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Chelsea caretaker boss Roberto Di Matteo conceded that he doesn’t know if Didier Drogba will be fit in time to face Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Di Matteo not sure if Drogba will be fit for Chelsea's trip to Barcelona

The Blues' interim boss is uncertain whether the Ivorian will be ready in time for the Champions League semi-final second leg at Camp Nou after missing the London derby

The Ivory Coast international scored the winner in Chelsea’s 1-0 first-leg win in the semi-final clash, but is struggling with a knee injury.

Drogba missed the London derby against Arsenal on Saturday, and Di Matteo told The Guardian: "At this moment of time, I don't know [whether the striker will be fit in time for the return with Barca]."
Di Matteo explained after his team's goalless draw at Arsenal that the whole Chelsea squad will be looked at ahead of the second leg with the Spanish giants.
"We'll have to assess the players over the course of the weekend. He [Drogba] has an injury on his knee, which is why he did not play here, so it's whether the progression on this injury will be quick enough [for him to feature]."
With Drogba sidelined, Di Matteo started with strikers Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge and Salomon Kalou against the Gunners.
12:36

Drogba wants to stay at Chelsea and will not play for another English club, says agent

The Ivorian has been in resurgent form for the Blues, scoring the winner against Barcelona, but his future is still uncertain with his contract due to expire in the summer

The Zimbabwe match-fixing committee has announced that some accused players have failed to cooperate with their investigation and face punishment by Fifa.

Trouble ahead as cooperation lacking in corruption saga

Some of the Zimbabwean players facing allegations of match-fixing have failed to comply with requests to give evidence.

A total of 98 players and 17 officials are accused of accepting money to lose games on national team tours between 2007 and 2009.
The allegations have rocked Zimbabwean football, as players under investigation have been barred from playing for the national team until their names are cleared.
"Some of the others [players] have not been cooperative," said Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, chairman of an independent committee that has begun conducting hearings with the players.
"We have faced obstacles from certain clubs who may have told players not to respond."
Speaking at a news conference, Justice Ebrahim said that players and officials who refuse to give evidence will face the full weight of Fifa's statutes, which include a fine of up to $10,000 and empower the committee to reach a verdict using other evidence.
Justice Ebrahim said that the committee, which was set up by the Zimbabwe FA, expects in the coming week to release a list of around 30 players that it believes are innocent of the allegations and should be exonerated.
He also revealed that while committee was hoping to finish its work by the end of April, it is - in fact - going to take much longer.
"We have had numerous meetings. We are doing our best, but there is still a long way to go," he said.
"We are well advanced in our work, and we have a good idea of who the ringleaders are, but there are people externally that we need to talk to.
"Corruption and dishonesty in sport is a cancer, and we need to play our part in combating such activity."

Cisse does it: Newcastle accelerate towards the Champions League as new faces take Toon to the next level

Exciting times beckon on Tyneside but club owner Mike Ashley must ensure star players and manager Alan Pardew stay put, as well as sanctioning new signings for European adventure

Newcastle United supporters are dreaming of a return to the Champions League, but club owner Mike Ashley will have to make sure the Magpies do not become victims of their own success.
The Tyneside club are now nicely poised to secure a place among European football’s elite following a 3-0 win over Stoke City that gave them a sixth Premier League victory on the spin.

Player Ratings: Newcastle 3-0 Stoke
Pardew: Top-four spot would be astonishing
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While everyone else in the upper echelons of English football have been faltering, Newcastle’s rise has been inexorable over the last few weeks and a club who had been readying themselves for Europa League football are now having to put those plans on hold, with a money-spinning Champions League adventure beckoning instead.
Whatever happens, there are bound to be comings and goings on Tyneside in the close season, but the most important thing for sports retail tycoon Ashley will be to keep his key assets out of reach of Newcastle’s rivals following their eye-catching exploits.

