SOCCER:Liverpool travel to Spain this morning for their Champions League tie at Barcelona with their manager Rafael Benitez considering fining the majority of his first-team squad for the part they played in the alcohol-fuelled scenes that marred the club's training break on the Algarve.
More than 12 members of the travelling squad are facing sanction of some kind, with the manager infuriated that they betrayed his trust by staying out against his orders. That number does not include the centre-half Jamie Carragher, who had returned to Britain to attend a funeral on Thursday. An inquiry has been launched with the management considering what action to take on the team's return from Spain.
Most of the fines will be issued to players who broke a 12.30am curfew set by Benitez last Thursday for the final night of their stay in Portugal, though heavier punishments are likely for Craig Bellamy and Jerzy Dudek. The Wales striker is likely to be docked two weeks' wages, worth around £80,000, after allegedly threatening to strike John Arne Riise with a golf club, though his future at the club does not appear to be under threat.
Benitez has implored his squad to concentrate on confronting Barcelona at Camp Nou tomorrow in what is Liverpool's most important game of the season to date. However, while he is also trying to keep his thoughts fixed on the match, he is still considering whom to punish for the fracas that erupted at Barrington's Health Spa, where the team was staying during a training break in Portugal.
Bellamy is expected to face the heaviest fine after confronting Riise, golf club in hand, at the team's hotel following an argument at Monty's karaoke bar at the Vale do Lobo resort. Dudek faces similar sanction after police allegedly were forced to step in and restrain the Polish goalkeeper. However, Benitez was dismayed at a large number of players who had stayed out beyond their curfew.
Both Bellamy and Riise will travel to Barcelona today and are expected to play a part at Camp Nou, where Liverpool aim to keep their season alive. Eliminated already from the League and FA Cups, and trailing Manchester United in the Premiership by 16 points with only 11 games to go, any chance of silverware this term now demands that they knock the holders out of the Champions League.
Roy Keane has warned that managers cannot be responsible for their players 24 hours a day. After seeing the behaviour of professional footballers make for more lurid headlines over the weekend following the alleged Liverpool incidents the Sunderland manager insisted there has to be an element of trust. He said: "You cannot keep an eye on players 24 hours a day. Players will make mistakes - I think I made one or two along the way.
"You cannot keep an eye on them 24 hours a day, you have got to try to trust them. If they do make a mistake, then you have got to try to deal with it. But you do not know what is around the corner. Footballers are human beings, they make mistakes. A lot of stuff anyway is blown out of all proportion. I take it with a pinch of salt. It is always exaggerated."
Former Manchester United captain Keane has stamped his authority on Wearside in the six months since he took over the Sunderland reins, moving on players he felt did not match up to his requirements and enforcing strict discipline on and off the field. His regime at the Stadium of Light now includes his players staying in a local hotel the night before a home game to ensure they are fully rested for the following day's exertions.
Meanwhile, Benitez has confirmed that Liverpool are close to sealing a deal to sign Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin (27) on a free transfer at the end of the season. Voronin has 40 caps for Ukraine and has scored five goals. He has previously played for three other German sides: Cologne, Mainz and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Guardian Service
