Kaka doubtful

MADRID: Real Madrid playmaker Kaka is doubtful for the club’s Champions League away match to Marseille next week after he picked up a groin injury over the weekend. The 27-year-old midfielder has a hernia and will undergo physiotherapy and specific workouts this week, Real said on Tuesday. He picked up the injury during the club’s defeat to Barcelona on Sunday. But sports daily Marca said on Wednesday the player could miss Real’s next league match against Almeria on Saturday as well as their Champions League match against Marseille on December 8.

Cagliari fined

ROME: Serie A side Cagliari became the latest Italian side to be fined for racist chants by their fans on Tuesday when they were ordered to pay 10,000 euros. The club were punished for ‘racially discriminatory chants’ made by some of their supporters against Juventus’ Malian star Mohamed Sissoko last Sunday in a match which the Sardinian outfit won 2-0. Juventus themselves were at the centre of a racism scandal last season when sections of their supporters racially abused Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli, Italian-born but who has Ghanaian parents.

Carlos agrees deal

SAO PAULO: Former Real Madrid and Brazil defender Roberto Carlos has agreed a two-year deal with Sao Paulo-based giants Corinthians, according to radio reports here on Wednesday. Roberto Carlos’s contract with Turkish side Fenerbahce ends on December 20 and according to Radio Record the 36-year-old has already agreed to join the Brazilian first division side. If confirmed, the defender would be playing alongside former Brazil and Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo. “I’ll be able to play in the same team as him (Ronaldo),” Roberto Carlos was quoted as saying. A Corinthians official, Mario Gobbi, was hesitant on the news.