On the field and off it, the stock of his key employees has risen massively throughout this season, but that applies most to manager Alan Pardew, whose services are bound to be coveted this summer.
Pardew does his best to deflect praise for this season’s upturn in fortunes to others around him but there can be no doubting the fact that he has been crucial to Newcastle’s upward mobility.
And that means that even though he has more than four years of his Newcastle contract remaining he will be coveted by other leading clubs - not only in England but abroad as well.

Newcastle fans paid homage to Pardew like they did back in the day with Toon idols Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson - and rightly so because he makes everything work and his efforts are bound to have aroused interest from big hitters.
Some of his players are also sure to be targeted this summer, with Cheickh Tiote and Tim Krul already being linked to Chelsea, while 16-goal Demba Ba will also able to exploit a £7 million escape clause in a contract that Newcastle will be keen to re-negogiate.

And with 11 goals to his credit already in a Newcastle shirt, who wouldn't be looking at Senegalese striker Papiss Cisse?
The Newcastle hierarchy are already plotting behind the scenes for Europe but they will be mindful of the fact that Pardew’s team have done so well because of the spirit that is clearly evident in the way his players go about their business.
With the possible exception of Hatem Ben Arfa, there are no real superstars in their ranks and that policy of avoiding the stellar signings will continue on Tyneside whether Newcastle make it into the Champions League or not.
That doesn’t mean that they do no need reinforcements, but it will be a case of evolution rather than revolution at the Sports Direct Arena.
There will be no spending spree. There will be no splurge. Newcastle will continue to unearth gems in France and the Netherlands, and maybe start looking further afield.
No one outside the Newcastle boardroom knows how much Ashley would be willing to spend should his club book a place at Europe’s top table. But the general consensus is that he will be prepared to spend £10 million if they have to make do with Europa League and double that if Champions League football comes back to the North-East of England.

Newcastle may have defied expectations this season but it is clear that they could do with a few additions to the squad to make sure that they are not just a flash-in-the-pan team.
They need strengthening at right-back, where Danny Simpson has struggled to silence his doubters; and at centre-half where they need a top-class operator to complement Fabricio Coloccini. Plus they need extra quality on the left wing where the hard-working Jonas Gutierrez flatters to deceive. With that in mind, Newcastle are being linked with PSV Eindhoven full-back Erik Pieters (Davide Santon could switch from left-back to replace Simpson) and FC Twente centre-half Douglas.
And after the Nigerian turned down a new contract, they will no doubt have another attempt to sign Victor Moses this summer - whatever happens to relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic.
Otherwise Newcastle will be looking for up-and-coming talent and squad players to back up the likes of Tiote and Yohan Cabaye, who look peerless in central midfield.

Newcastle will need extra depth next season to fight on four fronts, and they will need to bring in new players because their academy does not seem to be producing the required talent at the moment, a situation that is bound to be a cause for concern.
Ashley has told chief scout Graham Carr that he wants rising stars with a re-sale value to come to Newcastle rather than the megastars such as Michael Owen and Patrick Kluivert, whose arrivals saw the club haemorrhage money under the previous regime.
There is a saying that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it - and that certainly applies to Newcastle.
They are progressing nicely under Pardew, who knows enough about the signing of megastars from his time at West Ham United - when Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano upset the applecart - to know that no one should get too carried away by a place in the Champions League.
Yes, the fans should get excited by the prospect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi coming to Tyneside. But Pardew and Ashley are too astute to live the dream in the way that Leeds United did, with disastrous consequences, a decade ago.

