Club Cup win gives Inter fifth trophy in year

Inter Milan yesterday became the first Italian side to collect five major trophies in a single calendar year as they brushed aside TP Mazembe in the Club World Cup final.

• Fifth element: Inter celebrate their fifth trophy after beating Mazembe

Two goals in the space of five minutes early in the first half from Goran Pandev and Samuel Eto'o - who shook off an injury to play - put Inter in control, and Jonathan Biabiany completed the scoring five minutes from time.

The victory will go some way to easing the pressure on Inter boss Rafael Benitez, who has underwhelmed since taking on the unenviable task of succeeding Jose Mourinho.

Inter add the Club World Cup crown to their Champions League, Serie A, Italian cup and European Super Cup titles, emulating the achievement of Barcelona last year. Inter also won the Italian Supercup in pre-season.

Congolese side Mazembe, who had stunned Brazilian club Internacional to earn their place in the final, never threatened another upset.

n Leaders Borussia Dortmund failed to break the record for the most points in the first half of the Bundesliga season after conceding a late goal in a 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday just before the winter break.

Dortmund, who had won 14 of their 16 previous games, losing just once, needed only a point to equal Bayern Munich's 44 points from 17 games in the 2005-6 season but with a better goal difference. Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas scuppered Dortmund's plans with a classy left-footed finish four minutes from time for his 14th goal of the season.

Schalke 04 won their third game in a row when they beat Cologne 3-0 courtesy of a Raul hat-trick to move up to tenth place while VfL Wolfsburg needed a stoppage time goal to snatch a 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim.

Bayer Leverkusen, currently second on 32 points, host Freiburg today. Champions Bayern Munich travel to VfB Stuttgart this afternoon, the hosts' first league match under new coach Bruno Labbadia.

n French Football Federation's (FFF) interim president Fernand Duchaussoy was confirmed at his post yesterday after an FFF general assembly.

Duchaussoy will have the difficult mission of restoring the image of French football and the credibility of its federation following France's World Cup debacle.

n The Swedish football league trophy underwent keyhole surgery on Friday, revealing a secret inscription that will not please former UEFA president Lennart Johansson.

Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter had reported that Ingemar Eklund, a soccer-mad silversmith who died recently, had engraved the words "Bajen forever" on the inside of the trophy, "Bajen" being the nickname of his favourite club Hammarby IF.

The Swedish Football Association was determined to end rumours about the inscription and national team doctor Magnus Forssblad was asked to conduct the "operation". Under the watchful gaze of the media, Forssblad drilled a small hole in the trophy before feeding in the arthroscopic camera and revealed the inscription: "Djurgarden are best!" along with four names. Djurgarden are a rival of Johansson's favourite side AIK and have won the trophy three times.