Another Irish international was also in the news yesterday as Fabrizio Ravanelli denied tabloid newspaper reports that he had had a fight with Middlesbrough team-mate Curtis Fleming. Ravanelli insisted his exchange with the Republic of Ireland international was a verbal one and did not involve fisticuffs.

"Let's be honest, who hasn't had words with a colleague at work?" asked the Italian. "Surely that's only normal. Fleming and I traded insults, we told each other where to go, and things were a bit irritable on the pitch. But what I want to make clear is that I haven't changed my career: I'm a footballer by profession, not a boxer.

"My image has suffered a major blow," Ravanelli said. "My fear is that I won't be picked for the national side again. Cesare Maldini will certainly have read the newspapers, and who knows what he will think of me now? I'm already playing in a lower division, and now there's this story of a fight with a teammate . . ."

Ravanelli is staying put for now at the Riverside Stadium, according to Middlesbrough's assistant manager Viv Anderson. Reports that Ravanelli's agent, Alessandro Moggi, plans further talks with European champions Borussia Dortmund later this month have angered the Boro management.