Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard recently praised manager Rafael Benitez, who has been at the helm of Liverpool since 2004. Despite Liverpool won Champions league and FA Cup under Benitez, Liverpool fans are not quite happy with Benitez for not being able to guide Liverpool to win a premier league title, which has become a mass-demand among Liverpool fans. Many fans also criticized Benitez for that. However, captain Gerrard has recently been full of praise about the Spanish coach.
Indicating Benitez’s obsession in football, Steven Gerrard termed Rafael Benitez one of the best coaches currently available. He also hats off to Rafael Benitez for his dedication to the game.
"Rafa is obsessed with football 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said in the latest edition of the official UEFA Champions League magazine.
"You have to take your hat off to him. He’s one of the best managers there is."
"Rafa is the type that when you finish a game as man of the match having scored three goals, he won’t even mention it," Gerrard said. "Instead, he’ll mention that you never used your left foot at a certain point!
"But Rafa does it right. When I need a pat on the back I get it. I have had lots of ‘well dones’ from him, but when I need a kick up the backside I get it too.
Steven Gerrard was once very frustrated at Liverpool and his relationship with Benitez was reportedly not as strong as it is now. In fact, Gerrard attempted to join Chelsea twice after not being given a perfect role in the field by the coach. However, Gerrard recently said he was selfish at that time and was only thinking about himself. Liverpool has been in excellent form so far this season as they are leading the point table in premier league with 37 points from 16 matches. Now, let us see if Rafael Benitez and Steven Gerrard can win a much-awaited premier league title for Liverpool.
At last, England test team has arrived India after getting the green signal of the security assessment team who visited India to assess the security condition of India. The first test will take place in Chennai from 11 December 2008. After losing the ODI series, England will look to bounce back in the test series. So, cricket fans of both sides are happy that the test series will go on.
Sky Sports 1 television channel will telecast the first test of the series for the British cricket fans. This is a pay channel and you have to have the subscription of Sky Sports in order to enjoy the first test live. So, if you are currently in England and do not want to miss the live action of the test series then subscribe to Sky Sports and watch the exciting India vs England first test live in your television. For details about the TV schedule of the test series, visit the following link:
Cristiano Ronaldo has recently received his European Player of the Year award in France. Manchester United manage Sir Alex Ferguson was also present in the award giving ceremony held in Paris, France. Ronaldo received the golden ball from France Football magazine. Manchester United’s Portuguese star thanked his teammates for their help in reaching him up to this level.
After receiving the award, Cristiano Ronaldo expressed that he wanted more success with Manchester United. Having spent five seasons at Manchester United, Ronaldo feels United as his home. The 23-year-old clearly said that he was happy at the club and wanted to stay at Manchester United, bruising aside any more thought of linking him with Real Madrid. The youngster was heavily linked with Spanish champions Real Madrid during last summer and he was reportedly interested to join Real Madrid and the club was also ready for a world-record transfer deal for signing Ronaldo. However, that did not happen in the end.
The Portugal international also said that he was an ambitious man and did not want to stop there. He now wants more success both collectively as well as individually. Ronaldo is happy to have reached at this level, but he thinks, the most important thing is to stay there and keep his development as a player. The player also expressed his wish to win a major title for Portugal national team. Cristiano Ronaldo has become the only fourth player from Manchester United to win the European Footballer of the Year award and the first player in 40 years since George Best won the title in 1968. Earlier, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton also won the award while playing for Manchester United.
In a very important Group A match of UEFA Champions League, Chelsea is going to face Romanian champion CFR Cluj at home on 10 December 2008. Chelsea’s qualification into the knockout stage of the tournament and CFR Cluj’s qualification into the round of 32 of UEFA Cup vastly depend on the result of this match. With 8 points from 5 matches, Chelsea currently takes the second place in the point table, 1 point ahead of third placed Bordeaux. So, Chelsea can qualify for the knock out stage in two ways. Either they have to defeat CFR Cluj in their last group stage match or Bordeaux can not defeat group leader AS Roma.
