Lisbon giants Benfica have hit out at the severity of a six-match ban which UEFA slapped on their Cameroonian defender Agustin Binya.

Binya was suspended for six matches by European football’s ruling body on Friday after he was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Celtic’s Scott Brown during their Champions League clash in Glasgow on November 6.

The 23-year-old will now miss the UEFA Champions League visit of AC Milan on November 28 and the trip to Shakhtar Donetsk on December 4.

Tottenham’s new manager Juande Ramos has his eye on Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas for next season, and the club is ready to pay a record 40 million euros for the Spanish international, a Spanish newspaper said Thursday.

“Juande wants Casillas,” headlined the newspaper El Mundo in its sports section.

Despite struggling in the Premier League this season, Tottenham has the money, the daily said.

The club offered the Spanish former Sevilla manager a deal worth six million euros a season to take over from Martin Jol, who was sacked last month, and is ready to pay Casillas seven million euros a year, El Mundo said.

England midfielder David Beckham has been offered the chance to train with Premier League side Arsenal during the Major League Soccer close season, The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Beckham will line out with England in Friday’s international friendly against Austria in Vienna, and next Wednesday’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.

The 32-year-old Beckham’s fate, like that of England coach Steve McClaren depends heavily on the result between Russia and Israel in the Euro 2008 qualifying tie in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

Former Manchester United player John Doherty has died at the age of 72, the English Premier league club confirmed on Wednesday.

Doherty, who was a member of the Busby Babes first championship-winning side in 1955/56, made 26 appearances and scored seven goals before he was forced to retire at only 23 because of injury.

He later became chairman of the Association of Former Manchester United Players, and was one of three former players who carried the Premier League trophy on to the Old Trafford pitch for last season’s title presentation.

European football’s governing body UEFA have selected the international Red Cross (ICRC) as their official humanitarian partner for the 2008 European championships in Switzerland and Austria.

The partnership will help finance the ICRC’s work for the victims of landmines in Afghanistan,” the ICRC said in a statement.

“One of the important aspects of this partnership will be a fundraising campaign called Score for the Red Cross,” the statement said.

“Internet users can buy goals for their favourite team to help them win the title of the most charitable team at Euro 2008.”

France and Lyon striker Karim Benzema insists his work with the six-time French champions is still in progress, amid reports of huge interest in his talents from Real Madrid.

Benzema, born in France to Algerian parents, is the current leading scorer in the French league and has also been a driving force in attack for the club in the Champions League.

Real and a number of other top European clubs have taken notice. Benzema even made front page headlines in Spanish sports daily Marca two weeks ago.

Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann admitted Monday he was ready to leave Arsenal this winter and play for a second division side in order to preserve his place in the national team ahead of Euro 2008.

The 38-year-old made a string of errors for the Premier League side at the start of the season before achilles tendon and elbow injuries saw him lose his place at Arsenal to Spaniard Manuel Almunia.

“The Bundesliga is always attractive and is an option, and maybe the German second division is too,” the 38-year-old told Kicker magazine. “In any case I want to play at Euro 2008. Playing there has always been my aim.”