Xavi: Neymar is not a diver

The experienced midfielder does not think the Brazilian is guilty of simulation and believes he is not indispensable for Barca

Barcelona playmaker Xavi has defended team-mate Neymar against recent criticism that he goes to the ground too easily and engages in play-acting.

The Brazil international has been criticised for his alleged tendency to exaggerate tackles and injuries, but Xavi feels says his Blaugrana team-mate does not deserve the harsh treatment he's been receiving since his summer switch from Santos.

"All the focus is on Neymar, but he is not play-acting or diving," Xavi told RAC1. "These accusations happen because we have a lot of rivals. 

"The people in Madrid are looking for things they don't like and then try to put a certain label on a player.

"Neymar has the skills to be a big star, if he's not one already at this stage. We're lucky to have him."

The midfielder, 33, then went on to discuss his future at Barcelona and added that the Catalans will continue to do well without him once he hangs up his boots.

"Barcelona will keep on winning and playing well without me. Nobody is indispensable," the World Cup winner said.

"Barca should not be looking for a direct replacement for me as that would only put extra pressure on the guy taking my place."

Xavi has a contract with Barcelona for two more seasons after the 2013-14 campaign.

Bayern were ready to sell Boateng, says Scholl

The former Germany international has claimed that the Bundesliga giants considered offloading the defender during the summer

Former Bayern Munich II coach Mehmet Scholl has revealed that the Bundesliga champions were ready to sell Jerome Boateng in the summer transfer window following his relatively disappointing performances in 2012-13.

The 25-year-old defender struggled to find his best form last term, but has developed into a key player under new head coach Pep Guardiola this season.

"They held a conversation with Boateng to tell him that he would not be at Bayern much longer if he continued to play like he played last season," Scholl told ARD.

"He has made a big transformation since and you can hardly recognise him any more. When players show a willingness to change and to improve, that shows their class."

Boateng joined Bayern from Manchester City in the summer of 2011 and has since made nearly 100 official appearances for the German champions.

Pogba: I'm happy at Juventus

The France international is keen to stay in Turin and has dismissed suggestions that he could be on the move at the end of the season

Paul Pogba has insisted that he is happy with life at Juventus and is not thinking about leaving the Serie A champions amidst reports linking him with Paris Saint-Germain.

Bianconeri president Andrea Agnelli recently stated that the Italian giants might be unable to hold on to the France international if a lucrative offer came in for the 20-year-old midfielder, but the man himself has dismissed suggestions that he could soon leave Turin.

"I am not angry that Juventus are talking about a possible transfer," Pogba told Sky Sport.

"I do not know anything about PSG's interest. I am only thinking about Juventus. I am happy here.

"We have not discussed a contract renewal yet, so there's no news on that front. I am only thinking about football and my agent Mino Raiola takes care of the rest."

Pogba's current contract with Juventus is due to expire in the summer of 2016

FIFA virus' strikes again

Real Madrid lost an astonishing 16 players to the international break. The much-feared 'FIFA virus' has provided more scares, with Varane the affected player this time round with a knee injury. However, the Frenchman is fit for his country's game against Finland.

Varane aside, it all seems rosy for Real Madrid. Four players could miss their respective sides' second matches - Di María, Ronaldo, Pepe and Marcelo.

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has decided to rest Di María and Sergio Agüero for the game against Uruguay in Montevideo in the last fixture list of the South American section. With Argentina's place in the competition sealed a few matches ago, the coach has opted to rest the Madrid winger.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe will also miss Portugal's last match due to suspension. Both players were booked against Israel, but in this case it is the lesser of two evils as Portugal is almost certain to have to settle for the play-offs in November.

Ronaldo said recently that he preferred not to face France in the knock-out games. Real Madrid would also lose Varane and Benzema in this play-off, as Didier Deschamps' side has lost out on first place in the group to Spain.

Lal Masjid cleric murder case: Former PM Shaukat Aziz nominated as suspect

Former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. PHOTO: APP

ISLAMABAD: Political stalwarts Aftab Sherpao and Tariq Azeem along with former prime minister Shaukat Aziz will be nominated as suspects in the murder case of‘prayer leader’ of Lal Masjid, Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, Express News reported on Tuesday.

Shuhada Foundation spokesperson put forward the names of Sherpao and Azeem. An investigation will be made once a written request is submitted after the Eid holidays.

On October 10, former president Pervez Musharraf was arrested for the charge of murdering Ghazi and his mother during the infamous 2007 operation.

Background

On July 3, 2007, Musharraf had ordered a military operation against the mosque for challenging the writ of the state.

The military besieged the mosque for 12 days before assaulting the compound, an attack in which hundreds of students were killed.

The former chief cleric of Lal Masjid was accused of using the mosque loudspeaker to instigate madrassa students to attack the Rangers who were deployed outside the mosque in order to prevent Maulana Abdul Aziz and his associates at Lal Masjid from continuing their campaign of public intimidation that they had been carrying out since January of that year.

Last year, an anti-terrorism court acquitted Maulana Aziz, and 16 other persons in a case on the killing of a Rangers official.

Royal Mail share investors set to make £300 profit with new price surge

The golden oppotunity for investor profit from Royal Mail shares continued as prices surged to 44% above the original selling price. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Hundreds of thousands of small investors could make a profit of more than £300 on Royal Mail stock on Tuesday morning following a further surge in the company's shares on their second day of trading.

Around 350,000 shareholders who bought their stakes through a government website – out of a total of 690,000 retail investors – receive their share certificates on Tuesday, allowing them to cash in on the float's instant success.

