With Wayne Rooney likely to be sidelined by a knee injury incurred on England duty last week, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is set to place his trust in Berbatov as the English champions attempt to defend a 3-2 first-leg advantage in their Champions League last 16 clash with AC Milan.
Ferguson is acutely aware that he has never got the better of a Milan squad in the competition and, having watched an irrepressible Rooney score twice in the San Siro last month, would have dearly loved to be able to unleash his top scorer once more on Wednesday.

Rooney however is unlikely to play any role in the match after succumbing to a knee injury that Ferguson has blamed on the heavy surface at Wembley, where the striker played 86 minutes for England on Wednesday, three days after featuring for United in their League Cup final win over Aston Villa.

With Michael Owen out for the rest of the season, Berbatov is destined for centre stage and the Bulgarian knows Old Trafford will be an unforgiving place if he fluffs his lines.

Ferguson has verged on the strident in his regular defences of Berbatov’s contribution to the cause, but United fans, many of whom are still pining for Carlos Tevez’s heart-on-the sleeve contributions, remain unconvinced of his value.

Rio Ferdinand, however, believes that the Bulgarian’s popularity with his teammates will eventually be mirrored by recognition from the Old Trafford masses.

“If we win the league this year, I think ‘Berba’ will be appreciated for what he has done,” Ferdinand said. “When you look at the statistics you can see he is one of the hardest runners in our team and that he covers the most ground.

“He is a bit languid but he really puts the effort in. At the training ground, he is always in the gym. It’s just his style of play, which means people see a different side to him.

“I don’t think that it actually reflects his importance to the team. He is appreciated by us and that is the most important thing.”

It is not only in attack that United’s options are restricted with, most significantly, Ryan Giggs still sidelined after breaking his arm, Michael Carrick suspended and England defender Wes Brown having joined an injury list already featuring Brazilian midfielder Anderson, back-up centreback Jonny Evans and Irish utility man John O’Shea.

History, in general terms, is on United’s side. They have never been knocked out of the competition when they have returned to Old Trafford with a lead at the half way stage of a tie.

When it comes to the particular however, recent memory is more chastening, Milan having triumphed in the 2007 semifinal thanks to a 3-0 win in the San Siro, following a 3-2 first-leg defeat at Old Trafford.

United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar recalled: “They played particularly well in the home leg here when we won 3-2 and Kaka scored two goals.

“Then at the San Siro, Clarence Seedorf was fantastic — he was excellent in both games actually. We got a good result in Milan and now we need to finish it off with a magic night at Old Trafford.”

Milan coach Leonardo will arrive in Manchester still unsure whether Alexandre Pato will be able to start, following the hamstring injury that kept the Brazilian prodigy out of Saturday’s goalless draw at Roma in Serie A.

The high-tempo German side had the best first half by far, with Brazilian-born striker Cacau, fresh from four goals against Cologne on Saturday, stunning the Catalans with a goal on 25 minutes.
A perfectly-delivered cross from Timo Gebhart found Cacau on the far post, who headed it powerfully past Victor Valdes’ outstretched arm.

Three minutes later Stuttgart had a strong shout for a penalty, for a handball, turned down by referee Bjorn Kuipers as Pavel Pogrebnyak’s cross hit Gerard Pique’s arm.

A string of other chances followed in the Mercedes-Benz Arena as the home side ran rings around the ragged defending European champions.

On 18 minutes, in one of Barca’s surprisingly rare forays into the Stuttgart half, Argentinian star Lionel Messi had a shot blocked, but their best chance came on 39 minutes as Messi shot from just outside the area.

Arsenal old boy Jens Lehmann got a hand to it, and the ball rolled perilously close to the target, only to hit the post and bounce back into the arms of a grateful keeper.

Barca took control in the second half as Stuttgart tired.

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it 1-1 on 52 minutes, heading it past Lehmann at close range after the German managed to block his first attempt.

Stuttgart briefly looked dangerous on 63 minutes when Sami Khedira, an occasional feature in the German national side, had a chance to make it 2-1, but his shot went wide. Another chance came 10 minutes later.

Barca never looked like losing as the goal knocked the stuffing out of Stuttgart and they became increasingly desperate.

In the last 10 minutes, Barca slowed the tempo right down, and the tired Germans hardly got a look-in.

On 67 minutes, a shot from Ibrahimovic hit Italian defender Cristian Molinaro on the upper arm on the goal line, but no handball was given.

