Ronaldinho says smile is back on his face

November 3, 2009

Ronaldinho said on Tuesday that he is finally happy again playing for Brazilian compatriot Leonardo at AC Milan.

The Italians tackle Real Madrid in the Champions League at the San Siro on Wednesday as the two most successful clubs in European competition go head to head for the second time in two weeks.

The 29-year-old has endured a difficult last two seasons, proving to be a shadow of the player he once was when he inspired Barcelona to Champions League glory and won successive world player of the year awards.

But he has been improving lately, and proving decisive for Milan by creating many crucial goals recently.

“With Leonardo (the coach) I’m happy. Football is like this, right now I feel good and I’m happy,” Ronaldinho said.

“And when I feel like this, things work better. What’s the secret? I’ve worked hard and I’ve had the time to do so.

“The coach and the physio are helping me, I’m going onto the pitch at 100 percent and my body is responding, things are coming easier to me.

“Last season I didn’t play much, now I’m playing more and the coach has confidence in me.”

Ronaldinho actually made a pretty good start to his Milan career last season, scoring the winner in the Milan derby with a rare header.

But injury and some ill-discipline during the winter break affected the second half of his season, in which he struggled to earn a place in the starting line up and rarely bristled even when he did play.

All he wants now is to start adding goals to his repertoire.

“I’m delighted to help my team-mates, I’m providing assists but I want to do better by scoring goals,” he added.

“I’m expecting a great night for the whole team and I want to give my all.”

Leonardo has been trying to boost his player’s confidence by claiming he would go down in history as one of the greatest of all time.

“Surely we have to insert Ronaldinho in the list of the top 10 players of all time,” he said before turning attentions to Wednesday’s game.

“These matches between Milan and Real have a history all of their own. Our results have been good, we’ve got a good atmosphere and it’s always the right time for a game like this.”

Milan are sweating over the fitness of centre-back Alessandro Nesta while Leonardo will have to decide who out of Filippo Inzaghi and Marco Borriello will partner Ronaldinho and Pato in his three-man attack.

While the game is probably the biggest in Europe this week, it is not a winner takes all clash for these two.

Whatever the result in this Group C match they will both come out of it still in a good position to qualify for the Champions League knock-out stages.

They both have six points with Marseille and FC Zurich three points back and Real’s Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini is thinking more about top spot than qualifying.

“Both teams are aiming for first place in the group and will be trying to win,” he said.

“We’ll have a go from the first minute and we’ll see what happens but I’m sure we’ll play a great match.”

Pellegrini also insisted his team had not taken Milan lightly in their first match in the Bernabeu, where the Italians scored a shock 3-2 win.

“We weren’t over-confident, until they equalised (at 1-1) we had controlled the game,” he said.

“Then we lost our shape and with the great players they have, Milan made the most of that.”

Despite not scoring in six matches, France forward Karim Benzema looks likely to start alongside Argentine Gonzalo Higuain in attack with Raul dropping to the bench.

MILAN, Italy (AFP)

Tags: ac milan, Alessandro Nesta, assists, attentions, Barcelona, champions league, compatriot, Europe, filippo inzaghi, France, greatest of all time, italians, Karim, leonardo, MADRID, manuel pellegrini, Marco Borriello, Marseille, Milan, physio, pitch, raul, real madrid, ronaldinho, San, san siro, scoring goals, second half, second time, team mates, world player of the year, ZURICH

QPR confirm three players hit by swine flu

October 29, 2009

Championship club Queen’s Park Rangers confirmed Thursday that three of their players have been hit by swine flu this season.

Goalkeeper Radek Cerny, defender Peter Ramage and, most recently, midfielder Mikele Leigertwood, have been affected by the virus although all are over it now.

“I’m afraid we have had three of the boys out with it,” assistant manager John Gorman told Sky Sports News.

“Mikele Liegertwood had it and he has just come back into the squad last week, Peter Ramage, and our goalkeeper right at the very beginning of the season was out with it as well. So the lads have done really well to recover and it’s back to business again.

“Even our physio had it, it’s one of those things that is going around and you just have to control it, let’s not make a big fuss of it.

“I think we have handled it well and the lads are back now.”

LONDON (AFP)

Tags: fuss, john gorman, lads, london, make, mikele leigertwood, park rangers, Peter Ramage, physio, QPR, queen, Radek Cerny, ramage, s park, Sky Sports, sky sports news, swine flu, virus, week

McDonald faces probe over tackle that triggered row

May 15, 2009

GLASGOW (AFP) – Scott McDonald could face a ban at the start of next season after his controversial challenge on Dundee United defender Lee Wilkie was referred to the Scottish Football Association’s review panel.

The Celtic forward’s challenge has been passed on to the panel as it was not seen clearly by referee Stuart Dougal, who came under fire from Dundee United boss Craig Levein for failing to stop play immediately so Wilkie could receive treatment.

The review panel will not meet until the end of this season so there is no chance of Australia striker McDonald missing either of Celtic’s two remaining Scottish Premier League matches.

Wilkie, who has lost three years of his career to injury, stayed down after being caught by McDonald’s studs but, when the ball went out for a goal kick, Dougal waved play on, sparking a furious reaction from Levein, who accused the referee of over-reacting to his legitimate protests.

