CHELSEA 4- 2 READING

Blues no to City’s £30m Luiz bid

CHELSEA have rejected Manchester City’s £30million bid for David Luiz.

City boss Roberto Mancini needs defensive cover with Micah Richards crocked for 10 weeks.
Luiz was axed from last night’s win over Reading while Chelsea and City tried to thrash out a deal — though the Brazilian centre-back claimed on Twitter he has a knee injury.
Chelsea were angered by the Tweet and Luiz has been fined.
Boss Roberto Di Matteo said: “This social media thing is all around us now. We’ll deal with it internally.”
But Luiz is still a big part of boss Roberto Di Matteo’s plans and City will need to significantly up their offer to prise him away.
Flamboyant Luiz, 25, arrived at Stamford Bridge in a £21m deal from Benfica in January 2011 and became an instant hit with the fans.

Torrn off a strip

ROBERTO DI MATTEO saw Fernando Torres fire Chelsea to the top of the Prem then told his side: Don’t be so entertaining.

RDM’s Blues came from 2-1 down to make it two victories and six goals from two matches.
But the Italian gaffer said: “We’ll have to try to be more solid.
“That’s how you win more games. We’ll certainly look at that. Everyone wants to see a lot of flair play but to win games you need a good balance to it. That’s going to be the challenge.”
Chelsea, who won their opener 2-0 at Wigan on Sunday, suffered a scare after Frank Lampard put them 1-0 ahead with an 18th-minute spot-kick.
Pavel Pogrebnyak equalised for Reading with a glancing header.
Then Blues keeper Petr Cech gifted the visitors a shock 2-1 lead when he allowed Danny Guthrie’s free-kick to squirm in.

Royals No 1 Adam Federici then made a similar blunder as Gary Cahill levelled with a speculative 65th-minute shot.
Torres looked at least a yard offside as he put the Blues 3-2 in front with nine minutes left.
And Branislav Ivanovic netted on the breakaway after keeper Federici had gone upfield for a corner.
Di Matteo singled out £32million new-boy Eden Hazard for praise.
RDM said: “He has made had an impact — I think him and Juan Mata linked up very well.
“He’s finding his feet very quickly, so that is pleasing for us.”
Reading boss Brian McDermott was left to rue Torres’ vital goal.
He blasted: “I’m gutted the linesman has got that decision wrong on the third goal. He was offside.
“He said he’d have a look at it. He can have a look at it. That’s life.
“People makes mistakes and he made a mistake tonight — it’s just a shame it was for such a crucial goal because we would definitely have got a point.”

Real Modrid

Real cock-up as Luka's profile is posted on club site

REAL MADRID were forced into an embarrassing climbdown after Luka Modric appeared on the club’s website as part of their squad.

The £35million deal with Tottenham has yet to be finalised — but on Tuesday night a full profile of Modric was on one of Real’s web pages.
Modric is set to complete his switch from Spurs before the transfer window closes.
But the Spaniards were left red-faced as the page dedicated to the Croat appeared to jump the gun.
Officials acted quickly to take it down after a link was leaked on Twitter — but hundreds of surfers managed to access it before it was removed.
Madrid swiftly killed off talk of an imminent announcement and privately insisted it was the work of hackers.
It was hugely embarrassing for the Spanish giants who have been briefing the local media that they are confident they have got their man. In his ‘profile’ Modric was depicted as a Tottenham player between 2008-12 and as a Real star from this year.
Although Madrid privately insist a deal has been agreed in principle, it is believed the form of payment is still being discussed.
Talks are believed to centre around how much the Spaniards will pay up front and how much will be linked to success on the pitch.
That coupled with the fact Tottenham have been locked in discussions over a number of deals has delayed the official announcement of the agreement on Modric.
Following the departures of Michael Dawson and Sebastien Bassong, manager Andre Villas-Boas will need cover at centre-half.
Talk of Ricardo Carvalhobeing part of the Modric agreement had resurfaced, although Madrid have now agreed a loan deal with QPR subject to personal terms.
Modric has been reluctant to say anything about his future for fear of upsetting Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.
Madrid chief Jose Mourinho last night fuelled speculation that even Nuri Sahin could be loaned to Tottenham to bolster their midfield as Modric goes the other way.
Midfielder Sahin had been the target of loan bids from Liverpool and Arsenal.
The Special One did not speak about Modric in his pre-match Press conference before tonight’s Spanish Supercup first-leg clash with Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
But he said: “I don’t want anything in particular with Sahin. I want him to play, I want him to go on loan from Madrid.
“I like the option of the Premier League because it can give him certain elements in his game that he doesn’t have at the moment. But where he goes is all the same to me.
“Really. It’s not true that I want him to go to one club instead of another. It’s the same for me wherever he goes.