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THE European dream is over for Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League with a 1-1 draw at home to Lyon.

The Portugal superstar opened the scoring on six minutes to level the tie but Miralem Pjanic struck on 76 minutes to dump out the Galacticos 2-1 on aggregate.

The most expensive team in football history could not find an answer to Lyon’s comeback.

The £62million playmaker Kaka said: “This is a massive disappointment. It’s a very sad day for all of us. We lose as a team and not just as individuals.”

But the furious Brazilian was not finished and used Twitter to launch an astonishing attack on his boss Manuel Pellegrini after being substituted.

He Tweeted: “He’s a coward manager who changed a player to hide his own incompetence.”

Pellegrini insists he will not stand down as the inquest begins. Read more…

There were protests and there were prizes. A gold star for Wayne Rooney; a green and gold scarf for David Beckham.

And there was yet another appearance in the Champions League quarter-finals to celebrate for supporters who began this enchanted Old Trafford evening applauding their remarkable young striker and ended it by turning, once again, on their club’s American owners.

For the aforementioned Manchester United old boy, it amounted to quite a night. Far more enjoyable, it has to be said, than it would have been for the other old boys of AC Milan. This was as depressing an evening as this once great side have had in Europe for many a year. Further evidence that they have become sporting geriatrics.

Not that their suffering was of any concern to Rooney and United. Inspired, once again, by their brilliant England forward, United were sensational in the way they secured their club’s first victory against the San Siro giants.

Two more goals for Rooney. One each for the excellent Ji-Sung Park and the irrepressible Darren Fletcher. It was a battering almost as impressive as the one dished out by Arsenal the previous night. Read more…

Milan’s head coach and captain were making all the right noises on the eve of their Champions League clash with United at Old Trafford, insisting they can overturn their 2-3 deficit from the first leg.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s opposite number Leonardo certainly exuded confidence as he fielded questions in Italian and English, neither being his native tongue. When asked why he seems so upbeat about his team’s chances, the former Brazil midfielder said: “My confidence stems from what we are doing, the way we are playing.

“Even in the first leg, there were many positive aspects to our play. It’s still an open tie. We’ve played well since the first leg so we are feeling confident. We just need to go out and make the most of our opportunities.”

Leonardo believes the spirit and cohesion of his players will prove more important than any tactical card he could play. He’s looking for the perfect team performance - akin to the one which Milan produced to beat United 3-0 in 2007 - but he acknowledged the English media’s interest in one player in particular. Read more…

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben should be fit to start in Florence despite neither starting the weekend draw with Cologne.

But Argentine defender Martin Demichelis is out after suffering three fractures in his face in Argentina’s 1-0 friendly win over Germany.

Fiorentina must do without striker Adrian Mutu and defender Massimo Gobbi as both players are suspended.

La Viola have slumped to 11th in Serie A with just one win in their last nine.

Cesare Prandelli’s side have gone 17 games without keeping a clean sheet amid speculation the players have been distracted by reports their manager will replace Marcello Lippi as Italy coach after the World Cup.

Bayern Munich go into the game in good form, they are top of the Bundesliga and are unbeaten in 18 matches. Read more…

Inter got off to the perfect start when Diego Milito cut inside and fired in with only three minutes gone.

Chelsea rallied from the early blow and after Salomon Kalou was denied a strong first-half penalty claim he was on hand to fire Chelsea level after half-time.

Parity was short-lived, with Esteban Cambiasso drilling in to give Inter a narrow lead to take to Stamford Bridge.

Predictably, Mourinho’s first match against the club he led for two-and-a-half successful and eventful seasons took centre stage but this was an encounter laden with context.

Current Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti led Inter’s local rivals AC Milan with aplomb between 2001 and 2009 and this was the first time he has brought a side to the city since leaving for west London last summer.

In addition, there is the added spice that former Champions League winners Mourinho and Ancelotti - the Portuguese with Porto in 2004, the Italian with Milan in 2003 and 2007 - are managers charged with repeating their feat in Europe’s premier club competition with their current clubs.
Under Mourinho, Chelsea were often accused of an overly cautious approach that came at the expense of entertainment, but Ancelotti affords his charges greater licence to be expansive and, on the front foot, they are an attractive team to watch. Read more…

Despite winning a glut of team and individual honours in the past 12 months, Lionel Messi remains hungry for more as he gears up for FC Barcelona’s first knockout round trip to VfB Stuttgart.
Occasionally when truly great footballers achieve fame, wealth and success, the ingredient in their make-up which is most easily corroded is the powerful hunger which once fired their drive for supremacy.

