Classic Times Fantasy Football is back. We got two great games for you to play and £100K to be won

Chelsea’s troubled pursuit of Robinho descended into acrimony last night as Real Madrid condemned the Barclays Premier League club for their conduct. Soon after the player held a press conference reiterating his desire to move to England, Real strongly criticised Chelsea for their interest in the 24-year-old, accusing them of attempting to force the player out, against Real’s will.

Chelsea rejected the criticism and are refusing to give up on signing the Brazil forward. They were working last night to salvage a deal before the closure of the transfer window tonight. Chelsea may feel entitled to accuse Real of hypocrisy, given the Spanish club’s unsubtle wooing of Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, which prompted Manchester United to complain about “public attempts to unsettle the player”.

It was only at the end of last week, when Real failed to sign a replacement forward, that Chelsea were given reason to suspect that the transfer was in doubt. But Real said yesterday: “We deplore the way Chelsea’s directors have acted, despite knowing perfectly well the decision not to sell the player, making statements and even going so far as to sell shirts with the player’s name on through their official website.”

Now there are TWO ways to feed your fantasy

We have built on last year's success of PlayTheGame by offering fantasy football managers double the fun this coming season

Multimedia

• Chelsea: On-the-job training

• Man United: You've been merked, Capello

• Reading: Is Lita's yesterday's man?

Related Links

• Robinho plea for Chelsea move

• Chelsea face heartache over Robinho deal

Chelsea denied any impropriety. “There is nothing wrong with publicly confirming our interest in a player when the club involved is well aware of it, has been in receipt of two bids and is negotiating to sell the player. So we completely refute any criticism from Real Madrid,” a statement said.

“As for the issue regarding the website, Real are well aware this was a regrettable accident by an external supplier, which was rectified as soon as it was brought to our attention and not a single shirt was sold.”

The clubs have clashed in the past. In the summer of 2006 Chelsea accused Real of an illegal approach for Arjen Robben, the winger, and asked Fifa to investigate. Robben arrived at the Bernabéu a year later.

Robinho underlined his eagerness to join Chelsea in a Madrid hotel yesterday morning. “I want to leave Real and play for Chelsea. I am only thinking of Chelsea and want to play there,” he said. “Since May I have been trying to renew my contract, but they didn’t want to know because they were so sure of signing Cristiano Ronaldo. Now they haven’t signed anyone, they don’t want me to go.”

Robinho also tried to shift some of the blame for the stalemate on to Bernd Schuster, the Real coach. “Ramón Calderón [the Real president] had said that if a good offer came, they would let me go,” he said. “I have told the president, the sports director and the coach I want to go. I won’t refuse to play for Real if I stay. But if Schuster wants to keep a player who is unhappy, it is his responsibility.”

Robinho was left out of the squad for Real’s defeat to Deportivo La Coruña yesterday, but Calderón said last night that the player will not be sold. “There will be no player coming in and no player leaving,” he said.

It was a similar story at Stamford Bridge. Dimitar Berbatov was not present for Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea as the striker’s prospective transfer to United dragged on. “I don’t know where he was. He just wasn’t in the right condition to play,” Juande Ramos, the Tottenham head coach, said.

The move is likely to go down to the wire after Tottenham completed the signing of Roman Pavlyuchenko, the Russia forward, from Spartak Moscow for about £14 million. They also hope to tie up a deal for Vedran Corluka, the Croatia defender, who threw his shirt to the Manchester City supporters after yesterday’s 3-0 victory away to Sunderland.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager, said that Arsenal had expressed an interest in Salomon Kalou. “Arsène Wenger wants Kalou as a centre forward,” Scolari said. He declined to be specific, but it seems likely that the Arsenal manager was considering a swap deal with Emmanuel Adebayor this summer, when the Togo forward appeared poised to leave the Emirates Stadium.

Shattered dreams

It has been the summer of the unresolved saga as several high-profile players found that stating a desire to move on was one thing, achieving it quite another and clubs fought the power of bigger fish

It was on April 15 that news broke that Rafael BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, wanted to sign Gareth Barry. Even last year it was reported that Manchester United were eyeing up Dimitar Berbatov. This summer Didier Drogba looked set to realise his long-held desire to leave Chelsea, with AC Milan a likely destination. A move to Milan or Barcelona seemed on the cards for Emmanuel Adebayor. Then there was Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid . . .