Sir Alex Ferguson, the Man Utd manager that his side do not fear AC Milan. The two sides meet this evening at Old Trafford in the Champion League semi-final first leg and even though Utd are missing some vital players for the clash, Ferguson stated yesterday that, “I don’t have any fears about it. The mood in the camp pleases me.

“At this time of year you are always looking for signs of nerves and, while we have concerns about the injuries, I don’t see any nerves.”

As I reported yesterday United will be without most of their first choice defensive line-up of Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre. They also have Craig Cathcart, Louis Saha, Ji-Sung Park and Kieran Richardson out for tonight’s match.

And following training yesterday, Patrice Evra is only likely to be fit enough to make the bench. In fact the line-up of the bench could feature some names that will be rather unfamiliar unless you are a real ardent Utd fan. If you’re not, hands up who has heard of Chris Eagles, Fang Zhou Dong, Kieran Lee and Michael Barnes. Anyone?

However the manager added yesterday, “It is not going to be an easy but the name of the game in these situations is to win and not lose a goal. (hardly ascute tactics though, let’s win not lose!)

“That is our plan and, if we can achieve it, it would be a massive result for us. All the big players are available. (Well, apart from all those big players that aren’t available obviously.) The only problem I have is maybe having an adequate bench, but I’m happy with the squad I’ve got.

“Obviously you miss players like Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville in big matches but the spirit is good.

“We should expect a very good performance with the players we have.”

As we all know, Utd produced one of the great European performance in the last round to beat a very good Roma side 7-1 at Old Trafford. But Sir Alex is realistic enough to know that, even though he is confident of winning, that result will not happen again. He continued,

“At this level, with the players we have, there is always going to be expectation. The desire of the players is to reach a higher level. The quality of the opposition and the importance of the occasion demand the best performance. The performance in the last round was very, very good and that must give the players confidence. But it is difficult to think we can get to that standard. That was a once-in-a-lifetime result. But, with the players we have, we should still expect a very good performance. They haven’t done much wrong this season. The team spirit has got better because the group is getting to know each other. The important players are playing and it’s good to have them.”

One of the many exciting confrontations I am looking forward to is the battle between the two great performers on show, the newly crowned PFA Player and Young Player of the Year Ronaldo and the brilliant Brazilian Kaha. Both can change a game in the blink of an eye and the Milan manager was not giving anything away by saying which one he believes is the best. Ancelotti stated,

“I agree they are among the top of their profession at the moment but it’s extremely difficult to say who is the best.

“That will be decided by the player who manages to determine the outcome of the game and who is ready to play for the team.”

Unlike Ferguson, Ancelotti has only one real selection worry, that of another Brazilian, his keeper Dida. Not only that Milan rested a few of their key players in their last Serie A game at the weekend. How will that effect the game tonight.

It’s hotting up quite nicely. Not long to wait now!

The Soccer Blogger

A Former Manchester City full-back called Ray Ranson made an unexpected (at least to me) £90m ($180m approx) offer to buy the club from the sky blue half of Manchester yesterday. I understand his offer covers Man City’s shares, their outstanding loans to major shareholders of about £24m as well as other debts to creditors.

Apparently this isn’t Ranson’s first attempt at buying a Premiership club as he made an offer to buy Aston Villa before the American Randy Lerner bought the club.e move on Monday. Ranson, who is 46, also played for Birmingham, Reading and Newcastle and made 200 appearances for City, which was his first club.

I would imagine that Ranson, despite being a multi-millionaire made from insurance and football finance, will have backing of other businessmen or a company as opposed to just making the bid by himself. According to reports the offer will provide a transfer kitty of around £20m for new players in the summer. Sounds quite a lot but these days £20m is probably only going to buy you one truly top class player. City need more than one I’m afraid!

Reports coming out of Manchester suggested that the former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, (who was disposed in a coup last year and who failed in a bid for Liverpool in 2004), was also interested in buying City with partners from China and the Middle East. I think Liverpool proved you really don’t want to be going down that route!

Takeovers of Premiership clubs certainly seem to be the flavour at the moment. Since last summer Portsmouth, Villa, West Ham and Liverpool have all been taken over by foreign investors. At least if Ranson’s bid is successful, it looks like it won’t be a foreign takeover.

The Soccer Blogger

Manchester United v AC Milan
To Be Played At Old Trafford, Tuesday April 24th, Kick-off 1945 BST

Over the years Man United and AC Milan have met a total of six times in European competition, United winning two and AC Milan the other four. However, Man Utd go into this next encounter with something of an injury crisis, the list is pretty long.

Utd only have four fit defenders left to take the field, these are Patrice Evra, Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Gabriel Heinze. On the sidelines are Rio Ferdinand, who aggravated a groin strain in the 1 - 1 all at home to Middlesbrough, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre and Craig Cathcart.

The problems don’t stop there either. In midfield Utd are also missing Ji-Sung Park and Kieran Richardson and in front, Louis Saha is still out.

