Soccer betting

The owner of one of Romanias top soccer teams was charged with blackmail and supporting a criminal group.

Organized crime prosecutors said Thursday that CFR Cluj owner Arpad Paszkany financed the media group Gazeta from 2004 to 2006 to promote his business interests and compromise rival companies.

Prosecutors say the publications ran libelous campaigns against companies and people Paszkany did not like. The publications also allegedly blackmailed companies to sign advertising contracts.

Prosecutors say the group financed by Paszkany threatened one of his opponents into selling him land worth $564,000 for just $14,000.

CFR Cluj played in the group stage of the Champions League last season, beating Roma and tying Chelsea.

(Home teams listed first)
Europa League.

Third Qualifying Round

First Leg

Aberdeen (Scotland) 1, Sigma Olomouc (Czech Republic) 5

Athletic Bilbao (Spain) 0, Young Boys Bern (Switzerland) 1

Braga (Portugal) 1, Elfsborg (Sweden) 2

Brondby (Denmark) 1, Legia Warsaw (Poland) 1

Brugge (Belgium) 3, Lahti (Finland) 2

CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) 1, Derry City (Ireland) 0

Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) 2, Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) 0

Fenerbahce (Turkey) 5, Budapest Honved (Hungary) 1

Fredrikstad (Norway) 1, Lech Poznan (Poland) 6

Goteborg (Sweden) 1, Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) 3

Helsingborg (Sweden) 2, Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) 1

Honka Espoo (Finland) 0, Qarabag (Azerbaijan) 1

MSK Zilina (Slovakia) 1, Hajduk Split (Croatia) 1

Maccabi Netanya (Israel) 1, Galatasaray (Turkey) 4

Metalurh Donetsk (Ukraine) 2, IB Ljubljana (Slovenia) 0

PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1, Cherno More Varna (Bulgaria) 0

Petrovac (Montenegro) 1, Sturm Graz (Austria) 2

Polonia Warsaw (Poland) 0, NAC Breda (Netherlands) 1

Rabotnicki (Macedonia) 3, OB Odense (Denmark) 4

Randers (Denmark) 0, Hamburg (Germany) 4

Rapid Vienna (Austria) 2, APOP/Kinyras Peyias (Cyprus) 1

Reykjavik (Iceland) 2, Basel (Switzerland) 2

Rijeka (Croatia) 1, Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine) 2

AS Roma (Italy) 3, Gent (Belgium) 1

St. Patricks Athletic (Ireland) 1, Krylya Sovetov Samara (Russia) 0

Sevojno (Serbia) 0, Lille (France) 2

Slavija Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) 0, MFK Kosice (Slovakia) 2

Steaua Bucharest (Romania) 3, Motherwell (Scotland) 0

Tromso (Norway) 2, Slaven Koprivnica (Croatia) 1

Vaduz (Liechtenstein) 0, Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) 1

Valerenga (Norway) 1, PAOK Thessaloniki (Greece) 2

Vaslui (Romania) 2, Omonia (Cyprus) 0

Vetra (Lithuania) 0, Fulham (England) 3

Vojvodina (Serbia) 1, Austria Vienna (Austria) 1

Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 7-6 on penalties to win the preseason Audi Cup after a scoreless draw in regulation time on Thursday.

Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing, striving to become the starter in the upcoming season, made the decisive save by stopping Jonny Evans shot. Daniel van Buyten then converted the winning penalty.

Both teams wasted one penalty each, with Rensing also stopping Patrice Evra, and Edwin van der Sar knocking away Danijel Pranjics effort.

There was no extra time.

In a slow-paced game, Mario Gomez hit the crossbar of Van der Sars goal in the first half and Dimitar Berbatovs overhead attempt also bounced off the post.

Rensing did well to deny Wayne Rooney late in the game.

The match for third-place was also decided on penalties, with Roberto Abbondanzieri making two saves to help Boca Juniors beat AC Milan 4-3 in the shootout.

