Football news in brief

MICHAEL Stewart could be set to make his Turkish league debut after overcoming injury.

The former Hearts skipper joined Genclerbirligi on a free transfer in the summer but has been denied the chance to establish himself in the plans of boss Thomas Doll, the former German international.

Doll said: "Michael is working on his own at the moment and is undergoing treatment. But his condition is improving all the time. We are confident he will be available for selection soon."

QPR snatch late draw

QPR maintained their unbeaten start to the npower Championship season with a dramatic late fightback in a 2-2 draw at Derby County.

Scotland international Kris Commons finished off a fine move to fire the Rams ahead in the 40th minute, the first goal Warnock's men had conceded this season, and that became two when James Bailey curled home in the 59th minute after a jinking run from Tomasz Cywka. But Patrick Agyemang pulled one back in injury time before Jamie Mackie snatched a 95th-minute leveller.

Burnley suffered their first defeat of the season, going down 1-0 at Swansea.

Smith expects no more departures

RANGERS manager Walter Smith has warned that he "might as well chuck it" if any players are sold from under him before the transfer window closes on Tuesday. Despite the squeeze placed on the club by Lloyds Bank, Smith maintains the final decision on players leaving the club remains under his control.

The Rangers manager conceded that come the 1 September cut-off point he is likely to remain worryingly short of squad depth for the domestic and Champions League challenges ahead, despite the recruitment of 4m striker Nikica Jelavic - ineligible for Europe - fellow forward James Beattie and winger Vladimir Weiss, on loan from Manchester City.

However, while not ruling it out, he does not expect the number of fit senior players available to him to reduce from the figure 17 in the coming days.

"We are not in the position where we need to sell anybody. We are into the situation where if that was imposed on us we would be as well chucking it, if you know what I mean. It is not going to be imposed on us, it is not going to happen.

Celtic miss out on Israeli striker

CELTIC missed out on signing Itay Schechtar, pictured right, after Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the Champions League.

The Israeli forward had been lined up by Neil Lennon to join countryman Beram Kayal at Parkhead.But the 2million deal was vetoed by Schechtar's club after they got through to the group stage by beating Salzburg 4-3 on aggergate.

A Celtic insider revealed: "Neil was very keen for the transfer to go ahead. But, after reaching the Champions League, Hapoel are no longer willing to sell."

Meantime, Celtic midfielder Efrain Juarez is set for another gruelling trans-Atlantic trip after being called up for Mexico's next two friendlies.The 22-year-old has been named in his country's squads for the bounce matches against Ecuador on 4 September and Colombia three days later.

Interim coach Efrain Flores will manage the team in both matches.

Schalke slump again

Schalke slumped to their second defeat in two Bundesliga games this season when they lost 2-1 at home to Hanover, another disappointing day for new Spanish signing Raul.

Hanover's Konstantin Rausch fired the visitors into the lead in the 31st minute and Mohammed Abdellaoue doubled it after the restart as Schalke's once mighty defence was a shadow of its former self.

Jermaine Jones managed to cut the deficit with a well-taken header eight minutes from time, but the hosts were unable to find the equaliser and will have to wait for their first points this season.

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paolo Guerrero scored late to give Hamburg SV a 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ibrahimovic dropped

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was left out of the Barcelona squad for today's La Liga opener away to Racing Santander, as negotiations for his possible transfer to AC Milan continued.

"It's my decision," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola. "It's better not to call him up. "I'm sure I have committed errors in the Ibra case...but I'm in charge here."