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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about the signing of Angel di Maria

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When David Beckham was in his absolute pomp I remember Sir Alex Ferguson saying that he’d never sell him unless he could find and buy a better right-footed crosser from anywhere around Europe. The man Fergie was referring to at the time was at Real Madrid – Luis Figo. Figo often said it was a dream to play at Old Trafford but never realized that ‘sueño’.

Now I believe United have bought a left-footed version of the two men. I don’t believe Angel di Maria is inferior to Figo in any way, nor will I accept that the Argentinian’s crossing can’t compare to Beckham.

And talking of that Class of ’92, I’d argue that Di Maria echoes some things which will still have United fans crying into their pints of lager. Or their prawn sandwiches.

Roy-Keane-&-David-Beckham-840

Hungry like the wolf …

One of the things, beyond their talent and football intelligence, which linked Scholes, Giggs, Nicky Butt, Beckham and the Neville brothers was that this was ‘their’ club. They fought like hungry wolves for every ball, every goal, every win. For their places, for the fans, for the trophies. They fought.

Setting aside the Keanes and Schmeichels (and their ilk) of this world it’s hard to go out and purchase someone whose attitude to daily intensity, defeat and victory matches that level because, by definition, its not ‘their’ club.

Now, growing up in Rosario, Argentina, age contemporary and not many kilometres away from his fellow Rosarian Lionel Messi, it’s not the case that di Maria dreamed of the Stretford End or subscribed to fanzine United We Stand.

Yet one thing which links him to that Class of ’92 is that how hard he works, how much winning means to him, what he’s willing to sacrifice and how much he’s willing to invest in making others around him better players – winners.

Gradually, the Old Trafford faithful (and United’s world-wide audience) will come to recognize that, in spirit and talent on the ball, he’s not just class – he’s ‘Class of ’92’ calibre.

Had this kid been born in Preston, Knutsford or Manchester Deansgate, instead of Rosario – over the last 30 years he’d have been incorporated into the United scouting and youth development system and Sir Alex would have cherished him.

Angel-Di-Maria-840

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Precious moments …

Di Maria and his cost has been something which has over-exercised many minds and mouths over the last few days. United have the money. United have a quality deficit. United need to catch up. Di Maria is a catch. End of.

Had he played for Fergie he’d have been adored by the demanding Scot. Of working class stock (his dad worked in a coal-yard), never a problem in training, blessed with a ‘every minute of every game is precious’ spirit, immensely gifted in how he uses the ball and prepared to work hard to get the thing back when it’s lost – these are all Fergie box-tickers.

After dragging Madrid back into a Champions League final they were about to lose in May di Maria admitted:

I sank to my knees in gratitude, emotion and tiredness. I got through the 120 minutes via sheer will-power and adrenaline.  Every time I put on a jersey I give it everything I’ve got. No matter what people say, I never give 95 or 99 per cent. It’s always 100 per cent  If you consistently do that then in the end you’ll reap the rewards.

Who actually handed him his MOTM trophy? Yes, Fergie. It’s fate.

Moreover what IS United about? Cash reserves, billion-pound sponsorship deals, American owners, executive boxes, debt schedules?

Or passion: sonic booms of excited, orgasmic roars when a goal soars in or a chance zips past; committment; pride; noise; flair; energy and the ‘he who dares, wins’ spirit?

Tell me? Which of the two sentences do you want to apply to your club?

Errol Flynn football or Mickey Finn football?

Baby, please don’t go …

Di Maria pertains to the spirit of the modern Manchester United from Busby to Van Gaal via you know who.

It’s di Maria you’ll want to return to watch. It’s he who’ll persuade you to stick with the transition patiently. He who’ll tip the balance over whether a match ticket or your season book is worth the outlay. Whether the trip to MK Dons in the Capital One Cup on a grimy Tuesday night is one to miss or unmissable.

Let’s be clear. None of the Madrid players wanted him to leave. Carlo Ancelotti didn’t want him to leave. The Argentinian was Man of the Match in that Champions League final, he was a key figure in Argentina reaching the World Cup final and he tends to ‘turn up’ when the pressure is high.

Go and watch his cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to head the winner in the 2011 Copa del Rey final against Barcelona. It’s poetry. It’s utterly beautiful. His goal in the Copa del Rey final win (2-1 against Barcelona again] last season (above); his glorious, nonchalant winner lofted over the Nigerian keeper in the Beijing Olympic Final. Then there’s his 49 assists and 36 goals since joining Madrid in 2010.

Big skills, big game temperament.

Obviously, the world of football isn’t all ambrosia, there are thwarted ambitions too.

Louis Van Gaal

So You Are A Star …

Di Maria is an Argentinian footballer, used to life in Iberia who doesn’t have great English playing for a Dutch coach whose Spanish can be rusty. He’s joining an ailing UK giant in a league which no foreigner fails to be surprised at when they encounter its fury and its fireworks. It’s a test.

More, di Maria is a star, superbly remunerated now and will draw massive attention wherever he goes. These are usually concepts which are anathema to van Gaal. It’s imperative that the two men hit it off. Promptly.

What will help is what one of Van Gaal’s former assistants taught the player known as the ‘noodle’ because of his pipe-cleaner frame.

During his time at Madrid, Mourinho taught me that I wasn’t a ‘pure’ forward. That I couldn’t rest every time the strikers lost the ball. He taught me to give more to the team throughout the game and the di Maria of today compared to how I began playing bears no resemblance tactically or technically.

Carlo Ancelotti840

Street fighting man …

To give the Dutch manager a clue how to handle this guy here’s di Maria on Ancelotti: “When things got tough he didn’t say very much and just made sure that I was in the starting line-ups, even when it felt like everyone else was criticising me.

That trust gave me the confidence to play my part for the team. He wanted me to attack, defend, to run and keep on running. He wanted me to make sacrifices.

Di Maria adds: “A footballer’s career is so short. I treat every match as if I was playing my mates in the street. I adore winning. I feel inferior to nobody and my attitude now is that whenever we don’t have the ball I want to contribute to winning it back as quickly as possible, to press the life out of our opponents. I want the ball.”

And when he begins to be given it by his United team mates everyone who’s still to learn about this youth World Champion, Olympic Gold medallist and Champions League winner will see exactly why.

United may need more quality before the market ends. But in this position they could barely have done better.

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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about David de Gea, his character, and his future at the club

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That little notebook into which Louis van Gaal constantly scribbles while he’s on the bench during a match has become infamous – iconic of the irascible, eccentric but successful Dutchman.

Because we’re amongst friends, and this’ll remain hush-hush and strictly off the record, I’ll share with you what he was frantically jotting down on Tuesday night at about 9.35pm just after Manchester United scraped past Stoke.

(NB: Just like the very best method actors van Gaal insists on getting ‘into character’ so he writes in English now)

It went like this: Memo to Self

Tomorrow Morning: Phone José de Gea and thank him for travelling 100km per day to and from Atlético’s training ground when his kid was living in Illascas south of Madrid without which David would never have made it as a professional.

