An angry Maradona called a group of Al Shabab fans "cowards" after he jumped into the stands to defend his partner, Veronica Ojeda (Maradona calls her his wife, but it's unclear if that's official), from verbal abuse after Al Wasl's 2-0 loss on Thursday.

From Gulf News:

Ciel, a Brazilian striker, who set up and then scored in the 2-0 win was the subject of much fury by Argentinean supporters from Diego Maradona's entourage, which included Maradona's partner Veronica and Al Wasl player Juan Mercier's other half. This reaction in turn sparked fury from Al Shabab supporters defending the Brazilian after countless insults were exchanged.

The Al Wasl wives and girlfriends were then escorted away from their seats by security, but Juan Mercier's wife tripped and fell on the stairs, prompting Mercier and Maradona to get involved.

Said Maradona after things settled down:

"Some people are cowards. They only attack women and have no courage to confront men. This is the first time I am upset with the fans. If they are angry with me they should know that I did it [climbed the stands] for my wife because someone was calling her names."

The fact that tensions between Brazilians and Argentines extends to the UAE League probably shouldn't be a surprise. In fact, given Maradona's recent comments about his old Brazilian nemesis, it just might've been Pele insulting Mrs. Maradona in the stands.

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Fernando Llorente's two goals helped Athletic Bilbao to a 4-2 comeback win at Schalke in the Europa League quarter-final first leg.

After Llorente put Bilbao ahead in the 20th minute, Schalke's Raul Gonzalez rallied the hosts back in front with two goals either side of half-time.

But Llorente headed in an equaliser in the 73rd minute to turn the high-tempo contest in Bilbao's favour, as Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain scored late on at Veltins Arena.

"It was a great game," Llorente said. "It wasn't at all easy because they responded very well to our first goal. What Raul did was incredible. You can't ask anything more of a match."

At Schalke both sides started well but Bilbao struck first through Llorente when he poked in his own rebound that goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand failed to hold on to.

Bilbao's lead lasted two minutes before Raul redirected Atsuto Uchida's cross inside the near post. The former Real Madrid star then made it 2-1 in the 60th minute with a dipping volley from outside the area.

With Schalke pressing for another goal, Llorente muscled past a pair of defenders to flick in a corner for his 25th goal in all competitions.

Bilbao showed the same attacking flair that led them to oust Manchester United in the previous round as De Marcos scored the winner in the 81st off a rebound and Muniain sealed the win in stoppage time on a counterattack.

"We knew they were good on the break, but we let our guard down," the Schalke defender Christian Fuchs said. "Everyone will now be against us but we can still pull off a miracle. We need three goals but anything is possible."

Atlético Madrid beat Hannover 2-1 in the other first-leg quarter-final between Spanish and German teams. Radamel Falcao capitalised on Atlético's early dominance by heading home a free-kick nine minutes in for his seventh goal of the competition this season. The Colombia striker is the Europa League's all-time leading scorer with 22 in 23 appearances.

Hannover levelled through Mame Diouf's 38th-minute goal and looked set to head back to Germany with a positive result until Eduardo Salvio blasted in a shot from long range to give Atlético the victory in the 89th minute.

"Thank God for the goal, it gives us some breathing room heading to Germany," Salvio said.

In the Netherlands the Australia midfielder Brett Holman scored one and created another as AZ Alkmaar got the better of Valencia 2-1.

Holman put AZ in front with a powerful volley in the 45th minute but Mehmet Topal levelled for Valencia six minutes later. Maarten Martens converted Holman's cross from six yards in the 78th minute to earn the win for AZ.

Sporting Lisbon inflicted on the Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv their first away defeat in the competition with second-half goals from Marat Izmailov and Emiliano Insua. Izmailov scored from a cross by Diego Capel in the 51st minute and Insua extended the Portuguese club's lead 13 minutes later with a low drive from a free-kick.

Cleiton Xavier got a valuable away goal for Metalist Kharkiv with a 90th-minute penalty.

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• 'Rangers weren't a business going into administration'
• Martin Bain drops legal action against the club

Walter Smith, the former Rangers manager, has defended the regime that existed before Craig Whyte took control of the majority shareholding.

Rangers went into administration in February, nine months after Whyte replaced Sir David Murray as owner. During the intervening period Whyte was regularly scathing about the actions of Rangers' board members who opposed his takeover and subsequently departed Ibrox. One of them, Martin Bain, dropped a legal case against Rangers on Thursday relating to his departure.

