in the Spaniard in exchange for Robinho.

AC Milan have long been admirers of the striker from his days with Atletico Madrid, and are willing to give him an escape from his troubles in London.

The deal is far from agreed though, as Chelsea are keen to bring in youngster Alexandre Pato in exchange, rather than Robinho, but the Serie A side are adamant that only Robinho is surplus to requirements at the San Siro.
 

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AC Milan hit by Ambrosini injury blow

AC Milan skipper Massimo Ambrosini has been ruled out for up to four weeks with a dislocated shoulder picked up in Tuesday's Champions League draw against Barcelona.

Ambrosini finished the match despite the pain of the injury and tests on Wednesday confirmed the extent of the damage.

"During the match yesterday [Tuesday], Massimo Ambrosini suffered an injury to his shoulder, which has been identified as a dislocation to the right shoulder," read a statement on Milan's official website.

"Avoiding complications, Ambrosini will resume activity in three to four weeks."

The injury is set to rule the 34-year-old defender out of Serie A games against Napoli, Udinese, Cesena and Juventus, and Milan’s second Champions League Group H outing against Plzen on September 28.

There was healthier news regarding fellow midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who was replaced by Ambrosini after 33 minutes of Wednesday night's 2-2 draw amid fears he had suffered a broken rib.

"Kevin-Prince Boateng under went an X-ray to examine the extent of the damage to his ribs," the statement continued.

"The results showed no broken bones. Boateng will under go further tests tomorrow [Thursday] to understand the full extent of the muscular damage to his side which is causing most pain."

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Bochum sack manager Funkel

 

German outfit Bochum have parted company with manager Friedhelm Funkel with immediate effect.

The club was relegated from the Bundesliga in 2009/10 and missed out on an opportunity to the top flight in May when they lost the promotion/relegation play-off against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Funkel's side have struggled so far this season in the 2.Bundesliga, lying second-bottom of the second tier on four points from seven matches, prompting the club to take action and relieve the coach and his number two of their duties.

Jens Todt, of the club's supervisory board, told www.vfl-bochum.de: "We thank Friedhelm Funkel and Christoph John for the good work they have done in the past 15 months.

"The step is not taken lightly, especially since the relationship between the head coach and the team is intact.

"By changing the coaching staff we want to start afresh. The team has a lot of quality, but it is not currently reaching its potential."

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Ferguson: Berba will get games

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has promised Striker Dimitar Berbatov he will get games this campaign despite being left on the bench for Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Benfica.

Berbatov has made just one appearance this season, coming on as a second-half substitute in United's opening Premier League match at The Hawthorns.

Wednesday's Champions League match at the Stadium of Light seemed like the perfect opportunity for Berbatov to return, especially as Goal Keeper Anders Lindegaard, Antonio Valencia and Darren Fletcher all made their first appearances of the season.

Instead, the £30.75million Bulgarian, who shared the Golden Boot prize with Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez last season, remained where he was as Ferguson went with Rooney as a lone striker before introducing Javier Hernandez later on.

"It is hard because of the number of strikers we have," Ferguson said.

"Michael Owen is there, Federico Macheda, Mame Biram Diouf. Danny Welbeck won't be back next week but probably the week after. It is not easy.

"Dimitar has been training terrific. His attitude is spot on. He will get his game time as the season wears on. There is no question about that."

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