• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 178

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed Nani will be out of action for Manchester United’s next three games.

Nani had to be substituted during the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool on Sunday after he suffered a deep gash in a challenge from Jamie Carragher.

Ferguson was relatively upbeat about the injury but said he will be sidelined for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Arsenal, Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Marseille and the Premier League game against Bolton next weekend.

“We have managed to stitch the injury, which is good news,” Ferguson said. “We need to guard against infection and swelling.

“It is difficult to say exactly when he will be ready to return but we won’t get him back for the Bolton match next Saturday.”

However, he added: “We do have a two-week break after next Saturday. He will be ready for the return of that, that’s for sure.”

Reports had suggested Antonio Valencia and Park Ji-Sung could be back in the squad to face Arsenal after lengthy spells on the sidelines, but Ferguson ruled out the prospect that they could be involved.

“Antonio is difficult to assess because he has been out for such a long time,” Ferguson said. “He has been training very well and is taking part in a few practice matches between the players.

“It is deciding when we can put him into the cut and thrust of a game. There is a question mark over the timing but at some point, we are going to have to try it.

“It won’t be tomorrow. Hopefully it will be quite soon.”

With Rio Ferdinand also ruled out, United will be without ten first-team players, but Ferguson has vowed to select his strongest team.

“A quarter-final tie against Arsenal is always an exciting game,” he said. “It is an opportunity to get to the semi-final, so we will be doing our best and we will play our best available team.”

United have been on a disappointing run of form of late, losing their last two Premier League games and putting in subpar performances away at Marseille and in the FA Cup against Crawley, but Ferguson is happy that his team are still in contention for three trophies.

“You have to look forward,” he said. “We have big opportunities at the club and there are a lot of challenges ahead for the rest of the season.

“It is terrific to be involved in the middle of March. Every game you play is of importance. We have Tuesday’s game against Marseille and Bolton in a league game next weekend. It goes on and on.

“That is why you get to March and hope you are involved in all these things. We are.”

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 354

Jose Mourinho believes Cristiano Ronaldo will be fit to start against Lyon in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Madrid secured a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland and, having exited to Lyon at this stage last year, will have concerns about whether they can avoid an seventh successive second-round exit.

Having seen Ronaldo sustain a muscular injury during the 7-0 victory over Malaga, there were suggestions they could also be without their leading scorer.

Ronaldo did not train with his team-mates on Friday and, although he is apparently not experiencing pain, the club’s medical staff have recommended that he be given extra time to make a full recovery.

He has therefore been left out of the squad for this weekend’s game against Hercules, but Mourinho has indicated that the forward will be available for the crunch European tie.

“The match against Hercules is not the right time for him to return to match action, but I think that he’ll be able to start against Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday,” he said.

“If he is able to train on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday then I believe he will play.”

Writing on Twitter, Ronaldo had said on Thursday: “I am resting, and hope to be back soon.”

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 244

Andrea Caracciolo’s late goal secured a point for Brescia and prevented Inter Milan from closing right up on Serie A leaders AC Milan.

Caracciolo struck six minutes from time to cancel out Samuel Eto’o’s first-half strike and give the relegation battlers an unlikely draw at Stadio Mario Rigamonti.

A dramatic end to the match also saw Caracciolo miss a penalty and then get sent off in stoppage time, minutes after Ivan Cordoba had also seen red for the visitors.

Inter now sit four points behind city rivals Milan, but the leaders have a game in hand.

Leonardo’s men face an important Champions League match against Bayern Munich next week, but they looked to be focused on the task in hand when Wesley Sneijder fired narrowly wide from 20 yards.

Inter were then in front after 18 minutes thanks to Eto’o. Sneijder swung in a corner which was headed on by Andrea Ranocchia to the Cameroon striker for a simple tap into the bottom right corner.

Another chance followed two minutes later for Goran Pandev, who cut inside from the right channel before hitting a low left-footed strike which was gathered by goalkeeper Michele Arcari.

Brescia had been outplayed so far, but Caracciolo settled nerves 10 minutes before the interval with an attempted lob which only just cleared the crossbar.

The striker had another opening early in the second half, holding off two Inter defenders before producing a left-footed shot which had to be pushed round the post by Julio Cesar.

But Inter quickly regained control and Sneijder was unfortunate to strike the post with his 25-yard drive after 55 minutes, while Arcari produced two good saves to deny Pandev as the visitors began to grow more and more wasteful.

