Red-hot Muktijoddha face a brilliant orange Brothers Union in the final of the Tibet 20th Federation Cup football at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 5:00pm today. Muktijoddha, the reigning champions, are eager to add another feather to their crown but Brothers Union, who lost the Independence Day Gold Cup final to the freedom fighters last month, are not in a mood to budge an inch of the ground.
   Muktijoddah have played five of the last six Federation Cup finals while Brothers Union are in the final for the first time after 1991.
   In respect of the custodians Muktijoddha are miles ahead with Aminul as he is the top goalkeeper of the country. Brothers Union custodian Tarek has a safe pair of hands but in the barometer of experience he is far behind.
   Muktijoddha’s defence line boasts of Rajani Kanta Burman, one of the finest defenders and alongside him are Titu, Hasan-al-Mamun and Rwandan Habimana Harry. Belal, famous for his long throw-ins, is also a part of Muktijoddha defence. Brothers Union defence line is made up of Sujon, Jewel Rana and Masud Rana whose very presence definitely will inspire their forwards.
   In the midfield Muktijoddha have Arman Miah, who himself can change the picture of a game with some magical touches while Bidyut, Saiful and Iqbal are proven campaigners. Saiful playing on the right sometimes leaves a huge gap behind when he fails to return after his forays up front. Amin Rana is also capable of dashing through the defence from the flanks.
   Brothers Union midfield possesses Moroccan Hicham Inani, Parvez Babu, Abul and Pranotosh. They have a strong reserve bench with players like semi-final hero Monwar, Liton and Rikto. Brothers Union will have to rely on their midfield marshals to deter Muktijoddah attacks.
   Muktijoddha will terribly miss the services of their regular scorer Moni through ankle injury picked up in the semi-final. Nigerian Paul Anukuchu will fill his vacant shoes. Brothers Union will welcome back Khokon after a one-match suspension and he will join Russian Victor Edwards up front. A lot of Brothers Union hopes rest upon the Russian.
   Shafiqul Islam Manik, the coach of Muktijoddha expressed his confidence about winning the second title in two months. Wazed Gazi, the veteran Brothers Union coach, said he wants to prove his superiority by winning the title.
   Third place decider now today
   The third-place deciding match of the Tibet 20th Federation Cup football which was scheduled to be held on Monday has been deferred by a day due to the evasive mood of the two crowd pullers, Mohammedans and Abahani, to play the match.
   The game will now be played at 3:00pm on Tuesday and will go straight into penalty shootout if the stipulated time fails to produce any result. The final between Muktijoddha and Brothers Union will start at 5:00pm, so due to shortage of time this match will have no extra time.
   Both the teams sent letters to the Bangladesh Football Federation expressing their inability to play the third-place decider on Monday. The bye-laws of the tournament have no specific guidelines about the situation. So, the president of the federation had to interfere into the matter and managed to convince the clubs to take part in the match. The president SA Sultan finalised the decision at an emergency executive committee meeting on Sunday.
   Both the clubs then agreed to play the match today and it will be telecast live on BTV.
   Hundreds of fans of the two clubs gathered in the stadium and were wondering what was going on as the decision of the BFF reached them late in the afternoon.

‘Wicketkeepers rarely win anything. People remember them only for their misses, not for the catches they take. Khaled Mashud is the best wicketkeeper in Asia and he deserves the award,’ the recognition came from none other than a world famous coach, Dav Whatmore, who is currently at the helm of Bangladesh cricket team.
   Whatmore commended Mashud during his speech after the stumper received GrameenPhone-Prothom Alo best player of the year award-2004 at the prize giving ceremony at a city hotel on Monday.
   Mashud was nominated for the award by a jury panel, headed by former secretary general of the Bangladesh Olympic Association Bashir Ahmed. The other members of the panel were Abdus Sadeque, Golam Sarwar Tipu, Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury and Gazi Ashraf Hossain.
   Jointly sponsored by GrameenPhone and Prothom Alo, two leading organisations of their respective arena, five other awards in different categories were also given. First runner-up behind Mashud was swimmer Rubel Rana, who won a gold medal in the Islamabad SAF Games last year. Cricketer Mohammad Ashraful was named the second runner-up.
   The emerging player of the year award went to Russell Mahmud, who helped Bangladesh win the trophy in the five-nation under-21 Challenge Cup Hockey in 2004. Sharmin Akhter was named best female player of the year for her stunning gold medal winning performance in 10-metre Air Rifle event in Islamabad SAF Games. Besides, former athlete and organiser Qazi Abdul Alim was given the lifetime achievement award.
   Mashud scooped Tk one lakh for being the best player while the rest received Tk 50,000 each and a crest.

