It's the final of the Champions league in the Rosaleda and Málaga are playing. A man dashes into the stadium, looking for somewhere to sit but the place is absolutely jam-packed. Suddenly, he sees a solitary empty seat out of the corner of his eye. As he approaches, the woman next it says: "you can sit here if you want." The man is grateful, but confused. After all, how did the seat come to be empty? "It's OK," the woman says, "it was my husband's."
Spanish La Liga side Malaga have continued their recruitment drive with the purchases of French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan from Lyon and experienced Dutch central defender Joris Mathijsen from Hamburg.
France have slipped to 27th place in the FIFA world rankings, their lowest position since football's governing body introduced the table in 1993.
Four members of the French national soccer team were punished by a disciplinary commission Tuesday following an inquiry into the team's much-criticized performance and behavior at this year's World Cup.
New France coach Laurent Blanc has chosen not to select any of the 23-man World Cup squad, that refused to take part in a training session during their disastrous tournament, for next month's friendly international against Norway.
Arsenal have confirmed that striker Robin van Persie will be out of action for "approximately six weeks" after suffering ankle ligament damage during the Netherlands' international friendly against Italy on Saturday.
Carlos Tevez stepped off the bench to grab a late equalizer for Manchester United in their Champions League knock-out round first leg match with Lyon in France.
Barcelona opened their Champions League campaign with a commanding 3-0 victory at home to Lyon, scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes at the Nou Camp.
Olympique Lyon launched their bid for a seventh successive French league title with a 2-0 home victory over Auxerre.
AS Roma and Olympique Lyon played out a cagey 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League first knockout round on Wednesday.
Leaders Lyon scored two late goals to grab a fortunate 2-1 victory at third-placed Lille in Ligue 1 on Friday.
Rookie goalkeeper Ben Foster has been handed his England debut in Wednesday's prestige friendly international against Spain at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Struggling Nice put up a brave fight to hold Lyon to a 1-1 draw at Gerland stadium and deny the Ligue 1 leaders their first league victory of 2007.
France coach Raymond Domenech has criticised Vikash Dhorasoo after discovering the Paris St Germain midfielder was planning a documentary film on the World Cup runners-up.
Five-times French champions Lyon have snapped up Nantes midfielder Jeremy Toulalan for seven million euros ($8.9 million).
Olympique Lyon defender Eric Abidal is ready to go against the wishes of his club and play for France on Wednesday if coach Raymond Domenech selects him.
One of the proudest records in French football could be shattered this weekend if once mighty Nantes tumble into the second division.
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