Next: Phone Martin Ferguson and praise him for spotting de Gea, with the Spanish youth set up as well as Atletico’s reserves, and identifying above all that this guy would become ‘a world class shot-stopper’.

Then: Fish out Eric Steele’s number and tell him he’s a ‘shtand-up fellow’ for insisting that despite de Gea’s lack of excellence [and physical power] in dealing with crosses – even in Spain, not just in Premier League terms – that ‘it’ll be fine, we can improve that aspect no problem. Tell the manager to sign him’.

Also: Have a quiet word with Giggshy who’s the guy that has ‘most surprised’ and deeply impressed de Gea since he arrived and who he still calls ‘the Number One!’ Get him to tell the boy we want more of the same.

Finally – FIX MEETING WITH ED WOODWARD. Subject: DE GEA NEW CONTRACT.

There you have it. It’s not always about Zonal Marking.

Louis van Gaal

Van Gaal then donned his ‘stone-face’ in the press room and trotted out some stuff about ‘De CHHHHHHEaaa’ not doing too badly. But that didn’t cover the debt he and United owe the Spaniard.

De Gea is now, in relative terms, almost precisely where he was with Atletico Madrid in mid 2011. Glitteringly good, a stand-out amongst the club’s assets, immensely popular with the paying punters and fellow players – but also in need of being challenged by ‘the next step’.

Which does not mean, automatically, that his next step in this phase of his career either requires to be, or is going to be, departing for a new challenge. Not at all.

Back in 2011 de Gea was part of an Atlético which was on the rise. Europa League and Uefa Supercup winners but surrounded by a third of a team which would survive and thrive, and another two thirds which would be moved on.

A bright future for Diego Godín, Diego Costa, Koke, Raúl García and Juanfran but lights out for Tomas Ujfalusi, Jorge Pulido, José Antonio Reyes, Antonio López, Quique Sanchez Flores, Elias, Paulo Assunção and Juan Valera.

United-watchers can choose whether Rafael, Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans, Anders Lindegaard, Anderson, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jones, and Radamel Falcao fit into the ‘bright future/lights out’ categories.

But de Gea is right up there with the current United equivalent versions of Diego Costa, Koke and Diego Godín in 2011.

Just as they were then, United’s Spanish keeper is on the brink of a handful of very special years. Already a trophy-winner, already of proven quality, he nevertheless has what van Gaal calls ‘room for improvement’ but is also on the verge of stepping up and dominating completely.

De Gea’s soft underbelly when he arrived – concentration, upper body strength, speed of English-learning, diet, cutting-edge attitude – is well enough known and understood not to need re-hashing here.

José De Gea admits: “We had no idea of the size and grandeur of United. “Everyone tells you it’s ‘not just any club’ but until you arrive and see how they work, how they manage their football, you’ve got no real idea of the scale of it.”

Suffice to say, you can choose your iconic moment which best signifies his son’s subsequent excellence.

Freeze frame of the save from Mame Diouf against Stoke?

Marcos Rojo lunging into his arms to embrace him for saving those points?

De Gea ecstatically lifting the 2013 Premier League trophy? [His dad, Joel, still calls it ‘winning La Barclays]

Or him being handed trophies for being in the Premier League best XI and after being awarded the United player of the season vote?

Twitter chose mocked-up images of de Gea from the Matrix, de Gea as Superman, de Gea as the son of god after the Stoke game. They get excited on Twitter.

If Ed Woodward were to allow fans and sponsors an ‘open day’ at his office they’d probably come to an understanding that while de Gea’s new deal hasn’t been ‘put off’ [he’s out of contract in summer 2016] such has been the flurry of buying, selling and sacking at the club, the Spaniard has moved into a holding pattern.

If once Sir Alex Ferguson was seriously mulling over a bid to either challenge, or replace, De Gea with Asmir Begovic, then United are totally clear that they are now not seeking a new No1 keeper. A right back, a central defender and a winger, yes.

Carlo Ancelotti840

Along with what’s on offer to de Gea financially if he renews [which I believe he will do] is the promise from United’s most important figures – board, executives, coaching staff – that next summer’s push will be to put them on a par, quality-wise, in terms of squad depth and in terms of trophy aspirations, with Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti (above).

That would signify the equivalent surge forward which de Gea is now ready to take in personal, physical, psychological and professional terms. Just turned 24, for all his quite-evident excellence de Gea remains a footballer who thrives best under pressure.

The pressure of being prodded, cajoled and bullied [in a good sense] into adopting new standards by ex keeper coach Eric Steele. The pressure of impressing and winning the trust of Ferguson, particularly while being rotated with Lindegaard. The pressure of having lots of work to do during games. Perhaps even the pressure of having Victor Valdés around the training ground too.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Catalan’s training/rehab spell at Carrington may have both troubled his international team mate – and driven him on to still greater effort.

De Gea always admired Edwin van der Sar, Iker Casillas and Peter Schmeichel but was most inspired, most influenced by Valdés, his football skills, his ferocity of attitude and his ability to deal with a defence playing as much as 30 metres higher up the pitch than him.

That the former Barça man is free, looking for a place to thrive in the Premier League and developed under van Gaal at the Camp Nou must have been unsettling. Typically, de Gea’s form has, if anything, improved.

Some keepers, like Valdés, thrive equally if they are making constant saves and interventions or if they have huge periods of inactivity then two or three crucial saves.

De Gea is beginning to emerge into that category – but United are not, yet, the team to take him there.

During this turbulent Van-Gaalization of the team and while the defending remains extremely raw the Spaniard will remain consistently occupied during matches.

But as/if the Woodward/Van Gaal revolution bears fruit United will once again dominate matches and de Gea will benefit from having his concentration tested differently.

The Spaniard is, if not timid, a quiet, home-loving, intensely serious and intense young man. He’s been fundamental in making sure that Ander Herrera settles in and is happy at United – the two of them and Juan Mata live within a stone’s throw of each other and they are the central core of the Spanish-society at United.

His sister and parents often come to stay with him in England, bringing Spanish food with them, and if anyone tells you that de Gea is in love with the climate of North Western England then challenge them on that assertion. The strategic question for de Gea and his representatives is whether United as a club, and as a squad, are in step with him – both now and over the next four years? Are they about to move up and become dominant?

The word on the training ground is that de Gea feels aware that ‘something is beginning to happen’ at the club. That the quality of signings is rising, that van Gaal is demanding in a way which will benefit those who wish to play and train as de Gea does.

Would Real Madrid love to have him? Yes.

Iker Casillas

With Iker Casillas on a mind-blowingly good contract for several more years and no more keen to hand over to de Gea at club than at Spain level would this coming summer be the time to succumb to that temptation rather than continue to develop, thrive and earn experience in the Premier League? No, probably not. Euro 2016 is at least a winnable tournament for Spain.

