Ronaldo reacts to Real wooing
Cristiano Ronaldo renewed his game of cat and mouse with Manchester United when he declared yesterday that his future at the club would be resolved "after the Champions League final". Ronaldo has been heavily targetted by Real Madrid, despite the estimated £100m price tag Man U have slapped on him. "I am happy here but let's see what happens," he told the Spanish television network Antena 3. "I'm happy but in the future I don't know. I know Real Madrid like how I play and I know that other teams in Spain like my game as well. It is good to know that other clubs are interested in you. I have said millions of times that I would love to play in Spain." (Guardian)
"Real have the solvency and the financial power to be able to take on a signing of the magnitude of Cristiano Ronaldo" Will Real Madrid's general director, Miguel Angel Arroyo, get his man?
Carvalho fears Chelsea exodus
While Avram Grant has been engaging Alex Ferguson in mind games all week ahead of the Champions League final next Wednesday, one of his players, defender Ricardo Carvalho, has undermined the air of calm and contentment at Stamford Bridge by revealing the fear that many players may leave Chelsea this season. "The Portugal defender has already attracted strong interest from Real Madrid and is likely to be targeted by José Mourinho's next club, expected to be Inter Milan," writes Matt Hughes in the Times. "Carvalho is one of several Chelsea players who will be in demand this summer, along with Didier Drogba, while the club are steeling themselves for contract talks with four players and are willing to offload up to half a dozen more." (Times)
Leeds look for immediate return
Leeds United are on the verge of making an immediate return to the Championship - and hopefully, in their minds, a return to the Promised Land of the Premier League - after beating Carlisle 2-0 (3-2 on aggregate) last night. "They will conclude one of the most traumatic years in their history at Wembley, where they will face either Doncaster or Southend for a place in the Championship from which they were relegated 12 months ago," writes Peter Gardner in the Daily Telegraph. "Two goals from Jonathan Howson - his first after 10 minutes, the second just 30 seconds from the end of a pulsating encounter at Brunton Park last night - enabled them to overturn a first-leg deficit and overwhelm Carlisle 3-2 on aggregate." (Daily Telegraph)
Chambers reveals drug cocktail
Former European 100m champion Dwain Chambers is pass on a letter to UK Sport today from Victor Conte, the man who provided him with banned substances, to show how doping takes place. His intention is to help clean up the sport, although he is also considering an appeal against a lifetime ban by UK Sport on him appearing in an Olympic Games. "In the letter Conte explains not only the cocktail of drugs the sprinter used but how athletes still try to dodge the system," writes Michael Phillips in the Guardian. "In reference to Chambers' drugs schedule he writes: 'Your performance enhancing drug program included seven prohibited substances including banned anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).' He explains not only how much Chambers took but when and how the THG was used." (Guardian)
McCullum saves Kiwis’ pride
Brendan McCullum, fresh from his stint in the IPL which saw hit club a record 158 off 73 balls in the league's inaugural match, picked up where he left off in Kolkata by scoring a run-a-ball 97. He dragged New Zealand from the perilous brink of 104-5 to the relative safety of 203-6 before he was bowled by Monty Panesar on the first day of the First Test at Lords between England and the tourists. James Anderson accounted for both openers in a sharp opening spell, before Stuart Broad hollowed out the middle order with a further brace of wickets, but when McCullum started to play his strokes after a circumspect beginning the bowling lacked variety and was duly punished. (The First Post)
"We've kept ourselves in the game, because if we'd been all out for 150, only one team could have won" A modest Brendan McCullum downplays his role in the Kiwi revival
No key of the door for Murray
Andy Murray had a sharp reminder yesterday, on his 21st birthday, of just how far he is lagging behind the great players of his tennis generation when he was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Rafael Nadal. "The British No1 played well in patches, and searched intelligently for different ways to attack the French Open champion, but he missed some important chances to remain on level terms in a good first set and his standard fell away towards the end," writes Richard Jago in the Guardian. "Nadal, who knows Murray well from their teenage days in Barcelona, was highly complimentary about his former occasional sparring partner before the match," but until Murray gets his game together on clay he will never seriously challenge Nadal and co. (Guardian)
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