“He lost his composure, stuck his finger in my face and told me to shut up,” the United boss said.

“It wasn’t acceptable. In all my time in football, no other referee has ever done that. I have lost all respect for him after the way he spoke to me.

“If it happened in the pub on a Saturday night to any of you guys, the guy would have got a punch in the face.”

McDonald’s chances of avoiding a ban could be helped by the fact that, immediately after the match, Wilkie absolved him of any blame for the incident.

“He caught me just below the knee but I don’t think it was intentional,” the defender said. “I was waiting for the ref to to stop the game but he waved play on and it looked like he wasn’t going to let the physio on.”

“I said to the referee at half time, ‘what were you playing at?’ and he said, quite arrogantly, that his kids had had bigger knocks than that, which was a stupid comment to make – his kids must be some size.”

McDonald is the second Celtic player to be referred to the SFA panel this week, with Dutchman Glenn Loovens’ challenge on Rangers’ American midfielder Maurice Edu during Saturday’s Old Firm game also being investigated.

An SFA spokesman said: “The same review panel will consider both incidents and we hope to get it convened by the end of this week.”

However, both players will be free to play in the title run-in as the disciplinary committee will not convene until the season is over, if they decide either player has a case to answer.

Levein’s public criticism of the match official could also land him in hot water with the SFA.

Tags: Australia, celtic, composure, craig levein, Dundee, dundee united, dutchman, Glasgow, goal kick, lee wilkie, Maurice, physio, protests, punch in the face, referee, saturday night, scott mcdonald, scottish football association, Scottish Premier League, striker, stuart dougal, studs

London rivals bury hatchet ahead of FA Cup semi

April 18, 2009

LONDON (AFP) – There was a time, not so long ago, when collisions between Chelsea and Arsenal were saturated by spite.

After his appointment as manager at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho appeared to go out of his way to target his Arsenal counterpart, Arsene Wenger, the man he infamously labelled a “voyeur”.

Wenger never bothered to hide his contempt for a manager he viewed as disrespectful and a club whose cash-rich methods he despised. The result was a series of increasingly bitter clashes between the rivals.

But now the poison has been drawn.

Wenger is a more circumspect manager, his fierier habits tempered by age, while Mourinho’s departure has made the Chelsea dug-out, now inhabited by interim manager Guus Hiddink, a less volatile place, to such an extent that the build-up to Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final is likely to be the most polite on record.

Where once the air between west and north London was thick with waspish insults, now it hangs heavy with compliments.

“The first thing I thought when Guus Hiddink came to Chelsea was: ‘Oh, no,’” said Robin van Persie, the Arsenal striker, of his fellow Dutchman. “Chelsea are still in the FA Cup and Champions League and he will win something.

“He is unbelievable. When I saw him two years ago in Holland, because we use the same physio sometimes, I asked to see his hands. He said: ‘Yes, why?’ I said that everything he put his hand on turns to gold. He was laughing. He is fantastic.”

It would have been unthinkable for van Persie to have lauded Mourinho in the same way, and his unabashed admiration for Hiddink speaks volumes both for the esteem with which he is held in footballing circles.

The Gunners have no need to wage psychological war ahead of the weekend meeting at England’s national stadium.

They are basking in the glory of an 18-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and progress to a Champions League semi-final showdown with Manchester United, courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Villarreal that bordered on the routine.

Chelsea, for all their fine form under Hiddink, hold no fears for Wenger’s young squad.

“It is all about winning now,” Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal captain, said.

“We may not have the experience of Chelsea but we have the confidence and the excitement to play big games in the FA Cup and the Champions League. We are not scared of anybody.”

Arsenal’s confidence has been pepped by the suspicion that Chelsea are no longer the immovable object they once were.

There has been more creative freedom to their attacking play under Hiddink in recent weeks, but that commitment to enterprise has come at a cost, with seven goals leaked in their last two matches.

Petr Cech, the previously unflappable Czech goalkeeper, has looked nervous, unsettled by high balls and no longer commanding his penalty area with any semblance of authority.

Ricardo Carvalho is still feeling his way back to full fitness and, while John Terry returns from the suspension that ruled him out of the dramatic 4-4 Champions League draw with Liverpool, the Blues skipper cannot hold together his back-line single-handedly.

Chelsea’s biggest hope is Hiddink himself. The stand-in manager has become a talismanic presence for the club since his appointment in February, breathing new life into Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack, and somehow convincing a side which had been sliding into mediocrity under Luiz Felipe Scolari that they are capable of mounting a challenge for honours.

It has been achieved through a combination of exhausting graft and attention to detail, and Hiddink, who will resume his full-time role as Russia coach in May, is not done yet.

“There is always pressure where we emphasise on winning, winning, winning,” he said.

“Not just winning but also playing in a way which is meant to be attractive – those two roads are important. We are keeping up with our own demands and expectations.”

Tags: admiration, arsenal, arsene wenger, CHELSEA, clashes, collisions, contempt, counterpart, dutchman, England, English Premier League, FA Cup, final showdown, gunners, Holland, insults, interim manager, john terry, Jose, jose mourinho, Liverpool, london, luiz felipe scolari, Manchester, manchester united, Michael Ballack, north London, Petr Cech, physio, psychological war, ricardo carvalho, russia, stamford bridge, striker, Villarreal