If de Gea wishes to be Vicente Del Bosque’s first-choice then better to be at a club where he is [while on form] guaranteed number one rather than take the huge risk of coping with the ire from fans of the club he supports [Atletico] and locking horns with Casillas at Madrid.

In order of priority Ed Woodward needs to convince de Gea that he’s at the right club, at the right time and renew his deal. Then de Gea must emerge into the category of Manuel Neuer and Thibault Courtois and Gigi Buffon – superb keepers but team leaders, intimidating rather than being simply impressive and must become a founding stone in the successful re-building of United.

Finally, if he has not already unseated him, he must be fully ready to take over from Iker Casillas in 18 months time as Spain’s number one.

Simples.

Graham Hunter is the author of ‘Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble’ and ‘Barca’. You can follow him on Twitter here

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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about Louis van Gaal, the potential fireworks with Wayne Rooney and the class of 2014

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The first time I prepared to interview Louis van Gaal he looked like a Hollywood villain.

It was Glasgow, 1996, and the Ajax manager was flanked by 6’3″ Winston Bogarde. Both men were wearing full-length leather coats which went from their necks practically to their ankles.

Big, haughty, they exuded: “We are Ajax. Who the **** are you” to everyone clamouring around them on their arrival at the airport.

Louis Van Gaal 1995

It seems that from that day to this van Gaal (above, lifting the European Cup with Ajax in 1995) possesses the capacity to intimidate and to misdirect people’s impressions.

Having interviewed him many times since and watched his work closely I know him to have mellowed, enormously, and that underneath the bark and the not inconsiderable bite there is a good-humoured, passionate, interesting and multi-faceted man.

Nevertheless, before it has even been announced that he’s the next Manchester United manager, it’s being written very strongly that Wayne Rooney is already on a collision course with the 62 year old Dutchman.

Van Gaal’s ticket in, is Rooney’s ticket out.

Patrick Kluivert

Patrick Kluivert celebrates after a World Cop qualifier with Holland in 2001 – he could be phenomenal with Rooney

United would be daft to ‘reject’ Kluivert

I beg to differ. Firstly, it strongly appears that van Gaal will succeed David Moyes as long as a couple of things don’t get in the way.

a)      IF he’s decided that he doesn’t want Ryan Giggs on his first team staff (and I emphasize the word IF) and United tell him that it’s either take Giggs or don’t take the job then van Gaal is more than capable of saying: “Give the job to someone else then.” In fact in that scenario that’s what I’d back him to say. But if Giggs plays his hand shrewdly he should stay. Van Gaal makes a habit of keeping a link-man from the club he’s inheriting – Jose Mourinho at Barcelona and Hermann Gerland at Bayern Munich are examples. It’s the conduit he uses to get to know the youth set up quickly.

b)      IF United deny him the chance to take Patrick Kluivert with him (which they’d be daft to do) it’s also perfectly within van Gaal’s compass to turn the job down.

c)      IF Bayern Munich are stupid enough to allow teething trouble to make them think that they need root canal surgery and IF Pep Guardiola departs but wants to coach again immediately then perhaps United may be tempted to stage a beauty parade between the 44 year old Catalan and his former Barcelona coach.

Otherwise United have got the perfect, and I mean close to lottery winning perfect, coach for the job in Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal, aka ‘Louis’.

But, back to the widely circulated idea that because Robin van Persie and van Gaal ‘fit’ well on the training ground and for the national team, and because Rooney is known to have the occasional ‘off-pitch moment’ upon which disciplinarians might frown, it’s curtains for United’s best player.

Instead, I think that how van Gaal and Rooney ‘fit’ might be quite interesting.

Jari Litmanen

Rooney’s Finnish inspiration…

For example: recently when I was interviewing the United No10 and asked him who he’d modelled himself on when he was younger, from whom he’d tried to learn it was a thrill to hear him say: Jari Litmanen (above, with Liverpool).

The Finn did have one particularly noble season at Liverpool and a shot at glory with Barcelona but his great days were with Louis van Gaal’s Ajax.

Rooney used to ask himself:

“How did Litmanen make that space for himself?”

“How did he compensate for not being particularly quick.”

The young Scouser used to feed off the Finn’s intelligence.

And it’s football intelligence and vision, even above obedience, that van Gaal rates most highly in one of his footballers. Technique and pace are right in the mix, naturally. But brains top his list.

Litmanen played in the No10 position for van Gaal – almost always with a striker (hypothetically van Persie) and two wingers ahead of him. Van Gaal would protect that ‘creative’ ’10′ position with two hard working, very clever ‘organising’ midfielders alongside it: Davids and Seedorf or Ronald De Boer for example

IF in Rooney van Gaal can find his new ‘Jari’ then the two men may well ‘click’.

Louis Van Gaal

Kluivert could show Rooney a thing or too…

As for Rooney’s infamous ‘personality’ he’s a winner who trains as he plays: all in, nothing left behind.

Van Gaal likes that. The root of his infamous spat with Luca Toni at Bayern Munich stemmed from the Italian training apathetically. Van Gaal wouldn’t have it. Not from anyone.

But if you want to, why not take a look at Patrick Kluivert?

If you blindfolded him and dumped him in Kazakstan he could find you a night club within about quarter of an hour.

All in all he could show any United player a thing or two about ‘off-pitch moments’ – but van Gaal likes and trusts the man and so he was given the chance to train and develop as a coach while van Gaal was winning the 2008/2009 Eredivisie with AZ Almaar and now Kluivert’s an assistant coach with the Dutch national team.

If you believed all the hype about the 62-year-old there would have been no way back into his life for Kluivert. The facts prove otherwise.

Van Gaal’s ferocity is a fact though. In the old training ground days at FC Barcelona, when we were allowed within about five metres of the training pitch, I’ve often seen the Dutch growler letting loose a stream of expletives while roaring at Rivaldo – at that time the FIFA world player of the year.

“RIVAALDOOOOOO, NOOOO! NO! ASI NO!”

“Rivaldo, no, no not like that.”

That’s how he’d break up a training drill and dress the Brazilian down, as if he were a trainee. He thought the Brazilian played too much for himself, not for the team. An unforgivable sin in van Gaal’s book.

Riquelme

‘You are not my player’

So TV reporter the Holland manager had fun with the other day when asked what he ‘knew about United’ only to be told that was a “stupid question” can be reassured that what he got was van Gaal-lite.

Previously he might have had a verbal dressing down, a kick up the backside and an order never to return until he got his act together.

It was also van Gaal, beginning his second and unsuccessful time at the helm of FC Barcelona who showed the ‘exit’ door to the same Juan Roman Riquelme who went on to thrill for Villarreal en route to the Champions League semi-final.

But to his credit van Gaal took Riquelme (pictured above), who’d been signed by Barça without the Dutchman’s involvement, and told him straight: ‘You aren’t my player, I don’t need you here – find yourself a team to go to on loan’.