Pakistani selectors Monday left out unfit fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for their tour of the West Indies.
   Akhtar, 29, who missed Pakistan’s tour of India in March-April due to a hamstring injury, was still found lacking on fitness while Mohammad Sami, recuperating from a knee operation, might join the team for the Test series.
   Sami was ruled out of the one-day series.
   Off-spinning allrounder Shoaib Malik was also picked for the squad but will miss the first Test as he serves out a one-match ban for deliberately throwing a domestic cricket match last week.
   Squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan (vice capt), Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Bazid Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Shahid Nazir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Arshad Khan, Danish Kaneria.
   Bob Woolmer (coach), Salim Altaf (manager).

Pakistan cricket chiefs banned allrounder Shoaib Malik for one Test and fined him 75 percent of his next two international match fees for throwing a domestic game, an official said Monday.
   The 23-year-old, leading his hometown Sialkot team, admitted throwing the Twenty20 tournament match against the Karachi Zebras on Thursday in protest after his team was penalised for a slow over rate in another match.
   The decision by the
   Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) means he will miss the first Test of his country’s upcoming tour of the West Indies later this month.

Jacques Kallis admitted on Sunday that becoming South Africa’s highest ever Test run getter was an achievement he thought might be beyond him when he was a youngster.
   Kallis made 147 in a South Africa total of 588-6 in the first innings of the fourth and final Test against the West Indies to go past Gary Kirsten as his country’s most successful batsman.
   He now has 7,313 runs to his name after he and Ashwell Prince (131) posted a new fifth-wicket partnership record.
   Kallis, 29, continued his love affair with West Indies’ bowling to hit his 22nd Test hundred which was his seventh against the Caribbean side. ‘As a youngster, I never thought I would have achieved anything like this in my career,’ said Kallis.
   ‘I learnt a lot from Gary and it’s a bit sad that I had to overtake him, but this has been the highlight of my career.’
   In his 93rd Test, Kallis has matured into one of the game’s most reliable batsmen, and reflected on the change in his batting style over the years.
   ‘I have always tried to play according to the situation of the game,’ he said.
   ‘There are times when you can kick on and play a few more shots. Then there are times when you have to play a little more circumspectly. When I was much younger, like most young batsmen, I liked to come out and play every shot in the book, but sometimes this did not always work.
   ‘But I learnt what worked for me and the shots that were less risky for me, and I try to stick to those. For a batsman, Test cricket is all about the highest amount of reward for the least amount of risk.’
   Kallis and Prince, teammates at Western Province/Boland in the South African first-class championship, put on 267 for the fifth wicket on a docile Antigua Recreation Ground pitch.
   ‘Ashwell has played well and batted well according to the situation in the match,’ said Kallis.
   ‘The pitches we have had on this tour have been pretty flat, and I have always believed that whenever you are ahead, you should cash in. Fortunately, it has gone our way for the last few Tests.’
   Prince, 27, playing his 12th Test, noted his determination to add another hundred to his unbeaten 139 against Zimbabwe at Centurion earlier this year.
   ‘When I was first came to the wicket, the ball was old and hard to get away,’ Prince said.
   ‘When they took the new ball, it came on to the bat better and made run scoring much easier, so I decided to make the most of it. It was the sort of pitch you wanted to get in and build confidence, although Jacques was hitting some sweet shots.’
   Prince hopes this innings will help him to cement a place in the South African batting line-up on a more regular basis.
   ‘Over the last two years, numbers five and six in the South African team have not been secure, but now I have an opportunity and I hope to make the most of it.’

Gaston Gaudio swept away Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 to win the 532,000-euro Estoril Open on Sunday and keep his preparations for the defence of his French Open title firmly on course.
   The second-seeded Argentine breezed through the opening set and overcame a wobble in the second before steadying himself to earn his third title of the season - all on clay - with the victory in one hour, 48 minutes.
   The win also gave the Argentine a 24-7 match record in 2005 with the start of the
   French Open now just three weeks away.
   Gaudio converted on five of 14 break points against fourth seeded Robredo, whose best previous result in a season of injury was a semi-final in Dubai three months ago.
   The Argentine added the Estoril crown to titles he won in Viña del Mar and Buenos Aires in February.
   ‘It’s great to win another title so close to Roland Garros,’ said the South American winner. ‘It’s great for the confidence.
   ‘Tommy and I have always played very tough matches.’
   The loss came on Robredo’s 23rd birthday as he comes back from a shoulder injury.
   In the women’s final, qualifier Lucie Safarova capped the best week of her career Sunday, upsetting fourth seed Na Li 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-3.
   Safarova began the week at 155th but is due for a rise after her feat at the Estadio Nacional while Na is projected to move up to 35th in Monday’s rankings, the best ever for a Chinese woman.
   Na came into the match after having dispatched second seed Dinara Safin 6-1, 6-1 in their semi-final. But the Chinese was taken by surprise when it counted against the 18-year-old Czech, playing her first career final.
   Safarova won a marathon which lasted two hours, 17 minutes under grey skies, overcoming a massive 13 double-faults while breaking Na eight times.
   She became the second qualifier this season on the WTA to collect a trophy after Ana Ivanovic in Canberra.
   ‘It’s amazing for me, I’m so happy I can’t explain it,’ said Safarova.
   ‘When you go into a tournament you try to win it. I wouldn’t have been angry if I’d qualified and done one round.’

