Antonio Cassano opened his account for Milan in the 4-0 victory over Parma on Saturday.
The goal delighted the 28-year-old striker who said after the match that he was confident ‘if we play like this, then nobody can stand in our way’.
“The most important thing is the victory of the team,” Cassano told Milan Channel.
“People noticed that we stepped on to the field with the right determination and grit. If we continue to play like this, then nobody can stand in our way.”
“I’m learning that at Milan you have to be 100 per cent all the time and the objective is always to win.”
“If someone makes a mistake, I try to comfort them. After all, they can misplace a pass because they work so hard, whereas I am not exactly the hardest runner in the team,” Cassano said.
“Alexandre Pato is the best player under 22 in the world. He has scored 50 goals in 100 games and has popular acclaim, so he needs to stay calm, as he can give Milan that leap up in quality.”
The Rossoneri face Tottenham in the Champions League on Tuesday, but Cassano, Mark Van Bommel and Urby Emanuelson are cup-tied.
“It is tough and I’d love to be a part of the squad, but I’ll be there cheering on my teammates anyway. I am happy when I see them celebrate, just as I was when setting up those goals for Robinho.”
Meanwhile, two-goal hero Robinho said Cassano has added another dimension to Milan’s play since his move from Sampdoria.
Robinho, on as a substitute, netted two goals in five second-half minutes, one superbly created by Cassano , which helped Serie A leaders Milan to maintain a three-point cushion over Napoli, who won 1-0 at Roma.
“I am really happy as we played a great game to win,” Robinho, who left Manchester City to join Milan in August, told Sky Sport Italia.
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“It was important for us to win. I love playing alongside Cassano as he gave me a great ball to score.”
“Now let us think about Tottenham,” the Brazilian striker said.
“We want to win everything. If we carry on doing well then we can win this Scudetto.”
Milan’s next league outing is at Chievo on February 20.
Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano says winning the Europa League would help salvage the club’s season.
The Andalusian club have not enjoyed a successful season and lie eighth in La Liga, a whopping 31 points behind table-toppers Barcelona.
More concerning for manager Gregorio Manzano is that Sevilla – who finished fourth last campaign – are 14 points away from a Champions League spot.
But the season can be saved according to Brazil striker Fabiano, if Sevilla can succeed in Europe.
“Sevilla aren’t having the season that we all expected, and it is difficult,” Luis Fabiano said.
“But people need to overcome the pressure, and realise that the only thing left is the Europa League.”
“We have to give everything in the Europa League. We’ve won it twice and it is a good competition, and Porto will be a tough opponent. We have to stick together, because winning the Europa League would salvage our season.”
Sevilla host Porto on Thursday in the first leg of their round of 32 tie and Manzano is grateful his side are at home first.
“It is better to play the first leg here in Sevilla. I think that it may help us to get a good result, and demand that Porto have to make a big effort in the second leg,” Manzano said.
The Sevilla boss is also wary of the threat Porto pose, with Andre Villas-Boas’ side sitting 11 points clear at the top of Liga Sagres after a hugely successful campaign so far.
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“I’m sure that everyone is backing Porto. We are talking about one of the best teams that we could have drawn,” he said.
“But I also think that they will see us as an opponent who, despite not being in the best of form in the league, are capable of being competitive. When we have found that spark, especially at home in front of our fans, then games like tomorrow’s are in our favour.”
Jonathan Woodgate has certainly endured a nightmare past 15 months while at Tottenham; he has battled numerous injuries and his career at one stage or another has looked to be all but over, but with the centre-half’s contract due to expire in the summer, is Woodgate deserving of a new deal?
The immediate type of contract that springs to mind with regards to Woodgate – a deal that would benefit both club and player – would be to offer him a pay-as-you-play deal. Normally these sorts of deals are reserved for the undoubtedly talented yet injury-prone sorts of players. Woodgate certainly fits into both of the above categories.
Manager Harry Redknapp said after Woodgate’s performance in the away leg of their Champions League clash against AC Milan that: “Hopefully he will get a deal. I want him to come back fit. He’s a great player. I’d love to see him get his career back on track because when I came here two years ago he was one of the first names on the sheet, a different class. He’s one of the best centre-halves around.” A fitting microcosm of Woodgate’s career to date thus far, he went onto pick up an abductor muscle strain during the AC Milan clash and has since subsequently been ruled out with injury once more.