Riquelme told me later:

“I was perfectly happy to be told, straight, rather than kept on and made to suffer on the bench until I got the message. Van Gaal treated me with respect by telling me to my face.”

I also recall the pain it caused van Gaal when midway through that season, he was sacked by Barça and he allowed tears of fury and frustration to escape his eyes as he insisted, to the last seconds of his ‘farewell’ press conference: “I AM the right man for this job!”

In those tears I don’t see weakness.

When he talked to TV reporters from the Dutch training camp this week, amongst whom was Sky Sports News’ admirable Gary Cotterill, he used the expression of ‘giving four years’ to Holland so that he could finally live his dream of coaching at a World Cup.

The expression was used advisedly.

Manchester United 1999

What LVG could do at Manchester United

If United get him he’ll ‘give’ everything. He’ll be obsessive, he’ll be driven, he’ll expect a drive for perfection from everyone around him and he’ll be savage with anyone who doesn’t think or act the same way.

It’s what he thought he was giving to Barcelona back then, hence the hot tears of frustration more than shame at failure.

His drive for perfection even extends to holiday homes. He kept his villa near Sitges for years after leaving Barcelona but then sold it and bought in Portugal (where he was hunted down by reporters seeking United comments from him) because: “I don’t think that we get as many sunny days in Barcelona now as when I first moved here. There are more cloudy days and so I’m going somewhere else.” Meteorological inadequacy wasn’t for Louis.

Finally, there is his merited fame for total belief in promoting from within the ranks as soon as he feels there is raw talent sufficiently technically able and sufficiently well-tutored in his philosophy of football.

Remember, in the United treble season of 1999 (pictured above) it was van Gaal who gave Xavi his Champions League debut, aged 18, for Barcelona at Old Trafford (how ironic) in the first of two 3-3 draws between the sides in that Group stage.

(Maybe the two men could re-unite there… who knows, stranger things have happened).

“I pick whoever is the right guy to fit in my 4-3-3 formation, because I always play that way. If he is a young player and he can do it then I select him – if he is old then no problem for me. Age is not an important factor for me”. Gospel of van Gaal.

Adnan Januzai

So what for the class of 2014

Andrés Iniesta (18) and Victor Valdés (20) followed as van Gaal debutants. It’s a strain which runs firmly through his career from 18 year old Kluivert coming on to win Ajax their first Champions League final in 1995 to full Bundesliga debuts for Thomas Müller, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber at Bayern aged 19, 17 and 20 respectively.

James Wilson, Tom Lawrence, Adnan Januzaj, Michael Keane and co couldn’t wish to be at a better place for their football development if van Gaal takes charge.

All in all I must say that I hope United get their man and their man gets United. Probably it was van Gaal who wrote the words to the Sham 69 hit ‘.. if the kids are United, then we’ll never .. be divided’.

Just as the ‘Class of 92′ hits the DVD shelves, the class of 2014 can hit the pitch.

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What the signing of Juan Mata means for Manchester United fans and the future of the club

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Take away the names Juan Mata and Manchester United and simply describe the bare bones of what just happened in the Premier League transfer market and it becomes hard, not to say impossible, to understand why the business David Moyes has just conducted isn’t being heralded with ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’ of appreciation.

Gary Neville and Paul Merson each made it clear that they doubt either the need or the wisdom of this move, admittedly without specifically putting Mata’s quality in doubt.

But this is what’s just happened.

A rich, hugely competitive rival with a deep, immensely talented and experienced squad has just been maneuvered into selling a reigning world and European champion player who has played exceptionally since moving to England, winning six club, country and individual trophies in those two years, and selling to a rival which desperately needed a leg up.

What’s that eternal hard-nosed saying about ‘never give a sucker an even break’?

Moreover, and this is the key theme, the player being sold to a direct rival embodies all the elements which that rival desperately needed — both in match-winning terms and just about every single other facet which makes a ‘great’ footballer in today’s horribly inflated market.

Ed Woodward’s difficulties

Long before it’s important to begin to say ‘how will he fit if Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are both fit?’ or, the still more inane, ‘they needed a central midfielder or a left back as a higher priority?’ the key thing to look at is what made the purchase a phenomenally good piece of business.

Firstly, and no matter whether United fans who are suffering extreme pain at the team’s current performance give this any credit or not, the market has been an extremely difficult place for United to do business once it proved that Ed Woodward was only cutting his teeth in the summer.

  • In the lead-up to this market United’s scouts have done detailed work on up to 35 players. Mostly with a view to signing the right player at the right age for the right money this summer, but also to try and address the club’s current deficiencies.
  • David Moyes gave the go-ahead for a direct club to club enquiry for Marko Reus (below) of Borussia Dortmund but the idea got tangled up in what price it would take to get the player now and what price when a contractual clause kicks in this summer.

Marko Reus

So, who else is on the shopping list?

Alex Song was another player the United manager rated highly and was willing to move for but, like Diego Costa and left back Felipe Luis, the possibility of completing a deal isn’t something Barcelona or Atlético Madrid are willing to contemplate until the summer, at least.

Edinson Cavani, too, is potentially buyable, not being hugely impressed at having to play wide in Laurent Blanc’s Autumn-instituted 4-3-3 formation in order to accommodate Zlatan at centre forward. But, again, the potential for that to happen when PSG are tilting at a league and Champions League double is next to zero right now – different come May/June.

United are, right now, trying to make a deal for Luke Shaw happen irrespective of the player’s affiliation for Chelsea. Whether Shaw thinks he wants to work with Moyes right now or jockey for position when there might be a queue of clubs in the summer is an interesting dilemma which might not favour the reigning champions.

All of this is to emphasise that if anyone was confused that Mata was bought, instead of a ball-winning, organising central midfielder, a centre back or a left back then it’s important to understand that when quality becomes available you snap it up — even if that means a rescheduling of priorities.

So, back to Mata.

United need more ‘cojones’

I don’t think that anyone, not even United’s harshest critic this season, would say that the squad is without talent.

But they’ve lacked edge, flair, confidence. ‘Cojones’ they’d say in Spain.

The Ferguson-United ethos that ‘no odds are too great’, ‘no team will desire the win more than us’ — they seem to have evaporated to a great deal.

Rafa

At this early stage I judge it harsh to be laying culpability for that at the door of David Moyes. I’ve seen it happen twice before here in Spain.

  • Once when Rafa Benitez (above), an immensely demanding task master and someone who was inordinately attentive to every single detail of daily work, departed you could hear the collective sigh of ‘we can let our belts out now’ from the Valencia squad. Those who had chafed under his yoke, those who gave more because he demanded so much from them every hour of every day (yielding the most productive trophy spell in Valencia’s history) relaxed. Consciously or subconsciously.
  • The same happened when Pep Guardiola left Barcelona. Ask any of his players, any single one, and they’ll admit that he was ‘pesado‘. It means he could be a right pain in the backside. On their backs all the time: over diet, over intensity in training, over lifestyle, over how early they went to bed at night — he even swore crudely at Alexis Sanchez right in front of live TV cameras at match when the Chilean broke down injured right after coming back from international duty.

