Uzbekistan goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov claims he does not need to practise penalties as Australia will not make it that far on Tuesday.

Uzbekistan face the Socceroos in the Asian Cup semi-finals on Tuesday evening, with the winner set to face either Japan or South Korea in the final of Asia’s premier football tournament.

Australia came within two minutes of a penalty shootout in Saturday’s quarter-final against Iraq before Harry Kewell nodded the Socceroos into the last four in the 118th minute.

But Nesterov has shrugged off suggestions he should be practising stopping penalties ahead of the game, insisting Uzbekistan will finish off their opponents well before then.

“No. We are not practising any penalties. I am confident that we can wrap it up within the allotted time,” the shot-stopper told the Asian Football Confederation’s official website.

“They are also humans like us. We are not afraid of anyone.”

The 27-year-old, who has conceded four goals in four games in the tournament so far, pinpointed accuracy at set-pieces as the key to Uzbekistan reaching the Asian Cup final, and added that he believes the Central Asian nation have the quality to take the title over Japan or South Korea.

“There is no doubt about it. We have to be very accurate (when it comes to set-pieces),” he said.

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“And we have to keep ball possession. If we play our normal passing game it should be okay. We should not make silly mistakes.”

“There is a belief that we can win the title. The mood is very good and everybody is looking forward to the match.”

Sporting Lisbon coughed up a 2-0 lead to draw with Olhanense, while Uniao de Leiria beat Nacional to move to fifth on the Liga Sagres table.

Heavyweights Sporting seemed to be cruising after much-travelled striker Helder Postiga scored his second goal on 62 minutes with a close-range finish.

But Brazilian defender Ismaily pulled a goal back and Sporting’s Daniel Carrico put the ball through his own net to have Olhanense level within four minutes.

Both sides had their chances to win the match, with Sporting’s veteran midfielder Maniche sending a long-range strike whistling over the cross bar as the game ticked into extra time.

But – save Olhanense striker Adilson’s red card for a high boot in the dying moments – there was no late drama as the game finished 2-2.

Sporting stay third on the table, while Olhanense move into a credible seventh.

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In the earlier game, a 43rd-minute goal from Indonesian forward Fabricio – his first for the club since his January move from PSMS Medan in his homeland – was enough to secure all three points for Uniao de Leiria against Nacional.

The win means Leiria leap over Nacional into fifth, with the latter sinking to seventh.

West Ham are likely to field a weakened team in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday.And that could give Championship side Burnley the chance of an upset at Upton Park.With the Hammers locked in a relegation battle, manager Avram Grant is unlikely to risk influential players in the last 16 tie.Captain Scott Parker, as well as the likes of Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge and Demba Ba, could be benched.Robbie Keane is out injured, but Germany international Thomas Hitzlsperger is in line to make his debut after a long spell on the sidelines.Grant steered Portsmouth to the FA Cup final last year, but said on Friday that English Premier League survival for West Ham must come first.”The FA Cup is always exciting,” he said. “After a few games you can be in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.””I like the FA Cup, but of course our first priority is the league like every other team in the league.””It’s a good competition. I like this competition. It gives you a break from the league which is also good.””It’s always good to play at home but I know this won’t be an easy game. This team [Burnley], for them the FA Cup is everything.””This is an opportunity for them to get everyone to love them and I know from the past that teams can come from the Championship and give it their all. We will prepare ourselves for a very difficult game.”With eight days between the 3-3 draw at West Bromwich Albion and the clash with Burnley, Grant used the break for a team-bonding exercise.”It was good for the team spirit and was very successful,” said Grant, whose side have won nine consecutive cup games against lower league opposition.”We did go-karting and many other things. It was nice. It doesn’t matter who won, but it was nice to watch them enjoy themselves in the middle of everything.”Burnley, relegated from the EPL last season, are chasing promotion and face a fixture pile-up, but boss Eddie How is taking the game seriously.”We’d love to continue the run and go as far as we can,” he said.”We’ll look to enjoy it. I don’t think we’ve got an awful lot to lose.”We want to go there and put on a performance against a Premier League club who, despite their league position, are a good Premier League club.”I think it’s a nice distraction and a different kind of pressure with the cup games, it’s probably a nice release for us.””We’ll look to enjoy it. I don’t think we’ve got an awful lot to lose.”

Harry Redknapp confirmed Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart as likely starters for Tottenham’s Champions League clash with AC Milan.Bale returned from a back injury in his side’s 3-3 draw with Wolverhampton in the English Premier League on Sunday, putting in some typical barnstorming runs that will give the Welshman plenty of confident ahead of Tottenham’s last-16, second-leg match against the Serie A giants on Wednesday at White Hart Lane.Spurs took the first leg 1-0 at the San Siro on February 15, with a strike from Peter Crouch handing Tottenham a crucial lead going into the second leg.Redknapp said Bale pulled up well from the 20-minute substitute stint, and added that van der Vaart is also a chance to return from a calf injury.”Yes, there’s every chance (of Bale starting). He came on and made a big difference. He seems okay. We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” Redknapp said.”When he came on and started with the ball it was exciting and we’ve missed that in the last five or six weeks.”Van der Vaart missed Spurs’ league matches with Blackpool and Wolves but Redknapp said he had his fingers crossed the playmaking Dutchman would be ready to go.”Yes, I’m hoping he will be fit. We’ll be positive. We’ll play an attacking team. If Lennon’s okay we’ll play with Lennon and probably Bale and Crouchy’s had a fantastic European campaign as well,” he said.

