Beckham hopeful over injury

(GETTY IMAGES)

David Beckham is hopeful that an adductor muscle injury will not keep him out of AC Milan's weekend encounter with Lazio.

The on-loan midfielder was substituted in the second half of Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Genoa - in which he scored a trademark free-kick - but does not believe the problem is serious.

"It's the adductor. We'll have to see how it is tomorrow (Friday)," said the former England captain.

"I felt it before the game and then again just before half-time.

"I got to 20 minutes in the second half and I felt it a little bit more.

"It's painful, but hopefully I will be fit for the game at the weekend."

Meanwhile, midfielder Claudio Marchisio has agreed a new five-year contract with Juventus.

The 23-year-old has broken into the first team at the Turin club this season and has now put pen to paper on a deal which will run until 2014.

"I am very happy with the agreement," said Marchisio.

"With this signature I am pursuing my career at a glorious and prestigious club which I consider to be a family."

Elsewhere, AS Roma defender Marco Cassetti has been ruled out for up to three months with a thigh muscle injury.

The 31-year-old was injured just moments after arriving as a late second-half substitute during Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Palermo.

Cassetti will now definitely miss both legs of the Rome club's Champions League first knockout round tie against Arsenal.

The loss of the Italy international for a lengthy period took the gloss off a morale-boosting victory for Roma and the return from injury of captain and playmaker Francesco Totti.

Totti, who had been out of action since mid-December, had opened the scoring on his eagerly-anticipated return.