The Catalans were almost back to full strength with the return from injury of midfielder Xavi Hernandez, who had a thigh strain, and Ibrahimovic.

Still absent though, was defender Dani Alves, out of action since earlier in the month with a leg muscle problem, as well as Malian midfielder Seydou Keita and French defender Eric Abidal.

Despite scoring Barca’s second of four against Racing Santander on Saturday, fellow Frenchman Thierry Henry started on the bench, a place becoming painfully familiar to the 32-year-old former Arsenal star.

However, he came on early in the second half, replacing Yaya Toure.

The Portuguese forward opened the scoring with a trademark free kick on 18 minutes and was in unstoppable form to help set up four more goals as Real trimmed the gap between them and leaders Barcelona to two points.
It was the perfect tonic for Manuel Pellegrini’s side after their 1-0 Champions League defeat at Lyon on Tuesday and came a day after Ronaldo’s native Madeira was struck by violent floods and mudslides that killed at least 42 people.

“It was an exhibition,” Jose Samano wrote in daily El Pais under the headline: “Cristiano catches fire.”

“Ronaldo had been inspired either by his competitive nature, which has driven him since childhood, or the tragic rainstorms over his native Madeira, or a desire to put the setback against Lyon right as quickly as possible,” Samano added.

The world’s most expensive player had been criticised at times for being selfish since his summer move from Manchester United, but it was his creativity and generosity, as well as his awesome talent, that caught the eye against Villarreal.

“The Madrid attack found a one-man orchestra, capable of expressing himself in all the offensive forays,” wrote Orfeo Suarez in El Mundo.

“This was seen from his demonstration of power for the first goal, of speed and precision for the third, of intelligence in creating the opening for the fourth and of astuteness for the penalty in the sixth of the night,” he added.

“This Madrid, the Madrid of Cristiano, is like a predator: if you give it any advantage it won’t show mercy. It will kill you.”

EXTREME VERSION

Writing in Publico, Ladislao Monino said Pellegrini’s decision to deploy Ronaldo on the flanks was key.

“Without doubt it was on the wing where Cristiano played his best match in white,” Monino wrote.

“He returned to his origins. There on the flank, where the white line limits a winger’s space, where the only escape is with a piece of exquisite skill or trick, Cristiano showed his most extreme version.”

Ronaldo offered his help to the people of Madeira on Sunday — after scoring his goal he lifted his shirt to reveal a vest with the name of the island written across it — and Marca columnist Roberto Palomar noted that the 25-year-old was motivated by the floods on the Atlantic ocean resort.

“Spurred on emotionally by the tragedy in Madeira, the lad deployed all of the repertoire we expect,” Palomar wrote.

“One supposes that as well as shooting, taking free kicks, orchestrating moves and making passes, Cristiano Ronaldo is also the one who folds the shirts, cleans the boots and cuts the grass,” he added.
“The only thing he doesn’t do is sell tickets at the gate.”

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The 25-year-old Portuguese superstar left English champions United to join Real for a world record transfer fee of £80 million in June and has enjoyed a fine start to his time at at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo, who won three Premier League titles as well as the Champions League during his six seasons at United, has scored 11 times in 13 La Liga appearances and has no intention of quitting Real in the immediate future.

But when his time in Spain is up, Ronaldo claims he would be happy to return to England.

“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” Ronaldo said in The News of the World. “I played there for six years and that’s a long time.

“I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there. It’s always possible.

“I want to fulfil my contract here but, in the future, only God knows. I will not say I am not happy here at Real Madrid.

“I am really happy and everyone knows this is my club but, of course, I miss Manchester United, the boss, the players, because I left family there.”

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There was no immediate official confirmation of the report, which came after Terry met England coach Fabio Capello at Football Association (FA) headquarters at Wembley.

Terry had been summoned to meet Capello after a week of intense scrutiny of the Chelsea defender’s suitability to lead England at the World Cup in South Africa in June and July.
Capello had been under pressure to strip the Chelsea defender of the captaincy from sections of the media that have spent the last week lambasting the married father of two over his alleged infidelity with Vanessa Perroncel, an underwear model who has a son with Bridge but is now estranged from the Manchester City left-back.

Terry had been strongly backed by his club coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has insisted that the player’s private life will have no bearing on his position as Chelsea skipper, and Stuart Pearce, who coaches England’s under-21s and helps Capello with the senior squad.

But it appears that Capello had made his decision before Friday’s meeting, which lasted only 12 minutes, according to Sky.

