There Is Only One Sinnacle

Wigan are ready to make a club record £6m bid for Ecuador striker Christian Benitez, who plays for Santos Laguna in the Mexican league. (Daily Mirror)

Look for interest in Benitez to heat up again from teams across the pond as he recovers from his leg injury suffered late last year.

Everton could renew their interest in Sporting Lisbon midfielder Joao Moutinho after learning Mikel Arteta will be out for the rest of the season. (Daily Mail)

Why? It’s not like Moutinho is going to play for Everton next week. It’s also unlikely that Moutinho will want to play for a non champions league team heading into (hopefully) Portugal’s run to the 2010 World Cup.

Midfielder Nico Krancjar has put contract talks on hold at Portsmouth and says he wants to join a Champions League team in the summer. (Daily Telegraph)

Portsmouth could consider themselves lucky being able to sign Glen Johnson recently to a new contact. It does appear this luck will not translate to Nico Krancjar who could use a change of scenery if he is to progress as a player.

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas has told Arsene Wenger he is fit enough to play in Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Roma but the Arsenal boss will not risk his fitness after a knee problem. (Daily Star)

Yet Tomas Rosicky is still 4-6 weeks away from coming back from his knee injury.

Striker Craig Bellamy has dismissed talk he does not get on with Manchester City team-mate Robinho, saying he “adores him as a player”. (Daily Telegraph).

He may adore him as a player but it seems unlikely they adore each other as people. We are know Robinho is going no where so it will have to be up to Bellamy to make it work.

Paul Ince, who was sacked as Blackburn boss in December, could be in line for a return to management at Brighton. (Daily Star)

Would be a pretty big drop in class for Ince who took on more than he can handle when he made the jump from a league two MK Dons side to Blackburn this summer.

Bookmakers took a hammering on Saturday after punters placed heavy bets on Rushden to beat Weymouth, with the Terras being forced to field their under-18 side because of a pay dispute. Rushden won the game 9-0. (The Times)

I’m sure most of them will have no problem losing it all back in a matter of weeks.

As Guus Hiddink prepares his Chelsea team for Juventus tomorrow figured it was a good time to look back on the penalty kick win by PSV against Benfica. A side note to this game the same Veloso who missed his penalty kick for Benfica is also the father of current Sporting star Miguel Veloso.

I feel like a kid the night before Christmas waiting for these Champions League games to kick off. Aside from Chelsea vs Inter Milan could they of been a more interesting encounter than Manchester United vs Inter Milan in the round of 16? In the pit of my stomach I have this feeling that the hype will not carry over into the game itself as with most big matches but regardless I’ll still be on the edge of my seat watching two storied teams do battle.

Below are my picks in bold as to who will advance to the next stage. Feel free to add your own picks in the comments section.

Arsenal vs Roma
Inter Milan vs Manchester United
Lyon vs Barcelona
Atletico Madrid vs Porto
Chelsea vs Juventus
Villarreal vs Panathinaikos
Real Madrid vs Liverpool
Sporting Lisbon vs Bayern Munich

Everton have suffered a major blow to their hopes of success this year after midfielder Mikel Arteta was ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing a cruciate ligament in his right knee against Newcastle.

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Was already gone yesterday when news came out regarding Arteta’s injury but still wanted to make mention of it. Usually it’s Tim Cahill who goes down with an injury this time of year but losing Arteta is a huge blow for Everton. With an FA Cup run still in front of them along with qualifying for Europe in the EPL, losing Arteta who is a top four level talent will be a huge hole Everton will somehow have to overcome. Just goes to show you how so much could change in a instant as Arteta popped his knee seemingly from no where.

- I wonder what former coach Roberto Mancini was thinking watching Inter break the deadlock against Bologna in what could of easily been a trap game for Inter Milan heading into this weeks encounter versus Manchester United?

- While Tottenham is fighting for survival in England, former coach Martin Jol has Hamburg in first place in Germany. Considering Hamburg lost key players such as Rafael van der Vaart, Vincent Kompany, and Nigel de Jong it makes this run even more impressive. Currently Jol has Hamburg in pole position for their first Bundesliga title since 1983

- Espanyol must feel like they have attained there revenge for a heartbreaking defeat earlier on this season against Barcelona with there 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou. Not exactly the type of form Josep Guardiola wants to see heading into there Champions League tilt with Lyon.

- Real Madrid 6-1 victory over Real Betis is impressive enough but it’s even more impressive considering Betis where in form going into the match. Coming into this match with a draw versus Barcelona and a win against Sevilla few would of expected Madrid to handle them so easily.

