Madrid - Villarreal can hardly wait for Saturday to come.

That's when they will have the chance to put their awful recent form behind them, away to lowly Athletic Bilbao.

The normally solid Villarreal defence began to show signs of vulnerability in last week's 6-3 defeat of Euro minnows Aalborg. Sunday saw the "Yellow Submarine" shipping water, when Atletico Madrid forced a bizarre 4-4 draw in El Madrigal.

And the submarine was sent to the bottom of Davy Jones' Locker on Wednesday, when Villarreal were astonishingly thrashed 5-0 in the King's Cup by third divsion Polideportivo Ejido.

London - Newcastle United beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Tuesday to climb out of the relegation zone.

Hamburg - Bayer Leverkusen moved top of the German Bundesliga Tuesday with a 2-0 victory at Werder Bremen, while Schalke go third with a facile win at SC Karlsruhe.

London, October 28 : Ace footballer David Beckham has rented a posh apartment that is five-minute walk away from an infamous red light district in Milan.

The soccer-star-turned-model booked the flat for his four-month break from LA Galaxy, where he is expected to reside alone.

The multi-million pound luxury pad is near to the city’s Viale Abruzzi known for its transvestite prostitutes, pimps, and drug dealers.

Its location is also considered to be a danger magnet area.

“Beckham’s choice is bizarre. His new place is a stone’s throw from where hordes of transvestites gather at night,” the Sun quoted ex-pat Michael Day as saying. 

Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer Leverkusen have renewed the contract of veteran midfielder Bernd Schneider by one year until 2010, the Bundesliga club said on Monday.