The goalkeeper stopped shots from Andrea Pirlo and Alexandre Pato, who had also wasted several opportunities in regulation as the game ended 1-1.

Thiago Silva scored for Milan in the 27th but Lucas Viatri tied in the 87th.

Federico Insua also had his penalty saved in the shootout but Viatri then converted for Boca for the decisive score before Patos blunder.

(Home teams listed first)
Champions League.

Third Qualifying Round

First Leg

Best-placed path

Aktobe (Kazakhstan) 0, Maccabi Haifa (Israel) 0

Anderlecht (Belgium) 5, Sivasspor (Turkey) 0

Champions path

Baki (Azerbaijan) 0, Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) 0

Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) 3, Panathinaikos (Greece) 1

—

Europa League

Third Qualifying Round

First Leg

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv (Israel) 1, Pacos Ferreira (Portugal) 0

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal for Real Madrid in a 4-2 victory over Liga de Quito in the Peace Cup on Tuesday.

Playing his third game for the Spanish powerhouse since his $131 million transfer from Manchester United, Ronaldo converted a 48th-minute penalty after being tripped in the area by defender Norberto Araujo.

The Portuguese star also set up the second goal in the 53rd.

Liga, whose coach Jorge Fossati was ejected from the bench for protesting the penalty award, scored in the 68th minute when Enrique Vera headed the ball in from close range.

Defender Christoph Metzelder headed Madrids third goal from Graneros corner 3 minutes later. Ronaldo was replaced soon after by Lassana Diarra.

Vera doubled his tally in the 87th with a powerful header. Another substitute and Madrid newcomer Alvaro Negredo sealed the win in injury time.

Madrid will face Juventus in Seville on Friday in the semifinals of the 12-team offseason tournament. The final will take place on Sunday.

With Madrid needing to win at a half-full Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to advance, new Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini picked an offensive lineup. Ronaldo was joined by another newcomer, Karim Benzema, along with Robben and Gonzalo Higuain.

Kaka, the second most expensive signing in Madrids $300 million spending spree since Florentino Perez regained the presidency last month, was not considered. He started training with Madrid on Monday.

Liverpools American owners have reduced the clubs debt to $412 million as negotiations continue over a refinanced long-term loan with Royal Bank of Scotland, an executive familiar with the talks said Monday.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have paid back nearly $66 million on the loan used to purchase the club and are expected to pay about $33 million more in the coming months, the executive told The Associated Press. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks over a refinanced loan were still ongoing.

He said Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow, who also works for private equity firm MidOcean Partners, is in talks this week with RBS about a new long-term financial package.

The American duo were granted a re-negotiated loan of $576.8 million in January 2008 from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia, but had only been using about $478 million by the time the terms expired during the weekend.

Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool in 2007 for nearly $287 million, taking on about $73.8 million in liabilities. They have been criticized by fans for burdening the club with so much debt.

RBS received complaints from fans about their ongoing support of the owners, and the bank took the unusual step last month of reassuring fans about the clubs financial health in an e-mail.

RBS is now Britains biggest government-controlled bank as a result of an industry bailout last year. One major fans group led calls for the bank to pull the plug on the owners loan since taxpayers had effectively bailed out RBS.

Liverpool has less debt than the other so-called big four teams in the Premier League.

Champion Manchester United, which is owned by the American Glazer family, has debts of more than $1 billion, Chelseas obligations to owner Roman Abramovich from his interest-free loans are more than $560 million, while Arsenals debt has soared to some $525 million.

In the run-up to the new deal, Hicks and Gillett have been shoring up their financial positions in North America.

Gillett sold the NHLs Montreal Canadiens, the Gillett Entertainment Centre and the Bell Centre back to the Molson family for a reported $580 million.

Hicks is looking to sell baseballs Texas Rangers, but intends to keep the NHLs Dallas Stars. The holding company that owns the teams recently defaulted on about $525 million in loans.

Samuel Etoo passed his medical with Inter Milan on Monday and was set to sign a five-year contract with the Italian champion.