If that were to apply to Lionel Messi then now would be the moment in question. His club, FC Barcelona, mounted a brilliant campaign to win the UEFA Champions League last season amid a torrent of trophies; the Spanish title, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Argentinian was also rewarded with a clean sweep of the most illustrious individual awards: being named in the UEFA.com users’ Team of the Year, winning the Ballon d’Or and rounding it off with the FIFA World Player of the Year gong.

Despite all this, Barcelona’s next opponents in their UEFA Champions League defence, VfB Stuttgart, should be aware that Messi remains ravenous for more of the same. “We have already written a page in history but we want to continue doing that,” he told UEFA.com. “We have to take advantage of this great team; all of us feel that. Read more…

They may be “the best club side in the world” but VfB Stuttgart coach Christian Gross believes a “very brave” and “very clever” performance from his team could upset FC Barcelona on Tuesday.

VfB Stuttgart coach Christian Gross regards first knockout round opponents FC Barcelona as “the best club side in the world”, but he has warned the European champions his team will have “absolutely nothing to lose” in Tuesday’s opening leg. That message seems to have got through too, with Barça’s Josep Guardiola approaching the encounter praising the home side’s “German qualities”.

Christian Gross, Stuttgart coach
We’re looking forward to these two games. We know that we’re up against the best club side in the world and the utmost will be asked of us. It’s well known that teams rise to the occasion and that’s exactly what we have to do to get a good result ahead of the return match. We have to be highly focused, especially when we have possession, as there’s no other side as strong as they are when it comes to switching between attack and defence. Read more…

There might never have been a coach more intent on turning his teams into a sideshow to his own performance than José Mourinho. Yet he is not the pretty sight he imagines.
On Saturday night in the San Siro, his Inter Milan was reduced by foul play and gamesmanship to nine men before halftime for the second match running. No matter, Mourinho applauded them, mocked the referee, and boasted that a team of his would have to be reduced to six players to lose a home game.

He is a bitter and twisted man — and a successful one.

Saturday was the 130th consecutive time a team coached by Mourinho — from Porto to Chelsea to Inter — has remained unbeaten at home in league play. It is a run built on stubbornness and good organization, yet scarred by an attitude that is inimical to the game.

What Mourinho was applauding from the touchline Saturday was a match without goals or grace. It was anti-soccer at its worst, aided by Sampdoria’s failure to make numerical advantage count, or even threaten to score.

Mourinho’s mind games included prolonging the halftime interval by almost five minutes, leaving the opponents cold on the pitch and the match officials jogging nervously in the tunnel. Mourinho challenged officialdom by demonstrating, not for the first time, that his men will come out to play when it suits him.

We have seen all this before. It is unlikely to be coincidence that this display came as Inter was preparing to face its next visitor to the San Siro, Chelsea — the team that he built and the club that fired him — in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Before that, Europe’s true champion, Barcelona, will play at Stuttgart on Tuesday. If the weekend is any guide, there should be goals and an emphasis on the more pleasant arts of the game.

Barcelona, although depleted by injuries to Xavi Hernández, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Seydou Keita, Eric Abidal and others, overran Santander with a 4-0 victory in the Camp Nou. It answered questions after Barça’s first defeat of the Spanish season, against Atlético Madrid the previous week — and Thierry Henry, Andrés Iniesta and Rafael Márquez all scored goals for the first time in months. Read more…

Chelsea will have been boosted by watching Manchester United’s defeat at Everton on Saturday lunchtime, and then they took maximum advantage by beating Wolves to establish a four-point lead in the Premier League.

But Ancelotti knows he must bring his players back down to earth ahead of the Champions League last-16 tie with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan on Wednesday. The phrase we always used in our dressing room was that, right up until the point where the trophy is secured, you have won nothing yet. That is the mentality the Italian must instil in his players.
His task is made easier by the fact that their next fixture is in a different competition, while Ancelotti has a further advantage, too, in the form of his counterpart at the San Siro.

Rather than improving Inter’s chances of progression into the quarter-finals, the fact that it is Mourinho facing the club he led to two Premier League titles plays into Chelsea’s hands.

Yes, he will know exactly how to play against Chelsea, all of their weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. The spine of the side – Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba – all blossomed under Mourinho. They are his players, his legacy to the club even after his departure in 2007. The three managers who have followed have added only fringe players, with the exception of Nicolas Anelka, but the players who are the essence of Chelsea are Mourinho’s. Read more…