"You can make your judgments on what happened previously but the fact is that none of that mattered," said Smith.

"In May of last year all of that had disappeared. There was no debt; the club had managed to cut £16m off the overall debt, Craig Whyte gave the other £18m to the bank. The bank had received £34m in three and a bit years.

"Rangers weren't a business going into administration or anything like that, they were actually a business which was fairly well run over that period of time. How many businesses can take £16m off their debt during a period of recession?

"Martin Bain, as chief executive, seems to have come out of this worse than anybody. He could be quite proud of what he did, handling a situation with the bank and having me moaning at him for not spending any money. He seems to be getting vilified only I think because he stood against Craig Whyte's buying of the club."

Paul Clark, Rangers' joint administrator, said of the Bain lawsuit: "He [Bain] has made plain the litigation was a response to the actions of Craig Whyte and not Rangers FC and, given developments, he now wishes to end the litigation action and do what he can to support the club in these difficult times."

Rangers will not, as scheduled, return to the high court on Friday to pursue a £3.6m claim against funds held by Collyer Bristow, the former lawyers to Whyte and the club. It is understood Rangers are now seeking up to £9m from the firm. Clark added: "We have substantially larger claims against Collyer Bristow, which we wish to bring as soon as possible. The original trial dates of 30 March – 4 April are now not being utilised as the wider claims are still being formulated."

Brian Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks, has said he is "surprised and disappointed" after his first formal offer to take over Rangers was rejected by the administrators.

On the prospect of Whyte having influence on who buys his shares, Smith added: "It is quite amazing to see it in front of you, that you can put a club into administration and then you have a say as to where it is going to go in the future."

A Scottish Football Association disciplinary case against Rangers and Whyte has been adjourned until next month. Between them Rangers and Whyte are alleged to have made seven breaches of the association's regulations. It will now be heard on 17, 18 and 20 April.

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• Clubs have until 4pm on Tuesday to respond to charge
• Pablo Mills and Kyle McFadzean accused of violent conduct

Bradford City and Crawley Town have been charged by the Football Association following the mass brawl that marred the end of their League Two fixture on Tuesday. The ill-tempered game at Bradford, which promotion-chasing Crawley won 2-1, exploded at the full-time whistle and after a huge confrontation Bradford's Jonathan McLaughlin, Luke Oliver and Andrew Davies and Crawley's Pablo Mills and Claude Davis were all red-carded for their part by referee Iain Williamson.

Both sides have subsequently been charged by the FA for failing to ensure their players and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour.

The clubs have until 4pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge.

Mills has also been charged with violent conduct after appearing to throw a number of punches, which is an additional sanction to the three-match ban he received following his dismissal.

Kyle McFadzean, who escaped punishment on the night, has also landed a violent conduct charge for actions which were missed by Williamson and his two assistants, but caught on video.

Both men have until 6pm on Friday to respond to the charges.

The Sussex club revealed on Thursday they were launching an internal investigation and a statement read: "Crawley Town Football Club are in receipt of the charges brought by the Football Association in respect of the incidents at the end of Tuesday's match against Bradford City.

"Chief executive Alan Williams is conducting a full investigation, which will include player statements, taking appropriate legal advice and will then respond to the respective charges within the timescales outlined by the FA.

"There will be no further comment from Crawley Town on this matter until investigations are complete and any hearings have taken place."

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• Striker returns to St James' Park for first time since move
• Carroll was barracked by Newcastle fans at Anfield

Kenny Dalglish has said Newcastle United supporters have no reason to abuse Andy Carroll when the striker returns to St James' Park on Sunday for the first time since his £35m move to Liverpool.

Carroll has been barracked on two previous appearances against his former club, both times at Anfield, and admitted this week to feeling nervous ahead of the return to Tyneside. Dalglish, however, says it was Newcastle's decision to sell their homegrown striker and that the record fee they received for a British player has helped improve their team under Alan Pardew. As a result, the Liverpool and former Newcastle manager claims, Carroll is undeserving of any criticism.

Dalglish said: "I'm not sure Andy will get abuse because what happened was outside his control. It's up to them what they want to do. They pay their entrance money and, if they want to give him stick, they will give him stick. But I don't think he ever did anything other than give of his best for Newcastle, and then they got £35m into the bargain as well. That's not bad, is it?

