Spurs to contest Keane's red card

LONDON, England -- Tottenham Hotspur have lodged an appeal against Robbie Keane's red card during Sunday's 3-2 home defeat by Birmingham.

Keane, who had scored both of Spurs' goals was shown a straight red by referee Phil Dowd after tackling Fabrice Muamba.

Dowd spoke to his fourth official Uriah Rennie while he was pulling out the card and some observers believed he was taking his view on the incident.

This was denied by the referees' governing body, the Professional Game Match Officials

A spokesman said: "Phil spoke to Uriah Rennie to inform him of the decision he was taking. He did this to aid the management of the technical areas.

"The reason why referees, assistant referees and fourth officials are miked up is in order to improve the management of these types of situations."

Keane was bitterly disappointed to receive the second red card of his career.

"I didn't think it was a bad tackle," said Keane.

"It was just a collision. I'm not a malicious player. I'm disappointed, but most of all I'm disappointed we didn't get something out of the game."

An FA statement said a Regulatory Commission would hear Keane's appeal on Tuesday.

French midfielder Olivier Dacourt is the latest addition to Inter Milan's lengthy midfield injury list after hurting his knee in Sunday's 2-0 win at Fiorentina.

Inter announced on Monday that the 33-year-old, who went off during the first period, had injured knee ligaments.

The Italian league leaders are already without Portugal winger Luis Figo and Frenchman Patrick Vieira, while Serb Dejan Stankovic has only just come back from injury and is short of match-fitness. E-mail to a friend