Almanack: Sore points

QUOTES of the week: Mircea Lucescu, manager of Brescia, meditating in the Gazzetta dello Sport on the arrival of three points for a win in Serie A from this afternoon: 'Personally, I've always thought of the draw as a positive result. After all, the draw is part of the history of football. A draw represents equilibrium. And this great equilibrium has made our Italian championship the most beautiful and interesting in the world. It's strange. Man searches for balance as the main target of life. But in our football we are trying to get rid of it . . .'

The new-look slimline John Barnes reveals his summer regime: 'There was no magic formula. I just went running three or four miles up the Heswall Hills every night and kept off McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.'

Peter Radford, executive chairman of the British Athletic Federation, making medical history in the field of ophthalmology: 'We are not turning a blind eye. We are doing exactly the reverse.'