Sporting's Jardel out for 10 days

Sporting Lisbon's Mario Jardel, Europe's top scorer last season with 42 goals, is out for 10 days after he fell by his swimming pool in his native Brazil over the Christmas break and injured his right knee.

"He was interned for 24 hours and should only get back to training in ten days," Portuguese sports daily A Bola quoted Hipolito Monte, the clinical director of the Monte Klinikum hospital in the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza where Jardel was treated, as saying on Sunday.

The 28-year-old striker was kept in the hospital for observations on Friday after receiving three stitches to his injured knee because he also hit his head when he fell.

Jardel, who took a medical leave for depression over the summer following a divorce from his wife Karen, returned to Portugal on Sunday morning.

He had been expected back on Friday to train with defending champions Sporting for an upcoming match against Vitoria Setubal on January 4.

In September Jardel temporarily walked out on Sporting, and returned to Brazil, after the team's management refused his request to let him play for another European team.

The striker is under contract to play two more seasons with Sporting.