Dhaka Division tasted their first defeat in the Ispahani Mirzapore Tea 6th National Cricket League losing their fourth round limited-over encounter to Rajshahi by 37 runs on Thursday. In the other matches of the day, Khulna beat defending champions Chittagong by four wickets and Sylhet beat Barisal by five wickets.
   After the fourth round games, Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi collected six points each to share the top position.
   At the Bogra stadium, Rajshahi batted first and racked up 252 runs for seven wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.
   After losing the two openers early in the innings the middle-orders contributed healthy scores that enabled the hosts to collect the respectable total. Two all-rounders, Mushfiqur Rahman (67) and Farhad Reza (56), played sensibly while Anisur Rahman (38), captain Khaled Mashud (25) and Hasanuzzaman (22) added some valuable runs.
   In reply, Dhaka could manage only 215 runs in 50 overs losing eight wickets with the highest 50 coming from the willow of discarded national wicket-keeper Anwar Hossain. Jahangir Alam and Mehrab Hossain junior added 35 runs each. However, their contributions were not enough for Dhaka as they always remained behind from their asking run rate due to some controlled bowling by the Rajshahi bowlers.
   At the Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Khulna had an easy sail over the hosts. Batting first, Chittagong scored 190 runs all out in 48.1 overs thanks to Faisal Hossain, who made 56 runs off 99 balls, to help the reigning champions post a face-saving total. Salahuddin Ahmed picked up four wickets for 41 runs for Khulna.
   In reply, Khulna raced to winning target of 192 losing six wickets with 16 overs sparing. Jamaluddin Babu (48 not out), Nazmus Sadat (43) and Salahuddin Ahmed (43) steered Khulna to victory.
   At the Barisal stadium, Sylhet grabbed their second win beating the hosts five wickets. Batting first, Barisal piled up a respectable 274 runs losing seven wickets in 50 overs. In-form Imran Ahmed produced a fluent 75 runs off 97 balls while Abul Bahsar plundered 61 off just 41 balls featuring six fours and one spectacular six. The other batsmen also gave an able support to the two half centurions to post the challenging total.
   But the formidable target seemed too small for Sylhet who overhauled it losing only five wickets in 48.4 overs. Golam Mowla (86), Moniruzzaman (55) and Rezaul Haque (46) did not give Sylhet any scope to think that they could lose the match. In addition, the nervous Barisal side gifted 29 extras to hasten their defeat.

When India captain Sourav Ganguly bared his chest at Lord’s to celebrate his team’s rare win against England in the NatWest Trophy one-day final in 2002, the purists frowned.
   His unassuming Pakistani counterpart Inzamam-ul-Haq has never been known for betraying emotions in public, his body language often staying the same in both defeat and victory.
   The rival skippers for the upcoming Test series starting in Mohali on March 8 are as different as chalk and cheese. Inzamam is an examplar and Ganguly is a motivator.
   Ganguly’s shirt-waving act at Lord’s was criticised by many, including former India skipper Kapil Dev, who believed it did not befit the stature of an international captain.
   But it was a spontaneous reaction from Ganguly, who likes wearing his heart on his sleeve. When he took off his shirt and waved it vigorously in the air, he did not know his action would spark such a heated debate.
   That was his way of reacting to a grand occasion as his team had successfully chased a massive 326-run target to savour one of the best moments in the history of Indian one-day cricket.
   Unlike Inzamam, Ganguly is not the best batsman of his team, coming down the pecking order behind such luminaries as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. But his role as a motivator should not be underestimated.
   Ganguly is the most successful Indian Test captain, having led his team to 18 wins in 44 matches since taking over from Tendulkar in 2000. India have lost just one home Test series under his captaincy, against Australia earlier this season.
   The 32-year-old took over the captaincy in troubled times during the match-fixing scandal and succeeded in making India a team to be feared.
   Ganguly has been credited with backing youngsters passing through a lean patch. And he has been proved right as batsman Yuvraj Singh, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and paceman Zaheer Khan all benefited from his encouragement.
   His major contribution is that India have now learnt to win away from home. A 1-1 draw in Australia last year was India’s best performance under his leadership.
   The Ganguly-led India are also a force to reckon with in one-dayers, sharing the rain-hit Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002 before reaching the World Cup final in South Africa the following year.
   Inzamam, being the best and more experienced batsman of his team, is always expected to lead from the front.
   He sometimes may not appear to be as much involved in the game as his Indian counterpart, but he cannot afford to fail with the bat in a side thin on experience.
   Inzamam is no Imran Khan, a former captain who transformed Pakistan into a fighting unit with the sheer force of his personality and performances. Imran was strong enough to have a major say in almost all things concerning his team.
   Inzamam has often being accused of being “soft”, but is second to none when it comes to setting an example with his own performance.
   He is Pakistan’s leading run-getter in both forms of the game, having scored 7,052 in 97 Tests and 10,631 runs in 336 one-dayers.
   Inzamam is also different from Ganguly in that he has been leading a seemingly divided team, at least until the arrival of celebrated English coach Bob Woolmer.
   Ganguly and Inzamam, however, both perform under the pressure of fans’ expectations. Neither can afford defeat over the next month.