Stuttgart claimed a crucial win while Hannover heaped further misery on Bayern Munich on Saturday, cruising to a 3-1 win at AWD-Arena.Mohammed Abdellaoue opened the scoring for the hosts after 16 minutes and Konstantin Rausch doubled their lead six minutes after half-time, before Dutch ace Arjen Robben pulled a goal back for Bayern on 55 minutes.Sergio Pinto wrapped up the win for Hannover just after the hour mark, and things got worse for the reigning champions when Brazilian defender Breno was given his marching orders by referee Jochen Drees after 73 minutes.The loss is sure to increase the pressure on embattled Bayern boss Louis van Gaal, with German media rife with speculation over the Dutchman’s future before the game.Elsewhere on Saturday, Nuremberg climbed to sixth place after a 5-0 drubbing of St Pauli thanks to a virtuoso performance from striker Christian Eigler, who bagged four goals after Philipp Wollscheid opened the scoring.Stuttgart lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Schalke courtesy of a 15th-minute penalty from Zdravko Kuzmanovic, after Schalke defender Benedikt Hoewedes was sent off for a deliberate handball in the box.Bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach also did their survival hopes no harm with a 2-0 home win over Hoffenheim with Filip Daems and Igor De Camargo doing the scoring, as Kaiserslautern slipped into the bottom three after drawing 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Previously heavily linked with Chelsea, Neymar showed yesterday exactly why he is one of the world’s most wanted players and would be a great addition to the Premier League. Playing in an international friendly between Brazil and Scotland at the home of Arsenal, The Emirates Stadium, Neymar scored twice in a 2-0 victory. However, there was also an incident that soured the contest somewhat.

Neymar has accused supporters of racially abusing him after a banana was thrown onto the pitch, which was removed by Liverpool’s Lucas. After the match, Neymar said “I feel great and scored two but what happened with the banana is sad. I don’t want to make a big deal of it. I was running down the touchline in the second half and saw it but I didn’t see where it came from.” The Brazilian further stated “They were jeering me a lot, even when I was about to kick the penalty. The entire stadium was jeering. This atmosphere of racism is totally sad. We leave our country to play here and something like this happens. It’s sad. I’d rather not even talk about it, to keep the subject from escalating.”

So is racism in football still a big problem in England despite the excellent work done by campaigns like Kick it Out? Hopefully this incident won’t have a major bearing on his decision about whether to come to the Premier League or not in the future. Here is footage of the action in question…

Two teams with extremely different situations but both managers could be out the exit door as Wigan travel to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will be seething from the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United mid-week in the Champions League and may take out their frustrations on bottom placed Wigan.

Carlo Ancelotti could name Alex on the bench following his return from injury, whilst Yossi Benayoun could feature in the team as Chelsea desperately seek a creative playmaker in their team.

With Fernando Torres starting on the bench in the last league game at Stoke, Ancelotti could opt to rotate his team again and rest some players for the 2nd leg battle at Old Trafford next week. With the title ambitions now an outside chance, all focus may be on the game against United if the Italian is to save his job and Chelsea’s season.

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Wigan boss Roberto Martinez will be looking for his side to pick up as many points away from home if they are to get out of the drop zone, but with only 2 away wins all season, another one is highly unlikely to come at Chelsea.

The Latics have no fresh injury news which will help their chances of perhaps causing an upset, while the Chelsea team may be distracted by their European commitments. Although if Chelsea’s 8-0 destruction of Wigan last season is anything to go by, this might be another drubbing, who knows, maybe Torres will get his first goal for the Blues!?

Match Prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Wigan Athletic

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Chelsea are 6/1 to win 3-0 against Wigan and Fernando Torres is 15/4 to score first!

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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho launched a remarkable outburst at the ‘power’ of Barcelona over referees after Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat.In the third of four El Clasicos, Barcelona took the advantage after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie at the Bernabeu, courtesy of a stunning Lionel Messi brace.

Messi’s masterclass ensures the task of Mourinho guiding Real through the second leg at Camp Nou next Tuesday and into the final at Wembley is a tough one.

“The return game is mission impossible,” former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager Mourinho said.”Barcelona has qualified for the final.”

But while he conceded the tie to Pep Guardiola’s side, Mourinho launched a vicious tirade over the performance of the match officials, accusing them of handing his opponents preferential treatment.