The shares, which the government sold for 330p on Friday morning, closed at 475p on Monday night – 20p higher than at the end of trading on Friday. The 44% jump in the launch share price means that 227 shares bought from the government for £749.10 – the allocation for every retail investor – are now worth £1,078.

Danny Cox, of stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, said he expected Tuesday's trading activity to be as busy as Friday, when more than 100m shares were traded in the first hour. David Jones, chief market strategist at spread betting firm IG Index, said: "We're expecting a similar level of excitement as in the first hour on Friday."

Those who bought shares directly from the government will have to pay £17.50 to sell their shares online. People who bought through a broker could sell the shares for a fee as low as £12.

Jones said many of the buyers are wealthy individuals who failed to buy any Royal Mail shares after the government decided to block applications from anyone who ordered more than £10,000 worth of shares. "The most active [buyers] are high net worth clients who missed out on the allocations they wanted," he said.

Until now the shares could only be bought and sold via stockbrokers. The company will be fully listed on the London Stock Exchange at 8am on Tuesday triggering "unconditional dealing" – allowing anyone to buy and sell.

About 40 people applied for shares worth £1m or more. City investors, including pension funds and hedge funds, have also been big buyers of the stock after 500 of the 800 institutions that applied for shares failed to get any following overwhelming demand.

The proportion available to institutions was reduced from 70% to 67% to make slightly more stock available to the public. The government said 90% of the shares sold to the City have gone to "responsible institutional investors" such as pension funds. Investors include Threadneedle, Fidelity, Blackrock and Standard Life.

The remaining 10% went to hedge funds, including Lansdowne Partners.

The Guardian understands that 13.5% of the company was bought by foreign investors, including the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait, Singapore and Norway.

Private investors may be extra keen to sell their shares before the result of a strike ballot of postal workers due on Wednesday afternoon. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it is "almost certain" that its 115,000 members will vote for industrial action.

A nationwide strike, the first since 2009, could be held as soon as 23 October. It comes despite 150,000 postal workers making paper profits of more than £900 from the £2,200 of shares they were granted for free as part of the privatisation.

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU, said: "Shares will make no scintilla of difference to postal workers who are far more concerned about their jobs. We expect our members will vote to protect their terms and conditions. It's more important than ever to get protections for job security and terms and conditions under privatisation. CWU won't stand idly by; whoever owns the company will have to deal with us and the workforce."

The union will hold a mass meeting outside Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant sorting office in central London on Tuesday morning to coincide with the start of full trading in the company's shares on the Stock Exchange.

Brokers said the threatened strike action – which could lead to days of disruption in the run up to Christmas – has already been factored into Royal Mail's share price. The attraction of a 6% dividend yield could also persuade retail investors to hold on to their shares rather than sell them, despite a note from analysts at Canaccord Genuity arguing that the shares should be priced at 599p.

The soaring share price, which values Royal Mail at £4.7bn compared with the government's maximum £3.3bn valuation, has fuelledaccusations that the government sold off the 500-year-old company too cheaply.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said it showed the privatisation was a "fire sale of a great British institution".

Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, said the government had "massively shortchanged" taxpayers by significantly undervaluing the institution.

If the government had sold the shares at 450p, rather than 330p, it would have made an extra £600m for the taxpayer on top of the £1.7bn it made from the 52% stake in Royal Mail.

The government's pricing of Royal Mail will be investigated by both the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, and the public accounts committee

ALLAH Amir Par Reham Barsa

Banned fast-bowler Amir is currently serving a five-year ban imposed on him after the spot-fixing fiasco at Lord’s in 2010. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: With bated breath, banned fast-bowler Mohammad Amir is keenly following the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Caretaker Chairman Najam Sethi’s efforts for his case at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Board meeting this week.

Sethi, along with PCB Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed, will leave for London today for the meeting to be held from October 17 to 19. The PCB chief’s target will be to earn leniency for Amir on his five-year ban.

Since the day he took over, the interim chairman has vowed to support the young pacer. He raised the case at the ICC’s annual conference this year following which the governing body formed a committee to look into the possibilities of relaxing the conditions of the ban.

The committee includes Giles Clarke, Wally Edwards, Imran Khawaja and Keith Oliver, who will present recommendations to the ICC Board on the basis of which a decision will be made in this week’s meeting.

Although a reduction in the duration of the ban may not be possible for Amir, the PCB is hoping to secure some relaxation in the conditions of the ban — permission for playing domestic cricket or allowance to use the board’s facilities to help him stay in form.

Amir eager for comeback on PCB grounds

The fast-bowler is eagerly waiting for a ‘positive’ result from the meeting.

“I would like to get a go-ahead for domestic cricket and permission to use PCB’s facilities during the ban,” Amir told The Express Tribune.

“Right now I am just training lightly to keep myself fit. Although I’ve lost two kilograms and am reasonably fit, it’s still not the same as the training a player can get at the National Cricket Academy.

“A player cannot give his 100% in training until he has targets in front of him.”

Amir hoped that Sethi would succeed in convincing the ICC.

“This is what I am hoping for. I would also like to request the fans to pray for me,” he said before praising Sethi.

“No top official has supported me like him. I would like to thank the PCB chairman for all he has done for me. I’ve said it many times and will say it again that I’ve learned my lesson. I look forward to playing with sincerity and honesty.”

PCB submits counsel’s report to ICC    

Meanwhile, the PCB has submitted the Queen’s Counsel report to the ICC which is expected to favour Amir’s case.

Sethi sought legal opinion from the England-based counsel last month in an attempt to ensure Amir’s early return to competitive cricket.

“The report is encouraging which is why the PCB is optimistic of a positive outcome,” said an official close to the matter.