Capello, who is due to attend the Euro 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw on Sunday, had picked Terry as his permanent captain in August 2008 having initially appeared to be leaning towards Steven Gerrard or Rio Ferdinand.

Liverpool midfielder Gerrard was installed Friday as the favourite to succeed Terry as skipper although Capello has also spoken highly of Wayne Rooney’s leadership qualities.

Capello was left in no doubt about the extent to which the scandal has gripped the country when he was greeted by a huge media scrum at Heathrow airport on Thursday, following his return to England from Switzerland, where he had been recuperating from knee surgery.

The head coach was briefed by his assistant Franco Baldini on Thursday and it had been expected he would have a lengthy discussion with Terry on issues including whether he and Bridge will be able to play in the same squad and the possibility of further embarrassing revelations in the run-up to the World Cup.

Capello will not have been reassured on that score by a report in Friday’s Daily Mail which claimed that an associate of Terry’s management agents had offered to rent his personal box at Wembley stadium for a “cash” payment of 4,000 pounds (6,200 dollars).

The 12-seat box is one of Terry’s perks as England captain and Football Association rules expressly forbid him from renting it to a third party. His spokesman denied that the player was involved in the alleged attempt to sell seats in the box.

Although Terry has been widely condemned in the press, a poll published Friday indicated that public opinion was fairly split with 46 percent of those quizzed supporting a sacking while 39 percent believe he should keep the captaincy.

Just over half of respondents to the PoliticsHome poll felt there was no need for the public to know about the affair, which only became public knowledge after a judge quashed an injunction against publication which Terry’s lawyers had obtained on right-to-privacy grounds.

Here is the text of England coach Fabio Capello’s statement removing the captaincy from John Terry:

“After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry.

“As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad.

“What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice.

“John Terry was notified first. When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice-captain and also named a third choice. There is no reason to change this decision.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the FA, particularly (chairman) Lord David Triesman and (chief executive) Ian Watmore, for allowing me to make this decision in my own time and in the best interest of the team.”

Real veteran Guti (33) has been the talk of the Madrid media after his audacious back heel — which has been replayed constantly on Spanish television this week — set up Real’s standout goal against Depor and the club hope he can produce more moments of magic as they attempt to overtake Barca.
Barcelona have notched up four consecutive wins without conceding a goal and will entertain Getafe at Camp Nou on Saturday before Real take to the field against Espanyol.

“It was important for us to lift the Depor curse and the league is far from over,” said Guti. “Barcelona don’t seem to drop any points so we can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Guti looked to be on his way out of the club following a rift with coach Manuel Pellegrini earlier in the season but that now seems to be water under the bridge and the playmaker is even dreaming of making Spain’s World Cup despite winning the last of his 15 caps back in 2005.

Real will again be without Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese striker completes his two-match suspension but a perfect 30 points from 10 league games at home make Madrid strong favourites for the win despite his absence.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world but we are a team and can’t rely on one player,” said defender Raul Albiol.

Espanyol, down in 14th, have won just once away from home, largely due to their woeful three goals on the road, but have a habit of turning it on against the big sides.

Barcelona will be cheering on their city rivals while Real hope their neighbours Getafe can at least take a point at unbeaten Barcelona.

Getafe could be heavy-legged after playing the first leg of their Kings Cup semifinal on Wednesday — losing 2-0 at Sevilla — while Barcelona are rested after no midweek commitment.

The Madrid media insinuated that leaders Barcelona were the beneficiaries of kind refereeing decisions but Mali international Seydou Keita said such suggestions were wide of the mark.

“Barcelona are ahead of Real Madrid because we are better and not because of the referees,” emphasised Keita. “I don’t know if someone’s trying to unsettle the referees with these comments.”

In other matches, Villarreal stand-in coach Juan Carlos Garrido takes charge of the team for the first time in Sunday’s match at Real Mallorca following the dismissal of coach Ernesto Valverde.

“After 11 years here (as reserve team coach) I know the club well and the players,” said Garrido. “I think Villarreal have some of the best players in the world and you just have to look at the national teams for evidence of that.”

A trip to Mallorca is not the easiest start considering the islanders have won all nine games at their fortress Ono stadium and lie fifth.

Struggling Valladolid also got rid of their manager with Jose Luis Mendilibar with the club hovering one place above the relegation zone and reserve team coach Onesimo Sanchez has taken over and must fire up the team for a testing trip to Valencia on Saturday.

Valencia are in third, three points above Sevilla who beat them 2-1 last time out.

