Sporting Digest: Football

DAVID PLATT'S spectacular second- half scissor-kick gave Sampdoria a

2-1 victory over Parma in the first-leg semi-final of the Italian Cup last night. The second leg is on 23 February, with the winners meeting either Torino or Ancona in the final.

CHRIS WHYTE, the Birmingham City central defender, had an operation on a detached retina last night and will be out for five weeks.

LEEDS UNITED'S manager, Howard Wilkinson, will sign a one-year extension to his contract today. The deal will keep him at Elland Road until the summer of 1997.

CHRIS PRICE, the former Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers defender, is set to rejoin his first club, Hereford United, as player-coach. Price, 33, has been transfer-listed by Portsmouth.

WALES FIXTURE PROGRAMME (1996 European Championship Group Seven): 7 Sept: Albania (H). 12 Oct: Moldova (A). 16 Nov: Georgia (A). 14 Dec: Bulgaria (H). 29 Mar 1995: Bulgaria (A). 26 Apr: Germany (A). 7 June: Georgia (H). 6 Sept: Moldova (H). 11 Oct: Germany (H). 15 Nov: Albania (A).