MASSA CONFIDENT OF BEATING KIMI

Felipe Massa concedes being the reigning F1 champion may give Kimi Raikkonen a psychological edge this year but that doesn't mean he's not going to fight for the title himself.

Raikkonen clinched the 2007 Drivers' Championship by one point over McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton while Massa finished fourth in the standings after being hit by reliability problems throughout the season.

But while the Brazilian admits winning the title last year may give Raikkonen the upper hand, he is confident he can beat his team-mate to the Drivers' crown this season.

"There's always an advantage when you win something, as it happened to me when I won my first race," he said.

"But from a performance point of view we are equal: to become World Champion you need everything, luck too, and he had more than me.

"But this year I feel strong and motivated as ever because I know I have everything to fight on an equal footing."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

GIGGS BRINGS PAST INTO FOCUS

Ryan Giggs may be one of the heroes of the modern Manchester United but he insists his outlook has been shaped by the club's history.

Welsh winger Giggs came through the ranks at Old Trafford and has always been aware of what went before him, ever since Sir Matt Busby and Sir Bobby Charlton used to watch him as a child.

The poignancy of United's past comes into sharp focus this week as the club commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, in which eight of their players were killed.

Giggs said: "Sir Bobby saw me at The Cliff (United's old training ground) when I was 14. He also watched David Beckham and Paul Scholes.

"When I played in a tournament in Switzerland, Sir Matt travelled out to watch it. You could see the love and affection for him.

"That has an effect on you because these are great people.

"They are legends who don't have to do that sort of thing but they enjoy it.

"They want to do it and that's been ingrained in them from a young age, probably since Sir Bobby was 14.

"Fans also want to see young players coming through and do well which we do on a regular basis at this club."

The disaster and loss of a generation of great players - the Busby Babes - devastated the club.

But Busby, the manager who was seriously injured at Munich, went on to rebuild the team and won the European Cup 10 years later.

Giggs, who has become the most decorated player in United's history under present boss Sir Alex Ferguson, believes today's team has a duty to entertain in the manner of those of the past.

"We have to carry on the legacy. If you are representing Manchester United, you have to play in the right manner, excite supporters and wherever you go, get people off their seats," he said.

"That has got to go on because that is one of the things that sets this club apart. You never stand still. It always goes forward.

"There's Juventus and Barcelona but Manchester United always seemed to have that much more support and seem that much more special.

"Of course that is down to history and what Sir Matt did."

Source : www.sportinglife.com

HARRY WAITS ON BENJANI VERDICT

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp insists he will welcome back Benjani Mwaruwari, if the striker's move to Manchester City does not go through.

Benjani's future will be decided later on Monday as the Premier League attempt to unravel the controversial details of the striker's botched move to Manchester City.

The Zimbabwean, the league's third top scorer with 12 goals, was due to complete a £7.6million transfer to City on Thursday night - but the deal failed to go through after the player turned up several hours late.

Pompey, who claimed the paperwork had all gone through and that Benjani should be a City player - signed Jermain Defoe from Tottenham as a £7million replacement.

Both clubs were in negotiations with each other on Friday to try to find an acceptable settlement - and the Premier League are expected to decide the outcome on Monday.

However, Redknapp insists he will not have a problem if the 29-year-old returns to Fratton Park, even though Defoe became an instant hero with a debut goal in Saturday's 1-1 draw with title-chasing Chelsea.

Redknapp said: "I feel for Benjani because at the moment he seems to be the big loser in all this, but hopefully it will all be sorted out tomorrow and I think he will end up as a Manchester City player.

"If not, from a greedy football manager's point of view, I'd be delighted to get Benjani back.

"I didn't want to lose him in the first place but, of course, I had to because it is good business to sell a 29-year-old and get in a lad of 25 who is always going to get you goals.

However, Benjani will face a fight for first-team action - as well as Defoe Redknapp also has John Utaka, Kanu, David Nugent and on-loan Milan Baros on the books.

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INTER EIGHT CLEAR AS ROMA SLUMP

Inter Milan restored their eight-point advantage at the top of the Serie A on Sunday as they beat Empoli 1-0 and nearest challengers Roma crashed to a shock 3-0 defeat at Siena.

Inter's victory came despite them being forced to play most of the match with 10 men, and after Empoli were awarded a late penalty.

A debatable spot-kick on 34 minutes, fired home by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was enough to secure an unconvincing win for the Nerazzurri.

Patrick Vieira was sent off shortly afterwards and Inter must have feared the worst when Empoli were given a penalty for a foul on Luca Saudati seven minutes from time.

But the veteran striker's effort was saved by Cesar to ensure Inter took all three points.

The icing on the cake of another Inter victory was learning struggling Siena had torn up the form book as they romped to only their second home win of the season to deal a devastating blow to Roma's title dreams.

Simone Vergassola, a Max Tonetto own goal and Mario Frick condemned them to their first defeat since September.

The shock triumph lifted Siena, who lost the reverse fixture by the same scoreline earlier in the season, out of the drop-zone.

But it could prove the final nail in the coffin for Roma's Scudetto chances as they conceded as many goals in 90 minutes at the Stadio Artemio Franchi as they had in their past eight Serie A matches.

Elsewhere, Cagliari gave their best performance of the season as they held Juventus to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

The rock-bottom visitors have scored the fewest goals in Serie A, but took a surprise lead through Paolo Bianco on 56 minutes.

But their joy was short-lived as the advantage was to last a matter of seconds before Pavel Nedved pulled the Bianconeri level to ultimately earn them a point.

