Sporting briefs

Gattuso: Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said he was willing to take a pay cut to help Milan survive the global economic crisis. "In times like this I'm in favour of an eventual salary reduction," Gattuso, sidelined by a knee injury, said. "I've already spoken to Galliani about it. If the club asks for a reduction from me, I'm ready."

Toni: Injured Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni will not be fit for tomorrow's Bundesliga match at home to Karlsruhe, leaving Lukas Podolski as the team's only fit striker, the club said. Toni, who has been out with a heel injury for more than three weeks, has been jogging again but has not yet taken part in full training.

Hleb: Barcelona's Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb does not regret moving to the Primera Liga club despite playing a limited role since joining from Arsenal at the end of last season. "Adapting here has not been easy," the 27-year-old said. "I'm in a squad in which almost all the players could be in the starting eleven and getting playing time is difficult. It's a new experience for me and one I have to learn from."

Messi: Lionel Messi wants to stay at Barcelona for the rest of his career, the Argentina forward said. "I have said many times that if it were up to me I would stay my whole life at Barca," he said. "There are some things money cannot buy such as happiness and how good I feel here."

Pienaar: Midfielder Steven Pienaar has been recalled to the South Africa squad for friendlies against Norway and Portugal after missing the last nine games for the 2010 World Cup hosts. Injury-hampered Pienaar, won the last of his 36 caps in June.

2010 Winter Games: Organisers of the 2010 Olympics have gone to court to block the resale of tickets to the Winter Games in Vancouver, and to find out who is making them available to a reseller. The Vancouver Organising Committee has vowed to stop the ticket scalping, and complained last year an unnamed national Olympic committee was already trying to resell the tickets it will receive as part of Games operations. The suit filed on Tuesday against Coast2Coast Tickets accuses the company of trademark violations and breaking VANOC's agreements with ticket buyers, national Olympic groups and sponsors that no tickets will be resold.

Rugby Union: Scrumhalf Paul Griffen has recovered from a rib injury, enabling Italy coach Nick Mallett to name an unchanged side for their final Six Nations game against France tomorrow. Mallett has stuck with the line-up that produced their best display so far this year in losing 20-15 to champions Wales last weekend for the match at Rome's Stadio Flaminio.

Swimming: Ukraine's Yana Klochkova, winner of four swimming Olympic gold medals, announced her retirement from competitive sport yesterday at the age of 26. Klochkova won gold in the 200m individual medley and 400 individual medley at the 2000 Games in Sydney and repeated the feat four years later in Athens. She also picked up a silver in the 800 freestyle in Sydney. She made way for her younger team-mates for last year's Games in Beijing. Klochkova said she would continue to work with a foundation set up last year to develop and popularise swimming in Ukraine.

Cycling: Luxembourg's Frank Schleck was injured in a crash during training on Wednesday and will miss this weekend's Milan-San Remo classic, his Saxo Bank team said. "A bad crash during training meant a trip to the hospital and now a short break from racing for Team Saxo Bank's Frank Schleck," the Danish team said in a statement. Saxo Bank were already without last year's winner Swiss Fabian Cancellara who pulled out due to poor form.