Match: Chelsea vs CFR Cluj; Group A, UEFA Champions League 2008-09
I earlier mentioned that this is a very important match for CFR Cluj too as they are looking to clinch a UEFA Cup place, by securing the third spot in the Group A. However, the task for the Romanian champions would not be so easy because they need to win over Chelsea on the road. Even a win over Chelsea would not ensure CFR Cluj a place in UEFA Cup unless Bordeaux fails to defeat Roma in their last group stage match. However, there is no doubt, CFR Cluj will try their best to secure a place in UEFA Cup. No matter, how hard the task is. In fact, CFR Cluj can put on an inspirational performance against Chelsea as they Romanian club has nothing to lose in the competition.
Coming to Champions League for the time, CFR Cluj created one of the biggest upsets in the history of Champions League when they defeated AS Roma 2-1 on the road in their very first match in the tournament. After that they held Chelsea to a goalless draw at home. Though CFR Cluj could not continue their success over the last three matches, the Romanian club already made their first trip to Champions League a success story. Now, they can feel free to show their best against Chelsea at StamfordBridge on Wednesday. CFR Cluj’s domestic performance so far this season has not been as impressive as it was last season. From 17 matches, CFR Cluj managed 20 points, 6 points behind leader FC Dinamo Bucuresti, and currently secures the fourth place jointly with FC Steaua Bucuresti in Romanian Liga 1. In their recent domestic league match, CFR Cluj defeated Gaz Metan Medias 2-1.
Chelsea can not afford to rely on the Roma vs Bordeaux match in their bid to qualify into the round of 16 in Champions League. So, they will definitely look for a victory over CFR Cluj in front of their home fans. Chelsea’s recent indifference form may not give much confidence to their players, but you can not forget the fact that Chelsea was the runner up in Champions League last season, and they have one of the strong squad in Europe. After three games, Chelsea came back to winning ways on Saturday as they defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-0 on the road, setting up a new record of most consecutive away wins in Premier League. So, you can expect that with this victory, Chelsea has come out of their recent setback, a 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal previous week.
Reports have it in the media that senior Chelsea players are unhappy over manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. However, assistant manager of Chelsea, Ray Wilkins, denied any dressing room dissent at Chelsea. He claims that the players are getting along with the coach very well. Now, Fans are expecting to see Chelsea appearing with their dominating form against CFR Cluj.
Online Live Score and Updates
I am giving some names of live score and update websites from where you can get the live score updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Live Football Scores
Goal.com
Footie Scorez
Chelsea is undoubtedly favorite against CFR Cluj at home. However, if a confident CFR Cluj can appear with their strong resistance against Chelsea, then this could be a very competitive match. No doubt, fans of both sides are expecting to see an exciting match.
Manchester United might offer Cristiano Ronaldo a new contract by which his current scale of salary, £120,000 a week, might increase up to £150,000 a week. Winner of this year’s European Footballer of the Year, Ronaldo still has three years left in his current contract. However, Manchester United wants to secure his future at the club by increasing his salary. The Portuguese winger was instrumental behind Manchester United’s ‘double’ last season. During Summer transfer window, Ronaldo was on the brink of joining Real Madrid who were overly interested to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, having seen his excellent form of last season. Even, Ronaldo himself was reportedly interested to join Real Madrid who were ready to make a record breaking deal to sing Cristiano Ronaldo.
Recently, Cristiano Ronaldo met manager Sir Alex Ferguson and club chief executive David Gill to discuss about a new five-year contract. If the new contract comes into existence, Ronaldo will be paid £8 million a year by Manchester United.
Ronaldo is currently paid £120,000 a week but should a new deal be struck an extra £30,000 could be added to that, putting him on £8 million a year.
Despite pledging his future to United when Real talks subsided, it seems Ferguson is not happy to take any chances on Ronaldo's current contract which still has three years to run. The Scot is all too aware that Madrid are prepared to spend as much as £50 million on the winger and so ensuring another five years would end all chances of any similar speculation in the near future.
Cristiano Ronaldo started the season with injury and returned to action a bit late. However, the Portuguese star has not yet been as impressive as he was last season. Ronaldo recently said that he was very close to join Arsenal before Manchester United signed him for a £12.24 million transfer deal with Sporting Lisbon. Now, let us see if Manchester United really hands Cristiano Ronaldo a new contract with higher salary.
