Latest News …
Guardian: Jose Mourinho has exchanged bitter words with his Portuguese compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo after claiming that Manchester United get special treatment from referees.
The Chelsea manager insisted last weekend that there was a new rule in football that United must never concede a spot-kick and his team must never win one. But when the United winger retorted that Mourinho “never recognises when he is wrong”, the manager said Ronaldo would be lying if he denied that United received special treatment.
Mourinho said on Portuguese television: “A player that wants to be the best in the world needs to behave well, to keep quiet and to have sufficient honesty and maturity to verify that, against the facts that I have shown, there is no argument on his part. If he says that it is false that Manchester United have conceded penalties that were not given, it’s lies. And if he is a liar he will never reach the highest level that he desires in football.”
Ronaldo, however, is exasperated by Mourinho’s non-stop digs at Chelsea’s rivals. In the space of seven days Mourinho has not only claimed United get special treatment but also taunted Liverpool by insisting they are not a big club and claimed that Chelsea should have won a spot-kick against Rafael Benítez’s side - even though the offence clearly happened outside the box.
Now Ronaldo has decided to speak out about his compatriot. The United winger said: “The whole world knows how Mourinho is. He always has to say something to gain attention, especially when he is not happy with the work of his players. He never recognises when he is wrong.”
United and Chelsea face each other in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 19 and in a potentially make-or-break Premiership clash at Stamford Bridge on May 9 and there could also be a Champions League final between the sides on May 23.
…
Sun: Jose is not one to let facts get in the way of a good theory, as we show here:
PENALTY POINTS
J.M THEORY: “We are fighting for the Premiership against new football rules. One rule is that penalties are not allowed against Manchester United and the other is that Chelsea don’t get penalties. I’m just speaking about facts, not conspiracy.”
THE FACTS: Manchester United have conceded twice as many penalties as Chelsea this season.
J.M THEORY: That Premiership matches are timed to benefit Man Utd. “We have to play our games after them every time. They always get the chance to increase their lead. We never get a chance to cut their lead.”
THE FACTS: On weekends when they have not played simultaneously this season, Manchester United have played first on nine occasions and Chelsea have played first on eight.
J.M THEORY: Ref Neale Barry was unfair to Chelsea after chatting with Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson at half-time during the 2005 Carling Cup clash. Mourinho’s claim? “You saw one referee in the first half and a different one in another.”
THE FACTS: Of 19 free kicks in the second half, the majority went to Chelsea.
…
Uefa: Having already missed one UEFA Champions League final through suspension, Manchester United FC midfielder Paul Scholes will be hoping lightning does not strike twice on Wednesday when he goes into the second leg of his side’s semi-final against AC Milan one yellow card away from another ban.
Scholes and team-mate Roy Keane were both suspended for United’s 2-1 victory against FC Bayern München in the 1999 final after being booked in the second leg of their semi-final win against Juventus.
The 32-year-old will be one of eleven players desperate to avoid that situation this week. As well as Scholes, who was sent off against AS Roma in the quarter-finals after collecting two other cautions in the group stage, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be keeping a careful eye on star man Cristiano Ronaldo and Gabriel Heinze, who tread the same disciplinary tightrope. Defender Patrice Evra is the only player banned from either semi-final after seeing yellow in the first leg at Old Trafford.
Paolo Maldini is the solitary Milan player with disciplinary concerns, though his participation at San Siro next week is in doubt after the captain aggravated an injury on Tuesday. In the other semi-final, Chelsea FC have most to fear with Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba, Lassana Diarra and Joe Cole, who scored the only goal of the first leg against Liverpool FC, all on one yellow card. Jermaine Pennant and Javier Mascherano are in a similar position for Liverpool.
…
Mirror: MICHAEL Carrick believes he and his Manchester United team-mates can succeed where Charlton, Best and Law failed.
No United side have won in the San Siro and Charlton and Co’s reign as European Cup holders was ended by AC Milan in the semifinals in 1969.
United also lost on their two other trips to face the Rossoneri in 1958, in the club’s first European tie after the Munich air disaster, and most recently in 2005 when they were beaten by a Hernan Crespo strike.
Carrick is undaunted by this losing record and is confident of success in Wednesday’s semi-final return after United’s 3-2 win at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will be forced to field a patched-up backline in Italy because of injuries, and Carrick claims attack will be the best form of defence.
“We’re not getting carried away, but we know we’re good enough to go away from home and win,” said the England international.
“We’ll not be going there to defend as such. We’re not a team that can do that and we haven’t got the players.
