LFP
Capello future still undecided
Afp, Madrid
Even winning the Spanish title might not save Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello from the sack, according to Spanish press reports on Thursday. Media reports suggest Capello's relationship with club president Ramon Calderon remains strained, despite the pair having a meeting on Tuesday that ended 'cordially" according to a Real statement. Any decision on Capello's future will be taken after the final match of the season at home to Mallorca on Sunday, the statement claimed. The press speculated that the conversation between coach and president was short with Capello, who is in his second spell in charge of the club having won the league title in his one previous season at the helm in 1997, stating his aim to see out the final two years of his contract but Calderon remaining non-committal. Calderon is rumoured to want to bring in Getafe's German coach Bernd Schuster for next season and is thought to consider Capello's tactics to be too defensive. However, dismissing Caepllo would be expensive given the Italian's four-million-euro salary. And Calderon will find it even harder to justify if Capello lands a second title in his second season in charge of the Madrid giants. Meanwhile, Real have received a boost with the news that David Beckham, Robinho and Mahamadou Diarra are all set to face Mallorca. Beckham has recovered from an ankle injury picked up in the last match, a 2-2 draw at Real Zaragoza. "Beckham has recovered from an injury to the internal ligament of his ankle.... and he has been running this morning," said a Real statement on Thursday. "His participation for the Mallorca match is no longer in doubt." Robinho is in Brazil's Copa America squad but both world football governing body FIFA and Brazilian Federation CBF confirmed on Tuesday that the forward would have special dispensation to play in the final game of the season, according to newspapers As and Marca, although that has not been confirmed. Also according to the papers, Diarra has been let off international duty with Mali this weekend despite their African Nations Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone. That news has yet to be confirmed officially but it brought an angry reaction from Sevilla, who at two points behind Barcelona and Real still have a chance to win the title on Sunday. Their striker Freddie Kanoute has been called up to Mali's squad for the Sierra Leone match. "Kanoute should be allowed to play with us on Sunday," Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido told As when informed of the Diarra news. Sevilla are also in contact with FIFA and the Malian federation over the issue.
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