Top Scorers

	Goals	Penalties
Robin van Persie Striker Arsenal	27	2
Wayne Rooney Striker Manchester United	26	6
Kun Agüero Striker Manchester City	22	3
Aiyegbeni Yakubu Striker Blackburn	16	4
Demba Ba Striker Newcastle United	16	2

10:30

Enough is enough: Something must be done after Morosini becomes 11th cardiac-related death in football since 2010

The Italian's death last weekend has once again asked questions of the ability of world sport to look after athletes who are at risk, with more and more players becoming victims

13:08

Tiote: My future is at Newcastle

The Magpies midfielder has dismissed any talk of a move away from Tyneside and is determined to help his side finish fourth to qualify for next season's Champions League

07:06

Arsenal & Liverpool among '12 leading clubs' targeting Chelsea star Kalou

Revitalised Ivory Coast international will hold fresh contract talks with senior Stamford Bridge officials within weeks as his future remains up in the air

CAN: South Africa 2013

Libyan players celebrate qualifying for the 2012 Nations Cup

Libya enter Fifa rankings top 50

Libya have broken into the top 50 of the Fifa world rankings for the first time.

The Mediterranean Knights were given a ranking of 46, just two months after their first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations since 1982.
Ivory Coast remain the top-ranked African side, unchanged in 15th place, while Ghana move up one spot to 22nd.
Algeria, Mali, Nations Cup winners Zambia, and Gabon complete the African representation in the top 50.
The Libyans move up nine positions from their previous ranking, as do Egypt, who are up to 55th in the world and eighth on the continent.
Tunisia and Nigeria complete the top 10-ranked African sides overall.
Libya exited the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon at the group stage, but earned a creditable 2-1 win over Senegal and a 2-2 draw against eventual winners Zambia .
They face a two-legged play-off in September and October to qualify for the 2013 finals in South Africa.
World and European champions Spain continue to lead the global rankings as they prepare to defend their continental crown at Euro 2012.
Germany, meanwhile, move up to second, with Uruguay earning their highest-ever position, in third place.
The monthly rankings weigh all international matches over a rolling four-year cycle.

Legend Milla rounds on Fecafoot

Roger Milla believes poor management has led to Cameroon losing their status as a continental superpower.

The former African champions have been in freefall for some time now, tumbling down the Fifa world rankings to an all-time low of 66.
The Indomitable Lions were also absent from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations - a tournament they have won four times.
Milla told BBC Sport that the team's decline is a microcosm of the problems facing Fecafoot - the body responsible for running the game in the country.
"We need to change the present situation in Cameroon football in which certain people have taken the team hostage," Milla said.
"A new approach to the way the team is run is needed to give opportunities to new players," he added.
The former Indomitable Lion said unless changes are made at the top of Cameroon's football pyramid, the national team will continue to struggle.
He said that football is such an important feature of Cameroonian life that the problems affecting the administration of the sport need to be resolved urgently.
"There is a system where players are selected on sentiment; if a player is not in the good books of the federation, then he's not called to the national team.
"We must select competent players to inject new life in the team and turn things around.
"I want an impartial federation; some of the people in office should quit and make room for competent persons capable of change," said the 1987 African Footballer of the Year.
Milla, who took the 1990 World Cup finals by storm, has often clashed with football authorities in his homeland, accusing them of hindering progress.

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Bruno Metsu and Pierre Lechantre have emerged as the front runners to fill the vacant role of Senegal coach.

President of the Senegalese Football Federation, Augustin Senghor, revealed the pair are the preferred candidates from a shortlist of five.
"These are the two that best meet the criteria and have the most experience among those on the list," he said.
"Hopefully we can reach an agreement quickly with these coaches who are in pole position."
Metsu was Senegal coach from 2000-2002 and would be a popular choice, having led the country to their first World Cup finals in 2002 and a stunning performance at the tournament where they beat France in the group stage and went on reach the quarter-finals.
The Frenchman, 58, is currently without a team after he was sacked by Qatari club Al Garafa.
His compatriot, Lechantre, also has an impressive record in African football. The 62-year-old, who is the current boss of Qatari side Al Arabi, coached Cameroon to victory in the 2000 African Cup of Nations.
"Both have extensive experience in Africa and in Asian countries," added Senghor.
"We do not want to say that everything is final. We also have three more names to consider, who are less experienced but all are coaches who want to prove something.
"We believe we can make a final choice by next week."
Senegal have been without a coach since sacking Amara Traore shortly after their first round exit from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.