MILAN, Italy: Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti returned as club president Monday following the death of Giacinto Facchetti.

Moratti was appointed at a shareholders meeting on Monday evening, Inter said.

The 61-year-old Italian served as Inter president from 1995-2004 before handing over to former Italy captain Facchetti, who held office until his death in September.

Moratti said last month that he was to reassume the position because there were no alternatives to Facchetti, "the unforgotten and unforgettable president."

Vinicio Fioranelli told calciomercato.com: "Without a doubt, it's always appealing to know of the interest of a great club like Real Madrid, but we have not had contact, nor is there an appointment with the club or president Ramon Calderon.

"Dejan is very happy in Milan and is in love with the Nerazzurra shirt.

"His contract expires in 2008? For our part, there is the maximum availability to extend it and we have said this to the leadership approximately six months ago. We are now waiting for an answer from Inter."

Title-holders Inter Milan secured an easy 2-0 win on Sunday over Ascoli to remain joint leaders of Serie A with Palermo, who beat Sampdoria at home by the same score.

Third-place Roma trail on 20 points, having won 3-1 in a late game against guests Fiorentina as Daniele De Rossi and a brace from Brazilian Rodrigo Taddei canceled out a goal scored by Fiorentina's Tomas Ujfalusi in the first half.

Promoted Atalanta follow one point adrift, after a 2-0 upset of troubled 10-man AC Milan, who like Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina, received point penalties as a result of a match-fixing scandal.

Atalanta took the lead from a searing Nicola Ventola drive on 50 minutes and sealed their win in injury time, as Andrea Soncin fired home off the bar.

Milan, who have now suffered a second straight defeat and trail the leaders by 17 points, played the last 15 minutes with 10 men, when an injury sidelined Gennaro Gattuso after Carlo Ancelotti had already fielded three substitutes.

Ascoli started confidently at the Giuseppe Meazza, using the offside trap to frustrate Inter forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernan Crespo.

Constant possession paid off for Inter on 40 minutes as captain Javier Zanetti easily flicked home an assist from Ibrahimovic.

An own-goal by Mirko Cudini sealed Inter's win on 53 minutes as the defender stunned his keeper, botching a low cross from the just-fielded Luis Figo.

A chance for a consolation goal went begging as Julio Cesar deflected a spot-kick taken by Michele Fini.

In Palermo, the hosts clinched their fourth straight win at home to Sampdoria.

Captain Eugenio Corini made it 1-0 on 35 minutes with a slightly deflected free kick and Cristian Zaccardo secured the win on 70 minutes, finishing off after a scramble in the area.

Sampdoria defender Christian Terlizzi was dismissed with three minutes remaining.

"We played an evenly balanced first half, but we played better in the second half, and I think we deserved the win. We have the best attack [23 goals], but today we were clever also in defense," Palermo coach Francesco Guidolin said.
This story has been viewed 194 times.

MADRID, Spain: Juan Miguel Villar Mir, who finished third in Real Madrid's presidential election, still expects to be declared the winner.

Villar Mir said he was "convinced" that he would win his legal appeal to have 10,511 postal votes included in the result of July's poll of club members.

Villar Mir, who was Spain's finance minister from 1975-76, received 6,702 votes — 1,396 fewer than victor Ramon Calderon. However, Villar Mir says that he has obtained at least 4,700 of the postal votes, including 1,000 from the employees of his construction company.

"I am convinced that when the postal votes are counted our candidature will be the winner. I hold a big advantage over the other candidates," Villar Mir was quoted as saying by sports daily As on Wednesday. "I believe the courts will order counting of the postal votes within two or three weeks."

Today in Sports

Tennis: Rivals closing in on Mauresmo

Vantage Point: Fragile racehorses deserve protection

NBA: Hawks and Hornets remain cautious despite strong starts

Postal voting was provisionally disallowed by a judge two days before the election and Madrid subsequently said it would adhere to the decision.

The dispute delayed the proclamation of Calderon as Madrid's 18th president for a day. Since then, the lawyer has appointed Fabio Capello as coach and Predrag Mijatovic as sports director.

Meanwhile, Fernando Fernandez Tapies, who originally stood to be the club's vice president under candidate Juan Palacios, has also entered the frame.

Madrid's electoral committee ruled Tuesday that Fernandez Tapies could take over the candidacy even though Palacios has withdrawn his bid. Palacios finished second with 8,098 votes.