I rarely ever agree with rent-a-quote Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, but it appears on the issue of Woodgate, we are of the same opinion. Woodgate is a fantastic defender. Classy on the ball, good in the air and with a great recovering tackle, he is without doubt one of the best English players of his generation. I’d even go as far as to estimate that John Terry would have garnered less than half his 65 England caps had Woodgate been less injury-prone. For those of you that are interested, Woodgate currently holds only 8 caps to his name.
The player will of course recognise that Spurs will be his last chance of really achieving anything of any note at the top level of the game. At 31 years of age, it’s saddening to witness such a potentially world-class player struggling with injury so much and so often. He will turn 32 during next season, and to be quite frank, he’d be mad to turn down any sort of deal that he may be offered by Spurs.
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The sounds emanating from Spurs earlier in the season were that Woodgate may be forced into premature retirement due to a series of debilitating groin injuries and his appearance against AC Milan came after just 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against QPR nearly a month earlier.
Redknapp had been forced into naming Woodgate on the bench despite his relative lack of match sharpness by, rather ironically it must be said, injuries to other defenders. He came off the bench in the second half after an injury sustained to Vedran Corluka after a shocking scything challenge by former Arsenal man Mathieu Flamini that left the Croat unable to walk.
Spurs are currently in possession of two of the finest centre-halves that the Premier League has ever produced in Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate. That may sound like a complete over-estimation of their abilities to some, but to my mind, they’re both first-class and they dovetail well when played together. The cruel reality though, is that Spurs have had to progress recently without the duo, at a time when their quality could of great use.
Had King and Woodgate been fit for the entire campaign, Spurs could quite possibly be that little bit closer to challenging Man Utd for the title. Only the partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at Man Utd could be considered of greater quality in today’s top flight than the aforementioned Spurs duo.
The fact that Spurs have performed so ably without them is as much a testament to manager Harry Redknapp’s skills as it is to William Gallas and the most-improved defender in the entire league – Michael Dawson. The side have had to constantly chop and change at the back this season which makes their league campaign so far, so impressive.
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Woodgate still has something to offer the club in my opinion. He needs a good pre-season and time to get back to full fitness. Of course, that is all Spurs have granted him so far and they’ve been unquestionably excellent to the player during his stay there, although the hastened nature of his appearance against AC Milan could have been done without.
Woodgate’s career represents a missed opportunity, a story of unfulfilled potential. He has quickly become the Premier League’s forgotten man, yet a pay-as-you-play deal does offer the first shoots of recovery for the former Leeds man. I’m not advocating that the club recklessly offer Woodgate a 2-3 year deal, they’d be barmy to given his past injury record, but they may come to regret letting him go in the summer if they fail to offer him anything at all.
Is he deserving of a new deal? It’s impossible to say given the last 15 months, however, if Spurs are to go on ability alone, then they’d be silly not to at least take a gamble on Woodgate‘s future potential. Say what you may about Redknapp, but the man does like a gamble and this one has the potential to really reward both club and player if it pays off.
Paraguayan club Libertad are top of Copa Libertadores Group One following a 4-1 thrashing of Universidad San Martin on Tuesday.It was Peruvian visitors San Martin who went in front five minutes into the match at Estadio Dr. Nicolas Leoz.Striker German Alemmano – on loan from Argentine club Rosario Central – made the most of Aldo Corzo’s good work to open the scoring. But hosts Libertad were level less than 10 minutes later though Rodrigo Rojas, who fired his shot through a crowd of players to beat Ricardo Farro in the San Martin goal. And Libertad were in front on 18 minutes courtesy of forward Angel Orue, who was set up by Ignacio Canuto.It was 3-1 shortly before the half-hour mark when Manuel Maciel benefited from a big deflection to finish off a good move. Libertad strolled toward victory in the second half and made it 4-0 just five minutes after the break when Victor Ayala hit home with a bullet header.Central midfielder Omar Pouso got the fifth and final goal to complete the rout six minutes from time. The win lifts Libertad above San Martin and puts them a point clear at the top of Group One. In Group Six, Mexican club Jaguares came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at home to Emelec.Ecuadorian visitors Emelec took the lead through striker Cristian Menendez in the 24th minute at Estadio Victor Manuel Reyna. Defender Francisco Torres equalised from the penalty spot two minutes before half-time after Carlos Quinonez fouled Jorge Daniel Hernandez inside the box.Antonio Salazar had replaced Julio Daniel Frias Adame for Jaguares early in the first half and it was the substitute who struck the winning goal for the hosts in the 66th minute.Jaguares are now top of Group Six, two points ahead of Internacional and Emelec.