- Sporting Clube de Portugal 3-2 over bitter rivals Benfica is exactly the type of victory this club needs as they wait for Bayern Munich who aren’t on form after their 2-1 lose to FC Koln Saturday.

- What is with all this praise for Guus Hiddink? Granted Aston Villa are a top team and a new coach can’t change the make up of this squad over night but that was a Mourinho era performance which wasn’t deemed good enough 18 months ago. Chelsea took an early lead then soaked up all the pressure Aston Villa could mount. A nice win going into their Champions League match against Juventus but I wouldn’t grant Guus Hiddink keys to the city yet.

- Sometimes I forget that Arsenal are without Fabregas, Walcott and Adebayor but there are a lot of players like Robin van Persie who claim to be world class and wish to be paid like world class players but often fall short when it’s time to prove it. Yes, Arsenal are undefeated in 12 games I believe but it doesn’t do much good when it seems like 11 of those games are draws. With Aston Villa losing, Arsenal had a great chance to close the gap which makes Saturday’s results even more disappointing.

- How in the world is Tomáš Rosický still injured? Even Eduardo has come back from his broken leg before Rosicky.

- When your last league goal was scored on January 10th you have problems. If Middlesbrough are to save themselves this season somebody needs to find the back of the net. No shame in grabbing a point against Wigan but Boro need wins in a hurry to avoid the drop.

- Speaking of goals James Beattie now ups his tally to four goals in five games for Stoke. In a game that was a bore to watch for 75 minutes turned into a roller coaster ride of emotions as Portsmouth jumped out in front thanks to Niko Kranjcar only for Stoke then take the lead and finally a Ryan Shawcross own goal split the points between another two teams hoping to avoid the drop.

- I know being a referee is a thankless job but if Howard Webb is the best referee England has to offer, it doesn’t say much about the other referee’s in England. It truly takes a special skill to annoy both coaches during a game. In the first half Johnny Evans goal was disallowed thanks to a soft foul against Ronaldo. An even bigger missed call was Rafael tug on Morten Gamst Pedersen in the box which wasn’t called a penalty. How that wasn’t called I’ll never know, United caught a huge break there.

- Credit to Blackburn, usually United don’t have to defend a lead late in games but Blackburn had the defending Champions on their heels for large parts of the game. If it was anyone else rather than Ryan Nelsen who struck the post for Blackburn they could of easily taken the lead.

- The facts of life told us, You take the good, You take the bad, You take them both and there you have the facts of life. Yesterday both the good and the bad of Nani were on full display. His pass to set up Rooney’s first goal caused havoc but his lack of focus caused Blackburn to score on the counter attack. Maybe one day what is between his ears will catch up to his god given talent. Needless to say look for Park Ji-Sung to start against Inter.

- The commentators during the game kept mentioning that Ronaldo was lucky to be still on the pitch after getting a yellow card for diving. The premise is all too simple really. Ronaldo should of got a yellow card for kicking out against David Dunn but on a yellow knowing that Howard Webb has no issue sending him off it’s doubtful Ronaldo would of taken that swan dive.

- Oh yeah, nice free kick Cristiano.

- What an ugly tackle by Kevin Nolan who should know better than to go in two footed.

- Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. Why must you wait for the other team to take a lead before playing your best. If Liverpool would played the final 20 minutes for an entire game they would of won going away.

- Liverpool’s fatal flaw is the fact Benítez doesn’t like the Liverpool ownership structure and quite frankly the ownership doesn’t like Benitez. Hicks and Gillett are praying public opinion turns on Benitez one day so they can fire him and Benitez himself knows this. When everyone isn’t on the same page any team will have an uphill battle trying to succeed. The Glazer’s for example aren’t sitting around in Tampa hoping Sir Alex Ferguson retires so they can replace him.

Joorabchian: Owners considering Tevez interest

Carlos Tevez’s future at Manchester United has been thrown into fresh doubt after the striker’s representative Kia Joorabchian declared he is ‘’studying other options”.

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Interesting to see West Ham’s favorite agent finally admitting that Tevez is on the open market. Will be interesting to see which team Tevez will suit up for next year since it’s doubtful it will be Manchester United.

Inter’s Adriano: We Can Beat Manchester United

The Brazilian is quietly confident that his side can topple Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, stating that he is ready to dedicate a goal to his children…

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We all know Manchester United back line is rock solid but they don’t face many strikers with the skills of Adriano and Zaltan Ibrahimovic. Not many teams come at United with two strikers never mind two strikers that are world class.

It’s All About Winning, Smiles Marco van Basten After Ajax Rob Fiorentina

Ajax manager Marco van Basten reflects on his side’s rather fortunate win against Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup on Thursday evening…

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Still weird to see Ajax out of the Champions League these last few years. Marco Van Basten hasn’t had an ideal season coaching Ajax but a strong UEFA Cup run could erase their poor form in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Below are the result of yesterday’s UEFA Cup Games.

