'Insulting' Ravanelli refuses to apologise

Derby's Fabrizio Ravanelli has refused to apologise to Chelsea's Marcel Desailly after the pair clashed during and after the 1-1 draw at Pride Park on Sunday.

Desailly claimed the Italian striker insulted him during the Premiership game "150,000 times, always with the same words." But Ravanelli, who scored his side's controversial opener despite appearing to be in an offside position, has refused to shoulder any blame

"I have to apologise to Desailly? I don't think so," said Ravanelli. "I think if you see the television images it is clear what happened. These things happen on the pitch and in football. I do not want to discuss this any further."

Desailly said: "I had a small altercation with Ravanelli, during and after the match – and his attitude during the encounter was frankly inexplicable. Is this due to the fact that he has not been selected more for the Italian team? Or maybe he has not digested the defeat of Italy by France in final of Euro 2000?

"I do not really understand the reasons why he got so excited. He was very aggressive and it finished with him getting on my nerves – which is very rare, because I am usually a very calm person. All that is really inexplicable for me," added the France captain, who had to be restrained in the tunnel. The pair were fortunate to stay on the pitch, escaping with just a booking apiece after raising their hands and shoving each other.

The war of words continued for the remainder of the game but it looked as though any further trouble had been avoided as Desailly went over to applaud the travelling Chelsea supporters.

However, Ravanelli waited near the visitors' dressing room for Desailly to emerge, both players then being surrounded by stewards and security officials. Desailly had to be restrained as he turned back and began shouting loudly and tried to confront Ravanelli. He began gesturing angrily and forcibly towards the Italian before being shepherded away in the direction of the team coach.

Aston Villa have rejected the transfer request of Gareth Barry. The central defender asked for a move because of his frustration at a lack of first-team opportunities. He has become the team's fifth-choice centre-half behind Alpay Ozalan, Olof Mellberg, Steve Staunton and J Lloyd Samuel.

There was also believed to have been an angry exchange between Barry and his manager John Gregory when the player was left out of the 16 to face Charlton last Wednesday. However, the Aston Villa chairman Ellis said: "Gareth Barry will not be made available for transfer. His future lies with Aston Villa. There is no question about that."

The West Ham manager Glenn Roeder is hoping to sign Newcastle's Gary Speed to fill the gap left by the departure of Frank Lampard.

Roeder is hoping to complete a deal this week, which could also lead to Trevor Sinclair becoming involved in a swap if the clubs can agree on valuations. Sinclair has been on Newcastle manager Bobby Robson's wanted list since last summer. Speed, who has just returned to action after an injury lay-off, could visit London in the next couple of days for talks about a move to the capital.

The Celtic striker Henrik Larsson and the Barcelona defender Patrik Andersson are the two absentees from the Swedish squad to face England at Old Trafford on 10 November. Both players have opted out of the friendly, which pits the England coach Sven Goran Eriksson against his home country. Sweden have five British-based players in their squad, including the Coventry goalkeeper Magnus Hedman and Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg.