Ancelotti
Real
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti claims he will turn the down chance to
sign Barcelona forward Lionel Messi because he already has Cristiano
Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has received widespread acclaim
for his performances this season, including a stunning hat-trick for
his country in the second leg of their World Cup play-off with Sweden,
which sealed their place at Brazil 2014.
The 28-year-old has also excelled at
club level too and is a firm favourite to lift the Ballon d’Or in
January, and Ancelotti says he will strengthen in other positions of his
side rather than bring in the Argentine to the Bernabeu.
“If I could sign one player for Real
Madrid, it wouldn’t be Messi, I’d rather reinforce another position,” he
told Italian broadcaster Radio Capital.
“We have Cristiano, who needs Messi? God gave him (Ronaldo) a special gift.”
However, Ancelotti did joke that the
capital outfit might be interested in bringing Messi to the club should
Barca decide to sell the Argentine.
He added, “If Barca sell Messi, they should call us.”
Meanwhile, Spain’s competition
commission has fined broadcaster Mediapro, Real Madrid, Barcelona,
Sevilla and Racing Santander a total of £12.4m for breaking rules
regulating the sale of television rights, Reuters reports.
Mediapro was fined €6.5m (£5.3m), Real
€3.9m (£3.2m), Barca €3.6m (£2.9m) and Sevilla and Santander €900,000
(£744,000) and €30,000 (£25,000) respectively, the commission said on
Monday.
The fines were levied because the
broadcaster and the four clubs had agreed four-year contracts for TV
rights, a year longer than the three years allowed.
Mediapro said it and the clubs had acted “in good faith” and the contracts complied with Spanish law.
The broadcaster will appeal the ruling
while taking steps to ensure it does not have to pay the fines while a
decision is pending.
Mediapro and Canal Plus, part of the Prisa media group, share the rights to broadcast La Liga matches in Spain.
Unlike in other major European leagues,
the sale of TV rights is not subject to collective bargaining and clubs
agree deals individually with broadcasters.
Real and Barca, the world’s two richest
clubs by income, between them take about half the total TV revenue for
La Liga of around €700m (£579m).
Koscielny banned
Defender Laurent Koscielny will be able
to feature from the start of France’s World Cup campaign after being
given just a one-match suspension for his red card in the play-off
against Ukraine.
A FIFA spokesman told AFP that Koscielny had been given the ban, which was served in the second leg of the play-off, which France won 3-2 on aggregate.
Koscielny was red-carded for violent
conduct at the end of Les Bleus’ 2-0 defeat to Ukraine in Kiev and there
had been fears that he would be given a lengthy suspension that might
have prevented him from going to Brazil.
However, he now seems certain to be included in Didier Deschamps’ squad for the finals.
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