The Cameroon striker is moving to Italy from Barcelona in a deal that saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic join the Spanish club in exchange for Etoo and ?40 million (US$57 million).

I made history at Barcelona, but that chapter is over, Etoo said on the clubs Web site. At Inter I am starting a new chapter and starting from zero. I am happy with this new adventure and hope everything goes well.

I won a lot at Barcelona and now I hope to do so in these colors.

In his time at Camp Nou the 28 year-old Etoo helped Barcelona win the Champions League twice and scored in both finals.

While coach Jose Mourinho was brought in a year ago with the goal of helping Inter win its first European Cup since 1965, Etoo warned his new club not to focus too much on the Champions League.

I know that Inter is desperate to win the Champions League, but you cant only think about that cup, he said. Because if you are too focused on the Champions League, you forget about the other competitions and then you run the risk of being knocked out of European competition.

You need to take it match by match and treat them all as a final.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed a five-year contract with Barcelona after passing a medical test on Monday.

The Sweden striker completed the Spanish champions most expensive transfer, a ?46 million ($65.6 million) move from Inter Milan. He was presented to more than 40,000 fans at Camp Nou stadium wearing the No. 9 Barcelona jersey.

The 27-year-old Ibrahimovic is contracted at Barcelona through to 2014. He has a buy-out clause at ?250 million ($357 million).

Barcelonas Cameroon striker, Samuel Etoo, is set to join Inter as part of the deal, while Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb will go on loan to the Italian club for one season.

I havent come to replace Etoo because Im a very different player, Ibrahimovic said. Im going to work to the maximum to demonstrate you havent made a mistake in signing me. Thanks to Inter Milan for allowing me to sign for Barcelona. This is a very big day for me.

Barcelona said Ibrahimovic has a broken finger on his left hand and will require surgery. The injury happened during Inters last friendly, against Chelsea in Los Angeles last week.

It will require setting surgically, which will be done tomorrow at noon, technical secretary Txiki Beguiristain said.

Ibrahimovic became Barcelonas third signing this summer as part of coach Pep Guardiolas bid to strengthen a team that last season won an unprecedented treble of Spanish, Champions League and Copa del Rey titles.

The other two new players are both from Brazil - Maxwell also moved from Inter, while Keirrison signed from Palmeiras.

Ibrahimovic moved from Ajax to Juventus in 2004 before spending the next three seasons at Inter, leading Serie A in scoring with 25 goals as the Nerazzurri won a fourth straight league title last season.

Ibrahimovic, who is of Bosnian and Croatian ancestry, never hid his desire to leave Italian football.

When did I start thinking about moving somewhere else? In December, before Christmas, he reportedly said. The more I saw Barcelona play, the more I wanted to leave. I was fed up of Italy, of Milan, of your football: you play badly, theres too much stress.

Ibrahimovic had also posted Time to learn Spanish on his Twitter page.

Luciano Moggi, Juventus former director who signed Ibrahimovic from Ajax, said Inter have all but handed the Scudetto to Juve.

Inter have committed suicide by selling Ibrahimovic, Moggi said. They have sold their leader. Etoo is a great player, but he is a player that does well when the team is doing well. Ibrahimovic can make the difference even when a team is playing badly.

Results from the Norwegian first-division football league (home teams listed first).

Saturdays Game

Start 2 Stabaek 2

Sundays Games

Brann 4, Bodo Glimt 2

Sandefjord 1, Molde 1

Tromso 2, Stromsgodset 1

Viking 5, Lyn 2

Valerenga 0, Odd Grenland 3

Rosenborg 2, Lillestrom 1

Mondays Game

Alesund vs. Fredrikstad

Results from the Danish first-division football league (home teams listed first).

Saturdays Games

FC Copenhagen 7, Koge 1

Odense 3, SonderjyskE 1

Sundays Games

Silkeborg 4, Midtjylland 0

Esbjerg 2, Brondby 1

Postponed

Aalborg vs. Nordsjalland

Mondays Game

Randers vs. Aarhus