Cristiano Ronaldo is a great human player but Messi is a Martian, claims Basile

While he acknowledged the Real Madrid ace's footballing ability, the veteran trainer described his compatriot as from another planet, and thus cannot be compared to his peers.

 The 68-year-old believes that while the Real Madrid forward is a great player in his own right, the Argentine's is presently in a league of his own and cannot be measured against other footballers. "You cannot compare anyone to Messi.

 Cristiano Ronaldo is a great human player, but Messi is a Martian. He can run with the ball at an even higher speed than without the ball," Basile stated to Radio 9. "It's as if he's playing another sport. It's nearly impossible to do the things he does at that speed.

 He just keeps getting better and is always improving." Basile also had his say on whether Pele or Diego Maradona was a better player, but struggled to give a definitive answer.

 "Pele was an absolute monster and had a fantastic physique," he added. "Maradona was another genius and better in tight spaces.

 Diego was the team's leader, whereas Pele was more of an individual player."

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AC Milan to continue Kaka negotiations with Real Madrid in the United States

The Serie A giants have made no secret of the fact that they are interested in re-signing the Brazilian playmaker, who has endured a largely unproductive spell at the Santiago Bernabeu following a €68 million transfer in 2009.

 Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has admitted that he does not know whether Kaka will remain at the club, but the Rossoneri are still a long way from signing the 30-year-old as they are not prepared to match his current wages.

 It is reported that Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani will meet with Madrid president Florentino Perez during Los Blancos' pre-season tour of the United States to discuss the potential transfer of the Brazilian, as well as certain other players deemed surplus to requirements in the Spanish capital.

 Ricardo Carvalho, Nuri Sahin, Sami Khedira and Lassana Diarra are all understood to be on the wishlist of Milan, who will have money to spend after the €65m sale of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain earlier in July.

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Barca 8-0 Raja Casablanca : Messi hat-trick sinks Raja Casablanca

Lionel Messi starred again as he hit a hat-trick for Barcelona in their 8-0 friendly win over Raja Casablanca at the Grand Stade in Tangier.

 Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring, before Messi doubled his side's advantage. The pair scored the next two goals to put Barcelona 4-0 ahead and Messi completed his hat-trick on the stroke of half-time.

 Dani Alves got on the scoresheet from the penalty spot in the 58th minute before youngsters Sergi Roberto and Gerard Deulofeu added two more in the last three minutes.

 After the game new Barcelona boss Tito Vilanova heaped praise on Messi in his first pre-season appearance after missing the match against Hamburg on Tuesday.

 "When you have the best player in the world, with this scoring capacity, he usually makes the difference, and once again he did it," Vilanova told reporters.

 "This match was good to pick up the pace because we faced a team that made us run.

 "The players from the youth side? They always play well. Everyone played at a very high level tonight."

 Messi himself told El Mundo Deportivo, "I haven't been able to do a good pre-season for a long time because I always arrived late. It has been very good to have such a long rest.

 "The way of training has continued in the same way and we are working with the same people so we haven't noted any changes. We are in pre-season and so you notice the tiredness.

 They kept the ball well and made us run a lot but we will get better with every game. "We are training very hard and we have to continue like that to arrive in the best shape possible for the important matches.''

 Vilanova also spoke about injured striker David Villa - who has not yet featured for Barca since sustaining a fractured tibia at the Club World Cup in December - but could not offer any update.

 "We are talking about a serious injury, with a long recovery time," he said. "When he is fine, we will be delighted to welcome him back.

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Chelsea Skipper John Terry Could be Hit With Eight Match FA Ban

JOHN TERRY faces a possible eight-game ban following the FA’s decision to charge the Chelsea skipper over his much-publicised clash with QPR’s Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road last October.

 Just a fortnight after Westminster Magistrates Court cleared the England defender of a racially aggravated public order offence, Terry now finds himself in the FA dock and fighting to clear his name again.

 Terry insists he will seek a personal hearing in a bid to prove his innocence.