And their inability to score a second goal came back to haunt them six minutes from time when Alessandro Diamanti’s corner was inexplicably headed back into the danger area by Cordoba, allowing Caracciolo to nod in from six yards.

Drama followed five minutes later when Cordoba gave away a penalty for a clumsy challenge on Caracciolo.

The Inter player was sent for an early bath, but Caracciolo was unable to make the spot-kick count with Cesar tipping the ball around the post.

The Brescia striker’s night then took a further dip four minutes into stoppage time when he was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away following a tussle with Sneijder.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 303

Tottenham striker Peter Crouch believes his side can win this season’s Champions League and insists he would welcome the opportunity to face tournament favourites Barcelona.

Crouch scored the only goal of the tie – in a 1-0 win at the San Siro – as Spurs beat AC Milan over two legs to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

And after disposing of the Serie A leaders, Crouch says Tottenham are supremely confident of getting all the way to the final at nearby Wembley Stadum on May 28.

Shakhtar Donetsk, Schalke and Barca have already joined Spurs in the last eight, while Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are favourites to join them next week. But Crouch believes Harry Redknapp’s side have what it takes to beat any of those teams.

“Why can’t we go all the way? Wembley is just up the road, there is not far to go now and we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel,” Crouch said.

“Barcelona are fantastic and a joy to watch but we have match-winners too and have shown that, when needs be, we can be resilient too. I can’t give you one reason why we can’t get to the final.

“Barcelona would be difficult – they are the team to beat, without a doubt. They gave a display the other night of what they can do. But here, on our day at White Hart Lane and with the crowd behind us, anything is possible.

“We can achieve anything now. We have good enough players to achieve big things and this result has gone a long way to proving that. If you look at the attacking talent AC have, it’s great credit to our whole team for two clean sheets and defending so well over two legs.”

Crouch is the only player in the Spurs squad who can boast previous Champions League final experience, having come on as a substitute for Liverpool when they lost the 2007 showpiece to Milan in Athens.

But the England striker believes Spurs’ current crop possess more quality than the Reds side that finished runners-up in four years ago.

“Individually we are a better team,” he said. “When we reached the final we were extremely well organised, knew our jobs inside out. But Tottenham have better individuals and better attacking flair going forward.”

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

• Written by: admin
• Comments: N/A
• Views: 208

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick admits the thought of a potential FA Cup final derby against local rivals City is an exciting one – but insists he is solely focused on Saturday’s showdown with Arsenal.

United and City both play last-eight ties at home this weekend and there is already talk about the prospect of the two sides meeting each other at Wembley in either the semi-finals or final.

The latter scenario, as Carrick acknowledges, would be particularly mouth-watering, but he has stressed he is thinking only of the quarter-final at Old Trafford against the Gunners at the moment and that United, who are looking to bounce back from last week’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool, must take things one game at a time as the season starts to near its finale.

“I can understand the fans getting excited about the possibility but we haven’t even thought about the chances of an all Manchester final game at Wembley yet,” Carrick said.

“We can’t look beyond this one on Saturday yet because it is so huge. We have been so busy leading up to this one that even Arsenal hadn’t been mentioned prior to Liverpool. It really is a game-by-game time of the season and that is the only way you can tackle a run-in.”

Arsenal are also aiming for a return to winning ways after being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona earlier this week, with the Gunners also United’s closest Premier League title challengers.

“Arsenal are obviously a very talented midfield. They showed against Barcelona in the first leg (which they won 2-1) how good they can be,” Carrick said. “They are very skilful and dangerous and play their way. They don’t change it for anyone. We have always had good games against them and pretty close games.

“They are usually good footballing games and I am sure it can be one the fans will savour. “We always have great respect for them because we are well aware that, when they are on their game, if you are not switched on they are very capable of beating the very best.

“It is going to be quite a show-down. These are the huge games you want to play in.”

United have won plenty of trophies since Carrick arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 2006 but their last triumph in the FA Cup came in 2004.

Carrick was part of the team beaten in the final four years ago by Chelsea and the former Tottenham player is eager to get his hands on the only club honour still to evade him.

“There is a good chunk of us (in the United squad) who haven’t won the FA Cup, so we are desperate to progress,” Carrick said. “I was fortunate enough to play in a final at Wembley when I played against Chelsea in 2007 but we lost so my memories are not too fond.

“It was hard to take losing that final. I have been lucky enough to win other trophies and I am very proud of them but missing out on this one hurts. I think that goes for a lot of our squad. That’s why we are so keen to get to Wembley and win this time. A lot of us are missing that medal and we want one.”

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com