European encore for veteran Aldair

Former Brazil and AS Roma defender Aldair has come out of retirement to play for San Marino's champions S.S. Murata in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.

'Training hard'
The 41-year-old, who won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 1994, hung up his boots after playing the 2003/04 season with Genoa 1893. Having subsequently made the transition to beach football, he will return to the green-field game for Murata's two-legged qualifier against Finnish title-holders Tampere United on 17 and 25 July. "We are training hard and are ready for the Champions League games," said Aldair, whose involvement with Murata is expected to stretch no further than their European campaign. After starting his career with CR Flamengo, the centre-back moved to SL Benfica before going on to make 330 Serie A appearances for Roma – winning the Scudetto in 2001.