Massimiliano Allegri has refused to panic after his side’s loss at Palermo on Saturday, saying AC Milan are still confident of Scudetto glory.Allegri watched on as a sluggish Rossoneri conceded a 10th-minute opener from Dorian Goian and were never able to redress the balance.The loss leaves Milan’s lead in Serie A in a perilous position, with Inter Milan able to draw within two points of their city rivals with a win over lowly Lecce on Sunday.Napoli also have the opportunity to put themselves just three points behind Milan when they host Cagliari.But Allegri, whose side has taken just one point of a possible six in their last two matches, said it is too early to start worrying about other sides.”Going down early on was not helpful and we didn’t play well in the first half, especially the final third,” the Milan boss said.”It was better after the break, although considering all our possession we didn’t have enough shots on target.””Although it was better to avoid it, a defeat can happen. Fortunately we are going into the break for international duty now and have time to get our ideas in order.””In any case, we are still top of the table, and we’ll see what Inter and Napoli do tomorrow.”Milan were without Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the trip to Palermo as the Swede serves a three-match ban, but Allegri refused to blame the loss on his absent striker.”There’s no point talking about how important Ibra is for us,” Allegri said.”Tonight we should’ve done more; we have to analyse what didn’t work.””Alexandre Pato and Antonio Cassano were playing as a pair for the first time, so it’s natural it’d take a while to settle.””I had to look at the full 90 minutes, as Robinho is tired and Kevin-Prince Boateng cannot play a full game at the moment.””I remain convinced Milan are the favourites for the Scudetto, so even if things go badly, we’ll still be two points in front.”
West Ham’s hopes of staying in the Premier League were dealt a huge blow this afternoon as the Hammers were well beaten at the Reebok Stadium.
Avram Grant’s men were never at the races and were lucky to come in only 2-0 down in what was a very one sided first half and although they improved ever so slightly in the second half their hosts were too strong for them and Daniel Sturridge killed off any hopes of a comeback with an early goal in the second half.
The only crumb of comfort that West Ham can take is the sides below them also got beaten; however with the sides above are starting to pull away from the bottom three Avram Grant needs to start picking up points sooner rather than later.
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So how do West Ham fans feel about the performance today and what are the five things we learnt about the Hammers this afternoon?
Schalke host Manchester United on Tuesday in the last four of the Champions League, with a place in the final at Wembley the prize on offer.Leading the English Premier League by six points, United appear favourites to reach what would be their third final in the past four seasons.
They won their third European Cup after a penalty shootout victory over Chelsea in 2008, before losing 2-0 to Barcelona the following year.
Last season’s challenge came to halt at the quarter-final stage against Bayern Munich.
And another Bundesliga outfit, Schalke, can now become the third German club to get the better of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team at this stage of the Champions League.
A side captained by Eric Cantona lost to eventual winners Borussia Dortmund in 1996/97, before Bayer Leverkusen also reached a final at United’s expense in 2001/02.
Ferguson’s team saw off Premier League rivals Chelsea 3-1 on aggregate in the last round and the Scotsman will now be hoping to make it third time lucky against German opposition in the last four.
For their part, Schalke appeared to be anything but Champions League semi-finalists after enduring a disappointing campaign in the league.
Runners-up to Bayern last season, the team are a distant 10th in the Bundesliga table this time round.
Inconsistent form contributed to the departure of Felix Magath as coach in March, to be replaced by Ralf Rangnick.
Former Hoffenheim boss Rangnick can take the plaudits for booking the tie against United after orchestrating a remarkable 7-3 aggregate victory over defending champions Inter Milan in the last eight.
Schalke go into the first leg of the tie on the back of a 1-0 defeat at home to Kaiserslautern on Saturday, while United beat Everton at Old Trafford by the same scoreline.
After battling an injury crisis for much of the season, United finally have something approaching a clean bill of health.
Striker Dimitar Berbatov did not feature against Everton and is in doubt for the trip to the Ruhr, while midfielder Darren Fletcher is likely to miss out with a virus.
Rangnick is expected to make wholesale changes from the team that lost to Kaiserslautern.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos of Greece, Spaniard Jose Jurado and Germans Joel Matip and Alexander Baumjohann are expected to form an entirely different midfield, while Benedikt Hoewedes is likely to start in defence after missing the defeat on Saturday.
