Real Madrid pose £64m bid

It's the story that just won't die: Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The latest episode in this epic saga emanates from radio station Cadena Ser, who claim that the Liga giants have secured £64m of funding from Spanish bank Santander to finance their next attempt to prise the FIFA World Player of the Year away from Old Trafford.
Apparently, Madrid officials have all the necessary paper work in place so that when interim president Vicente Boluda steps down at the end of the season the club's new chief has access to funds to sign the 23-year-old-winger.

All this may seem a little far fetched given the global financial meltdown is predicted to get even worse but Madrid have a strange habit of stumbling upon new funds.
In 2001 Real sold their training ground to the City of Madrid for €480m, sparking a European Commission investigation into why so much was paid for so little.
The deal allowed Madrid to wipe out crippling debts of €270m, build a new state-of-the-art training complex on the city's outskirts and paved the way for the galactico era that brought Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to the club.
At the time a spokesman for the EC, Tilman 'state the bleeding obvious' Lueder, said: "We believe the City of Madrid may have overpaid."

Man United attracts new Kid interest

Monday, March 9, 2009
Amongst the many transfer targets linked with Manchester United on Monday - Nicolas Bertolo, Douglas Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Neymar - one name really stood out, that of Internacional wonderkid Walter.
Not because the £5m-rated Brazilian striker lit up the South American Under 20 Championship with some stunning goals but because his name sounds, well, ordinary.
With compatriots Fred and Jo already having made the trip to Europe it makes you wonder what happened to all the dynamic Brazilian names of the past - Garrincha , Jarzinho, Zico, Tostão, Socrates - that instantly conjured up images of footballing genius.
Fred, Jo and Walter? They sound more like pigeon fanciers.
But to get back to the point, United's scouts were at the U20 Championships to run the rule over Gremio playmaker Douglas Costa (Douglas, that's another one) but Walter, whose full name of Walter Henrique Da Silva is slightly more evocative, was more impressive, finishing the tournament as joint top scorer with five as Brazil won the competition.

A Star name Federico Macheda was born at Old Trafford

Sunday, April 05 2009,
The tall tale of Roy of the Rovers came to life at Old Trafford on Sunday as 17-year-old debutant Federico Macheda came off the bench to score a last-gasp goal for Manchester United to keep their title hopes alive and leave us journos desperately scrabbling around for information about the youngsters.
The Italian starlet was promoted to the match day squad after scoring a hat-trick for the reserves against Newcastle United's B-team and came on to score a sublime 93rd minute match winner in Sunday's 3-2 come from behind victory against Aston Villa.
After being swamped by celebrating team-mates the former Lazio trainee ran into the stands to hug his father, who worked three jobs in Rome to allow his son to follow his dream, and in his post match interview Macheda described it as the "best day of his life".
After receiving the man-of-the-match award from club captain Gary Neville the veteran defender was asked what he thought of Machena's amazing contribution. "I'm grateful" was all he could muster. What a way to burst the young lad's bubble.
Worryingly, for those of a certain age, Macheda's dad is just 34 years old.

Ryan Giggs - The Ultimate Warrior

This season's PFA Player of the Year Award effectively turned into a life-time achievement award when Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs scooped the trophy ahead of the likes of Steven Gerrard and team-mate Nemanja Vidic.
The 35-year-old, who made his 800th appearance for United against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final, has started only 12 matches this season and although he has clearly not been the best player the award is seen as just reward for a glittering career which started 18 years ago against Everton at Old Trafford on March 2, 1991.
Last season the Welshman helped United win the Premier League and European Cup double and the midfielder is on course to do so again this term.
Critics might say that Giggs' victory devalues the award, but it is difficult to begrudge the twice Young Player of the Year winner his first full POTY gong as recognition for a career that has included 10 Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two Champions League medals.