"I think Andy will be excited about going back. It's the club he supported as a boy, the club that introduced him and gave him his chance in professional football. So I think he will be excited about it as a local boy and will be looking forward to the game. José Enrique had a few years up there too, and he will be looking forward to it as well."

Newcastle are eight points above Liverpool in the Premier League with Carroll still to secure a regular first-team place under Dalglish or show why the Anfield club paid what they did for his services. Yet Dalglish denies Newcastle got the better of the deal in January 2011. He said: "I'm sure whatever we say about whatever Andy has done, opinion will always be split. There are always going to be people saying it was good or bad. But that doesn't make any difference really. For me we were delighted to get him and we're still very pleased to have him."

Liverpool head for St James' on the back of a dreadful sequence of five defeats in six league games. Of the past seven matches that Carroll has started, Liverpool have won six and drawn one. In the last seven games Liverpool have started without Carroll, they have lost five and drawn two. Dalglish is unconvinced.

"Stats are there for everyone to twist and turn whatever way they want to," he said. "For me it's not about any one individual, it's about ourselves as a squad and what the squad has done to get results. I won't sit and analyse everyone's stats to see where they come out at the end. If you're looking for someone with good stats, the most impressive is Maxi [Rodríguez] when he's started the games."

Liverpool and Everton, meanwhile, are still awaiting a decision from the Football Association on the kick-off time for their FA Cup semi-final on 14 April. Dalglish says his team's focus will not drift towards the Merseyside derby during the three league games that precede the meeting at Wembley and is happy to accept David Moyes's argument that Liverpool are favourites to progress.

He said: "I suppose somebody has got to be favourite, haven't they? Moyesy doesn't want to be favourites – that doesn't make any difference to us. We'll take it. It doesn't matter what the odds are. All that matters is what happens on the day. It is not a distraction for us. We've just got to concentrate on Newcastle. We cannot get carried away with ourselves."

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• Manchester United lead by three points and must play at City
• T-shirt says: 'Money only gets you so far'

There are eight games left and Manchester United have only just moved to the top of the league – yet for some of their fans it is clearly enough to assume a record 20th league title is now a fait accompli. A three-point lead ahead of Manchester City has seen the first T-shirts appearing this week commemorating another league triumph for Sir Alex Ferguson's team.

"Champ20ns" is the message, despite the fact we are still six weeks away from the end of the season and one bad result for United could see City replace them at the top. The accompanying message is aimed directly at City: "Money only gets you so far."

The stunt opens United's supporters to allegations of premature triumphalism when the title race is still open and they have to play at the Etihad Stadium on 30 April. Many United fans may also be concerned it proves to be a jinx. However, the company behind the T-shirts insists it has no reason to doubt the title will find its way back to Old Trafford when United's next four opponents are all against teams from the bottom six of the league.

"It may be squeaky-bum time, the managers may be busy playing mind games, there might be eight league games left but we think we've already done enough: we're three points clear, and there will only be one winner now."

There will not, however, be a refund to any buyers if United blow their lead and City have the last laugh.

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• QPR are in bottom three ahead of Saturday's Arsenal game
• 'The next eight games govern our futures,' Barton says

Joey Barton has said the final few games of QPR's Premier League season have much more at stake than points and pride. The captain is likely to lead the side out against Arsenal at the weekend knowing that some of his team-mates are playing for their respective futures in the game.

The controversial midfielder told the club's website: "This is more than a game of football now. The next eight games govern our futures.

"We're as desperate for the points as they are – for totally different reasons obviously. But there are livelihoods on the line here. People's careers are on the line. I'm not sure that's the case at Arsenal, to be honest."

The Rs have struggled for consistency in the top flight since being promoted as Championship champions last season. Despite the home wins over such teams as Chelsea and Liverpool, Barton is all too aware the club are still in a relegation fight and failure to pull out of the bottom three could leave some players without a club come next season.

"They'll [Arsenal] want to win the game because they're professionals and they'll want to finish in the Champions League places, which is a minimum requirement for them," he said.

"But there are lads here whose careers are on the line – all the lads need to realise that. If we don't, we'll be punished for it."

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• Manager also denies United have easier run-in than City
• Concedes smaller clubs 'do have a point' over decisions

Sir Alex Ferguson has conceded that smaller clubs "have a point" when they argue they do not get decisions against big teams while denying that Manchester United have benefited unduly from referees.