Lech Poznan 2 – 2 Udinese
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 – 0 Tottenham H.
FC Copenhagen 2 – 2 Manchester C.
Fiorentina 0 – 1 Ajax Amsterdam
Marseille 0 – 1 FC Twente Enschede

Enjoy the games this weekend.

Everton boss David Moyes is keeping tabs on CSKA Moscow striker Vagner Love, but the 24-year-old Brazilian would prefer a move to Manchester City. (The Sun)

Was waiting for the Vagner Love rumors to start up again after his goal against Aston Villa on Wednesday. He made Zat Knight look like he was running in slow motion as Love breezed by him for CSKA Moscow’s only goal.

Love is happy to stay in Moscow and it would take a huge offer to tempt him away from Russia. (Daily Mirror)

A Brazilian isn’t going to play in Russia because of the weather. I’m sure Love earns a nice living playing for CSKA Moscow.

Arsenal and Chelsea are both keeping tabs on 18-year-old Bordeaux striker Henri Saviet. (Daily Mirror)

Henri Saviet is a favorite of many Football Manager players. It was only a matter of time before Saviet showed up on Arsenal’s radar.

Didier Drogba has lifted the lid on life at Chelsea under Luiz Felipe Scolari and said the Brazilian tried to divide the dressing room by blaming players for poor results and singled him out after the 3-0 defeat by Manchester United, making the striker train with the youth team. (The Sun)

To be fair Drogha looked like he could of cared less during that game against United.

Rafael Benitez has said Liverpool need to win all of their remaining games if they are to win the Premier League this season. (Various)

Realistic they need to win at Old Trafford against Manchester United to have a chance. If Liverpool can somehow win that game, then they have a chance. Lose that game and United would need to collapse in order for Liverpool or anyone else to win the league.

Sir Alex Ferguson says his Manchester United side are capable of an unprecedented quadruple after Arsene Wenger branded them the “untouchables”. (Daily Express)

All I keep thinking about is that Inter match up is tough for United. They better be up for it on Tuesday.

New Arsenal signing Andrey Arshavin will pay for his hairdresser from St Petersburg to fly to London to cut his hair because his wife does not trust British stylists. (Daily Express)

Nice to see Arshavin (or his girlfriend at least) adapting to life in London smoothly.

Vincenzo Iaquinta Is Fed Up And Ready To Quit Juventus – Report

The former Udinese man is unhappy and wants out of the club according to voices coming from Turin…

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Sure as hell picked the wrong time to make these feelings known, if this report is indeed correct. Three weeks removed from the transfer window wouldn’t be the perfect time to demand a move. Besides nothing has changed within that time, Iaquinta is what he has been all year for Juventus and that is a valuable 3rd striker off the bench. Bench being the key word there. Maybe Iaquinta does need to pull an Alberto Gilardino who took a step back with his move away from A.C Milan and his career is better off because of it.

Andres Iniesta’s Injury Is A Big Blow For Barcelona – Mauricio Pochettino

Andres Iniesta’s absence from the Barcelona derby at the weekend will be noticed by Josep Guardiola’s side, according to Espanyol boss Mauricio Pochettino.

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Losing a player with Iniesta’s talents will always be a blow but Barcelona made do just fine without him when Iniesta missed some time towards the end of 2008.

Bullard ruled out for rest of season after knee op

Hull City midfielder Jimmy Bullard has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery in the United States.

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Somewhere Fulham coach Roy Hodgson is cracking a slight smile. A team like Hull need to spend every penny wisely. It is bad luck for Hull that Bullard has gotten injured so soon after his arrival.

Standard fall no surprise for Braga’s Leone

Andre Leone claimed SC Braga’s eye-catching 3-0 defeat of R. Standard de Liège on Wednesday was anything but a surprise after helping the Portuguese club dominate the Belgian champions in a one-sided first leg.

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Just showing Braga some respect after beating Standard Liege 3-0 yesterday in the UEFA Cup. The same Standard Liege that almost knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League and did knock Everton out of the UEFA Cup earlier this year.

Below are the scores of the other UEFA Cup games played yesterday.

Dynamo Kiev 1 Valencia 1
Zenit 2 Stuttgart 1
Olympiakos 1 St Etienne 3
Werder Bremen 1 AC Milan 1
Bordeaux 0 Galatasaray 0
NEC Nijmegen 0 Hamburg 3
PSG 2 Wolfsburg 0
Sampdoria 0 Metalist Kharkiv 1
Aalborg 3 Deportivo 0