Standards have slipped

When Guardiola left, burned out, this fabulous group of players also let standards slip. Very marginally, but it had an effect. Just for comparison, Guardiola was at Barcelona for four years, Benitez for three — Ferguson, you may recall, at United for 27.

There has been a patently evident relaxation. More than one squad and staff member at United has mentioned it to to me.

Juan Mata in 2009

Mata (pictured above in 2009 with Valencia) brings a great deal beyond his evident playing skills.

Knowing him, having watched him train day in day out for two months with Spain at World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 I can tell you that his work ethic is voracious.

Whether he’s in the team or not each training session is treated like life or death. Whether he’s in the starting XI or not every colleague is to be helped, encouraged, chided — made better.

Mata is a team player.

Sometimes, particularly when there is a ‘losing’ dynamic confidence, arrogance, self-belief, luck… evaporate more quickly than snow in an oven.

Mata’s purchase holds a key to re-establishing some of those.

Depending on whether David Moyes retains his preference for 4-2-3-1 Mata can play in any, and I mean every one, of the front four positions.

Might that mean Wayne Rooney having to move left on occasion if Mata plays int he No10 role? It might.

Would that be the end of the world? Hardly.

Is Mata more likely to play wide left in that formation? Yes.

But if Moyes moved to 4-3-3 Mata could also play in any of the front three positions if, tactically, that was required of him.

RVP desperate to win Champions League

Moreover, what I fail to understand about those who first carp about the need for Mata based on the presence of RVP and Rooney is the following: how often have the two of them been fit together this season? How guaranteed is it that United can seal this new contract which, admittedly, Rooney has indicated he’s interested in? Also, Van Persie told me how centrally important it is for him to win the Champions League. In all good faith, if he sees that as being a distant prospect with United then is he at Old Trafford for the remainder of his career… or not?

Now the fans. They don’t win matches but they can certainly help to contribute to a ‘malaise’ at a club which is starting to drift… or to challenge, no DEMAND, more from players who have begun to coast.

What’s needed for the positive side of that equation is something to rally round, to believe in.

Mata gives them that. Instinctively, I guarantee, he’ll give the most loyal and passionate United fans a work ethic, a commitment to winning, a style and a sporting aggression which they will recognize as what they’d apply if they were playing. He’s a rallying point.

Others, around him, will need to respond and work harder.

Another positive facet of this deal centres on David de Gea. Excluding that horrible fumble in the League Cup semi final against Sunderland last week the Spanish keeper has been a success. Last season he’d have been assessed as a central part of the title win.

Right now there are sufficient rumours circulating about how happy he is to renew his deal at United, rather than perhaps replace Thibaut Courtois back at Atlético Madrid, that it’s worth the club focussing hard on him.

If he’s content, if his development continues and given the other re-building priorities at the club it would heavily suit United not to have to start thinking about buying a new keeper.

De Gea and Mata played together in a winning European U21 Spain side and the striker’s arrival will clearly signify to his countryman that the club mean to respond to the current slump.

The two men get on, it’s a positive step and you’d not bet against another Spaniard joining them.

Jose Mourinho wink

Of the U21 squad which won their Euro in 2011 De Gea, Ander Herrera, Thiago, Javi Martinez and Juan Mata made Uefa’s All-Star squad.

United have now bought two — bid for Ander and Thiago while Javi Martinez remains the absolute stand-out player United missed when Bayern nipped in to wrench him away from Athletic Bilbao. IF he doesn’t get sufficient game time in Pep Guardiola’s midfield, don’t rule out an offer from Old Trafford for the fabulous ball winning midfielder.

So, all of this. All these myriad reasons why the Mata deal is super business plus the basic fact that this is a fabulous footballer who will, when United are in a penalty shoot out against Sunderland or when they are poised at 1-1 at home against Cardiff in the FA Cup, produce winning goals and assists.

Whether Jose Mourinho (above) and Chelsea go on to deeply regret the sale is, given their squad, a moot point. But all of United’s rivals from this week forward most certainly will.

Good business.

    • Agree with Graham’s view on Juan Mata? Let us know in the comments section…

 

 

 

 

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Graham Hunter: Will Ronaldo return to Manchester United? Here’s what you need to know…

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Spanish football expert Graham Hunter reveals the role Chevrolet and Nike could play in Ronaldo’s transfer to Manchester United from Real Madrid, but suggests it still might not be enough, due to the influence of the great Zinedine Zidane…

Here is a stone cold fact. There is a much-better-than-evens chance that Cristiano Ronaldo will return to play for Manchester United.

In fact, right now, that idea is very much part of the plans of both the Old Trafford legend and his immensely powerful agent Jorge Mendes.

However, that’s only the ‘whether’. The ‘how’ and the ‘when’ very much remain subject to whim, vast sums of money, the player’s will and an absolutely fascinating battle – Sir Alex Ferguson v Zinedine Zidane.

Fergie, when he was young, had a much more elegant and cultured left foot than people now recall. It was WELL within his talents to exceed 1000 keepie uppies before the ball hit the ground.

But, Zizou he was not.

Ronaldo’s goal stats for Man United and Real Madrid

Ronaldo statsbomb

Why Ronaldo and Ferguson are bound forever

However Ferguson is patently the Zidane of modern football management. He also inspires trust, affection and respect from Ronaldo. As disparate are the two men’s attitudes as to how life is to be led, what constitutes ‘fashionable’ and whether conspicuous consumption is or isn’t the eighth deadly sin, the Portuguese and the Scot are unified by one thing above all else: an ability to dedicate themselves ruthlessly to winning.

Many talk about it, very few are capable of it.

Like MENSA members (or Masons), such people instantly recognize each other and either bond forever or become implacable enemies.

Ronaldo and Ferguson are bound forever.

United know, have known for a long, long time, that life at Real Madrid is NOT the dream ticket Ronaldo imagined it would be.

While they benefitted from an £80m transfer fee, the real reason Ferguson and United allowed Ronaldo to leave for the Spanish capital is directly equated to the reason Ferguson let Carlos Queiroz go there too.

Some, particularly in Iberia, don’t simply view, but feel in their soul, that Real Madrid is the most toweringly important club in the history of football.

His problems at Real Madrid

Yes, yes, okay. Ronaldo was going to earn shedloads of money for going there, as was his agent. But the trigger, the reason for yearning to go was not cash.

Ronaldo desperately wanted to play for Madrid, add his name alongside (even above) those of Gento, Di Stefano, Raúl, Figo and Zidane.

Ferguson understood.

Unless you get that concept, then you won’t get what’s going on in his mind right now.

While in Spain Ronaldo has seen his Ballon D’Or status evaporated by Messi and, professionally, he’s endured more frustration than elation.