Speaking in the wake of Michael Oliver's decision not to award Fulham what seemed a clear penalty at Old Trafford on Monday night, Ferguson argued that Manchester City had also benefited from refereeing decisions, not least when Gareth Barry appeared to bring down Glenn Whelan at Stoke on Saturday evening.

Ferguson also acknowledged that Patrick Vieira was not speaking solely about United when the Manchester City executive made his comments about referees favouring big clubs at home. Vieira was also referring explicitly to the problems of officiating at clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Milan. "You could go through millions of incidents but maybe the smaller clubs do have a point," Ferguson said, cautiously. "However, somebody said a few years ago that Manchester United always get penalty kicks at Old Trafford but, when you go through the statistics since I have been here, it only averages out at three or three and a half per year. You cannot say that is a lot for an attacking team like ourselves. It has some mileage in the press but most managers believe that the breaks even themselves out.

"However, looking from the referee's position, I can see why he didn't give a penalty when Danny Murphy was brought down because the ball has moved at an angle as Michael Carrick tackles him and from his position it isn't clear – although it was a good claim."

Ferguson also pointed out that Manchester United had suffered possibly the worst decision of the season so far when the linesman, John Flynn, flagged for a penalty after what appeared a perfectly clean tackle by Rio Ferdinand on Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa. It was awarded at Old Trafford and cost the champions two points.

As the season reaches its critical phase, Ferguson has no truck with suggestions made by Vieira that Manchester City, having played the better football, merit the title more than United. When Ferguson made a similar remark after Arsenal had won the title at Old Trafford in 2002, Arsène Wenger responded with the words: "Everyone thinks they have the most beautiful wife at home."

Ferguson said that his advantage was not yet a significant one and denied Manchester United had the easier run-in. Before they travel to the Etihad Stadium for the derby, United play four of the bottom six and Everton, who have not won at Old Trafford since 1992. "They were playing good football in the first half of the season, there is no doubt about that," Ferguson said of Roberto Mancini's side. "I recognise that – we were beaten 6-1 here. But a season lasts a bit longer than three months. You can look at all our fixtures and say: 'Blackburn are fighting for their lives, Queens Park Rangers are fighting for their lives, Aston Villa are fighting for their lives, Wigan are fighting for their lives'."

Ferguson said he agreed with his old lieutenant, Gary Neville, that Monday night's encounter at Blackburn might be among the most awkward of Manchester United's remaining fixtures. Despite the fact that United won their record 19th title at Ewood Park, they have won only three of their last 12 games at Blackburn and one of those victories came in the League Cup.

"The important thing is that most of our players have had experience of winning the title – Ferdinand, Evra, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick and Rooney. If they hadn't, we might be in trouble but they are well accustomed to it," he said. "We all know that football can turn around and bite you. That's why we make the point about experience. We have a small advantage, not a great advantage, and one that can change in a single game.

"I was nervous when we were giving the ball away towards the end against Fulham on Monday night. We had a 10-minute period when everyone decided to give the ball away. I went to the touchline because my visibility was important at that time. It was just about getting ourselves over the line."

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• Neville fears Euro 2012 chances are being harmed by the FA
• Venables backs Harry Redknapp to be England coach

England's chances at this year's European Championship are being damaged by the Football Association's failure to deal with major issues, the former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville and the former England manager Terry Venables said on Thursday.

The FA has repeatedly said it will name a replacement for the departed coach Fabio Capello, who resigned in February, towards "the back end of the season" and has appointed the Under-21s coach, Stuart Pearce, as caretaker coach.

Other issues, such as who will captain the team, are also unresolved and Neville and Venables said at the Soccerex European Forum that time was running out with the tournament starting on 8 June.

Neville told delegates at the convention that the uncertainty surrounding the England team was worrying.

"There's something brewing at the moment," he said. "There are situations still not being dealt with. There are player situations going into the tournament, there are manager situations … and its going to come pretty quickly. It's April next week.

"There's manager, there's player, there's captain, there's [the John Terry] court case, it's not going to go away.

"And the FA at this moment are in a difficult position as always. If they actively go in there now and do something then it will be like a bull in china shop.

"But I do feel the vultures are circling. The England manager has started being mentioned again this week, we are going into a tournament – and who is taking the team, what tactics are we going to play, what principles?

"The end of the season is four weeks away. They say they are going to wait until the end of the season – that's May 13, and I think they should make their decision as soon as possible."