That win helped Sevilla move back into the top four and they aim to close in further on Valencia with victory against lowly Real Zaragoza on Sunday.

Sevilla put one step in the Kings Cup final with a 2-0 semifinal first leg win over Getafe on Wednesday so confidence is high.

Atletico Madrid gained a huge psychological boost ahead of their Sunday clash with Racing Santander after they thrashed the same opponents 4-0 in Thursday’s King’s Cup semifinal first leg meeting.

Atletico may be going strong in the cup but languish down in 13th in the league a full 13 points off the top four.

Fixtures

Saturday Valencia v Valladolid (5pm GMT)
Barcelona v Getafe (7pm GMT)
Real Madrid v Espanyol (9pm GMT)

Sunday – all 4pm GMT unless stated
Malaga v Deportivo La Coruna
Osasuna v Tenerife
Real Mallorca v Villarreal
Almeria v Sporting Gijon
Real Zaragoza v Sevilla (6pm GMT)
Racing Santander v Atletico Madrid (8pm GMT)

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Johnson, who has made only 13 appearances in the current campaign as a result of a dislocated collarbone and a groin strain, is to have exploratory surgery to determine the gravity of the injury.

“If they find that the problem is as major as it could possibly be, then he would need an operation that would keep him out for the rest of the season,” Fulham boss Roy Hodgson said, adding that the 28-year-old had been “shattered” by the latest setback.

“If we’re lucky and the major operation is not needed, and it’s something wrong with the cartilage, then he might be back earlier.

“At the moment we’re talking three to four weeks, and the worst-case scenario is the rest of the season and him being fit to join us in pre-season.”

Hodgson is already without Clint Dempsey and Zoltan Gera because of their knee injuries and he admitted he would not have let Diomansy Kamara go to Celtic on loan earlier this week if he had been aware of Johnson’s latest problem.

“One of the reasons why we let Diomansy go was because we didn’t think the problem with Andy was anywhere near as grave,” Hodgson said.

“I was concerned that I would not be able to give Diomansy regular games, so when a club of Celtic’s stature comes in for him, it is very difficult for me to say ‘you have to stay’.”

Hodgson added: “Andy is shattered. He’s devastated. If it’s as serious as it could turn out to be, it needs to be put right for the start of next season.”

Fulham were due to face the Premier League’s bottom side, Portsmouth, on Wednesday with the west London club aiming to end a run of five straight defeats.

“At the moment I can divorce performances from results, but if you keep losing you will get dragged down there and get into a relegation battle,” Hodgson warned.

“I’m hoping that won’t happen and in the not-too-distant future we will have a squad of players together who are more competitive than we currently are.”

United produced a superb attacking display, taking the lead when Nani’s cross was turned into his own net by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia after 33 minutes before Wayne Rooney started and finished a stunning counter-attack before halftime.
Park Ji-sung got the third seven minutes after the interval and Arsenal had only the minor consolation of Thomas Vermaelen’s deflected volley 10 minutes from time.

“We delivered a completely off-the-mark performance and that’s why we were well beaten,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

“We gave them too much room, we were naive and that’s why we have to stick together and produce a much better performance next Sunday when we go to Chelsea.”

Chelsea, who won 2-1 with a late goal at Burnley on Saturday, top the standings on 54 points, one ahead of United and five clear of Arsenal. Chelsea have a game in hand on both rivals and play it against Hull City in midweek.

Arsenal went into the United match full of confidence after a 10-game unbeaten run and both sides showed total commitment to attack.

Arsenal’s Andrei Arshavin escaped three times down the left but finished poorly on each occasion while Nani looked highly dangerous down the United right.

It was the Portuguese winger who made the breakthrough with a brilliant piece of trickery to get past three Arsenal defenders and when he hoisted over a deep cross, Almunia, trying to turn it over the bar, only flapped it into the net.

SNUFFED OUT

The second goal was a classic as United snuffed out an Arsenal attack in their own penalty box and broke.

Rooney turned the ball into the path of Nani before sprinting 70 metres to collect the return and sweep it in first time.

It was the 100th Premier League goal of the 24-year-old England striker’s career and came just over seven years after he opened his account for Everton against Arsenal when he was 16.

United’s third was another long-range break and hesitant defending allowed Park to travel from halfway before calmly slotting his first goal of the season.

Vermaelen’s goal led to a brief flurry but United held out quite comfortably and Arsene Wenger’s side must bounce back immediately at Chelsea.

“We need to deliver a special performance at Stamford Bridge next Sunday before we can even start thinking about winning the game,” Wenger said.