Former Australian opener Dean Jones on Sunday confirmed he had applied for the job of the Indian cricket team’s coach following the conclusion of John Wright’s successful tenure.
   ‘Yes, I have applied for the post,’ Jones, who is in Abu Dhabi as a commentator for the tri-nation Shaikh Zayed Cup, said.
   Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 One-Day Internationals between 1984 and 1994, said that he had sent his application to secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India SK Nair last month.
   ‘I had sent the application to the BCCI through a certain source,’ said the 44-year-old.
   The Melbourne-based Jones said that although the BCCI had acknowledged the receipt of his application, the board had not yet reverted to him about a possible interview for the post.
   ‘They (BCCI) have said that they were in the process of constituting a committee for selecting the coach,’ he said. ‘If they call me it’s fine, otherwise I will continue to do commentary.’
   Besides Jones, former Australia skipper Greg Chappell is believed to be a strong contender for the post, though the master batsman has denied the BCCI had approached him.
   The post of the Indian team’s coach fell vacant after former New Zealand captain Wright completed his four-and-half-year tenure with the home series against Pakistan last month.
   Under Wright, India played 51 Tests, won 20, lost 15 and drew 16. Of the 130 One-Day Internationals played under him, India won 68, lost 56 and six ended without result.
   Among the high points of Wright’s stint were India’s entry into the 2003 World Cup final, where they lost to Australia, the 2002 NatWest Trophy title and the shared Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka the same year.
   In Tests, the highlight was the 2-1 upset win over world champions Australia at home in 2001 and a drawn series in Australia in 2003-04. Wright’s farewell was, however, marred by the 1-1 draw in the three-Test series against Pakistan and 2-4 defeat in the one-dayers earlier this month.
   Jones praised Wright’s work.
   ‘The players will be in a better position to tell that. But he’s done a good job. He’s raised a team,’ Jones said.

Justine Henin-Hardenne on Sunday denied Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova her first title of the year when she claimed a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory in the WTA Warsaw Cup final.
   The unseeded Belgian, who recently lost to Kuznetsova in the Indian Wells quarter-finals, extended her winning run to 11 matches and claimed her second clay court title in succession after defeating Elena Dementieva to win in Charleston two weeks ago.
   Kuznetsova, who also lost the 2004 final to Venus Williams, allowed a 3-1 lead to slip away in the final set, but she could not blame herself for her defeat.
   Victory could have gone to either player, but it was Henin-Hardenne who raised her aggression to a higher level when it mattered most.
   That allowed her to hit a fierce return on her second match point, forcing Kuznetsova into a backhand error. And it came after an earlier match point at 5-4, which the Russian held off with a service winner.
   The final set was the most fiercely contested, although all were close. Kuznetsova held the slightest advantage in the first, breaking in the second game and then again for 4-2 after Henin-Hardenne had recovered the first break.
   And in the second set, although Henin-Hardenne broke to lead 3-1 she struggled to maintain her lead.
   She had to hold off a break point in the next game, saved when a backhand from Kuznetsova floated long, and another at 4-2 when her opponent netted a backhand.
   ‘It was a great battle at the end of the match,’ said Henin-Hardenne. ‘It’s been only for her in the first set and only for me in the second, and finally in the third set we saw a good match, a good fight.
   ‘It was very hard for me in the beginning. She was hitting the ball very hard. She’s very powerful, especially with her forehand, and I was really defensive. I was too far from my baseline.
   ‘So in the second set I tried to change that. It wasn’t still my best tennis, but then in the third set I was doing what I have to do all the time and finally it paid off.’
   Kuznetsova admitted that a leg injury that required taping in the second set played a part in her defeat.
   ‘The match could have gone so many ways,’ she said.
   ‘The first set was the best I ever played in this tournament, just unbelievable. I was running down all the balls and serving well.
   ‘But at the end of the set I pulled my leg and I wasn’t moving so well in the second set. At 4-1 I had it taped, and she also served much better in the second set. I couldn’t stay with her on the same level.
   ‘In the third I was a break up, but then she got used to my serve and I couldn’t change it. It became a game of mental strength, and a game of experience maybe.’

