Rafael Benítez new Chelsea victim?

Rafael Benítez has become the first high-profile candidate to declare an interest in the vacant Chelsea manager's position and suggested he would be forgiven by Liverpool supporters if he were to return to the Premier League at Stamford Bridge.

The Chelsea hierarchy are scrutinising their options after dismissing André Villas-Boas on Sunday a little over eight months into a three-year contract, with the London club fifth in the Premier League and risking a failure to qualify for the Champions League for the first time under Roman Abramovich's stewardship. The owner is to sound out Barcelona's Pep Guardiola, whom he regards as his ideal appointment, and José Mourinho at Real Madrid to ascertain if either would be willing to take over in the summer.

"If they want me to have the best, they can say you can manage a team at the bottom of the table or manage a team at a top of the table and try to win trophies. That is my idea, to have the option of a top side and try to win trophies. If they love me, they will understand.

"I have had two or three offers from clubs and one from a national team. I want to win trophies; it's not just a case of wanting a job and having some money. It has to be something. They have now Roberto Di Matteo in [temporary] charge, and I have to respect the manager in charge. I have to wait and [see] if something happens in the future. As a manager with experience in the Champions League, in Spain and in Italy, I am open to offers."

(OWN) Goal of the Year

The honours go to San Martin defender Diego Sosa, who scored a remarkable effort in his side's defeat against Estudiantes; the only problem was, it was into his own net. After seeing his keeper bat away Mauro Boselli's shot, the hapless player went to clear the ball behind the goal, but completely misjudged and smashed home between the posts. A goal which will grace blooper videos and compilations for many years.

Dwight Howard trade saga

With all of the changes in to the script, it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the details of the Dwight Howard trade saga as we get closer to next week’s trade deadline.

Howard gave the Magic a list of three teams — the Nets, Lakers and Mavericks — on his preferred list, were they to honor his training camp request and trade him this season.

“I’d say everybody in the league has called us. …but this late, it’s six to eight,” Magic GM Otis Smith said before the Magic faced the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

Smith said there was “nothing new to report” about Howard’s situation.

With the trade deadline next Thursday, Smith wouldn’t get into any specifics about Howard.

“We still have a ways to go. It’s early,” he said. “Usually nothing gets done until the 15th.”

Howard has been talking with Magic CEO Alex Martins, who remains hopeful that the franchise can convince their superstar center to stay.

Howard has an early-termination option in his contract and can become a free agent after the season. He told the Magic he preferred to be dealt to the New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks or Los Angeles Lakers.

The Magic said when Howard presented his trade-request list early in training camp in December that they seek compensation if Howard had made up his mind to leave Orlando.

Smith did say he’s heard from every team in the league. And what GM worth his seats in a luxury suite wouldn’t at least make that call (presumably to gauge how much of their franchise they’d have to give up to get the best big man in basketball)?

Subtract the prospect of Howard sticking around beyond this season and every team in the league should be calling to at least get an understanding of what it might take to rent Howard’s services for a few months. (We usually don’t advocate short-term rentals of superstars, but we’ll make an exception for Howard.) Playoff teams obviously would have much more incentive, as Howard could push them over the top if he’s wearing their uniform.

Kimi Raikkonen his Formula One comeback with Lotus

Former McLaren and Ferrari race winner Raikkonen completed a whopping 121 laps, including a full race simulation, in his black and gold Lotus at the Circuit de Catalunya on a day that started bright but then clouded over before rain in the late afternoon.

Raikkonen’s 1m 22.030s lap was the fastest set over this year’s two sessions at the 4.7 kilometre track. The Finn also completed the greatest distance on Sunday, with 121 laps at the wheel of the E20.


“I was happy with today’s running,” said Raikkonen. “We didn’t have any major issues so it was certainly better than yesterday. Everything worked, we tried a lot of set-ups on the car and it all came together well. It was a long time in the car today but I feel fine. It was cooler today so the tyres didn’t work as well as otherwise but everything was okay.

Andre Villas-Boas favourite to replace Claudio Ranieri at Inter

"My position? The important thing is Inter, I try to do the best for the team," Ranieri told.


"I have a two-year contract and I hope to stay. I think about working and doing the best I can.


"This is not a simple case, but I believe."


The 60-year-old then admitted that he is in the dark about what president Massimo Moratti is thinking.
"Every time we have suffered a defeat, he supported me, but he cannot do anything else," Ranieri asserted.
"This is like a marriage, the husband is always the last person to know what the wife is doing."


Less than 24 hours after Chelsea announced that they had parted company with manager Andre Villas-Boas, the 34-year--old has been installed as the firm favourite with Sportingbet to succeed Claudio Ranieri as boss of struggling Inter.


The Italian side drew 2-2 to Catania at home on Sunday evening, leaving them 17 points behind leaders AC Milan in the Serie A title race and capping a run of seven defeats in eight games. 


Speculation has been rife that current boss Ranieri may not even see out the season in charge and the draw to Catania will not have helped his position, making him the second manager to be removed from the post after Gian Piero Gasperini lost his job in September following a string of disappointing performances.


If Villas-Boas were to take the job it would further comparisons to mentor and countryman Jose Mourinho, who left his job at Porto after a fruitful reign to manage Chelsea, then left south-west London to coach at San Siro. 

Deron Williams breaks New Jersey's franchise single-game scoring record scores 57

Point guard Deron Williams breaks New Jersey's franchise single-game scoring record and establishes an NBA high this season, leading the Nets to a 104-101 win over the Bobcats at Charlotte.