United manager Alex Ferguson said he would be hoping Arsenal found their form against Chelsea.

“Arsenal are not out of it, I hope that Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge and batter them,” he told Sky Sports.
Ferguson had special praise for the “unbelievable Rooney.”

“He was the key player for us and they could just could not handle him. He was a really great player today,” he said.

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It said the world’s most expensive player had been punished “for resorting to dangerous play that caused an injury” to an opponent.

It also fined Real 180 euros and Ronaldo 600 euros.

Ronaldo spoiled a stellar two-goal display on Sunday by getting sent off after a stray elbow caught Danish defender Patrick Mtiliga, who tugged the Portuguese winger’s shirt during the 2-0 win over Malaga.

Real’s sporting director, Jorge Valdano, described the referee’s decision as “unfair and “very hard.”

But, speaking prior to the disciplinary committee’s decision, he told Spain’s COPE radio that Real “will accept any decision” by the body.

The former Manchester United star said Monday he also felt his red card was unjust.

“I’ve spoken to Mtiliga and he said he doesn’t believe I should apologise because he doesn’t think I hurt him intentionally,” he was quoted as saying on the club’s website.

“I never try to trick referees. I never intended to injure the player. I believe they should be fair with what really happened.”

Mtiliga suffered a broken nose in the clash and has been ordered to “rest for a week,” Malaga said in a statement on Monday.

It was the second dismissal of the season for Ronaldo, who was sent off in a 4-2 win over Almeria on December 5 for kicking out at an opponent.

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It was all going swimmingly for Ronaldo who had ended a run of three games without a goal with a quick-fire brace (35th and 39th minutes) to take his season’s tally to nine but his volatile temperament surfaced again on 70 minutes.

Ronaldo elbowed defender Patrick Mtiliga as he tugged the former Manchester United man’s shirt and the referee had no hesitation in reaching for the red card.

It was a second dismissal of the season for Ronaldo who was sent off in a 4-2 win over Almeria on December 5 for kicking out at an opponent.

While Ronaldo’s sending off put a dampener on the win, Real will be relieved to bounce back from their Athletic Bilbao defeat with a 10th successive home win to close to within five points of Barcelona.

Barcelona beat Valladolid 3-0 on Saturday to go unbeaten for the first half of the season although no Spanish team has gone a whole 38-game season undefeated.

Guti, 33, made his first league start for Real since September after healing his rift with coach Manuel Pellegrini and even had the captain’s armband with Raul on the bench.

With eight minutes gone Malaga rattled the crossbar when Sergio Duda’s cross came off Xabi Alonso’s head and looped onto the bar.

Iker Casillas had a hairy moment near the half hour mark with the goalkeeper bizarrely using his head to block a chipped shot as he was outside of the area.

Ronaldo then took centre stage with two goals in four destructive minutes.

Guti, Karim Benzema and Kaka all combined quickly to put the ball on a plate for Ronaldo to roll home the 35th minute opener.

Malaga then witnessed Ronaldo in full flow as he collected Guti’s pass before firing a fierce shot into the corner.

Malaga had previously gone 10 games unbeaten in league, although eight of them were draws, but they knew there was no comeback this time around.

In the second half Ronaldo was gunning for his first ever Real hat-trick but instead the red mist descended again and his night ended on 70 minutes when he elbowed Mtiliga in the face.

Getafe came out on top in the local derby with Atletico Madrid defeating their 10-man neighbours 1-0 on Sunday to move four points off the Champions League spots.

Since winning promotion in 2004, Getafe had never beaten local rivals Atletico in the league at their Coliseum Alfonso Perez home but Manu del Moral’s 38th minute goal ended that sequence.

For Atletico, who had midfielder Paulo Assuncao sent off, it brought an end to a run of three successive league victories and they are now ten points off the top six.

Both Atletico and Getafe are in Kings Cup action on Thursday as they bid to reach the semi-finals of the competition.

Earlier Valencia missed the chance to keep pace with the top two following a frustrating 0-0 draw at promoted Tenerife on Sunday.

“We weren’t at our best today,” said Valencia coach Unai Emery.

“However, we are in a great position in the league and have to keep on going.”

Valencia sit five points ahead of Real Mallorca, who reclaimed fourth spot with a 1-1 draw at Espanyol on Sunday.

In other matches, Villarreal got back to winning ways with a 4-2 victory over struggling Real Zaragoza at El Madrigal.

Despite the win Villarreal are still down in ninth, seven points off the desired European places.

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