Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo is better than AC Milan’s world player of the year Kaka, according to Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster.
The 23-year-old scored against Roma on Tuesday to take his tally to 36 goals for the season, while Kaka’s form has dipped in Serie A.
“Ronaldo has already overtaken Kaka after (the Brazilian’s) recent slump,” said the German coach. (more…)
Manchester United took a giant stride towards the Champions League semi-finals with a clinical victory against AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.Cristiano Ronaldo headed home his 36th goal of the season from Paul Scholes’ cross six minutes before half-time.
Roma rallied, with Christian Panucci missing from close range and Edwin van der Sar saving brilliantly from Mirko Vucinic’s 61st-minute header.
But Rooney bundled home United’s crucial second five minutes later.
The result leaves United clear favourites to reach a likely semi-final showdown against Barcelona.
Sir Alex Ferguson made three changes from the side that won so emphatically against Aston Villa on Saturday - Van der Sar, Anderson and Ji-Sung Park replacing Tomasz Kuszczak, Ryan Giggs and Carlos Tevez.
Vucinic led the Roma attack in place of injured captain Francesco Totti, and he was a lively figure in a first 45 minutes that saw United relatively untroubled.
Panucci posed an early threat when he rose to meet David Pizarro’s corner but headed over the top.
Manchester United stretched their lead at the Premier League summit to six points with a stunning display.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s outrageous flick started the agony for Aston Villa after 17 minutes and he provided Carlos Tevez with a simple second before half-time.
Wayne Rooney rounded Scott Carson for a third after 53 minutes and he slid home the fourth with 20 minutes left after more superb creativity from Ronaldo.
Manchester United outclassed 10-man Liverpool to strengthen their position at the top of the Premier League table.Wes Brown put United ahead from Wayne Rooney’s cross before Liverpool’s hopes were hit when Javier Mascherano was sent off for dissent before the break.
Pepe Reina made some great saves but he was at fault when Cristiano Ronaldo headed home United’s second and Nani’s fine finish completed an emphatic win.
A survey of more than 6,500 surfers found that the £30m transfer of Andriy Shevchenko was by far the worst-ever decision, with more than one third of respondents naming it as the top transfer flop.
Media reports at the time suggested it was Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and not the manager at the time, Jose Mourinho, who made the deal, and the Ukranian has made little impact since his arrival with only a handful of goals.
The poll, run on the Sportingo website, rated the deal that brought Argentinian playmaker Juan Veron to Old Trafford the second biggest disappointment.
Third in the poll was another Ukranian, Sergei Rebrov, who moved from Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham for £11m and failed to make the grade, later being offloaded to West Ham.
Other names on the list include Francis Jeffers, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Bernado Corradi.
Ze’ev Rozov, managing director of Sportingo said: “Sportingo is a unique platform for sports fans to express their feelings about past and present sporting issues. Our daily poll has been a particular success as it is quick and simple to use and highlights issues that are of interest to a huge audience - almost every team has been in a situation where a new player doesn’t live up to expectation.”
England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after losing a sensational game against Croatia at Wembley. England went 2-0 down when Scott Carson, in for Paul Robinson, helped Nico Kranjcar’s shot into the net and then Ivica Olic slipped in a second.
Frank Lampard pulled one back from the spot after Jermain Defoe was fouled, before David Beckham, winning a 99th cap, set up Peter Crouch to level it.
But Mladen Petric fired in from 25 yards to break England’s hearts.
He gambled his position and England’s participation on two huge selections and dropping Robinson and Beckham proved catastrophic.
Carson’s performance will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons and it may take the 22-year-old some time to recover.
When he stepped out on to the turf to warm-up and saw heavy rain making the pitch increasingly treacherous, he could have been forgiven for wishing Robinson - who was not even on the bench - had not been so unceremoniously dumped.
Kranjcar found space 30 yards out and let fly with a dipping right-foot shot that bounced just in front of the keeper and Carson could only parry the ball into the roof of the net.
The stadium fell silent - and six minutes later, England’s world was on the brink of collapse.
Eduardo drove at the heart of the England defence and played a cute pass into the area for Olic, the Hamburg striker coolly dribbling round a shell-shocked Carson and rolling into an empty net.
England embarrassingly appealed for offside, but Wayne Bridge and, ludicrously, Shaun Wright-Phillips - who should not have been that far back - were both clearly playing him on.
McClaren’s 4-3-3 formation at the start had turned into a 4-5-1 as Crouch was left painfully isolated in attack and his flick-ons were easily dealt with by the Croatians.
The visitors could have been more than 2-0 up by the interval - Carson patting the ball down after a shot from Luka Modric only for the ball to luckily skid away, forcing Kranjcar too wide to shoot.
Booed and jeered off the pitch, McClaren had to act and he brought on Defoe and Beckham, with Gareth Barry and Wright-Phillips making way.
It barely made any difference, before England were handed a lifeline in the shape of a penalty by the eagle-eyed assistant referee, who spotted Josip Simunic tugging back Defoe.
The quiet Lampard, with almost his first kick of the game, clinically dispatched the spot-kick to breathe new life into England’s campaign.
England seemed keen to gift Croatia another goal as first Bridge cleared on to the top of his own crossbar and then Carson repaired some of the damage by brilliantly saving Olic’s point-blank header.