“We want to attack and play good football. It’s all set up nicely now.”
United’s Treble chasers are brimming with confidence after battling back from two Kaka strikes. Kaka’s a world-class player and if you give him half a yard he’ll score,” added Carrick. But we managed to come back and to win this game was unbelievable. We’ve done things like this before and we’ll do them again because we trust each other.
“At half-time the manager told us to believe in ourselves and play the football we know we can play. That was the key that enabled us to turn the game around. We showed what we’re made of by the way we bounced back in the second half.”
Ryan Giggs is an old hand at ending hoodoos. United had never won in Italy before he helped them record a 3-2 victory over Juventus in 1999 on their way to the Treble.
And with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in such rich goalscoring form, he is confident United can make history in the San Siro. “We didn’t want them to score away goals, but they have,” he said.
“But we will still go out there with confidence knowing that if we keep the tempo up and keep our shape, then we’ll have a great chance. We’ll probably have to defend better, but we’re capable of doing that. We’ve seen enough in the second half here to know that we can go to Milan and do well, especially with Cristiano and Wayne playing like they are.
“If we keep our nerve I think we will be OK. Even though we were losing at half-time, we knew that if we didn’t panic we would be able to carve out openings and that’s what happened.
“To get the winner in stoppage time showed a lot of character and I’m pleased that we came back so well. We ended the game on a high and we will go to Milan with great confidence.”
…
Sporting Life: Arsene Wenger has hailed rival Sir Alex Ferguson’s march towards a second Treble while admitting Arsenal’s “massively disappointing” season has been hampered by their move to a new stadium.
In an unusual show of magnanimity towards the Manchester United boss, with whom he has had many public disagreements in the past, Wenger has insisted that the Scot deserves to be named manager of the year.
But, despite Chelsea’s bid for an unprecedented quadruple of trophies, the Gunners chief has ignored Blues counterpart Jose Mourinho, instead claiming Reading’s Steve Coppell is Ferguson’s nearest rival for the honour.
Asked who would get his vote, Wenger said: “I feel this year Sir Alex Ferguson, because he’s in a position to fight on every front, and Steve Coppell, who is in a position where nobody expected him to be and he has a team who do not play negatively - they have a positive attitude everywhere they go.”
After 10 trophy-laden years in north London, it is unusual for Wenger himself not to be considered one of the front-runners when end-of-season honours are being bestowed.
But with Arsenal lying fourth in the Barclays Premiership and out of the FA Cup and Champions League, their controversial final defeat to Chelsea in the Carling Cup will remain their strongest sniff of silverware this year.
The Gunners’ frustrating inconsistency has been widely attributed to the youthful nature of their squad.
And Wenger admits moulding a winning team out of his inexperienced current crop is proving a massive task.
“It is the biggest challenge of my career because I am desperate to bring them as far as they can go and I feel there is a lot of potential in there,” he told the League Managers’ Association’s website.
“I have to make them realise that a sports life passes quickly and that you have to quickly be mature.
“The second thing is not to lose the belief, because this year of course we didn’t win anything, and come back next season with the great belief that they can do well.”
He added: “To be a professional and a young player is to learn as well how to deal with disappointment.
“This year we had a massive disappointment, I feel overall, especially in going out of the Champions League the way we went out.
“But it’s part of a growing process as well to handle this kind of disappointment and to still not let your disappointment stop your progression.”
Wenger admits that his young squad were not helped by last summer’s move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium - and claimed it was like going half the season without any home games.
He added: “At the start, for 10 games, in my opinion we played on a neutral ground because we had our supporters but we felt somewhere strange, on another planet.
“Until you get the emotions back, you feel comfortable in your dressing room, that the fans have good memories of a few games that you won - slowly (we are) getting there.
“I think now for us to play at the Emirates is to play at home.
“It had more of an impact than you can imagine because I feel in some games we drew when at Highbury we would just have won.”
…
Sun: AC MILAN vice-president Adriano Galliani has revealed he would love to pair Kaka with Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo.
The duo are widely believed to be the top two players in the world — and they resume their Champions League battle in the San Siro on Wednesday.
Galliani believes they would complement each other perfectly if they could ever tempt the Portuguse ace to Serie A. He said: “We wouldn’t change Kaka for Ronaldo but we would definitely like to have both of them.
“If you had our Ronaldo in attack and Kaka and Cristiano behind, then you could calmly go to the cinema and, without worry, ask how Milan got on.
“However, life doesn’t allow you to have everything you want.”
Galliani is just relieved to have Brazilian Kaka in his squad after he turned in a masterclass of finishing at Old Trafford.
