Cassano barred at Madrid, report says

Italian soccer player Antonio Cassano has been barred from first-team training at Real Madrid after an outburst against coach Fabio Capello, his former mentor at Roma, local media reported Monday.

Cassano, who had a history of disciplinary problems at Roma, reportedly turned on Capello after the coach failed to field him after making him warm up during Real's 3-1 win at CG Tarragona.

"Is this how you repay me after I always defended you, even at the hardest times," the Spanish sports press quoted him as saying.

Capello, who won a league title at Real in 1996, returned to the Spanish side from Juventus this summer after Italy's match-fixing scandal.

He initially had a rough patch but the team has since rallied to his orders and they are currently third in the Liga.

Several stars including Ronaldo and David Beckham have complained about losing first-team status but none has gone as far as Cassano.

The former bad boy of Italian soccer appeared to have settled down under Capello and even won back his Italy place but had a nightmare match in its recent 3-1 defeat to France and was left out of the squad for the Azzurris' next two Euro 2008 qualifying wins.

When he was in Italy, the Italian press coined the word "Cassanata" to describe the 24-year-old's antics which included no-shows and training tantrums.

Real, which last season put Cassano on a diet and fined him for every gram he gained, said Monday that the temperamental star would train on his own for an "indefinite" period and would also receive an unspecified fine.

Source: Xinhua