"If we win the count we will choose a president. It could be me or someone else," Fernandez Tapies said.

Calderon, in an apparent reference to Villar Mir and Fernandez Tapies, said an attempt had been made to take advantage of the team's 2-1 loss against Celta Vigo on Sunday.

"They have been quick to appear like carrion crows after the Celta defeat and can't stop giving press conferences," Calderon said.

Almost 28,000 members voted in the election in the hope of electing a new administration which would end Madrid's three-year drought without a trophy, its worst streak since the early 1950s.

Madrid is fourth in the Spanish league, with 17 points from nine games, and has secured a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Juventus FC of Tallinding over the weekend received a giant trophy, and a cash prize of D20,000.00 after emerging the league champions of the Serrekunda East nawettan zone.

Juventus defeated Abuko United 2-1 to clinch the coveted title in a fiercely -competed final that was cheered by hundreds of football enthusiasts from Serrekunda and the surrounding towns. Abuko United received a cash prize of D15,000.00 as runners up, while the leading goal scorer of the tournament, Cherno Njie went with a prize of D1,000.00

A Trust Bank and Western Union sponsored tournament, the organising committee of Serrekunda East Zone described the this year's nawettan championship as not only a great success, but equally lucrative as evident in the winners prize.

Earlier last month, Madina FC defeated Zurich FC by a lone goal, which earned them the knock-out title.

In a separate development, the Gambia Sports Journalists Association were thrashed 0-5 by the Serrekunda East Sports Committee in a friendly football on Sunday. The game that was played as ribbon-raiser for the league final on Sunday was also meant to cement cordial relations that exist between the sports journalists association and the Serrekunda East committee.

David Beckham's lack of playing time is forcing him to rethink his future with Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

The English midfielder, out of contract at the end of this season, has been negotiating an extension with Madrid for the past several weeks.

If Beckham, who has reportedly received the offer of a two-year extension to his current deal, hasn't renewed by January, he will be free to negotiate with other clubs.

Complicating matters is Beckham's lack of first-team action for the Spanish outfit.

The former English national team captain has started just three of nine games this season for Madrid in the Spanish first division.

"He's a little sad because he's not participating as much as he would like, but the situation could change soon," Madrid sports director Predrag Mijatovic told a Spanish TV station.
He wants to wait a little more time to see whether he gets his [starting] place back."

Mijatovic said Madrid wants Beckham to stay.

"On our side there's no problem, but we also have to listen to the player," said Mijatovic.

The 31-year-old midfielder, who hasn't won a major trophy with Madrid since his arrival from Manchester United in 2003, said last week he wants to stay in Spain.

The U.S. beckons

Beckham's future may lie in the United States, as he is the target of the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

"A move for Beckham is not something we need to discuss at this point because he's under contract with Real. But if that changes, and there's an opportunity, of course we'd be interested," Galaxy club president and general manager Alexi Lalas told the BBC earlier this week.

"There are thousands of clubs out there that would love to have a player of his calibre and the Los Angeles Galaxy is certainly one of them," he added.

Beckham stated previously that he would like to play in the U.S. before retiring from the game.

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Brief reports from English Premier League matches played on Saturday:

BOLTON WANDERERS 0 WIGAN ATHLETIC 1

Wigan won their third successive league match, Lee McCulloch scoring the only goal after 79 minutes to send Bolton to a third consecutive defeat in league and cup matches.

McCulloch fired home from 18 metres after good work by Kevin Kilbane and Henri Camara.

Bolton's Stelios Giannakopolous had a goal disallowed for offside early on and Nicolas Anelka wasted a good opportunity to score his first goal for the club in the opening half.

- - -

CHARLTON ATHLETIC 1 MANCHESTER CITY 0 Darren Bent's seventh goal of the season, a glancing header after 28 minutes, was enough to lift Charlton off the bottom of the table, at least until Newcastle United met Sheffield United later on Saturday.

The Argentine was set to join Juve this season before their demotion to Serie B over the Calciopoli scandal. Juve scout Massimo Brambati has been tracking Palacio for over a year.

However, Milan may trump Juve for the striker with transfers chief Ariedo Braida currently in South America on a scouting mission. Palacio could be brought to the San Siro in January to boost coach Carlo Ancelotti's struggling attack.