Liverpool takes on PSV Eindhoven in their last Group D match of UEFA Champions League on Tuesday (9 December 2008). With 11 points from 5 games, Liverpool already clinched a place in the round of last 16. However, Liverpool will look for a win against PSV Eindhoven so that they can go into the knock out stage as the group champion in what they might face easier opponent in the first match of the knockout stage. For the Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven, this is a very important match because they can still clinch the third place in the group by which they can qualify for the round of 32 of UEFA Cup. They are currently at the bottom of the table with 3 points from 5 matches. Marseille also has equal 3 points, but they have better goal difference by which they take the third place in the standing. However, even a victory over Liverpool can not ensure PSV Eindhoven a place in the UEFA Cup unless Olympique Marseille can not win against Atletico Madrid in their last group match.
Match: PSV Eindhoven vs Liverpool; Group D, UEFA Champions League 2008-09
Liverpool is currently leading the English premier league table with 37 points from 16 outings. Last night (Saturday) Liverpool defeated Blackburn Rovers 3-1 on the road, keeping the 1 point lead at the top of the table. Liverpool has not lost any game in Champions League so far this season and they have equal 11 points of Atletico Madrid who are currently leading the Group D point table with 3 wins and 2 draws.
There is no doubt that PSV Eindhoven’s performance so far this season has not been impressive both at home and in Europe. The Dutch giants lost 4 out of their 5 Champions League matches so far. Even in Dutch league, PSV Eindhoven currently takes the 5th place in the league standing with 25 points from 14 matches, seven points behind leader Alkmaar Zaanstreek (AZ). However, on Saturday, PSV got an inspirational 4-2 victory Groningen. So, they can go into the Liverpool match full of confident.
PSV Eindhoven will have home advantage against Liverpool and will look to avenge their 3-1 defeat away at Liverpool. On the other hand, Liverpool will look to build on their excellent home victory over the Dutch club. Well, Liverpool will definitely miss their Spanish striker Fernando Torres who is now suffering from hamstring injury which, many fear, might rule him out of the rest of the season or at least several weeks. However, club manager Rafael Benitez thinks the player will be back in action within due time.
"Fernando is progressing and improving so hopefully he will be back sooner rather than later," he told the club's official website.
"It's just a question of waiting and not pressuring the player. I was with him today and he was okay. He has a lot of confidence now and when you have confidence, you can be fitter sooner.
Here, one thing is, for sure, that Torres will definitely miss the trip to Netherlands. There is at least another worry for Liverpool and that is the current off form of summer signing Robbie Keane who could not yet find his natural form at the new club. Recently, manager Rafael Benitez dropped him in the substitute’s bench for the Blackburn Rovers match. So, it is not yet confirmed whether Keane will be handed a place in the starting line up against PSV Eindhoven. So, there is no doubt, Captain Steven Gerrard will have some added responsibilities in the absence of Torres and due to the shaky form of Robbie Keane. The good news for the Liverpool fan is that Gerrard has been in an excellent scoring form. Scoring 5 goals in Champions League so far this season, Steven Gerrard jointly shares the top place in the highest scorers’ list along with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving some names online live score and update websites from where you can get the online live score and updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Live Football Scores
Goal.com
Footie Scorez
Liverpool seems to be favorite against PSV Eindhoven, taking the reent form of both sides into account. However, the Dutch club will have home advantage and might play inspirational football in front of the home fans against Liverpool in what would take a stern test of the English club. I think, PSV Eindhoven will not leave any stone unturned to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Herein lies the indication of an exciting match.
The next secession of the IPL T20 will be taken place on the March 2009. This is the second time for the IPL T20 and the inaugural ceremony was held on 18 April 2008 but Indian Premier League was established by the BCCI in 2007. The second season of IPL T20 will be the similar way I mean the T20 format and two robin-rounds and the knockout and the eight teams will be the participant of the upcoming tournament. The will be kicked off from April 10 and the final match will be held on May 29 2009.
According to the Future Tours Programme, Australia are slated to be touring South Africa in April, 2009, India are set to be in New Zealand, and West Indies in Bangladesh. India haven't toured New Zealand since early 2003 with their scheduled trip in 2007 put of because plans to prepare for the World Cup.
Just after a week the second season of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009 ( Twenty20 International ) will be grounded on 05 Jun 2009. So, just over three months the cricket fans will enjoy competitive and anticipated tournaments.