Today at Euro 2008: Arshavin to shun England in favour of Spanish move

(AP)

Andrei Arshavin says he is ready to turn down offers from clubs in England and Germany in favour of a move to Spain. Manchester City, Newcastle and Arsenal are three of the Premier League clubs reportedly interested in the Zenit St Petersburg player. Without revealing names, the 27-year-old claimed to know of offers from England, but says that his dream is to play in La Liga. "I know that I have offers from England and Germany, but what I would really like is to play in the Spanish League, in the Primera Division," he told a Spanish newspaper. "It's the championship I've always followed, I like the football they play there. But, at the moment, I don't have any offers from Spain."

Volkan to miss semi-final date

Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel will miss tomorrow's semi-final against Germany after organisers rejected an appeal against his two-match ban. Volkan was suspended after being sent off for pushing Jan Koller over near the end of his side's 3-2 win over the Czech Republic.

Hickersberger to stand down

Josef Hickersberger is resigning as coach of the Austrian national team. Shortly after his side's elimination, Hickersberger said he was still pondering his future but he said yesterday, "I will quit. I am empty, I am tired. The chapter is closed, the mission accomplished."

Leading scorers

4 goals: Villa (Sp)

3: Pavlyuchenko (Rus), Podolski (Ger), Yakin (Swit)

2: Arda (Tur), Arshavin (Rus), Ballack (Ger), Ibrahimovic (Swe), Klasnic (Croa), Nihat (Tur), Senturk (Tur), Sneijder (Neth), Van Nistelrooy (Neth), Van Persie (Neth).

Quote of the day

"Disastro Donadoni" - The Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport lays the blame at the coach's door following the world champions' quarter-final defeat to Spain on Sunday.