The Portuguese suggested Pepe’s sending off in the 61 minute for an untimely lunge on Dani Alves was a result of outside forces gifting the Catalans an upper hand.

“Sometimes I feel disgusted about this football world of ours. (And) yes, we have already been knocked out,” said Mourinho, who himself was sent to the stands for his protests over Pepe’s dismissal.

“No one has any chance against Barca. Where does all this power come from? To win like this is very nasty.”

“We had the intention to keep the game at 0-0, then bring on a striker, then a third phase with a number 10 behind three forwards. But the ref didn’t allow it.”

The reigning Champions League winning coach also alluded to the controversial circumstances with which eventual 2008/09 champions Barca qualified for the final after knocking out Chelsea in the semi-final, likening his former side’s plight to his own.

“I would be ashamed if I was Barca, how they won Champions League in 2009 – (it) was the scandal of Stamford Bridge,” he said.

“(And now) this is the scandal of the Bernabeu.”

“But I just do not understand why Barcelona always receives the help of the referee. All my life I will be asking myself this question, and one day I hope to receive an answer.”

“I don’t understand why Barcelona have this power. It happened two years ago to Chelsea (in the 2009 semi-finals), almost to my Inter last year, and also to Arsenal this year.”

“Why do the opponents of Barcelona always have a man sent off? Where does this power come from? Maybe it is to give more publicity to UNICEF, maybe because of the power of (Spanish federation president Jose Angel) Villar in UEFA.”

After being rewarded with a permanent contract at his beloved Liverpool, manager Kenny Dalglish said his work has only just begun.Dalglish has been a revelation since assuming the caretaker manager role at Anfield after Roy Hodgson’s sacking in January, and the 60-year-old has now received a permanent three-year contract.

Liverpool has won 10 out of 16 their Premier League games during Dalglish’s tenure, putting them in good position to secure a Europa League, and the manager credited the club’s young players with helping to turn their season around.

“It is always refreshing for a football club to see young players coming through and I think the first team players enjoy seeing the youngsters coming through and training with them,” Dalglish said.

“It gives them a lift. We’ve been delighted with the Academy.”

“When I and my backroom team came in we never set any expectations except to do the best we possibly could in every game. I never set any targets, but obviously we had to improve and we have done.”

“We have not finished the season yet, there are still a couple of games to go and the same principles will apply. We have a game on Sunday that we want to get the most we possibly can out of.”

His permanent role will kick off at home to Tottenham on Sunday with Liverpool looking to cement fifth place with a positive result against the side two points below them in the table.

Last time out Liverpool thrashed Fulham 5-2 with Maxi Rodriguez scoring his second hat-trick in three games, and Dalglish said his players should be recognised for their efforts in the second half of the season.

“It would be nice to beat Tottenham. I think that, without saying we are not going to win, if the players do not get credit for what they have done so far – irrespective of what the next two results are going to be – then I think there is something wrong,” he said.

“They have done fantastically well and have probably gone over everybody’s expectations and so deserve huge credit. In the last two games we will be trying our best to get a positive result.”

Liverpool will be without defenders Martin Kelly (shoulder), Fabio Aurelio (thigh) and Daniel Agger (knee), midfielder Steven Gerrard (groin) and forward Milan Jovanovic (knee).

Blackpool play host to Bolton on Saturday, with three points paramount if they are to avoid making the brief round trip back to the Championship.Ian Holloway’s team were a joy to watch before Christmas, led by the inventive play of former Rangers man Charlie Adam in midfield, and they posted wins against Newcastle, Liverpool, West Brom, Stoke and Sunderland.

But the rigours of a long campaign look to be catching up with Holloway’s men and since the New Year they have claimed a paltry 10 points from a possible 57.

Blackpool are without a win in their last nine league games, and their 1-1 draw at Tottenham last weekend sees them in the dreaded bottom three, one point short of Wolves who are 17th, and three behind Birmingham and Blackburn.

Saturday’s tussle with Bolton could be their best chance to claim three points, with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United a week later.

In Holloway’s favour will be the fact that Bolton have nothing left to play for in 2010-11.

Owen Coyle’s side are sitting comfortably in mid-table, but are too far adrift of Spurs and Liverpool to be pressing for a Europa League berth.

Bolton’s league form has hit a slump of late, and since back-to-back home wins against West Ham and Arsenal, they have lost their last three on the trot against Fulham, Blackburn and Sunderland.

In their only other meeting this season, Blackpool squandered a 2-0 lead at Reebok Stadium – courtesy of goals from Ian Evatt and Luke Varney – and Bolton scrambled a point with late strikes from Martin Petrov and Mark Davies.

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Holloway has the least of the injury worries, with Australian left-back David Carney the only first-team regular out as he continues to recover from a shoulder issue.

Bolton have problems of their own, with defender Sam Ricketts and midfielder Stuart Holden ruled out with respective calf and knee problems.