Sunday night to lift the New Jersey Nets to a 104-101 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday night at Charlotte, N.C.

Williams, who came into the game averaging 21.7 points, shot 16 for 29 from the field and was a perfect 21 for 21 from the free-throw line.

Williams broke the franchise's previous mark of 52 points, shared by Mike Newlin and Ray Williams. It was the most points scored in the NBA this season, six more than Kevin Durant's 51 against Denver on Feb. 19, and the second-most ever scored against the Bobcats, one shy of Kobe Bryant's 58 for the Lakers in 2006.

Charlotte has lost five straight and 21 of 22.

LA Lakers too hot for Heat

Kobe`s 3rd 30+ game after all-star weekend ,wearing mask.

STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, CA

	1	2	3	4	T
MIA	20	18	24	21	83
LAL	28	22	21	22	93

Top Performers

Miami: L. James 25 Pts, 13 Reb, 7 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 Blk

Los Angeles: K. Bryant 33 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Ast 

 Kobe Bryant scored 33 points in his third straight stellar performance since Dwyane Wade broke his nose in the All-Star game, and Wade managed just 16 points before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' 93-83 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Metta World Peace scored 17 points while leading a solid defensive effort for the Lakers, who have won 17 of their last 18 home games. Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 13 rebounds as Los Angeles never trailed in the final 44 minutes against Miami, snapping a four-game skid in Bryant's head-to-head matchups with Wade's Heat.

LeBron James had 25 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, who lost on the final two stops of their three-game trip.

Chris Bosh out for Heat against Lakers-today

Forward Chris Bosh again was missing for the Miami Heat for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in the wake of the death of his grandmother. The funeral was Saturday.

  Bosh had started all 34 games before missing Thursday's victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and Friday's loss to the Utah Jazz at the start of this three-game trip.

Shane Battier started both games in Bosh's absence at the start of this trip, with small forward LeBron James moving into the Heat's power rotation in the interim.

  Bosh's last action came during the All-Star Game a week ago in Orlando.

  Bosh had 15 points and eight rebounds in the Heat's 98-87 Jan. 19 home victory over the Lakers.

  "It's a little bit of a blow because he's one of their best players," Lakers coach Mike Brown said, "but you take LeBron and Wade and you still have a pretty good team.

   "I don't think it changes much. I'm not going to say they won't miss him, but they're still a pretty good team without him."

NBA’s top 50 highest paid players

Name	Team	2011-12
Kobe Bryant	L.A. Lakers	$25,244,493
Kevin Garnett	Boston Celtics	$21,247,044
Tim Duncan	San Antonio Spurs	$21,164,619
Rashard Lewis	Washington Wizards	$21,136,630
Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas Mavericks	$19,092,873
Pau Gasol	L.A. Lakers	$18,714,150
Carmelo Anthony	New York Knicks	$18,518,574
Amar'e Stoudemire	New York Knicks	$18,217,705
Dwight Howard	Orlando Magic	$18,091,770
Joe Johnson	Atlanta Hawks	$18,038,573
Elton Brand	Philadelphia 76ers	$17,059,727
Chris Paul	L.A. Clippers	$16,359,805
Deron Williams	New Jersey Nets	$16,359,805
Chris Bosh	Miami HEAT	$16,022,500
LeBron James	Miami HEAT	$16,022,500
Dwyane Wade	Miami HEAT	$15,512,000
Kevin Durant	Oklahoma City Thunder	$15,506,632
Paul Pierce	Boston Celtics	$15,334,334
Zach Randolph	Memphis Grizzlies	$15,200,000
Antawn Jamison	Cleveland Cavaliers	$15,076,715
Rudy Gay	Memphis Grizzlies	$15,032,144
Andrew Bynum	L.A. Lakers	$14,900,000
Al Jefferson	Utah Jazz	$14,000,000
Andre Iguodala	Philadelphia 76ers	$13,531,750
Carlos Boozer	Chicago Bulls	$13,500,000
Tyson Chandler	New York Knicks	$13,107,837
Nene	Denver Nuggets	$13,000,000
Manu Ginobili	San Antonio Spurs	$12,981,038
Marc Gasol	Memphis Grizzlies	$12,922,194
Marcus Camby	Portland Trail Blazers	$12,866,332
Chris Kaman	New Orleans Hornets	$12,700,000
Tony Parker	San Antonio Spurs	$12,500,000
Emeka Okafor	New Orleans Hornets	$12,492,500
Josh Smith	Atlanta Hawks	$12,400,000
LaMarcus Aldridge	Portland Trail Blazers	$12,372,000
Luol Deng	Chicago Bulls	$12,325,000
Danny Granger	Indiana Pacers	$12,015,904
Al Horford	Atlanta Hawks	$12,000,000
Joakim Noah	Chicago Bulls	$12,000,000
Andrew Bogut	Milwaukee Bucks	$12,000,000
Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	$11,689,062
David Lee	Golden State Warriors	$11,610,000
Ben Gordon	Detroit Pistons	$11,600,000
Kevin Martin	Houston Rockets	$11,519,840
Hedo Turkoglu	Orlando Magic	$11,015,850
Monta Ellis	Golden State Warriors	$11,000,000
Mehmet Okur	New Jersey Nets	$10,890,000
Jason Terry	Dallas Mavericks	$10,658,000
Corey Maggette	Charlotte Bobcats	$10,262,069
DeAndre Jordan	L.A. Clippers	$10,079,404