Cristiano Ronaldo may not press for a transfer to Real Madrid at
the end of this season, in spite of an earlier report that Alex
Ferguson had already agreed to the deal last autumn.
The Portuguese superstar now claims Manchester United is the best possible place to be for him since no other
club can match United's quality and ambition.
"I feel very happy where I am now. I like to do what I do,
it's my dream and this is my life," said Ronaldo to the Daily
Mirror.
"Manchester are playing very well, I feel very happy here.
I don't want to go anywhere, I want to stay here."
Ronaldo feels that United is even better than last season, when
they won the famous double.
"We are top of the league, in the Champions League and we are in all competitions. The team is more mature,
more experienced and when you go to the pitch you know what you
are going to do and this is why we have a good team."
The continued success of Premier League clubs in the Champions League certainly plays a role
in Ronaldo's reborn love for his current team. All four English
representatives will be present in the quarterfinal draw next week
alongside Barcelona, Bayern, Porto and Villarreal.
Early last autumn it looked as though Manchester United could
not follow the pace set by Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the
Premiership, but with 33 points won in the last 11 matches it seems
there is no stopping the Red Devils.
Alex Ferguson's team boast the longest winning run with 11 consecutive
wins this season. The run started with a 1-0 at Stoke and has continued
through last week's 2-1 win over Newcastle.
The Dutch leaders AZ Alkmaar have also won their last 11 games,
starting with a magnificent 2-0 win over Ajax until a 3-1 defeat
of Willem II. In fact, Louis van Gaal's boys have been unbeaten
in 24 matches this season, after suffering two losses at the start
of the competition.
Two Spanish teams achieved 10 match winning streaks. The first to
knock out ten consecutive rivals were Barcelona, from Sevilla in
the 13th round until Sporting on the 22th match day. Slightly later
in the season Real Madrid repeated Barca's feat, launching a perfect
run with a 1-0 over Valencia in the 16th round. The run came to
an end last week with a 1-1 draw against Atlético Madrid
at the Bernabeu.
In Croatia, leaders Hajduk Split have a chance to make it ten in a row if they overcome Cibalia at Vinkovci on Sunday. Last Sunday
Hajduk equalled their longest run by beating Croatia Sesvete 1-0,
but they are still far behind Dinamo Zagreb's record run that lasted
for 28 straight games in 2006/07.
José Mourinho used to call himself special, but after his
team went down to Manchester United in the Champions League last week, some Inter's fans begged to differ.
Last Thursday he was welcomed by an unpleasant surprise upon arrival
at Inter's training ground.
"Portuguese bluff, go away from Inter," was written on
a piece of canvas hung from the external side of the fence of Inter's
practice ground.
The fans and the media were bitterly disappointed by the 2-0 aggregate
defeat of the Italian champions and were outright incensed by Mourinho's
traditional arrogance displayed at the press conference.
On that occasion the controversial coach told the reporters he did not have to explain to them the way Inter played.
Channel4.com has claimed that Mourinho is close to leaving Italy
for Spain (Real Madrid) or England (Liverpool, Manchester City or
even his former club Chelsea).
The elimination of most of the Italian representatives from the
Champions League and the UEFA Cup means that Italy could lose one
place in the premier European competition starting from next season.
In the Champions League, Fiorentina failed to progress from the
group stage while Juventus, Roma and Inter could not go past Chelsea,
Arsenal and Manchester United, respectively. In the UEFA Cup Udinese
have remained the sole Italian presence on the international stage
after Werder knocked out Milan.
"We are just one step from losing the third place on the UEFA
ranking and consequently the fourth club in the Champions League,"
worries Milan's vice president Adriano Galliani.
As of next season, the three top nations will have three guaranteed
spots plus one in the last qualifying round. Countries from the
fourth through sixth place will provide two clubs plus one in the
qualifiers.
England leads the ranking with 76.7 points followed by Spain with
73 and Italy with 62.4. Germany, in fourth place, has 54 points,
but still has three teams in the competition (Bayern, Werder and
Hamburger) and a fair chance of overtaking Italy by the end of May.
The Russian Soccer Federation has sent a letter of intent to FIFA's
Zurich headquarters, announcing a bid to organize one of the future
World Cups.
The bid refers to the 2018 or 2022 Cups, said the spokesman Andrei
Malasolov.
The deadline for presenting bids expires on Monday, March 16th and
FIFA will determine the hosts in December of 2010. The host of the
2014 Cup will be Brazil, who organized one previous tournament back
in 1950.
After the painful elimination of three Italian teams by English
opposition, England's Italian coach Fabio Capello attributed the
disaster to the differences in mentality between the two nations.
"English soccer is characterized by a more physical and combative
play. Our teams have less of these characteristics with respect
to their English rivals," said the current England manager.
"When Milan defeated Manchester United it was made possible
because they had players of quality and strength. And this is one
aspect we have to improve on if we want to return to the highest
levels of the European game."
Capello also slammed the Italian habit of playing "with nine
defenders and one forward, who is supposed to send the ball home"
and the cynical tactics which include diving and simulations in
order to stop the flow of the game.
"There are so many interruptions during a match in Italy. The
referees should allow the play to to on and curb the tendency of
playing a 'blocked' soccer," said Capello to Dribbling tv show.
