Rangers head to Portugal

QPR have taken advantage of their two-week break by flying to the Algarve for a warm-weather training camp. The Barclays Premier League strugglers do not play this weekend following last month's FA Cup exit and manager Mark Hughes decided to take the squad away for a week. The club were unable to train at their Harlington headquarters during the cold snap, and Hughes told www.qpr.co.uk: "We're going to Portugal to get some work done because we're struggling at our training ground." He added: "We have had to train at the stadium and we need to give that a break. "It will give us the opportunity to have a couple of sessions a day and have a real understanding of what type of personalities we have and how they react to situations." The trip to southern Portugal will see Samba Diakite join up with his new team-mates for the first time following the completion of the African Nations Cup. Diakite, who joined QPR on loan until the end of the season from Nancy, reached the semi-finals of the competition with Mali.

Source: PA