Ban Ribery for international retirement

UEFA president Michel Platini has called on FIFA to ban Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich matches for retiring from international football.

The Bayern winger quit the France team after missing World Cup through injury.

But Platini said the player does not have right to refuse a call-up from coach Didier Deschamps and should be suspended from club football for three games.

"I have zero understanding of this," Platini told Bild. "It is not the decision of the players whether they come to the national team. This is the decision of the coach.

He continued: "Franck cannot decide himself whether he plays for France. If (coach) Didier Deschamps picks him, he must come.

"That's the FIFA rule. If he doesn't come, he will be suspended for three Bayern Munich games.

"I don't understand him anyway. He is French, the European Championship in 2016 will take place in France."

Despite his hard line attitude to his compatriot, Platini said the same did not apply to Germany's World Cup winning captain Philipp Lahm, whose exit from the national side was apparently agreed with coach Joachim Loew.

"If there is disagreement between Lahm and Loew, the Germany coach will no longer call on him, that's one thing. But basically it is not Lahm's decision, it's Loew's.

"(With Ribery) it's a very different situation."

Although FIFA rules do oblige players to accept call-ups, countries overwhelmingly respect players' decisions to retire from international football.

However France midfielder Claude Makelele was forced to reverse his international retirement by coach Raymond Domenech ahead of the 2006 World Cup - a situation Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho controversially likened to "slavery".

-- source: Eurosport 

F1: Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Lewis Hamilton overcame a nightmare start to clinch a brilliant victory over rival Nico Rosberg in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The Briton started on pole position but immediately dropped to fourth due to a software failure in his Mercedes at the start.

But Hamilton clawed his way back into contention and passed Rosberg when the under-pressure German overshot the first chicane and had to wend his way through the run-off area.

Mercedes' seventh 1-2 of the season sees Hamilton reduce his team-mate's championship lead to 24 points, and strike an important psychological blow ahead of the last six races of 2014.

The aftershocks of the events at Spa continue, however, with Rosberg receiving a mixed reaction from the Monza crowd.

On being asked on the podium whether the pair were "friends again", Hamilton responded: "Of course, we're team-mates," patting Rosberg briefly on the back.

Some may be unconvinced by that show of unity in a race where Rosberg's team referred to Hamilton over the radio as "the other car".

Felipe Massa took third for Williams, his first podium finish of the year, with his team-mate Valtteri Bottas doing well to take fourth after a poor start saw him sink as low as 11th.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had an impressive afternoon, coming from ninth with some outstanding overtaking and skilful use of the brake to finish fifth, ahead of his colleague Sebastian Vettel in sixth.

Ferrari endured a torrid afternoon on their home track, with Fernando Alonso retiring and Kimi Raikkonen finishing 10th.

RACE ORDER (Top 10)

1-Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2-Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

3-Felipe Massa (Williams)

4-Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

5-Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

6-Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

7-Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

8-Sergio Perez (Force India)

9-Jenson Button (McLaren)

10-Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

-- source: Eurosport