Brett Lee feels he is approaching a crucial stage in his career and hopes to find a place in the Australian Test team that will play against England in the most hyped Ashes series in recent memory.
   Dubbed by many as the most glamorous 12th man in the world, Lee was completely satisfied with his recovery from ankle surgery and hoped that his performances in the one-day series against New Zealand would boost his chances of a Test recall.
   ‘I’m currently 28 years old and a fast bowler usually peaks around 29 or 30,’ he said while speaking at a shoe launch in Mumbai.
   ‘It takes time for a bowler to get back to his best after undergoing an ankle surgery and I think I have done well. I was very satisfied with my performances in New Zealand and also managed to get through 13 straight one-day games on the trot. I am feeling match fit and think I’m also approaching the best part of my career. Hopefully, good things come to those who wait.’
   The last time Lee played in a Test was against India at Sydney in January 2004 and he admitted that the last 14 months, when he was watching from the sidelines, were one of the toughest times he has had to endure.
   But he felt that he had fulfilled all the goals that the selectors had set for him and awaited a recall during the Ashes.
   ‘The selectors gave me three goals to achieve - to get my ankle in shape, to take wickets consistently and to bowl as fast as possible. I think I have managed to do them all and ended up as the highest wicket-taker for Australia in the last three one-day series.’
   Lee acknowledged the fact that England would be very tough to beat in the Ashes, starting at Lord’s on July 21, and picked out Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flintoff as the two players who would prove pivotal.
   ‘Strauss is an awesome player and his record over the last year proves it,’ said Lee. ‘Flintoff is another hugely talented player and he is now challenging Jacques Kallis as the leading all-rounder in the world.’

Andrew Flintoff is hoping to return to England duty ahead of schedule and play in the Test series against Bangladesh.
   The all-rounder is on the comeback trail after undergoing ankle surgery and has been playing as a batsman only for Lancashire.
   England want him fully fit for the Ashes against Australia but he is not ruling out playing against Bangladesh.
   ‘I’d love to play just as a batsman against Bangladesh,’ Flintoff told the Sunday Express.
   He added: ‘It’s too early to consider bowling as well, I’m only 75% with the ball.
   ‘But if I can score a couple of hundreds in county games, I’d like to be considered by the England selectors.’
   The first Test against Bangladesh starts at Lord’s on 26 May and England are set to announce the squad on 15 May.
   Flintoff, who scored 83 off 101 balls in his second innings against Worcestershire, has matches against Durham and Derbyshire coming up.
   He added: ‘Two weeks is a long time for me right now, and we have to see how I progress.’
   England captain Michael Vaughan does not want Flintoff to push himself too hard and too quickly in an effort to get fully fit.
   Vaughan told the Sunday Mirror: ‘He needs to take it nice and gently for his own sake, because the last thing we want is for Freddie to try too hard and end up breaking down again.’
   England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman Andrew Walpole told BBC Sport it was too early to say whether Flintoff will be considered for the Bangladesh series.
   He added: ‘We have all been encouraged by the progress Flintoff is making and it will be something the selectors will discuss when they meet.’

Shane Warne has denied reports which stated that he planned to retire after the Ashes series in Australia in 2006-07. Reports in the media quoted Jason Warne, his brother and manager, as saying that the Ashes ‘could be Shane’s last series’, but according to ABC Sport, the man himself wasn’t so sure.
   ‘I might have to ring my brother ... I haven’t spoken to him for about a week so I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘Sometimes the media are the first ones to let me know on a lot of things, but no, I haven’t heard that one, but we’ll wait and see.’
   In reports that appeared a day earlier in The Sun-Herald, Jason had said that Shane wanted to retire so that he could spend more time with his children. ‘If he didn’t have kids, he might play forever, but he misses them a lot these days when Test tours take him away. That’s becoming more of an issue for him. One of the big reasons he stopped playing one-day cricket for Australia was to cut down on the amount of travel he had to do, not so much cut down on his workload.’

Pakistan Cricket Board said Sunday it would turn the limited overs Twenty20 tournament into a regular feature on the domestic calendar following the tremendous response from fans.
   The first-ever twenty20 tournament in the country that ended late Saturday attracted a record crowd of some 30,000 at the Qaddafi stadium in Lahore.
   Faisalabad won the tournament beating Karachi team by a narrow two-wicket margin.
   Faisalabad, runners-up in Pakistans premier first class tournament earlier this year, won the final on the last ball of the match after Karachi set them a target of 159 runs to win.
   Twenty20, the rapid version of the limited overs cricket in which both teams play 20 overs, was pioneered in England two years ago and proved a huge success in Pakistan with record crowds on the last two days.
   ‘It was heartening to see such huge crowds. We would make the event a regular feature in Pakistan,’ PCB chief Shaharyar Khan said.
   Faisalabad received a trophy and a cash prize of 300,000 rupees (around 5,000 dollars) and runners-up Karachi pocketed 150,000 rupees.

Frank Lampard has insisted Chelsea will head into today’s Champions League semi-final second leg away to English rivals Liverpool with the ‘confidence of champions’.
   The England midfielder made the claim after the Blues had added the Premier League title to the League Cup they won earlier in the season after beating Rafael Benitez’s men.
   Meanwhile, the man often ranked alongside Lampard as the best midfielder in England, his international team-mate and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, has labelled the match the ‘biggest game of my life’.
   The tie is evenly poised after a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge but Lampard, who scored both goals as Chelsea wrapped up the Premiership in a 2-0 win away to Bolton on Saturday, said the London club’s first top-flight title in 50 years was the ideal way to prepare for a visit to Anfield.
   ‘If going there as champions don’t fill you with confidence, then nothing will,’ said the England midfielder. ‘So we’ll have to save our energy now, relax a bit and look forward to that game.’
   Chelsea have injury concerns over Damien Duff and Arjen Robben but Lampard, who has played 54 games so far this season just keeps going.
   With the equally impressive Chelsea captain John Terry, the heart of the Blues defence, Lampard has given Jose Mourinho’s expensively-assembled multi-national side a solid English core.
   ‘He could play 100 games in a season,’ said Bolton manager Sam Allardyce of Lampard. ‘At the moment, he has to be one of the best players in the world.’
   Chelsea’s Portuguese boss Jose Mourinho is looking to win the Champions League in successive seasons with different clubs after guiding Porto to European club football’s biggest prize.
   The Londoners have won just two major European trophies in their 100-year history - the 1971 and 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup.
   Liverpool, by contrast, have cabinets full of silverware from the continent with four European Cups alone while as recently as 2000-01 they lifted their third UEFA Cup.
   Under Benitez they have shown a marked ability to raise their game come a European night, the frustrating downside for their fans being their repeated failure to win in the Premiership in the match immediately following a Champions League tie.
   The pattern was maintained in a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday which came hot on the heels of their highly creditable display in west London.
   That result left them three points behind Everton in the race for the fourth place which would seemingly guarantee them Champions League football next season.
   However, UEFA president Lennart Johansson suggested Sunday that the Reds, were they to win the Champions League, might yet be able to defend the title next season regardless of their Premiership position.
   And Gerrard, whose stunning strike helped salvage a point against Boro, believes his side can prolong the administrators’ collective headache for a while longer yet by upsetting the odds and going through to the May 25 final in Istanbul.
   ‘This second leg is without doubt the biggest game of my life and I am sure it’s the same for every other player here,’ he said.
   ‘I think it has surprised everyone, but we are not in it just to make the numbers up. We are in it to win it so we are going to keep fighting.
   ‘Everyone here knows the gap between ourselves and Chelsea, and also Arsenal and Manchester United come to mention it, is not as great as people make out.’
   Liverpool will be without the suspended Xabi Alonso following his yellow card for a first leg foul on Eidur Gudjohnsen.
   ‘Losing Xabi Alonso from the second leg is a massive blow. He is a great team player and one of the best passers of a ball in Europe. Any side would miss him,’ Gerrard added.
   ‘Fortunately we have got Didi Hamann back fit and that gives the manager another option. Everyone is sad for Xabi though and hopefully we can beat Chelsea and give him the opportunity to play in the final.’

