football

The Italian club Parma yesterday denied that their striker Faustino Asprilla faced firearms charges in his native Colombia following an alleged incident in a bar there on New Year's Eve. "The Colombian authorities have reassured officials from the Parma club that there are no judicial proceedings or charges against Asprilla," the club said in a statement issued after talks with the Colombian embassy in Italy. Colombian police were quoted earlier in the week as saying that Asprilla had been found drunk in a bar toting two calibre 7.65mm pistols and provoking other customers.

Stefan Effenberg, sent home in disgrace from the 1994 World Cup after making obscene gestures at the German coaches, hopes to join Borussia Moenchengladbach on a permanent basis after being on loan from Fi