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Former Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi has expressed concern over Inter’s midfield, claiming it lacks technique and that it could lead to failure in the Champions League.

The Nerazzurri meet Rubin Kazan on Tuesday night, but injuries, coupled with a disappointing European record in recent years, have brought about a lack of confidence from some pundits.

“When Inter find the enthusiasm of years gone by, as well as a less muscular and more technical midfield, then the project will work,” Sacchi told La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

“At the moment there is a state of learning and research - it makes things more uncertain.”

Inter are favourites to beat Rubin, but Sacchi is not so sure. Read more…

Carlos Tevez feels that Manchester United might not have lost the UEFA Champions League final if he had been named in the starting XI.

The Argentine’s future at Old Trafford remains uncertain as he nears the end of a two-year loan deal, and press reports on Friday suggest an exit is inevitable.

Tevez has grown frustrated at a lack of regular first-team action at United and he failed to land a starting berth in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Barcelona.

The attacker was introduced at half-time but he could not inspire the Red Devils as Barca cruised to a memorable success in Rome.

Tevez has reiterated that he is keen for his future to be resolved, with talks ongoing between United and his advisors.

He said in the Daily Mirror: “I wanted to play in the starting line-up in Rome but that decision was down to the coach.

“But with a strategy more attacking in the first minute then perhaps the result would have been different.

“It has not been a good time for me because I believe that I should have played more minutes. My future will now be decided. My agents are negotiating and I am waiting to hear some news.”

Rio Ferdinand says United were simply not good enough on the night as the Reds lost their European crown to a hugely impressive Barcelona side.

Goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi in each half secured a deserved victory for the Spaniards. Ferdinand was magnanimous in defeat, but remained hugely disappointed by United’s uncharacteristic showing.

“We just didn’t play well as a collective team and we didn’t play well as individuals,” he told MUTV. “If you don’t do that at times like this then you don’t deserve to win.

“We’ve got no qualms, we weren’t good enough, we didn’t play the way we can. If you do that in a final, you tend to get beat. You’ve got to give credit to Barcelona, they played well. We needed to play our best football and we just didn’t produce it.”

While defeat was hard to take, Ferdinand insists United are proud of the season’s achievements and will learn from the experience in Rome. Read more…

Cristiano Ronaldo felt Manchester United’s tactics were ‘not good’ during the club’s 2-0 defeat by Barcelona in the final of the UEFA Champions League.

United set out at the Stadio Olimpico with the same formation which overcame Arsenal in the semi-finals, with Ryan Giggs replacing the suspended Darren Fletcher.

However, after a positive start, the Premier League champions failed to recover from conceding a 10th minute Samuel Eto’o goal and were outplayed for the remainder of the game.

Sir Alex Ferguson altered his tactics at half-time by bringing on Carlos Tevez for Anderson, but the change failed to improve United’s performance.

Ronaldo started the match up front before moving out to the wing and the Portuguese ace felt ‘everything went wrong’.

“I cannot explain,” he told RTP. “We, the players, were not well, the tactics were not good… everything went wrong. Read more…

Wayne Rooney hailed Andres Iniesta as the ‘best player in the world’ after Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in the UEFA Champions League final.

Iniesta, who had been doubtful for the game, pulled the strings in midfield as Barca outplayed the 2008 winners in the Rome showpiece.

Much of the build-up before the game centred on the battle between United winger Cristiano Ronaldo and his Barca rival Lionel Messi to prove who is the game’s leading light.

However, United forward Rooney believes the talents of Iniesta should lead to the Spanish midfielder being labelled the world’s best footballer.
Incredible

“Barcelona are a brilliant team and in my opinion Andres Iniesta is the best player in the world, he’s incredible,” said Rooney.

“They’re a great team, pass the ball well and if you don’t take your chances, they will punish you. That is what happened.

“We’re still a young team and we can come back I hope. Read more…

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to the newly-crowned European champions Barcelona, admitting, “We were beaten by the better side.”

