Madrid - A judge at Spain's National Court on Thursday summoned for questioning the author of a top secret document which shows that former conservative premier Jose Maria Aznar allowed the United States to fly terrorist suspects via Spain to its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Judge Ismael Moreno called former senior official Miguel Aguirre de Carcer for interrogation as a witness on December 17. The judge did so despite not having received the original document, dating from 2002, which he had requested.

Madrid - Espanyol midfielder Ivan de la Pena will be out of action for around a

Madrid - Real Madrid are determined to win away to historic rivals Barcelona on Saturday - against all the odds.

Three days ago the "madridistas" didn't seem to have a prayer in the Nou Camp, against a Barca side carrying all before them at home and in Europe.

Indeed, straight after Sunday's 4-3 defeat at home to Sevilla - which left Real fifth in La Liga, nine points behind leaders Barca - coach Bernd Schuster said that "right now, it's impossible for us to beat Barcelona."

This pessimistic statement was one of the reasons why Schuster was sacked on Sunday, and replaced by Juande Ramos.

Madrid- ­ Spain should increase the number of troops it sends on international peacekeeping missions, the country's defence minister told parliament Wednesday.

Current law allows no more than 3,000 Spanish troops to serve under foreign command, said Defence Minister Carme Chacon, announcing plans to propose lifting that limit when the cabinet meets December 31.

Madrid - Real Madrid are set to dismiss coach Bernd Schuster on Tuesday

Madrid - Spanish giants Atletico Madrid announced on Monday that they would travel to Marseille, for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Olympique just hours ahead of the kickoff.

Like most European teams, Atletico normally travel the day before the game, in order to get used to the city, the stadium and the weather.

This time, however, Atletico have decided to fly later because of serious security concerns.

Atletico have received several threats from Marseille "ultras", because of the sentence handed out on Friday by a Madrid court to OM fan Santos Mirasierra.