His personal form doesn’t need discussing. He’s scored more than a goal per game, very nearly as many away as at home, and he’s certainly a more complete team player now, aged 28, than when he left Old Trafford.

But Real Madrid has been a let down. He has three medals from his four seasons, but only one that would rank of supreme importance to him (despite his brilliant winning header in the Copa Del Rey final of 2010), which is the exceptional Liga victory of 2011/12.

Zinedine Zidane

INFLUENCE: Ferguson, in his new role, is up against Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane

Internal politics rage in the Perez fiefdom

Was United under Sir Alex a fiefdom? Yes, in a wholly positive sense, it probably was. There Ronaldo felt protected, developed, trusted, backed in public with coruscating rhetoric – valued. United felt like a high performance organisation.

Madrid hasn’t. It’s currently Florentino Pérez’s fiefdom and, now, will be for a further four years given the uncontested Presidential elections earlier this summer.

But it’s a place where internal politics rage, where Jose Mourinho’s putsch to gain precisely the overall power which Sir Alex earned over the years at Old Trafford didn’t end up benefitting Ronaldo – it’s a high performance organisation, which is under performing.

It’s also a mirage that because Mourinho and Ronaldo share a nationality and an agent that all was sweetness and light between them. It wasn’t.

Ronaldo, coincidentally, is constructed the same way as Ferguson. Dominate opponents, thrash opponents when you can, play on the front foot all the time, add goals when the chance is there, entertain – adhere to the ruthless need to win, but do it via attacking football.

If you asked Ronaldo what Mourinho would have done on the touchline of the Camp Nou in 1999 when Teddy Sheringham equalised in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich and assistant Steve McClaren was urging closing the 90 minutes out so that extra time was a guarantee, he’d know the answer alright. And he’d disagree.

Mourinho got it wrong at Real

The sad thing for Madrid fans is that Ronaldo, while setting new standards of professionalism, dedication, excellence and scoring, has made it clear where he diverges from the party line at Madrid.

It was Ronaldo waving his team forward, against team orders, when they went on to lose 0-2 at home to Barca in the 2010 Champions League semi final.

His idea was right, it was the Madridista idea – Mourinho proved to have got it wrong.

When he admitted he was ‘sad’ last Autumn he underlined with complete sincerity, that he wasn’t asking for more money, for a better contract.

It was true.

He was making it clear that a) he didn’t feel that there was the right unity and desire at the club b) that Real Madrid was repeatedly guilty of not ‘protecting’ him in public, (even the President not accompanying him to institutional events) and c) he yearned for more spectacular football.

Ronaldo v Barcelona calm down

The options for Ronaldo now

Ronaldo has two more years on his Madrid contract.

Now, right now, is the red ‘danger’ zone for the club if they don’t renew him. IF they cannot convince him to renew before the end of the season then…

  • a) The summer will be eaten up by the World Cup and then holidays and he’ll return for duty just a few months from being able to sign for anyone he pleased on January 1 2015. For free.
  • b) They will be faced with the thorny choice of selling him cut price in late summer 2014 or taking the ‘Hail Mary’ approach of letting him enter his last year of contract in the hope of persuading him to stay – but with the risk of needing to sell.

Their main weapons, now, are not only new coach Carlo Ancelotti (whose words “we need to play spectacularly, this is Real Madrid” won’t have displeased Ronaldo) and Zidane.

Zizou is assistant coach to Ancelotti but he’s also someone who is now guiding the President, talking to the players, influencing who signs for them (Varane, Isco) and attempting to return grandeur to the nine time European Champions.

Zidane can, in theory, begin to sculpt the kind of Real Madrid Ronaldo always wanted.

However at United, Sir Alex Ferguson can still, from his new role, do the same for Ronaldo.

The fact that he is still involved, not fully retired, is a bonus to the Reds as far as Ronaldo is concerned.

Their kit sponsors, Nike, want Ronaldo back and are willing to financially influence that.

Their shirt sponsors, Chevrolet, view Ronaldo as not only a huge boost to the football operation but a massive marketing magnet all over the planet – but most particularly in the US.

Florentino would be lynched for selling CR7

If Real Madrid can be convinced to sell before the end of this market, I’ll be amazed. The fans now adore him, he’s the club’s best player by a zillion miles and he’s someone around whom a charge for la Decima, the tenth European Cup, can be mounted.

Florentino would be lynched for selling. But can the deal be constructed and put in place for next summer: Yes.

Would United be the leading candidate to sign him if he left for free in 2015: Yes.

Hundreds of millions of pounds are involved in this, share prices are involved in this, Presidential ego is involved. Predict with a voice of total certainty  how it will play out at your own risk.

But there is a race to convince Ronaldo about how he spends most of the next five years of his playing life. And United are right in it.

  • Betting: Can Manchester United win the Premier League title race without Ronaldo?

Graham Hunter is the author of the award-winning book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. He is a regular contributor to the Paddy Power Blog on football and an all-round good guy. Follow him on Twitter here

Dive into Hunter’s archives on the Paddy Power Blog here


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Ronaldo and Real Madrid are pound for pound better than Manchester United. Here’s why…

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The Champions League is back and Real Madrid take on Manchester United at the Bernabeu on Wednesday. Graham Hunter writes for the Paddy Power Blog on why United are going to find it hard to cope with former hero Cristiano Ronaldo

When Steve McManaman produced the name of Manchester United to face Real Madrid during the Champions League knockout round draw back in December there must have been many United fans who thought the Liverpool legend had done them the first favour of his career.

Not only were Spain’s champions languishing in third place in La Liga they immediately went out and lost 3-2 at Málaga to drop 16 points behind league leaders Barcelona.

The mighty Santiago Bernabéu stadium, which Sir Alex Ferguson’s team visit on Wednesday night for the third time under the Scot’s management, had been brewing its unhappiness

Against Espanyol the match-announcer, for the first time in the ‘Special’ One’s reign, didn’t read out the phrase “… and coach, José Mourinho” at the end of the team announcement.

Why? To avoid the booing, jeering and whistling which had been growing week by week.

When Mourinho’s name was re-introduced for the next home league game, Real Sociedad, it received easily the most hostile ‘bronca’ (abuse) of his reign.

Real Madrid were in disarray

Perhaps still more encouragingly for United aficionados, one of the biggest running themes in the never-ending Real Madrid soap opera was Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘unhappiness’.

They would have easily been forgiven for thinking: ‘what better time to receive an old friend, applaud him for days of wine and roses and then spank his team’s backside?”

Ronaldo announced his nose was out of joint and that the club ‘knew why’ and he was hammered by Leo Messi in the Ballon D’Or voting having expected to win. Then came potentially the best news for United fans.

In short succession Ronaldo suffered a further twist to his troublesome right ankle, strained a leg muscle in the defeat to Granada and, most interestingly of all, had a massive blow up with Mourinho.