Sir Alex - Non English XI

Sunday, May 10 2009,
Sir Alex Ferguson's team set a new standard in the Manchester derby, not because of the ease with which United brushed City aside, but because it was the first time in the club's 131-year history that the starting line-up did not contain a single Englishman.
With regular first-teamers Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand all rested it was left to Edwin Van der Sar (Holland); Patrice Evra (France), Johnny Evans (N.Ireland), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia), Rafael (Brazil); Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Ryan Giggs (Wales), Darren Fletcher (Scotland), Park Ji-Sung (S.Korea); Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria) and Carlos Tevez (Argentina) to keep United's title push on track.
But United fans need not worry about the international make-up of the squad just yet as it would be equally possible for Ferguson to field an entire team of Englishman. A starting XI of Ben Foster; Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Richard Eckersley; Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Lee Martin; Wayne Rooney and Danny Wellbeck would be more than match for most teams in the Premier League.
Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea were the first English team to start a match without a single Englishman on the pitch, on Boxing Day 1999. In February 2005, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal went one better and named a 16-man match day squad devoid of any Englishmen.

11 Men vs 11 babies

Let's take a jibe at Arsenal by claims that it was eleven men against eleven babies at the Emirates. It has been reported that the after the Champions League semi-final which saw Manchester United dispose Arsenal with a 4-1 aggregate. We have much more experience and that's what made the difference. We were always confident. It should have been that score in the first leg anyway. It is a great United team that won.
Football today is not only about playing well, it's about winning trophies. Everybody talks about the way Arsenal play but, at the end of the day, it's about winning silverware. At United, we play well and we win. Tactically and technically we were superior. You look at our starting 11 and theirs and you see that we are well above. Lots of people are disappointed because they thought they would beat us like they did in the league. But the Champions League is another level. Arsene Wenger's men were no match for a rampant United who played like men possessed and ended the contest with two early goals from Park Ji-Sung and Cristiano Ronaldo in the first 45 minutes.

Ronaldo stunned the Emirates Stadium with a 40-yard free-kick on Tuesday and followed up with his 25th goal of another incredible season - a figure even more remarkable because he started a month behind everyone else after a summer ankle operation. People forget Cristiano had an operation at the start of the season. It takes time to get over that. He has done well to recover so quickly and now I think we are seeing the Cristiano Ronaldo everyone knows.
Ferguson will have to raise the spirits of Darren Fletcher, who knows he must watch from the stands in Rome, just as Paul Scholes and Roy Keane did at the Nou Camp 10 years ago.
However, such is the strength of Fletcher's character, he could well be involved against City, with Ferdinand giving away its importance as a title decider.

Man Utd aiming for History Book

Manchester United are aiming to become the first side to retain the European title in the competition's current guise. History is not on their side, however, with three past winners having lost their title in the following year's final. AC MILAN 1995, AJAX 1996, JUVENTUS 1997.

This is another opportunity for us and hopefully we can do it again. I think we have the quality and the energy and the ambition to do it. This is a hungry team. When the chips are down they don't let me down. With the Carling Cup and Club World Cup already secure, attention at Old Trafford now switches to Sunday's Manchester derby when Ferguson's team will look to collect the first three of the seven points required to ensure they finish top. But it is Europe that Ferguson really wants to dominate, especially as another triumph would take United alongside Ajax and Bayern Munich with four victories.

The Mighty Red Army

The amazing Red Army once again proved to the world that they're now one of the world best teams. Having eliminate The Gunners in their own soil with a superb 3-1 victory ( 4-1 aggregate), Manchester United will be facing the Spanish La Liga Heavyweight Barcalona. Having sent Arsenal crashing in the Champions League Semifinal will be an important factor to win the Champions league again this season. The Mighty Reds well aware there's a bit of league business to sort out before we go to Rome and got some big games coming up especially the Manchester Derby against Manchester City.

The month of May may mark a new chapter in Man United's illustrious history as a third consecutive Barclays Premier League title and a Champions League title is within grasp. Sir Alex Ferguson's men might become the first club to win back-to-back Champions League finals. What we achieved last season will give us a lot of confidence ahead of this year's finale. Winning the Champions League was incredible and to repeat it would be amazing. Doing that means we'd create history which is something this club does well. Hopefully we can be part of that.