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Liverpool midfielder Lucas says he is “doing everything” to convince the club he deserves to be part of their future plans, though he is yet to open talks regarding a new contract at Anfield.
Lucas remains a divisive figure at times, but he has started 23 of Liverpool’s 29 Premier League games this season and has enjoyed international recognition of late, starting Brazil’s friendly defeat to France in February.
His current contract expires at the end of the 2011-12 season and the midfielder is hoping to prove to Liverpool he is worthy of an extended stay at the club.
“Always in the summer a few players will go and a few players will come, so we have to wait and see,” Lucas told the Liverpool Daily Post. “We want to finish this season well.
“I hope to be one of those that stays in the summer. Why not? I still have one year left on my contract after this season so I have a commitment with the club, and I’m doing everything to show I am capable to be here.
“There haven’t been any talks over a new deal. I’m just looking at finishing this season. This season has been very good for me, and I just want to keep that going. I only have to convince two people – Dalglish and the Brazil national team manager. I just have to keep going.”
Lucas has also joined the ranks of Liverpool players praising manager Kenny Dalglish for the impact he has made at Anfield since replacing Roy Hodgson at the start of January, with a 3-1 win over Manchester United at the weekend seeing the club take sixth place.
“He is really important for the club and the fans,” Lucas said. “As soon as he arrived, we changed the way we were training, but the most important thing has been his presence in the training ground. The team now trusts in everybody and we have to move on and keep going. We know we can compete and beat anyone, as we have shown.”
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Police have dropped their investigation into Ashley Cole’s accidental shooting of a Chelsea intern at the club’s training ground, reports say.
Cole allegedly shot student Tom Cowan with an air rifle on February 20 and Surrey police visited the Cobham facilities and interviewed club staff to get to the bottom of the matter last week.
Chelsea claim Cole, 30, has been punished by the club internally but he has not been suspended from playing since the incident was first reported by a British newspaper at the turn of the month.
Cowan did not press charges and left-back Cole has escaped a police charge, according to reports in the British press.
Cole has been an ever-present for champions Chelsea this season and has continued to play every minute while the incident was being investigated.
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10
Mar
Estudiantes overcome Guarani
Reigning Argentinian champions Estudiantes came back from a goal down to beat Guarani 2-1 in Paraguay in the Copa Libertadores.
A 44th-minute penalty goal by Pablo Caballero gave Guarani the lead but Estudiantes needed only eight minutes in the second half to turn the Group Seven match around.
Pablo Barrientos was assisted by Raul Iberbia before netting in the 50th minute – and three minutes later Leandro Gonzalez shot home from outside the box to set up the victory for Eduardo Berizzo’s team.
Estudiantes defender Gabriel Mercado said afterwards: “It was a very important match for us and this is a great victory. We managed to recover from the 5-0 defeat to Cruzeiro in the first matchday and two wins in a row means recovery is closer. Our first half form was very poor, but we managed to change our mind then.”
In Santiago, Venezuelan giants Caracas claimed a surprise 3-1 win in their trip to Chilean giants Universidad Catolica to take the lead in Group Four.
Four minutes were lethal for Catolica, as Luis Cabezas opened the scoring seconds after the half-time break before Nelson Barahona doubled the gap at the 48th.
In the 50th minute, Cabezas headed the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-0, before Pablo Calandria reduced the deficit three minutes later. Catolica defender Hans Martinez was dismissed in the 69th minute after fouling Edgar Jimenez.
Colombian side Junior remain unbeaten in Group Two following a 2-1 away win over Oriente Petrolero in Bolivia.
Victor Cortes put Junior ahead in the 27th minute and Luis Paez widened the gap two minutes into the second half, before Juan Carlos Arce replied for Oriente at the end.
A second half goal by Luis Aguiar gave Uruguayan giants Penarol a 1-0 triumph over Ecuador’s Liga Deportiva Universitaria in Montevideo.
Aguiar’s goal in the 57th minute put Penarol on top of Group Eight with six points, three more than Liga and Argentinian duo Independiente and Godoy Cruz.
Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
Everton must wait to discover the extent of Mikel Arteta’s hamstring injury after the influential midfielder was withdrawn early on in his side’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham.
Arteta, who was named captain for the game in the absence of Phil Neville, had to be substituted after sustaining the problem in a chase with Sebastian Larsson.
Asked how Arteta was, David Moyes said: “I don’t know, I just saw him come off. Obviously it looks like a hamstring injury but I haven’t had a chat with the medical team yet to see what they think.”
Moyes, who paid tribute to Arteta after his inspirational performance in the 2-1 win over Newcastle, felt the loss of the midfielder had made it difficult against Birmingham.
“It was a big blow for us because we needed some creativity and I knew that if we didn’t have him, we would be struggling to create too much,” Moyes said. “Leon Osman did, but we were struggling otherwise really to make anything happen.
“It was a bit frustrating. We didn’t play well enough probably to win the game, but we had a few half chances.”
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish praised his team’s resilience in securing a point that moved them out of the relegation zone.
Blues had taken a 17th-minute lead at Goodison Park through Jean Beausejour’s header but John Heitinga rifled in an equaliser ten minutes before the interval and the Toffees looked by far the more likely side to find a winner in the second half.
McLeish’s men held on for the 1-1 draw, though, taking them up to 17th in the table, with West Ham dropping into the bottom three.
“I think that is an apt way to describe it – a battling point,” McLeish said. “We started very brightly and got the opening goal. Then the players showed that tremendous resilience that they have.”
He added: “We tried to be a little bit more predatory, but we never really had the composure in terms of the passing in the second half, but sometimes you need to get points in an ugly fashion.”
Birmingham were forced into a substitution within the first ten minutes as David Bentley came off with what McLeish confirmed was a groin problem.
“He came in before the warm-up was finished saying that he felt a twinge but felt he could start, but clearly he wasn’t okay,” McLeish said. “So it will probably be a scan for him tomorrow and we’ll know the extent on Friday.”
Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
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