If the script had been written for Beckham to save his country once again, the former captain seemed keen to follow it.
The LA Galaxy midfielder sent over an inch-perfect cross from the right that Crouch expertly chested down and smashed into the bottom corner from seven yards.
Wembley erupted, but there was more drama to come on a remarkable night at the new stadium.
Croatia sent on Petric and with 13 minutes left, he arrowed a fizzing left-foot shot into the corner of Carson’s net from 25 yards.
It was what Croatia deserved for a display full of enterprise and heart - and what England deserved for one of their most inept displays in living memory.
The result, coupled with Russia’s slender 1-0 win over Andorra, means England will not be going to next summer’s tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
Barda scored the goal which put Israel ahead against Russia
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England earned a Euro 2008 qualifying reprieve with their fate again in their own hands after Group E rivals Russia dramatically lost 2-1 in Israel. England are now two points ahead of Russia and need a draw against Croatia in their final qualifier on Wednesday to secure a Euro 2008 place.
Israel took the lead through Elyaniv Barda before Diniyar Bilyaletdinov levelled as Russia started to dominate.
Russia hit the post late on before Omer Golan netted a winner for Israel.
Boss Sir Alex Ferguson saw Manchester United beat Blackburn 2-0 to head the Premier League and claimed the squad is his strongest in 21 years at the club. Ferguson said: “We’ve got young players led by Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo and more in the likes of Carlos Tevez and Nani and Anderson.
“In fact, it is difficult to know when to stop when talking about our important players.
“But this team has to win something. They have a great chance of doing so.”
Ronaldo scored twice in United’s victory over Blackburn, which moved Ferguson’s squad three points clear in the top flight, although second-placed Arsenal visit Reading on Monday night.
The goals took him to double figures already for the season, and saw him get the highest mark from users of BBC Sport’s player rater for the match.
But Ferguson also singled out for praise the old man of the squad, Ryan Giggs.
Ferguson added: “He is 34 at the end of the month but I feel he can go on for a few years yet.
“He has been a wonderful servant for this club and he was our best player.”
However, Ferguson’s opposite number Mark Hughes was not so happy after seeing his side beaten on Sunday.
The Blackburn manager was unable to hide his frustration at referee Chris Foy’s dismissal of David Dunn, who picked up a second booking early in the second half.
“He was a little bit quick with the card,” Hughes told BBC Sport.
“There should have been a little bit of leeway but after that it was very hard for us. We feel a little bit hard done by.”
Ferguson agreed with Hughes that Dunn’s red card might have been harsh.
Dunn’s second booking was for a trip on Louis Saha and was possibly deserved but Hughes was unhappy with Foy’s previous decision to give the Blackburn midfielder a yellow card for a challenge on Tevez.
“It was never a booking - why didn’t the assistant help the referee in that situation?” questioned Hughes.
Blackburn were already losing by two goals when Dunn was dismissed and Hughes argued that his side’s numerical disadvantage gave them no hope of rescuing the game.
“Little things went away from us and we didn’t quite get the run of the ball,” he added. “We didn’t have a chance to show the team we are.”
Manchester United moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s double. Christopher Samba came very close to giving Blackburn the lead when his rising shot crashed against the bar.
But Ronaldo’s header and a side-footed finish, in the space of two first-half minutes, put United in total control.
And any hope Blackburn had of salvaging a point disappeared when David Dunn was sent off for picking up a second yellow card early in the second half.
Manchester United qualified for the Champions League knockout stage after a comfortable win against Dynamo Kiev.
Gerard Pique headed his first United goal after 31 minutes and Carlos Tevez quickly added a second after a brilliant exchange with Wayne Rooney.
United continued to dominate and Rooney side-footed home Nani’s superb cross with 15 minutes left.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s solo effort made it four late on and Roma’s draw with Sporting Lisbon sent United through.
United made five changes to the team that drew 2-2 at Arsenal, and it took a while for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to get into their stride.
Rooney received a yellow card after 17 minutes for a foolish chase and tackle on Artem Milevskiy.
But United’s frustrations eased on the half-hour when they took the lead in freakish circumstances.
Michael Carrick’s header from Ronaldo’s free-kick bounced off the head of an unwitting - and offside - Tevez and lobbed into the path of Pique, who headed home.
And five minutes later they doubled their advantage when Rooney exchanged passes with Tevez to allow the gifted Argentine to shoot high past Olexandr Shovkovskiy.
United made a substitution at half time, with Tomas Kuszczak replacing Edwin van der Sar in goal after the Dutch keeper suffered a foot injury.
He was instantly in action, diving to save well from Diogo Rincon - but United were always in the ascendancy.
Nani had a shot saved from 20 yards and then Shovkovskiy made a fine double save from Tevez and Danny Simpson after brilliant approach work from Patrice Evra.
Kuszczak had distinguished himself, and he saved well from Tiberiu Ghioane as Dynamo at last showed more attacking intent.
United wrapped up the win with 15 minutes left when Nani provided a superb right-wing cross that was an open invitation for Rooney to side-foot home from six yards.
Ronaldo finished the night with a flourish, tricking his way into the area in trademark fashion before firing home powerfully.