Sporting briefs

Diarra: Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra will be out of action for at least 15 days with swelling around his right knee, the La Liga club said. Diarra only joined up with Real in the morning after Mali's exit from the African Nations Cup in Angola earlier this week.

Klopp: Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp has been fined €5,000 ($7,102) by the German soccer federation for verbally abusing the referee during the 3-2 win over Cologne last week, his club said. Klopp was sent to the stands in the game where Dortmund squandered a 2-0 lead and needed a stoppage-time goal by Kevin Grosskreutz to seal their win.

CSKA Sofia: CSKA Sofia have signed French attacking midfielder Elliot Grandin on an 18-month contract, the Bulgarian club said. The 22-year-old, who had been a free agent after leaving Marseille last September, was presented late on Wednesday after passing a medical the previous day.

River win: River Plate drew first blood in their first clash with arch-rivals Boca Juniors in 2010 when they beat them 3-1 to win an Argentine summer-recess friendly in the Atlantic resort city of Mar de Plata. Paraguayan Rodrigo Rojas scored three minutes into his River debut and further goals by teenagers Gabriel Funes Mori and Daniel Villalva, with a brilliant finish, in yesterday's win gave the team hope they can put a dismal 2009 behind them.

Ecuador: Colombian Hernan Dario "Bolillo" Gomez is in talks with Ecuador who want him to take charge of the national team he led to their first World Cup in 2002, the Ecuadorean Football Federation (FEF) said. "Everything points to Hernan Dario Gomez becoming the new coach of the Ecuador team. This first step (of talks) has been positive," FEF president Luis Chiriboga said.

Jo: Brazilian striker Jo has been loaned to Turkey's Galatasaray until the end of the season by Manchester City after cutting short a spell with English Premier League rivals Everton. Everton, who had suspended the 22-year-old earlier this month for returning to Brazil without permission, said on their website (www.evertonfc.com) that their season-long loan deal had ended. Jo scored twice in 24 appearances for Everton this season.

Muntari Payments: Italy's Udinese are taking Portsmouth to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for failing to pay instalments on Sulley Muntari's 2007 transfer to the troubled Premier League side. British media reported that Portsmouth still owe Udinese around four million pounds ($6.53 million) for the player. Muntari joined Portsmouth for around seven million pounds.

King's Cup: Racing Santander vs Osasuna 2-1. Played on Wednesday: Deportivo vs Sevilla 0-3.

Boxing: World welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao believes a showdown against Floyd Mayweather Jr will happen eventually despite hard feelings over drug-testing demands that aborted negotiations. "I believe the fight will happen some other time," Pacquiao told reporters. "It will happen." Pacquiao spoke about Mayweather and the failed talks for a Las Vegas clash after a Madison Square Garden news conference to promote his March 13 WBO title defence in Dallas against former champion Joshua Clottey of Ghana.

Cycling: Portugal's Manuel Cardoso won an exhausting third stage of the Tour Down Under yesterday as Germany's Andre Greipel held his overall lead in the first event on this year's UCI ProTour calendar. Spain's Alejandro Valverde finished second while Australia's road race world champion Cadel Evans was third.

Athletics: More than 30 competitors at the Xiamen International marathon earlier this month have had their results cancelled because of cheating, some having hired imposters to run for them. All the runners were ranked in top 100 of the men's race at the Jan. 2 event, according to the Jiefang Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Shanghai Communist Party.