Teenage striker Wayne Rooney helped Manchester United to a thumping 4-0 win at Charlton Athletic on Sunday to close within a point of Arsenal in the sprint to next season’s Champions League.
   A day after Chelsea won the Premier League title with a 2-0 win at Bolton Wanderers, the race for European soccer continued with United’s win and a 5-1 victory for Tottenham Hotspur over Aston Villa which moved Spurs into a provisional UEFA Cup slot.
   Paul Scholes opened the scoring for United after Charlton keeper Stephan Andersen spilled a Rooney shot in the 34th minute and Darren Fletcher rifled in the second just before halftime.
   Both United’s second half goals came on the break, with Alan Smith adding a cool finish and Rooney getting on the score sheet with a neat flick past a stranded Andersen on 67 minutes.
   Charlton’s day ended on an even sourer note with an 85th minute red card for Chris Perry for dragging down Wes Brown as the United defender bore down on goal.
   Further down the table, Spurs have 51 points and are seventh on goal difference ahead of Middlesbrough – who they face next Saturday at the Riverside in their penultimate game of the season.
   Spurs were 3-0 up inside the opening half hour after two goals from Mali international striker Frederic Kanoute and one from captain Ledley King, while Gareth Barry pulled one back from the penalty spot for Villa just before the break.
   Andy Reid added the fourth with a superb 20-metre strike and Stephen Kelly completed a miserable afternoon for Villa’s stand-in keeper Stefan Postma with a close-range effort on 90 minutes.
   On Saturday, Southampton climbed off the bottom of the Premiership following a 4-3 rollercoaster win at home to relegation rivals Norwich.
   After the teams shared six goals in a see-saw first half and wasted numerous chances after the break, substitute Henri Camara’s 25-yard half-volley two minutes from full-time settled the match in favour of Southampton.
   The result left Saints outside the relegation zone on 31 points with Norwich on 30 points, bottom of the table.
   West Brom are second bottom, also on 30 points.
   Crystal Palace, who gained a point from a goalless draw away to Newcastle, dropped back into the bottom three on goal difference.
   In the race for the fourth Champions League place Liverpool narrowed the gap between themselves and local rivals Everton to three points following a 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough.
   Everton meanwhile went down to a 2-0 defeat away to Fulham.
   Southampton saw David Bentley put the Canaries ahead in the third minute but four minutes later Saints were level when Matt Oakley fired low beyond Robert Green. Peter Crouch then got on the score sheet when he connected with a cross from Rory Delap in the 20th minute.
   However, Saints defender Danny Higginbotham put through his own net in the 31st minute to make it 2-2.
   Saints full-back Graeme Le Saux volleyed home in the 39th minute but McKenzie equalised on half-time when he slotted home to level the game at 3-3 before Camara’s brilliant winner.
   Everton fell behind to a 15th minute strike from Collins John before United States striker Brian McBride, a former Everton player, then made it 2-0 six minutes before half-time.
   Fulham held on despite being reduced to 10 men after Papa Bouba Diof was sent-off.
   Liverpool fell behind in the fourth minute when Boro striker Szilard Nemeth struck.
   But in the 52nd minute Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard equalised with a stunning 30-yard volley.
   In other matches, Birmingham came from behind to beat Blackburn 2-1 and Manchester City defeated Portsmouth 2-0.

For all the millions spent by Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and the tactical influence of Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, British national Sunday newspapers celebrated the club’s first top-flight title in 50 years by highlighting the impact of England duo Frank Lampard and skipper John Terry.
   ‘Champard!’ proclaimed the back page headline of the News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling Sunday tabloid, after the midfielder scored both goals in the 2-0 win away to Bolton Wanderers that saw the London club secure the Premiership title on Saturday.
   But while the former West Ham hero grabbed most of the glory, there was also praise for the role of centre-back Terry, a one-club man and the cornerstone of a defence that has conceded just 13 goals in 35 league games.
   ‘In men like Lampard and captain John Terry they have great English players, men who could stand shoulder to shoulder with title winners from any generation,’ the News of the World said.
   The Sunday Times, which pointed out that the duo had been on the field for 77-and-a-half hours of ‘solid game time’, said ‘John Terry and Frank Lampard couldn’t be more Anglo. John and Frank. Cheese and pickle, fish and chips.’
   But there was praise too for Mourinho’s contribution in a season where Chelsea have already won the League Cup and face Liverpool in the second leg of a Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
   The tabloid Mail on Sunday quoted Sir Bobby Robson, who gave the Blues boss his break by first employing him as a translator while in Portugal, as saying: ‘Jose may have been given the cloth but he’s been a great tailor too.’
   Several papers compared Chelsea’s triumph this year to their previous title success in 1955 with the broadsheet Observer noting: ‘As will happen this year, Chelsea visited Manchester United with the title theirs.
   ‘They were applauded on to the field by the opponents while the band played ‘See the conquering heroes come’. Such a welcome is unlikely to be repeated 50 years on.’