Venables, 69, who managed England from 1994 until 1996 and guided the team into the semi-finals of Euro 96, said he believed that the Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, was the right man for the job.

"I think Harry is the candidate, he has done such a capable job at Tottenham," he said. "But it's gone on too long for me and no one seems to really know what's going on apart from those that are in the seat. They may know what's going on, I don't know whether they do."

He agreed with Neville that a decision should be made as soon as possible. "The more time you can get in that job the better. There's nothing for you doing it off cold. You need everything in your favour because it's such a big job. They have to get someone in there straight away to do something about it.

"I don't see any benefit at all in coming in at the last moment with a rah-rah-rah. I think Harry is capable of saying 'I'll go'. He has got Tottenham into a very, very strong position, they had a bit of a blip but they seem to be over that and he qualifies as England boss by ticking a lot of the right boxes."

Venables also said he was strongly in favour of an English manager succeeding Capello. "I can't get to grips with that [foreign England managers]. I never have. You can go for anyone in the world for the Champions League and Premier League.

"But internationally it's like what went on in wars – you can't trade generals you have to go for your own. Spain and Germany always go for their own. I would rather lose with our own people. Some of our guys deserve a chance and can do it."

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• Goalkeeper would have been sacrificed in summer rebuilding
• Villas-Boas suspects players spoke against him to owner

André Villas-Boas's sacking at Chelsea may have saved Petr Cech's career at Stamford Bridge after it emerged the goalkeeper was among the players the Portuguese manager wanted to move on in a summer of rebuilding in which Edinson Cavani and Hulk were his top targets.

Three weeks after the brief and turbulent Villas-Boas era was ended, the full extent of his rebuilding plans demonstrates how determined he was to break up the old guard at Stamford Bridge and create a completely different team to re-establish the club as authentic title challengers.

Villas-Boas was not only determined to sever his ties with Frank Lampard and Michael Essien, as well as Didier Drogba, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda, but was not convinced by Cech's performances and had talked to Roman Abramovich about selling the man who once had legitimate claims to be recognised as the best goalkeeper in the world. Rui Patrício, the Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper, was one possible replacement and Villas-Boas also wanted to bring back Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea's 19-year-old Belgian, from a loan spell at Atlético Madrid in which the teenager has excelled.

Cavani, the Napoli forward, had been identified to replace Drogba on the back of the Uruguayan's brilliant performances in Serie A and the Champions League, while Villas-Boas had also asked Abramovich for the money to sign Hulk, the Brazilian striker who had helped him win the Portuguese title with Porto. The initial advances had already been made for both players, with Abramovich particularly involved in the case of Cavani, and it may still be that one or both of them is targeted regardless of who replaces Villas-Boas on a permanent basis.

Now back in Portugal, Villas-Boas's strong suspicion is that several players spoke out against him directly to Abramovich in the wake of the 3-1 Champions League first-leg defeat against Napoli last month, when he left Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole out of a team already missing the injured John Terry. Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at West Brom 11 days later led to his sacking and he is now waiting to finalise a severance agreement while Roberto Di Matteo, appointed on a caretaker basis, has overseen a transformation that includes overcoming Napoli 4-1 in the second leg of their Champions League tie and then beating Benfica 1-0 at Estádio da Luz in the first leg of the quarter-final on Tuesday. As part of the payoff, an agreement will be in place that Villas-Boas does not discuss publicly the dressing-room secrets from his time at the London club. In particular Chelsea do not want him to reveal the deterioration in his relationship with senior players such as Lampard and Cole, which had suffered to the point where the atmosphere at the training ground was openly mutinous at times. Cole is also said to have fallen out with Malouda, and the 34-year-old Villas-Boas will privately admit he found it difficult bringing together a dressing room containing so many strong personalities.

Fernando Torres, however, was one of the players Villas-Boas wanted to keep, despite the striker enduring the worst form of his professional life since arriving from Liverpool for £50m 14 months ago. Abramovich, too, is determined not to give up on a player he had been desperate to sign. The idea was to begin next season with Cavani, Hulk, Torres and Daniel Sturridge as striking options.

As for the lengthy list of players who were considered expendable, Cech's name is the most surprising given that he is the current Chelsea player of the year and has been one of the bedrocks of their success in the Abramovich years. The Czech Republic international does not turn 30 until May, which is far from old in goalkeeping terms, but Villas-Boas was not fully satisfied with his performances and there is a sense in the football world that Cech's performances may not be at the same level as his first few years at the club.

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