He added: “Who is better — Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo?
“We had to be tough to find a player of Kaka’s calibre in Brazil.
“He’s the top scorer in the Champions League with nine goals. He scored twice at Old Trafford and has the pure class of a phenomenon.”
Meanwhile, Galliani believes Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney hold the key to the second leg in Italy next week.
Milan recovered from a disappointing first leg to overturn Bayern Munich in the last round but the presence of the United pair could prove crucial.
He added: “For the return leg, I agree with Rooney that Manchester United and Milan have the same chance of getting to the final.
“We know our own strength and we will approach this as a positive week, preparing in the best way possible.
“Of course, United are opponents of the very highest level.
“After the first game against Bayern I was still certain we would qualify — because the Germans do not have two attackers of the calibre of Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.”
…
Sun: AC MILAN defender Massimo Oddo hailed Wayne Rooney’s late winner — but has vowed to get the better of him at the San Siro.
The England hitman struck twice after the break to give Manchester United a 3-2 advantage going into next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg.
Oddo, 30, was full of admiration for Rooney’s last-minute strike.
He said: “It was something special from a great player and I doubt any goalkeeper would stop it.
“But their second goal was a ricochet and goalkeeper Dida was unlucky with the first one.
“I believe the second leg and qualification are within our grasp if we play as we know how at the San Siro.
“I think this result is not negative for Milan although, obviously, a draw would have been better for us.”
…
Guardian: Liverpool’s dramatic comeback to beat Milan on penalties in the 2005 Champions League final was a memory in need of refreshing. Last night their youth team obliged.
This is a club that refuses to accept defeat at any level and the manner in which Steve Heighway’s side overturned a first-leg deficit to triumph and retain the trophy will serve as an inspiration to their seniors, who must do likewise on Tuesday if they are to reach the final in Athens.
Only one previous final in this competition had been decided by penalties - United’s victory over Tottenham in 1995 - but United, in search of a record 10th youth trophy, fell short now. Liverpool, after their victory over Manchester City in last season’s final, became only the fifth team to claim back-to-back titles.
They were desperately unfortunate not to have won the tie in regulation time. United dominated large periods of the first half but the possibility of breaching a defence marshalled so admirably by the Liverpool captain Jay Spearing never looked like materialising.
Spearing was assisted in central defence by Robbie Threlfall, scorer of United’s equaliser in the first leg when he put through his own net, and the 18-year-old atoned for that error when he half-volleyed home to level the aggregate score. Liverpool would have sealed things within 120 minutes had the magnificent Craig Lindfield not been denied once by Ron-Robert Zeiler’s outstretched foot, twice by a post and thrice by his own profligacy.
Sir Alex Ferguson had expressed his surprise that such a “small” United squad had progressed so far this season and as the night wore on his fears were confirmed as the hosts were overpowered by waves of Liverpool pressure. But fatigue soon told for both sides, scoring chances became a rarity and penalties beckoned.
Liverpool showed great courage to score all four of their spot-kicks in front of a baying Stretford End to lift the cup.
…
Rooney’s high jinks with his motor ; Sir Fergs new pad …
…
Express: FORMER Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson once said: “Women should be in the kitchen, the discotheque and the boutique but not in football.”
These days, however, it is de rigeur to take your wife or girlfriend to Old Trafford. But your stash of pornography? That’s taking things too far.
Nevertheless, the tunnel area at the Theatre of (mucky) Dreams had to be cleared shortly after the Champions league semi-final with AC Milan finished on Tuesday, when a suspect package was spotted in the stands close to the dressing-room area and the entrance to the pitch. A parcel had been left under a seat wrapped tightly in a black bin-liner and bound with brown parcel tape.
After clearing the area and the walkways around that quarter of the ground amidst fears of a major security alert, police were able to investigate further. They discovered that the suspect package was, somewhat bizarrely, a collection of material of an adult nature.
Inevitably, police removed the package for further examination.
Somewhat bravely, the owner of the package later contacted the club to try to retrieve it. But at the time of writing it is unclear whether the happy couple have been reunited.
…
Manchester United midfielder Ji-Sung Park has visited American knee specialist Dr Richard Steadman for a diagnosis on his knee injury.
The South Korean has not played since 31 March and is very unlikely to feature again this season.
However, United chief David Gill told a news conference in Seoul that reports suggesting the 25-year-old would be out for a year were wide of the mark.
Dr Steadman is renowned for his work with a host of sports stars.
Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer are among those to have visitied him, along with England cricketers Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones.