Mohamed Sissoko made his Serie A debut for Juve but it was Cagliari who attracted all the attention and came close to pulling off a memorable victory.

AC Milan brought Fiorentina's four-match winning run to an end as they scraped a 1-0 victory thanks to a second-half goal from substitute Alexandre Pato.

The hosts will feel bitterly disappointed with the defeat as they held the visitors under siege for long periods and always looked the more dangerous.

But Pato's fourth goal in six matches proved decisive, although the young star was forced off late on after picking up an injury.

Lazio beat Sampdoria 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico to end a five-game winless run.

Stefano Mauri opened the scoring for the hosts on 37 minutes before Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano equalised on the stroke of half-time.

But Tommaso Rocchi struck 13 minutes from the end to hand the Romans all three points.

Cristiano Lucarelli's missed penalty proved costly as Parma slipped to a 3-2 defeat against Atalanta.

The striker initially scored the 34th-minute spot-kick but the referee ordered it to be retaken because of players encroaching in the area and his weak second attempt was saved, squandering the chance to draw level after Maximiliano Pellegrino had given the visitors an 18th-minute lead.

Lucarelli made amends by equalising five minutes later but Gianpaolo Bellini and Sergio Floccari added second-half goals to seal the win.

Andrea Gasbarroni scored a penalty in the last minute but it was of little consolation to the hosts, who are now 15th in Serie A.

Torino gave themselves some breathing space in the relegation battle with an impressive 3-1 win at fellow strugglers Reggina.

Alessandro Rosina put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Roberto Stellone doubled their advantage 10 minutes before half-time.

Nicola Amoruso pulled one back for Reggina after 59 minutes, but Rosina netted his second spot-kick of the game seven minutes later to settle the contest.

Marco Borriello's 12th goal of the season earned Genoa all three points as they defeated Catania 2-1.

Sacramento Danilo gave the home side the lead in the 13th minute and they had chances to increase their advantage before a Cesare Bovo own goal in the 59th minute brought Catania level.

But Borriello won and converted a 71st-minute penalty to seal the win.

On Saturday, high-flying Udinese lost 3-1 to Napoli.

Napoli took the lead against Udinese through a Cristian Zapata own goal in the third minute, only for Simone Pepe to equalise five minutes later.

Napoli were then reduced to 10 men when Paolo Cannavaro was sent off, but Udinese could not make the most of their numerical advantage as they had a player of their own red carded in the 59th minute.

Pepe was the man to go and Udinese could not recover as Ezequiel Lavezzi netted twice in quick succession (74 and 75) to seal victory for Napoli.

Palermo returned to winning ways by seeing off Livorno 1-0.

Goalkeepers Alberto Fontana and Marco Amelia were in stunning form, stopping nearly everything that came at them.

Livorno even missed a penalty before Fabrizio Miccoli found the back of the net in the 76th minute to earn the Sicilians all three points and get them off to a good start in February after a torrid January.

Francesco Guidolin's side had lost all three games since the turn of the year, but their first win in 2008 puts them back in the race for a place in Europe.

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UNITED LEAVE IT LATE, BUT GUNNERS ON TOP

Carlos Tevez scored a dramatic injury-time equaliser to give Manchester United a point as they drew 1-1 with Tottenham but surrendered their place at the top of the Premier League to Arsenal.

Dimitar Berbatov looked like he had given Juande Ramos' outfit all three points with his 14th goal of the season in the 21st minute at White Hart Lane.

But an outswinging corner from Luis Nani found Tevez inside the six-yard box and his shot took a deflection off Michael Dawson before it went past goalkeeper Radek Cerny.

The result sees Sir Alex Ferguson's side fall two points behind Arsenal who claimed a 3-1 win over Manchester City in the day's early kick-off.

Emmanuel Adebayor was the hero for the Gunners at Eastlands as he struck twice to down City.

The Togo International opened the scoring for Arsene Wenger's side in the ninth minute with a close-range finish after good work down the right by Bacary Sagna.

Adebayor then had a hand in Arsenal's second in the 26th minute when he headed Gael Clichy's cross back across goal for Eduardo Da Silva, who produced a superb finish on the turn.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side pulled one back through Gelson Fernandes two minutes later but Adebayor hit his 21st goal of the season in the 88th minute to seal the points for the Gunners.

Jermain Defoe paid back part of his transfer fee after he netted on his debut to give Portsmouth a point in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Fratton Park.

Nicolas Anelka had put Chelsea 1-0 up with a close-range finish in the 55th minute after good work by Joe Cole down the right flank.

But former Spurs striker Defoe seized on Milan Baros' header and directed his shot into the bottom-left corner of the net to pull Pompey level nine minutes later.

Emanuel Villa headed a dramatic equaliser two minutes from time to give Derby a point in a 1-1 draw with Birmingham at St Andrews.

Sebastian Larsson's 68th-minute strike had given the Blues the lead but Villa latched on to a cross from Dean Leacock to equalise for Paul Jewell's side.

Reading remain without a win in 2008 after they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Bolton at the Madejski Stadium.

Kevin Nolan made amends for Matthew Taylor's 23rd-minute penalty miss when he smashed home Kevin Davies' knockdown past goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann 10 minutes later to open the scoring.

Gary Megson's side doubled their advantage in the 58th minute when Heidar Helguson latched on to Taylor's cross before he stroked the ball home.

Wigan climbed out of drop zone after Kevin Kilbane headed home a Ryan Taylor free-kick on the stroke of half-time to give them a 1-0 victory over West Ham at the JJB Stadium.

Elsewhere Blackburn and Everton played out a goalless draw at Ewood Park.

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