Juventus kept pace with AC Milan in the Serie A title race with a 2-1 win over Bologna on Sunday that left the two clubs level at the top before their head-to-head meeting next week.
   Goals from Fabio Cannavaro and Marcelo Zalayeta gave Fabio Capello’s side a win which lifted them to 76 points and alongside Milan who beat Fiorentina 2-1 on Saturday.
   Four rounds of games remain in the season and, if the teams remain level on points, they face a two-leg playoff.
   Away from the title race, there was no shortage of goals with relegation threatened Parma beating Livorno 6-4 and Lecce defeating Lazio 5-3, four players scoring hat-tricks in those games.
   Winger Mauro Camoranesi set up both goals for Juventus, the first coming when a cross by the Italy international was met by a powerful header from Cannavaro that put Juve in front.
   Zalayeta’s header from a Camoranesi free-kick made it 2-0 in the 24th minute but three minutes later a superb free-kick from Federico Giunti brought Bologna back in to the game.
   Bologna almost snatched a late equaliser when Claudio Bellucci’s low drive whistled into the side netting.
   Parma’s decision to rest striker Alberto Gilardino for their UEFA Cup semi-final against CSKA Moscow in midweek paid off handsomely as he scored four times in the win over Livorno, which put Parma two points clear of the relegation zone.
   In a remarkable match, Cristiano Lucarelli scored all four goals for Livorno but was not the only man to score a hat-trick away from home and still end up on the losing side.
   Tommaso Rocchi scored all three goals for Lazio in their defeat at Lecce. On a high-scoring day in Serie A, Serbian striker Mirko Vucinic scored three for Lecce.
   Lazio had Brazilian Cesar sent off in the 48th minute while Lecce’s former Chelsea midfielder Samuele Dalla Bona was dismissed in the 66th minute.
   Roma’s winless run was extended to nine matches as they drew 2-2 at home to Brescia, Vincenzo Montella having a late penalty saved which left Roma just five points away from the relegation zone.
   Third-placed Inter Milan beat Siena 2-0 with a penalty from Argentine forward Julio Ricardo Cruz and a Christian Vieri goal.
   Sampdoria and Udinese now share fourth place, which brings a spot in the qualifying round of the Champions League, after Samp were held to a 2-2 draw in Sicily against Messina.
   Udinese beat bottom club Atalanta 2-1, moving them level with Samp on 56 points.
   As with the title battle, teams finishing on level points for European qualification positions at the end of the season will play off – goal difference does not apply in Serie A.
   Sixth-placed Palermo were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Chievo – a result that moves Chievo to 36 points and out of the relegation zone.
   With three teams relegated to Serie B, Atalanta are bottom on 31 points, with Fiorentina on 34 and Brescia on 35.

Barcelona responded to the pressure placed on them by Real Madrid and Ronaldo by beating Albacete 2-0 on Sunday.
   The victory maintained their six point lead over Real, who beat Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday, at the top of the Spanish first division with four games to go.
   Barca were making hard work of overcoming their visitors but one moment of brilliance from Samuel Eto’o turned the tide for Barcelona.
   The African Player of the Year, and Spanish first division’s top scorer, broke the deadlock after 66 minutes when he picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and fired home an inch-perfect curling right foot shot.
   With their noses in front, Barca never looked back.
   The Catalan club’s highly-rated 18-year-old midfielder Lionel Messi got their second goal just a few seconds before the final whistle. Messi, who had only been on the field three minutes, got his first goal in Barca’s senior ranks when he sent a delicate chip from the side of the box over the outstretched arms of Albacete goalkeeper Raul Valbuena.
   Barcelona left the field to the inspiring sound of 91,000 fans chanting, ‘campeones, campeones,’ but Rijkaard refused to take anything for granted.
   Two late goals from Ronaldo saw Real Madrid win 2-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday, to notch up their sixth consecutive victory and ensure Rijkaard can’t claim the championship for at least another week. Sevilla stayed in third after their 2-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna, two outstanding early goals from Adriano and another teenage prodigy Jesus Navas clinching the victory.
   Manchester United flop Diego Forlan scored twice to spark Villarreal to a 4-0 thrashing of Getafe on Sunday, which meant they moved up to fourth place.
   The Uruguayan striker continued to put behind him the dismal memories of his stint at Old Trafford with two goals to take his tally for the Spanish League season to 20.
   The number is exactly double the number he managed in his three seasons playing in the English Premiership.
   Juan Pablo Sorin got Villarreal off to a quick start heading home a Quique Alvarez corner after 13 minutes. Forlan got his first of the day four minutes later, finishing off a neat cross from Luciano Figueroa.
   Santi Cazorla put Villarreal three up from outside the area barely a minute after the break, before Forlan scored again after 52 minutes. Espanyol saw their own hopes of playing in Europe’s top club competition for the first time take a knock when they went down 3-2 at struggling Real Mallorca.
   Hugo Ibarra got Espanyol’s opener after 10 minutes, a left-foot blast from beyond the border of the box but Alejandro Campano brought Mallorca level five minutes after half time.
   Espanyol were then reduced to 10 men just three minutes later after Alberto Lopo was sent off for a brutish tackle on Luis Garcia.
   At the other end of the table, Malaga secured a 1-0 win at Levante with Fernando Baiano getting the only goal of the game after 39 minutes. The result leaves Levante, last season’s second division champions, perched just above the bottom three and their coach Bernd Schuster was fired shortly after their latest loss.