  Chelsea ‘privately’ believe that the FA’s punishment will have influenced by Liverpool fans who feel that John Terry’s offence warrants a ban of similar proportions to that handed to Uruguayan international Patrice Evra.

 Though cleared by the criminal courts the burden of proof in an FA hearing is substantially lower and there feeling is that the powers that be will look to punish the Stamford Bridge centre back, implying that they are not convinced by the case made by the player’s defence at Westminster Magistrates Court earlier this month.

 Chelsea are sure to appeal any such ban but will probably not need to go out looking for a replacement defensive option given that when fully fit Roberto Di Matteo has three perfectly capable centre backs to call upon, namely Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic.

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ARSENAL STAR ROBIN VAN PERSIE DEMANDS SAME PAY AS WAYNE ROONEY AT MANCHESTER UNITED

ROBIN VAN PERSIE is demanding to be paid the same as Wayne Rooney before he agrees to join Manchester United.

 We can reveal that Old Trafford is the Arsenal striker’s favoured destination – but the Gunners must first agree a transfer fee with last season’s Premier League runners-up. United, along with champions Manchester City and Juventus, have lodged a bid for the wantaway star, who has only 12 months of his Emirates contract left to run.

 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is demanding £30million, but none of the offers is anywhere near that because the Dutch star turns 29 a week tomorrow and his contract is running down.

 Van Persie, who has turned down a three-year contract worth £130,000 a week to extend his stay at Arsenal – plus a £5million re-signing bonus – believes a move to Premier League rivals United would enhance his chances of winning long-overdue silverware.

 The Dutchman has gained only an FA Cup winners’ medal at Arsenal and he doesn’t believe they are equipped for a concerted Premier League title challenge.

 But to join Manchester United he is still expecting a huge increase in his wage packet.

 The Old Trafford hierarchy have been made aware that Van Persie expects the same financial rewards as the club’s highest-paid player, Rooney, who is on around £220,000 a week.

 It is understood that United are prepared to meet Van Persie’s demands, providing they can agree a fee of between £15m and £20m with the Gunners.

 Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has already expressed his frustration at what he regards as a lack of action by his club in pursuit of a player he believes would enhance their chances of retaining the title.

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Brazil 3-1 Belarus, Egypt held: Neymar dazzles to send Selecao through to Olympics quarter-finals

Brazil came from behind to beat Belarus 3-1 at Old Trafford thanks to a stunning second half free-kick and last-minute assist from Neymar.

 The favourites for the gold medal had gone behind inside nine minutes when Renan Bressan popped up to put Belarus into a shock lead.

 But Pato levelled the scores six minutes later when he headed home.

 Brazil continued to press and were rewarded in the 65th minute when Santos star Neymar showed why he is so highly rated and curled a free-kick into the top corner to put his side ahead.

 The winger wasn't done though and finished off Belarus with a wonderful backheeled assist in the final minute, which new Chelsea signing Oscar sent into the net with ease.

 Egypt's hopes of qualifying for the last eight of the Olympic football tournament took a blow as they drew 1-1 with New Zealand at Old Trafford after wasting several chances.

 Egypt fell behind to a 16th minute strike from West Brom's Chris Wood, but Mohamed Salah equalised from close-range at the end of the first half.

 The Africans could have had at least seven goals by the final whistle but a mixture of last-ditch Kiwi defending, and some awful finishing from Egypt, meant they had to settle for a draw in what was a poor-quality contest.

 Egypt will have to beat Belarus on Wednesday to qualify for the quarter-finals, while minnows New Zealand will have to beat the South American side to progress from Group C.

 Giovani dos Santos' two-goal cameo from off the bench gave Mexico a 2-0 win over Gabon and sent El Tri top of Group B on Sunday.

 Giovani, who struggled to earn a place under Harry Redknapp at Tottenham, was introduced as a second-half substitute and broke the deadlock after 63 minutes.

 He then scored from the penalty spot in injury-time after Gabon defender Henri Ndong was sent off for a professional foul.

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medal table from the Olympic games

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