It came directly after the vital 2-0 home Copa del Rey win over Valencia in mid-January. Towards the end of the hard-fought victory where the visitors had scorned a hatful of chances to score, Mourinho was visibly unhappy with Ronaldo’s decision-making and positioning in the final few minutes. He shouted, he gesticulated, he returned to the dugout with steam emanating from both ears.

In the dressing room it was all off at Ludlow. Mourinho criticised Ronaldo’s work ethic, commitment to closing down the game at 2-0 and the fact that he hadn’t paid attention to the coach’s forcefully yelled instructions.

The player hit back with justified comments about the nerve it took to hammer him when he stepped up to support his beleaguered manager on every possible occasion – on the pitch, in the media and during some notable goal celebrations – when powerful journalists and growing number of fans were attacking him.

But however attractive all these details are to those at United who yearn to return to Wembley, scene of the club’s first European Cup in 1968 and a place which now needs some reparation after the most comprehensive defeat of Sir Alex’s entire 26-year reign, against Barcelona in 2011, the fact is that all that glitters is not gold.

Against this backdrop of confusion, aggression, doubt and a title weakly defended Ronaldo has been utterly and absolutely sublime. The worse things get, the better he performs.

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates

In the 10 games since the Champions League draw was made in Nyon Ronaldo has scored 13 times, including three hat-tricks.

What is most admirable is that while others have let their form peak and trough like the graph on a lie detector in the manager’s office at a horsemeat plant, Ronaldo has always led from the front.

At Granada in a 1-0 defeat his team stunk the house out. But his work ethic and his attitude proved that he’s unwilling to accept the vagaries of form or fitness.  Even when literally nothing is going for him he’s still up for it.

For a player of that talent, wealth and achievement to be in a side so fractured that they barely even got one effort on goal against a team which was nearly relegated last season must have been frustrating beyond words.

But his attitude, play and goal record is extremely reminiscent of that 2007/8 season at United when he won the title, the Champions League, Ballon D’Or and FIFA World Player.

Ronaldo is carrying Madrid

Some months before Ronaldo banged out 42 goals during that amazing season Carlos Queiroz told a friend of mine that United planned to use Ronaldo as a central striker a great deal in the coming 12 months.

Partly because Sir Alex Ferguson and Queiroz thought he could become an effective new weapon, partly to free Wayne Rooney to play on the left but partly because ‘Cristiano needs to have the ceiling raised, he needs a challenge because he’s so, so talented that, otherwise, he’ll get bored or hit a comfort zone’.

It proved to be a dazzling idea. Ronaldo carried an ankle problem all that season, often phoned his friend and former fitness coach Walter Di Salvo to vent his frustration at having to carry an injury and at having to play ‘out of position’.

But adversity was his stimulus. The tougher the going, the more he produced.

So it is at the moment. His form is such that he’s carrying the team. No question.

His determination, his goals and his naked ambition to win Real Madrid the ‘Decima’ (their 10th Champions Cup) have converted the Bernabéu faithful, previously a little chilly and underwhelmed by his manner, into an adoring public.

His name is now, finally, chanted, the front cover of Marca proclaims him the new Alfredo Di Stefano, his overall team play is superior to that at United and the goal flow is prodigious.

The three which destroyed Sevilla at the weekend take him beyond the legendary Paco Gento (six European Cup winners’s medals) to sixth in Real Madrid’s all-time scoring list – after three and a half seasons!

He has 182 goals in 179 competitive matches and now only Hugo Sánchez, Ferenc Puskas, Santillana, Di Stéfano and Raúl are ahead of him – but nobody on that list has scored at a better goal per appearance rate.

‘The fact that the Bernabéu is finally singing my name, that the ‘feeling’ has changed is a dream come true for me’, Ronaldo told AS last week.

‘The support has taken note that I give body and soul for this club and the amount of affection and appreciation I now get on the street, at the games and from fans in the media touches me. I can really feel that the Bernabéu has taken me as one of ‘their own’ now.

‘It still surprises me that I was viewed and treated differently before because I’ve not changed. It’s just that more people have focussed on how much I give to the team, how determined I am to win the ‘Decima’ and set aside other, less important things.

‘I’m even noticing fewer insults and fewer chants of ‘Cristiano we hope you die’ at other grounds around the country. I can’t please all the people all the time – not even God manages that. It’s part of a big change since I told the President that I was unhappy here. I’m enjoying my football, I like playing with these team mates and I swear on my son’s life that when I was sad it was never, under any circumstances, to do with money.

‘As for what happened with the manager, the things which happen in the dressing room stay there. “It’s a personal matter which is now all sorted out – everything’s fine’.

Jose Mourinho

As for the utter nonsense people used to trot out about Ronaldo not being a ‘big game’ player it’s worth noting that he’s made scoring against Barcelona a personal domain in recent Clásicos, he perpetually puts Atlético Madrid to the sword in derby matches, he hit two goals and an assist while Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League semi-final by Bayern Munich last season and this term he’s the competition’s leading scorer.

In a variety of interviews Ronaldo has made it clear that he thinks Madrid, pound for pound, are better than United but that they have to ‘go out and prove it’.

Fair point.

The loss of a world class keeper like Iker Casillas who has yet to taste defeat in four games against United, is a negative. But Diego López, signed from Sevilla, was once a very firm target for United themselves after playing them twice in the Champions League for Villarreal and not conceding a goal.

Equally, part of Ronaldo’s assertion may stem from his manager’s record against Sir Alex. Mourinho, with Porto, Chelsea and Inter has gone head to head with the United boss in 13 League, Champions League, Cup or League cup matches winning six, drawing five and losing only twice.

One key element for United, in this evenly balanced tie, is how they attack in Madrid. Any team, literally anyone, who is caught upfield and allows even this rather fractured version of Mourinho’s Madrid to break at speed will be punished.

Ronaldo, too, is at his absolute best when careering away upfield in a one v two or two v three battle just like 2007/8 at United.

If England’s champions-elect can defend, press and keep possession with calm and intelligence and not be caught on the counter then it’ll be over to Ronaldo to produce something special in order for Madrid to take an advantage to Manchester.

On his current form you might be wise not to bet against that happening.

Betting: Real Madrid v Manchester United
[Web bet click here | Mobile bet click here]

United v Madrid MBS


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[video] Graham Hunter gives 3 reasons why Real Madrid will beat Manchester United (and a 40/1 tip)

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La Liga expert and all-round good guy Graham Hunter put in a Skype call with the Paddy Power Blog on Sunday night. We asked Graham where he saw the value in the betting for Manchester United vs Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night at Old Trafford. As you’d expect from someone who spends an unhealthy amount of time watching Spanish football, he’s got a few interesting insights ahead of the game….

