Real 'playing better without Capello'

Real Madrid's president, Ramon Calderon, said yesterday that he had no regrets about sacking Fabio Capello after he won last season's La Liga, and that the current side under Bernd Schuster play better football.

Real top the table ahead of this weekend's games. They host Getafe tomorrow evening after second-placed Barça have played the bottom side, Levante.

"We sacked Capello because it wasn't him that won the league but the players," Calderon said of England's new manager. "Schuster's team play better football." Real have lost two out of three league games but maintain a five-point lead over Barça, who surged back to form with a 3-2 win at Celtic in midweek.

Getafe, coached by Michael Laudrup, will arrive at the Bernabeu with confidence high after becoming the only Spanish side to reach the last 16 of the Uefa Cup in midweek.

In Italy, Milan's vice-president, Adriano Galliani, said that Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Andrei Shevchenko were among players he would like to replace the injured Ronaldo, with Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor and Lyons' Karim Benzema also on his radar.

"All four of those would be fine," he said. "We'll talk about the transfer market in May-June, but with Ronaldo out, we need another striker."

Milan, fourth this morning, host Palermo tomorrow, while Serie A's leaders by 11 points, Internazionale, travel to Sampdoria looking to bounce back domestically after their midweek European defeat to Liverpool.