England captain Michael Vaughan has said his side will have to overcome probably the best team that has ever played if they are to defeat Australia and win back the Ashes later this year.
   Australia have won the last eight Ashes series, a run stretching back 16 years, with England’s last triumph in Test cricket’s oldest contest
   coming under the captaincy of Mike Gatting on their 1986-87 tour.
   England, however, have been making progress during the past 12 months, winning four straight Test series as well as setting a new national record of eight successive wins.
   But as Vaughan acknowledged, wins over West Indies (twice), New Zealand and South Africa would be forgotten if England suffered another thumping along the lines of the last Ashes clash, in Australia in 2002-03, where the hosts had the series wrapped up in under 11 days’ playing time.
   ‘You can play against a number of teams and win but the question you get asked the most is “how are you going to do against Australia?” That question is going to be answered this summer,’ Vaughan told reporters here Wednesday.
   ‘It is a challenge I am really looking forward to because when you face the biggest challenges you have to relish it and I am sure the team will be thinking the same way.
   ‘We realise we are up against the best team in the world at this moment in time and probably the best team that has ever played.
   ‘But we won’t change our approach, we are going to play positive, attack and try to keep them under pressure for the whole of the summer.
   ‘We have had 18 months of success and once you have had success you believe you can get some more; we will need all that belief.
   ‘When you play Australia there are a lot of mind games, a lot of stuff written but you have to believe in yourself and retain your mental strength.
   ‘If you get excited about playing against the best team in the world you have a chance of going out and performing.’

Rinus Michels, the coach who invented the total football played with such verve by Ajax Amsterdam and Holland, has died aged 77. He had undergone heart surgery in a hospital in the Belgian town of Aalst when he died.
   Michels coached Ajax from 1965 to 1971 when a team led by the incomparable Johan Cruyff won four Dutch titles.
   They won the first of three successive European Cups, against Panathinaikos in 1971, after losing the 1969 final to AC Milan, before Michels accepted a big-money move to Barcelona whom he coached from 1971 to 1975.
   Ajax’s other two European Cup wins, against Inter Milan and Juventus, were under the Romanian Stefan Kovacs who allowed Cruyff to run the show.
   Cruyff then joined Michels at Barcelona and they won the Spanish title in 1974.
   Michels, known as The Sphinx, coached Holland, with Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Ruud Krol and Johnny Rep, in the 1974 World Cup where they played the best football but lost the final 2-1 to West Germany when they failed to match the Germans’ fighting spirit.
   Michels started the same 11 players in every match of Germany 74, except in the group match against Sweden when he inserted Piet Keizer for Rob Rensenbrink.
   Holland, without Michels and Cruyff, lost the 1978 final after extra-time to Argentina.
   But Michels, named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999, won the European Championship in 1988 when a Holland side containing Marco van Basten and Ruud Gulllit matched the flowing football of Cruyff’s era to beat the Soviet Union in the final.