The Catalan club ended the Reds manager’s dream of becoming the first boss to lead his team to back-to-back triumphs in the Champions League, but after the game he graciously conceded that United had been second best on the night.

“We started the game well, and we could have been in front,” Sir Alex told ITV Sport.

“The (Eto’o) goal was a killer for us. It’s hard getting the ball back off them, because they use it so well. They were the better team on the night.”

Sir Alex feels defensive errors let his side down in Rome.

“They were two bad goals to lose at this level,” he said. “Our defence has excelled this season, they’ve been fantastic. But they were two very shoddy goals tonight.

“I don’t think we played as well as we can, but we were playing against a very good side, and we’ve got to give them credit.”

But despite the manner of United’s first Champions League defeat since the 2007 semi-final, Sir Alex paid tribute to his team’s efforts throughout a successful season.

“We’ve done well. It has been a long season - that was our 66th game - and you’ve got to give the players great credit for the courage and resilience they’ve shown throughout.

“Now we have to come back stronger. That’s what we do at this club. We have to accept it, we’ve been beaten by the better team. Next season, we’ll be stronger.”

Darren Fletcher was perhaps the perfect player to disrupt Barcelona’s possession football, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s fears before the game that the suspended midfielder would be a great loss sadly proved prophetic.

The Reds boss recognises that Barcelona also had players missing through suspension, but from a United point of view Fletcher would have been key in disrupting the flow of passes from Andres Iniesta and Xavi to the front three of Eto’o, Henry and Messi.

“I thought before the game it may have been a problem,” said Sir Alex.

“I knew it might count against us because he is a big-game player and he was a big loss. It’s difficult to say how big, and they had players missing too, but it showed for us tonight.”

Fletcher’s ability to cover every blade of grass in the middle of the park would have been an asset as United tried to regain possession - but keeping the ball was also a problem.

“The simple reason we lost was possession,” Sir Alex added. “You have to wait minutes to get it back off Barcelona but when we did get it, we didn’t do anything with it.

“That was the disappointment, our use of the ball when we had it.

“We recognised beforehand their strength was their central midfielders. It wasn’t really Messi who was the problem. It was Iniesta and Xavi. They can keep the ball all night long.

“You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team. If they get in front of you they are very difficult to beat.”

FC Barcelona created history on Wednesday evening as they won the UEFA Champions League in Rome to add to the domestic title and Copa del Rey thanks to goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi.

In a superb display of the type of football that has typified what has been a magnificent season, Barça became the first team from the Spanish league to complete the unique treble as they ended Manchester United’s run of 25 games unbeaten in the European competition.

Slow start

The predictions that the homegrown mix of players with star international names would find the Red Devils a difficult team looked to be correct in the opening minutes as Cristiano Ronaldo looked alert and lively, but Barça held tight and took control of proceedings. The Portuguese was said to be one of the men to watch and he forced Víctor Valdés to make a save early on that required Gerard Piqué to then meet the rebound and clear.

The opening goal

Guardiola’s team have won plaudits from around the world for their passing and possession game and the more Xavi and Andrés Iniesta came into the game the tougher it became for Ronaldo and United to employ the style of play that has seen them win the Premier League, Carling Cup and World Club Cup this season. Read more…

In a Champions League showdown billed as Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo to see who is the best player in the world it was the Portuguese international that began brightly, but the Argentinian that came out as a hero.

The Barcelona and Manchester United stars drew nearly all the attention during an intense build-up to the Champions League final in Rome as they have been cited as the best by FIFA and France Football magazine and neither disappointed, but just like in the Bernabéu against Real Madrid, Messi was able to move in field more, while Ronaldo also took up a central role as he did against Arsenal in the semi finals.


Imposing Ronaldo
In the opening minutes it was Ronaldo that shone as he saw a free-kick from 25 yards that saw Vítor Valdés parry the ball and have Gerard Piqué clear the rebound and again the United player took aim from 40 minutes soon after with a drive that was off target as he looked confident and ambitious. There was to be another effort in the eighth minute that flew past the far post too. Read more…