LONDON - WILLIAM Gallas will play for Arsenal against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday but manager Arsene Wenger said the captaincy had now passed permanently to Cesc Fabregas.

France defender Gallas was stripped of the club captaincy, fined two weeks' wages and dropped from the squad that lost 3-0 at Manchester City last weekend after publicly criticising his team-mates.

FROM meeting the King of Pop to the hatchet men of England's lower divisions and finally enjoying stardom in the tropics, John Wilkinson's road to Singapore is long and winding, experiencing the peaks and the warts of the football industry.

FRANKFURT - LUKAS Podolski's declared intention to leave Bayern Munich has rocked the German powerhouse one day before a crucial Champions League game against Steaua Bucharest.

Bayern needs only one point to make sure of advancing to the knockout stage. Once there, it could be without Podolski, the unhappy striker who came out Monday with the clearest statement yet on his intention to leave the Bundesliga champions during the winter break.