Sir Alex Ferguson has said, “We’re down to the bare bones. We are playing with 12 players.

“It’s not a time for feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s time to show what we are made of. It’s been well documented in the history of our football club that we do it the hard way anyway.

“We have to restore the players’ energies for Tuesday because it is a massive game for them and it’s a game they should enjoy.”

Look over to Ferguson’s rival, Carlo Ancelotti, and he has a virtual fully fit squad to chose from. Even the previously suspended striker Alberto Gilardino is available again. The only potential problem Ancelotti has is his goalkeeper Dida, who has is slight doubt over a shoulder injury. Ronaldo (the Brazilian version) is also unavailable as he is cup tied having already played for Real Madrid in the competition this season.

Even though Ancelotti was please with the news that Ferdinand was out he is, understandably, remaining cautious. He said, “Ferdinand is a very important player for their defence. But we will have to be careful and keep possession of the ball but that could be a two-edged sword, because if we do not do well our opponents could hit us on the counter-attack.” Utd certainly still have the players left to do that. Cristiano Ronaldo for one, who must be walking on air having won both the PFA Player and Young Player of The Year awards last night in London. AC Milan will be all too aware of what he is capable of.

Utd’s main worry will probably be Kaha. The Brazilian also has the talent to open up any team and turn a match in the blink of an eye and his match-up with Ronaldo is just one of many that make this semi-final such a mouthwatering prospect!

I think Milan will score at Old Trafford. Utd’s remaining back four are all good players but how many times will they have actually played together? Never mind played together in such a big game! Milan also have big game players all the way through the team who shouldn’t be phased by what will be a very noisy Old Trafford. There won’t be any repeat of the demolition of Roma. I just see Milan sneaking it back in Italy. Or is that the “kiss of death”? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Soccer Blogger

Well the English title may be going down to the wire but following Celtic’s title in Scotland, Inter Milan secured the 15th Serie A title on Sunday. Their 2 - 1 win over Siena couple with Roma’s loss to Atalanta gave Inter an unassailable 16 point lead at the top of the table.

The title wasn’t the only reason for Inter fans to be celebrating as the club announced that it had secured a new four year contract with their coach, the former Italian international forward Roberto Mancini. I had suggested that Mancini would have been on Chelsea’s short list of potential replacements for Mourinho, should the “Special One” leave in the summer. Well, if Mancini was on any such list it is academic now!

The 42 year old Mancini said after the game, “The emotion is immense. We have had an extraordinary campaign.

“It is extraordinary to win five games from the end with a lead of 16 points. The team showed great character. I’m happy for all Inter fans.”

Having won the title with an amazing five games to spare, Inter have equalled the record set by Torino way back in the 1947/48 season. This was then matched by Fiorentina in 1955/56.

Last year Inter won their 14th title after the scudetto was awarded to them in July after Juventus were stripped of the title following the country’s match-fixing scandal. This will have felt better!

The Soccer Blogger

Amazing, I actually predicted something correctly!

Well OK, it wasn’t the hardest outcome to predict as last night Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo was named both the Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers’ Association.

What I did find a little surprising was that this is the first time since 1977 that the same player has won both awards in the same season. There have been some candidates over the last 30 years who I would have thought would have been in with a big shout to win both. However the last player to do it was Andy Gray, now a Sky Sports pundit.

It’s a bit of a turnaround for Ronaldo who, at the beginning of this season, was booed wherever he went for his part in the sending off of his club team-mate Wayne Rooney in last summer’s World Cup. Ronaldo was instrumental in getting Rooney the red card and after the referee showed the card, Ronaldo was clearly seen on television smiling and winking at the Portuguese bench. It didn’t go down well in England!

But his performances this year have lit up the Premiership and as well as all the tricks, he is also produces an end product as well. In previous years he just danced around, did numerous step overs and it all looked pretty but hardly anything came of it. I always thought he was one of those luxury players, the type that may do something special once in a while, but as well as being too infrequent, you never knew when. That has now changed. As I say there is an end product to go with the tricks and you don’t have to wait too long now.

Ronaldo beat Chelsea’s Didier Drogba into second place. Drogba can probably feel a little unlucky. The kind of season he has had would probably have been good enough to win the award must years. But it just goes to show how good Ronaldo has been.

The other contenders were Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Steven Gerrard and Cesc Fabregas.

Ronaldo said last night, “It is a special night. It is amazing and a big honour for me to win trophies like this in the English Premier League. I am very proud. My colleagues have voted for me and that is fantastic because the players know the qualities of players.

“I want to keep working hard and getting better because these trophies have now given me more motivation.

“This great team has helped me because when the team wins it is easier for us all to play with more confidence.”

His manager, Sir Alex Ferguson praised his player by saying, “At this moment in time, I think he is the best player in the world and his season has been incredible.”

The Soccer Blogger