[Scroll down to watch video]

1. It’s got something to do with a former favourite son at Anfield

Xabi Alonso

IN THE THICK OF IT: Expect some heated exchanges from former Anfield hero Xabi Alonso

2. A little bit of this fella, of course

Ronaldo

THE MAIN MAN: There’s only one reason Real Madrid forked out on Ronaldo

3. …and might well finish with these

Wayne Rooney

ON THE SPOT: Let’s hope Manchester United have been practicing penalties. Real have…

Graham Hunter’s tip: Real Madrid to beat Manchester United on penalties @ 40/1 click here

MAN-UTD_REAL-MADRID_MBS


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Champions League Betting – Real Madrid v Manchester United

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Cristiano RonaldoThe toughest test in European football happens tonight in the Champions League round of 16 tie between Real Madrid and Manchester United. Dubbed two of the best football teams in the world, with two of the best managers, and probably more than two of the best players, the whole world will be watching how this pans out.

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Is Manchester City’s title bid over?

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The last round of fixtures dealt a body-blow to Manchester City’s hopes of landing their first league title since 1968, but is the top prize now out of reach for Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled side?

Earlier in the campaign it looked as if City were going to storm the title but with just one win in their last four league fixtures, it seems safe to say nerves are starting to jangle at the Etihad Stadium, while fierce rivals Manchester United have, predictably, hit top form at exactly the right time.

The Old Trafford outfit have recorded nine victories in their last 10 Premier League games and have won their last seven on the spin, to take a five-point lead at the top of the title with just seven games remaining.

Manchester United are now 1/8 to secure the Premier League title this season with Totesport, while City can be backed at 5/1.

However, Mancini hasn’t given up on the top domestic prize just yet, but he concedes City need to win all seven of their remaining fixtures if they are to seal Premier League glory.

“We have seven games – 21 points. I think with 92 points we will win the title,” explained the Italian

“We should be strong, I believe always. The message is always the same – we will do everything to win this title.”

On paper United certainly have the easier run-in, but it is getting to that stage of the season where strange results crop up as the various sides battle for either European football or survival.

Indeed, United’s next two fixtures are against two sides battling the drop.  The Old Trafford outfit host QPR on Sunday and travel to Wigan on April 11, with both the Rs and the Latics deep in trouble there is the potential for an upset – and both are capable of taking points from the top sides, as QPR demonstrated with their win over Arsenal and Wigan with their recent win over Liverpool.

United then host Aston Villa, who are in danger of being dragged into the relegation battle, and Everton – a side who have managed to upset Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in the past, and a team who thrive on the big occasion against the best in the league.

The Manchester derby then takes place at the Etihad Stadium in April 30, in what will be a must-win encounter if City are still involved in the hunt for the title.

United’s final two games see them host Swansea before a trip to Sunderland on the final day of the campaign, with neither the Swans or the Black Cats in danger of relegation or in a position to challenge for European football.

City’s run in sees them travel to Arsenal this weekend, and the Gunners are also in desperate need of the points as they continue their battle for a top four finish.

Mancini’s side then host West Brom and face trips to Norwich and Wolves before they host their title rivals. City travel to Newcastle in the penultimate game of the season before they host QPR on the final day, in what could be a huge fixture for both teams as the west London outfit may need to get a result to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.

United are certainly in the driving seat, but a former star may come back to haunt them.  Carlos Tevez has now found a path back into the City first-team and if the Argentine striker can find the kind of form he displayed last season after a spell in the wilderness, or the golf-courses in Argentina if widespread reports are to be believed, the Etihad Stadium outfit could yet come out on top, but they are relying on a United slip-up.

The Old Trafford side are 1/6 to beat QPR this weekend, a win for the Hoops is 12/1 and the draw is 5/1.

Manchester City are 13/8 to secure a win at the Emirates on Sunday against an Arsenal side who are unbeaten at home since January 22, when United sealed a 2-1 win in north London.  The hosts are 11/8 to take all three points and the draw can be backed at 11/5.

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Manchester duo seek answers

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Manchester may be the battleground for the 2011-12 Premier League title race but will either City or United overcome first-leg deficits to reach the last eight of Europe’s less glamorous competition - the Europa League.

United (6/4 in Match Betting) have it all to do in Bilbao, having been outplayed at Old Trafford by Athletic Club (13/8, Draw 5/2) last week.

The Basque club’s 3-2 win (25/1 Athletic Club 3-2 in Correct Score) makes them favourites to progress to the last eight, but coach Marcelo Bielsa is set to be without the services of Spanish international striker Fernando Llorente for the second leg.

Llorente scored in Athletic’s 2-1 defeat to Osasuna at the weekend but has not trained for the last three days and could be replaced by Gaizka Toquero (13/8 Anytime Goalscorer) in possibly the only change from the line-up that won in Manchester.

The United line-up will reveal how much Sir Alex Ferguson rates his side’s chances of rescuing the tie.

Antonio Valencia has made the trip to Spain but Phil Jones, Anderson and Nani have not while Chris Smalling is back in contention after a head injury.

Wayne Rooney (11/8 Anytime) has scored goals in spurts throughout his career and the United forward has now scored nine in his last six appearances. Red-hot Rooney should be backed to bag in Bilbao and it may well be the first strike of the match – as it has been on five of the six occasions he has scored in since Christmas (5/1 First Goalscorer).

Back in Manchester, City (2/7 in Match Betting) should be highly motivated to beat Sporting Club (10/1, Draw 9/2) convincingly after the Lisbon club celebrated like they had won the Europa League after last week’s 1-0 first-leg win.

Roberto Mancini will still be without captain and key centre-back Vincent Kompany after his calf injury in Portugal – an incident which surely contributed to City’s back-to-back defeats to Sporting and Swansea.

But Sporting will not cause City as many problems at the Etihad Stadium, where Mancini’s men are unbeaten in European competition since August 2008.

Mario Balotelli (10/11 Anytime Goalscorer) went close to equalising for City in Lisbon last week when his late header hit the bar and his ability to finish coolly could be in evidence again on Thursday night.

Former Liverpool full-back Emiliano Insua looked shaky for Sporting at the Alvalade and he could be run ragged by Adam Johnson (15/8 Anytime) at the Etihad.

The England winger should play a big role if City are to win by the minimum 2-0 scoreline that would see them into the hat for the quarter-finals (5/1 Man City 2-0 in Correct Score).

Of the other ties, expect Olympiacos (10/11 in Match Betting) to secure their passage through against Metalist Kharkiv (3/1, Draw 12/5) – who they beat 1-0 in the Ukraine last week (9/2 Olympiacos 1-0 in Correct Score).

The Greek side have one of the best defensive records in Europe since Christmas and have now kept ten consecutive clean sheets.

PSV Eindhoven (6/4 in Match Betting) have changed coach since their 4-2 first leg defeat to Valencia last Thursday night with former Dutch World Cup star Philip Cocu stepping up from assistant to take over from Fred Rutten.

The Philips Stadion side are not out of the tie with two away goals to their credit, scored late on at the Mestalla after they were 4-0 down.

A spirited display from PSV (50/1 in Europa League Outright Betting) could cause Valencia (5/1) a wobble and the Spaniards are by no means certain of their last-eight spot.

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