Chelsea chief Peter Kenyon has confirmed they intend to open talks with manager Jose Mourinho about a new deal.
   It’s mooted Mourinho will be rewarded for this season’s achievements with a mega £5 million-a-year, ten-year contract.
   ‘He is quite exceptional and was from the first time we met him and talked about what we wanted to achieve at Chelsea,’ said Kenyon on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sports week programme.
   ‘Obviously, he came with unbelievable credentials in terms of having won the UEFA Cup, European Cup and Portuguese League.
   ‘Then from the first time the squad came together when we went to America last year, it was evident he was going to build a team.
   ‘There is such a spirit in the place. That has been a major issue and that’s down to him and the backroom staff.
   ‘He is also incredibly detailed in terms of his organisation and planning. Two weeks ago we talked and made plans for what we want to do each day during pre-season through to the start of the season. That sums him up.
   ‘I think, undoubtedly, he is the best manager in the Premiership. It’s hard to argue with that, and I think he has to be one of the best managers in the world.
   ‘He is certainly the best manager Chelsea could have had in order to achieve our plans in terms of success on the field over the next several years.’
   That is why Kenyon is determined to tie Mourinho to a longer deal than the three-year contract he signed when he first moved to Stamford Bridge last summer.
   Kenyon wants Mourinho to build a Chelsea dynasty over the next decade, adding, ‘He has a three-year contract, but right from the outset we spoke about him being here for the next 10 years because we’re talking about a building process, not a buying process.
   ‘He came to Chelsea on the basis of what we wanted to achieve over a long period of time. From that point of view it was always seen that his contract would go beyond the initial term.
   ‘The view is we’ve a terrific, young squad. We want to build a sustainable, successful team and that takes longer than one year and longer than the initial three years we talked about to Jose.
   ‘The view all along was ‘let’s work together on building Chelsea into a team of the next decade’.
   ‘So yes, we would like him to stay for 10 years, and we’ve said that all along. We’ve said that to him and we will have those discussions with Jose.
   ‘I don’t think there’s any issue about Jose being with Chelsea for several years to come. I can tell you Jose’s future is at Chelsea and will continue to be.’

Bayern Munich captured a record 18th Bundesliga championship Saturday, with Roy Makaay scoring three goals in a 4-0 victory over FC Kaiserslautern.
   Schalke was eliminated from the title race with a 3-3 tie against Bayer Leverkusen. Schalke, in second place, fell 11 points behind Bayern with three games to play.
   The Bayern players waited to see if Schalke scored a late goal, then ran onto Kaiserslautern’s field with giant Bavarian mugs and doused each other in beer.
   ‘It’s a real relief, a real joy to finally win a title,’ said Felix Magath, Bayern’s rookie coach.
   Bayern coasted to its sixth straight win after Michael Ballack scored on a low shot in the 19th minute off Makaay’s backheel pass. Makaay added goals in the 35th, 48th and 68th minutes.
   This was Bayern’s 19th German title. It won in 1932 before the Bundesliga was formed for the 1963-64 season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he could ‘look at’ the possibility of signing England captain David Beckham from Real Madrid this summer.
   The 29-year-old Beckham has this past season been linked with a move back to the Premiership since leaving Manchester United in 2003.
   Wenger is quoted as saying in the News of the World: ‘We will have some money to spend in the summer and if there was a chance to sign David Beckham, we would look at it.
   ‘If the situation arises that it is possible, why not?’
   Beckham played for Madrid in their 2-0 win over Real Sociedad yesterday, closing the gap on Spanish league leaders Barcelona to three points.

Portugal’s press hailed Jose Mourinho as a hero on Sunday after the Portuguese manager led Chelsea to their first English league title for 50 years with a 2-0 away win against Bolton Wanderers.
   ‘Mourinho is the champion, of course!’ screamed sports daily A Bola while rival Record headlined ‘Saint Jose Mourinho, the new patron saint of English football’.
   ‘The victory of ‘our’ Chelsea is a Viagra for national self-esteem,’ tabloid 24 horas wrote in an editorial titled ‘The King’.

Real Madrid’s two-goal hero Ronaldo says he can catch Barcelona rival Samuel Eto’o to claim this season’s top scorers trophy.
   The Brazilian’s brace against Real Sociedad kept Madrid within touching distance of leaders Barca and he said: ‘I feel good.
   ‘The truth is that the only thing we can do is win our games, so we left San Sebastián happy after working so hard for the win.
   ‘I believe that its still possible to catch Etoo in the goalscoring table. I hope not to experience any bad form from here to end of the season, since I had a time like that awhile ago. Sociedad was a very complicated game for us. We have been patient, since the trainer told us to be. Real were very strong in the first-half, but their defence allowed us to have options in the second half.’