Chris Cairns has turned down an offer to rejoin New Zealand’s injury-hit Test team for this month’s three-match series against Australia.
   Cairns retired from the Test arena last year to concentrate on one-day cricket as the demands of playing both were taking a toll on his body. With the Kiwis battered by injuries in the lead-up to the series, New Zealand coach John Bracewell asked Cairns to consider making a comeback next month but the all-rounder said he was unable to play.
   ‘I’ve closed that chapter of my career,’ Cairns told reporters on Thursday. ‘I’ve still got a goal to play the next World Cup and if I play Test cricket I could ruin that.
   ‘It’s about me following a dream and I still think I can get there.’ Bracewell said he fully understood Cairns’ position.
   ‘His response was basically that he was flattered by the offer but he had drawn a line under that,’ Bracewell said.
   ‘He also didn’t really think his ankle would last the rigours of a Test match. He’s drawn that line but I had to ask him and he understood that.’

South Africa (207/5) beat Zimbabwe (206/8) by 5 wickets
   South Africa completed a clean sweep despite an impressive return to international cricket by former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak in the third and final limited overs international at St George’s Park Wednesday.
   South Africa won by five wickets with 21 balls to spare but it was a close contest after South Africa gained crushing wins in the first two matches.
   Inspired by Streak, Zimbabwe made a remarkable comeback after being 35 for five early in the match.
   Streak hit 68, off 105 balls, in a total of 206 for eight, then took the first South African wicket as the home side slipped to 79 for four.
   It should have been 79 for five but Justin Kemp was given not out by umpire Ian Howell when he edged his first ball from Tawanda Mupariwa to Zimbabwe captain and wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu.
   Kemp, who was dropped on 21 and 30, went on to clinch victory for South Africa by hitting an unbeaten 78 off 81 balls with four fours and four sixes.
   Zimbabwe were in with a chance until the 44th over when South Africa scored 17 off an over from Christopher Mpofu.
   Kemp was made man of the match but it was Streak who changed the momentum of what had been a one-sided series.
   He started his innings when Zimbabwe were in desperate trouble at 35 for five and steered his side’s recovery until he was run out off the penultimate ball.
   He shared stands of 67 with Brendan Taylor (41) and 88 with Gavin Ewing (46) as South Africa failed to press home their early dominance.
   South Africa were captained for the first time by Nicky Boje, with regular skipper Graeme Smith resting a sore left ankle ahead of a two-match Test series which starts in Cape Town from today.
   With most of South Africa’s leading bowlers also being rested, Boje had a second string attack at his disposal but it was surprising that he did not set more attacking fields after Zimbabwe’s early collapse.

Andy Blignaut has been named in the Zimbabwean squad for the first Test against South Africa at Cape Town which starts today.
   Blignaut, an explosive allrounder, is the latest of the 14 rebels who have not played for almost a year to make a comeback after agreeing terms with Zimbabwe Cricket.
   Zimbabwe squad: Stuart Matsikenyeri, Barney Rogers, Hamilton Masakadza, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Williams, Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), Alester Maregwede, Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Prosper Utseya, Twanda Mupariwa, Christopher Mpofu, Douglas Hondo.

Batting great Sunil Gavaskar on Thursday said India would start as firm favourites in the cricket series against Pakistan since they have a better-balanced team than their rivals.
   ‘Indian team is strong and it has the home advantage. We have a good bowling attack and we certainly have a well balanced team,’ Gavaskar told reporters on the sidelines of a promotional function.
   ‘I don’t know much about the Pakistan team except for a couple of players,’ he said.
   Gavaskar also dismissed claims made by both the camps that they would not be under pressure during the series.
   ‘I think however much we try to play down, the pressure will be incredible. The pressure of expectation is unbelievable.
   ‘India v Pakistan series is always extraordinary and it is hard to describe. You may fail against any team, but certainly not against Pakistan,’ Gavaskar said.
   The former Indian captain said India must display the same level of performance that they showed in Pakistan to emerge winners in the series.
   ‘They played wonderfully well in Pakistan last year. But the level dropped a little in October against Australia. The players, however, again picked themselves up against South Africa.
   ‘The lessons learn against Australia must be put into use against Pakistan.’
   On Sachin Tendulkar returning to action after an injury induced lay-off, Gavaskar said the little master would not be rusty despite the break.
   ‘He is such a class player. He has got a lot of experience. So getting into the groove would not be a problem for him,’ he said.
   On composition of the side for the first Test, starting at Mohali from March 8, Gavaskar said India should play with three seamers.
   ‘Irfan (Pathan) and Zaheer (Khan) are performing so well. Ashish Nehra is also bowling well and L Balaji took five wickets only yesterday. So no harm playing the first Test with three seamers. But you have to take the pitch into account before taking any decision.
   ‘As both the spinners (Anil) Kumble and Harbhajan (Singh) are world class, Ganguly has other options as well like Sachin, (Virender) Sehwag and the captain himself can chip in with the ball.’

Pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar, recuperating from a hamstring injury, is likely to turn up for Pakistan in the third cricket Test against India later next month as well as the following One-Day International series.
   Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said the panel of doctors working on the bowler would submit its report on Friday when a clearer picture is expected to emerge.
   However, Shoaib, currently training in Lahore under the supervision of foreign trainer Grant Compton, would have to prove his match-fitness in the ongoing Patron’s Trophy.

Kevin Pietersen’s chances of playing in the Ashes Test series against Australia later this year received a big boost here Wednesday when England captain Michael Vaughan said he expected the South African-born batsman to cause a few headaches for the selectors.
   Brought in as a replacement for injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, 24-year-old Pietersen - who has yet to play Test cricket - was England’s star in their 4-1 one-day series defeat in South Africa concluded last month.
   In all he scored 454 runs with three centuries including an unbeaten 100 off 69 balls, the quickest three figure score by an England batsman in a limited overs international, at East London.
   He achieved this against a constant barrage of verbal abuse from home fans angered that Pietersen, born in Pietermaritzberg, had turned his back on South Africa to play for England, his mother’s country, because of what he perceived as a racial quota policy favouring black players which was hampering his prospects.
   ‘Kevin Pietersen will cause a few headaches by the way he’s played in the one-dayers,’ Vaughan told reporters here Wednesday. ‘He’s got a huge amount of talent.
   Vaughan said it was the former Natal player’s character, as much as his ability, which had made him think Pietersen, who this season will play county cricket for Hampshire after moving from Nottinghamshire, could prosper against world champions Australia.
   ‘He’s got a huge amount of talent but the three hundreds he scored, he also showed tremendous character considering the pressure he was under,’ Vaughan explained.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant has settled a civil lawsuit brought by the woman who accused him of rape in a criminal case that tarnished his reputation and threatened his career, according to papers filed in federal court.
   A statement issued by Lin Wood, the Atlanta-based lawyer for the woman, said that the lawsuit ‘has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.’
   The woman worked at a posh Colorado resort where Bryant stayed in June 2003. Bryant admitted having sex with her but he insisted it was consensual. She said she had been raped and criminal charges were brought against Bryant. The case against Bryant was dropped in September at the woman’s request after she said she would not testify and instead would file a civil lawsuit against him for damages.

Serena Williams overcame an early scare in windy conditions to beat Russia’s Elena Bovina in three sets to reach the last eight of the Dubai Open here on Wednesday.
   The former winner of all four Grand Slams came through 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 but she was tense and erratic in the first set in only her first match since being taken ill in Paris a fortnight ago and only her second victory since losing the Australian Open final a month ago.
   So rattled was Serena by her early difficulties on her first visit to the Middle East that she smashed a racket and was given a code-of-conduct warning for abuse of equipment.
   She was hooted for the code violation and then jeered for her reaction to it, and after losing the next point she waved her arms as thouh she were orchestrating the jeers. However, after the second-seeded superstar got into the match, she struck some blistering winners which won over most of the spectators, and soon they were cheering her victory enthusisatically.
   Bovina’s best moments came not so much in the first set, which was gifted to her, but in the third where she retained enough self-possession to recover from the storm of losing ten games out of 11 to make a reasonably close finish of it.
   She also recovered from 0-4 down to 4-5, with a bold commitment to counter-attack, even when it was into the mouth of the cannon, and this policy earned her a break of service in the sixth game.
   But she couldn’t repeat the achievement, Serena closing out the match to love in a game containing an ace, a service winner and one forehand which almost punctured the ball.
   It earned the tournament’s biggest draw a match with Daniela Hantuchova, the tour’s come-back heroine.
   Hantuchova’s 7-5, 6-4 success over the Russian earned her a third quarter-final of 2005, In the other match Lindsay Davenport of USA came through with a comfortable 6-2, 7-5 win over Zheng Jieand now plays Conchita Martinez who beat Nathalie Dechy, the number seven seed from France, by 6-1 6-2.

Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson announced late Wednesday that he would make a boxing comeback on June 20 in Washington, but he didn’t name his opponent.
   ‘I’m getting back into a ring. It’ll be in Washington, probably June 20,’ Tyson said in an interview during the festival of Italian songs in the northwestern Italian town of San Remo where he was a guest.
   Tyson, wearing a dark suit and white shirt with open collar, spent 30 minutes on the stage with the presenter of the festival. During the interview he brought up his conviction for rape.
   ‘A lie put me in prison,’ the boxer said. ‘I’m no angel,’ he admitted. ‘But I’m not just a boxer. I’m also a father, an uncle, a painter.’

Michael Owen hit his ninth goal of the season while Roberto Carlos hammered a perfect response to the Spanish terrace racists as Real Madrid beat Real Betis 3-1 on Wednesday to reignite their title dream.
   Owen, handed a rare start by coach Wanderley Luxemburgo in place of club skipper Raul, who has been hit by flu, opened the scoring after just nine minutes at the Bernabeu after a pass from Santiago Solari.
   The Englishman had been paired with Ronaldo who had missed Saturday’s defeat at Deportivo through injury but it was another Brazilian World Cup winner who got his name on the scoresheet next.
   Roberto Carlos, named skipper for the night in the absence of Raul and who was the target of ‘monkey chants’ from Deportivo La Coruna fans at the weekend, showed no hangover from the abuse when he thundered in a free-kick from just 12 yards for the second goal four minutes from the break.
   It was also the perfect way for the veteran defender to celebrate his 300th Spanish League appearance with the goal which came from an indirect free-kick played to him by David Beckham.
   Owen was relishing his opportunity to impress and should have added a third when he was clean through on goal early in the second half but blasted over the top with just the keeper to beat.
   Real Betis pulled one back on the hour mark through Edu, beating Cesar in the Real goal after regular keeper Iker Casillas had been injured in the first half.
   But it only spurred Real into a higher gear and Ivan Helguera headed in a third just a minute later.
   Villarreal moved into third place after a 2-1 win at home to Real Mallorca with former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan grabbing the winner six minutes from the end.
   Forlan has found Spanish football far more to his taste as it was his 16th of the season, leaving him just two adrift of the league’s leading scorer Samuel Eto’o.
   Defending champions Valencia and Sevilla, both chasing a Champions League spot for next season, battled out a 2-2 draw with Jesuli giving Sevilla a 40th minute lead.
   David Navarro, on the stroke of half-time, and Argentinian international Pablo Aimar, on the hour, then gave Valencia, who sacked coach Claudio Ranieri last week, a 2-1 advantage.
   Julio Baptista gave Sevilla a share of the points with a 67th minute penalty.
   Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo came to the defence of Ronaldo after the Brazilian striker was jeered by fans during his side’s 3-1 victory at home to Real Betis on Wednesday.
   ‘The people that jeered him today will be cheering him tomorrow,’ Luxemburgo told a news conference after the match.
   ‘He worked hard, fought, went in search of the goal and tried everything, but sometimes in football no matter how hard you try, the ball won’t go in the net.’
   Ronaldo, who has not scored in the last seven league games, came in for heavy criticism from the Spanish media for arrival late for training after his recent Valentine’s Day engagement celebrations in Paris.
   The 28-year-old was in lively form at the Bernabeu and created several scares for the Betis defence, but was unable to end his recent scoring drought.
   ‘I was very satisfied with his work out on the pitch and saw no reason to substitute him,’ Luxemburgo said. ‘The important thing is that he keeps on working and that way he will win over the fans again.
   ‘Ronaldo has got a lot of experience and knows that if he gets two goals in the next game, the fans will applaud him and everything will be forgotten.’