Once-upon-a-time, in a galaxy far, far away, Tottenham Hotspur were apparently a pretty good football team. As a result, the club has acquired some rather high-profile supporters over the years. Legend has it that the likes of Bob Marley, Shania Twain, Emma ‘Baby Spice’ Bunton and Bryan Adams are all Tottenham Hotspur fans. However, without photographic evidence, or a quote coming straight from the horses-mouth, those guys are not going to make it onto the list. However, the following ten celebrities are all on record as pledging their allegiance to the club. Here are ten of Tottenham’s most famous supporters.
Click on Peter Cook below to see Tottenham’s TOP 10 Celebrity Fans
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Well there you have it. Ten of the more famous Spurs supporters you are likely to hear of. If you happen to have hard evidence that there are even more famous people missing from the list, feel obliged to leave a comment. However, I think it’s fair to say that as celebrity fans go, Tottenham are well represented…
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Sir Alex Ferguson praised his Manchester United team after they secured a 19th English Premier League title with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn.United had to come from behind at Ewood Park after an error from reserve goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak led to Brett Emerton’s opening goal in the 20th minute.
They looked to be heading for a costly shock defeat before Mexico international Javier Hernandez won a penalty after going down under a challenge from Rovers’ goalkeeper Paul Robinson.
Wayne Rooney lashed home the spot-kick to make it 1-1 with 17 minutes remaining and United saw out the closing exchanges to capture their fourth title in five seasons.
“It was a fantastic performance by the lads and the supporters and for everybody connected with the club, it’s a great day today,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“It wasn’t an easy game. We went 1-0 down having given them a bad goal but we kept on and we don’t give in. It looked like it was not going to be our day. We’ve always had it difficult here.”
“It is a local derby and they are fighting for their lives, looking for that point, but we kept going and that’s a good quality.”
Rooney admitted nerves threatened to get the better of him as referee Phil Dowd delayed in awarding the penalty while consulting with an assistant.
“I was terrified, the ref took a long time to give it,” Rooney said.
“I had to compose myself. I’d been practising all week.”
“After the year I’ve had, with the ups and downs, this is for the fans and the team,” he added, referring to a high-profile contract dispute and revelations of marital infidelity.
Rooney also managed a dig at Liverpool after United passed their record of 18 English league titles.
“For me personally, being an Everton fan, to win a 19th title is special,” he said.
A 0-0 draw away to Blackburn cost United dear last season as Chelsea captured the league title by one point.
They could only manage a draw again on Saturday, but this time it was enough, with centreback Rio Ferdinand satisfied by the team’s performance.
“We missed out last year by a point and it was here we pretty much lost the league so it was nice to come back here and get it done,” Ferdinand said.
“We gave away a soft goal but we persevered and got our rewards.”
“It’s a better league this year. Teams have been beating each other from the bottom to the top which makes it more exciting for the fans.”
Mohamed bin Hammam has questioned the impartiality of the FIFA ethics committee after being provisionally suspended from the organisation.Bin Hammam, President of the Asian Football Confederation, was suspended from FIFA activities along with CONCACAF President Jack Warner on Sunday, pending a full investigation into bribery claims.
Qatari bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy for the FIFA Presidency earlier on Sunday, leaving incumbent Sepp Blatter unopposed ahead of Wednesday’s leadership elections.
Blatter also appeared in front of the ethics committee, concerning charges related to having knowledge of Warner’s alleged attempts at bribery, but the 75-year-old was cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I have been referred to the ethics committee based on evidence which was strong enough in the views of the FIFA General Secretary for such procedure,” a bin Hammam statement read.
“However, the ethics committee in its meeting today did not find this evidence sufficient to convict me.”
“Consequently, I should have been given the benefit of doubt but instead, I have been banned from all football activities.”
Bin Hammam and Warner are accused of giving US$40,000 to delegates at a Caribbean Football Union meeting in Trinidad on May 10 and 11 in exchange for their support in the Presidential elections.
Namibian Petrus Damaseb, brought in by FIFA to oversee the hearing, deemed the evidence sufficient to warrant further investigation.
After bin Hammam and Warner were suspended and Blatter cleared, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke announced Wednesday’s election would go ahead as planned.
“I have been given the impression that the ethics committee is absolutely an independent committee, but in the press conference we have seen today, the General Secretary made clear that he is the one who has the influence in this Committee,” bin Hammam said.
“I’m very disappointed about the way the status of the proceeding has been presented at the media conference. I am expecting that this will continue. This is not how I understand fair play. I’m reserving all my rights.”