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has once again publicly defended his recruitment policy at the Bernabeu.
   Perez has been criticised in the past for buying big-name attacking players with marketing appeal while neglecting the team’s obvious deficiencies at the back.
   Indeed the strategy, dubbed ‘Zidanes y Pavones’ after the two players that represented both the best and worst aspects of the Real Madrid side, was widely accepted to have cost the club in both the Primera Liga and the Champions League last season.
   However, there was no let up in the recruitment drive in the summer and Michael Owen was added to established stars Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham and Roberto Carlos.
   Then-manager Jose Antonio Camacho also brought in Argentinian defender Walter Samuel and Jonathan Woodgate from Newcastle for a combined 44 million euros (£30 million) although the latter is yet to feature for his new club because of injury.
   But Perez believes he has taken the club forward in the right way.
   ‘I defend to the death my policy of the Galacticos,’ Perez told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
   ‘It’s the only possible economic and sporting model for this club.
   ‘Our main achievement is that we have a higher revenue than expenses and it’s an achievement...now all our players are paid for at the right time.’
   ‘Very rich Russian and Arab people have come here wanting to buy clubs.
   ‘This model allows us to be independent, our revenue is higher than our expenses.
   ‘We have the best players and we have an important image in the world.’
   However, Perez refutes the accusation that Owen’s arrival was nothing more than a marketing tool.
   ‘It’s far from the truth. He (Owen) is a European footballer of the year, one of the great players that we wanted. He had one year left on his contract and he could come at a reasonable price,’ he said.
   ‘Owen was in our plans, he is one of those great players that we were interested in.
   ‘When I arrived I knew that two players were going to come to Madrid, Figo and Zidane, because then they were the best players.
   ‘I didn’t think of Ronaldo because he was injured and then he recovered and he became the next one.’
   Perez accepts though that the ‘galacticos’ policy is becoming increasingly hard to maintain, even though Real have been linked with moves for Brazilian wonderkid Robinho and compatriot Adriano in the summer.
   ‘Like in any company you have to modernise,’ he said.
   ‘It’s not easy to continue to include more talents in the team because unlike four or five years ago they are more difficult to find.
   ‘What I am convinced is that the players that come, will stay here, age and then they have to leave, it’s the law of life and it’s happened in the past.
   ‘All I can say is that all of those players that have lost their will to play should leave and it’s not a question of age.’
   That remark could well be directed at Figo who is not the force he once was at the Bernabeu.
   Perez also paid tribute to the impact new boss Wanderley Luxemburgo has had on Madrid’s season.
   ‘He has done a great job,’ Perez said.
   ‘He has a lot of experience. He has won many titles and we hope he can put that experience into practice at Real Madrid.
   ‘It’s not easy to coach the Real Madrid team. It’s a team that has many accumulated talents and it’s not easy.’

Gary Neville confesses his ideal pre-match meal is burger and chips. The Manchester United defender has to make do with tucking into a strict diet of high-energy, low-fat grub before games.
   But Neville, 30, admitted, ‘Our pre-match meals are getting more and more bland.
   ‘There is a point just before matches when the smell of burgers and chips wafts down from the stands.
   ‘You go down the tunnel to warm up and see a kid eating a burger and you think “I could just eat one of those.”
   ‘So I make up for it after the match and eat as much as I can.’
   Neville first joined United as a trainee 12 years ago when players were a lot less strict about what they ate. He added, ‘Players’ eating habits have become a lot more professional.
   ‘When I was 18, it was chicken, beans and mashed potato with soup for a starter. Then I started to go for spaghetti, then a bit of fish and toast, then cereal and toast.
   ‘Now I’m on just rice with peas or something just as plain.’
   But the Old Trafford chef’s low-fat recipes will never diminish the player’s hunger for more silverware. And he already has firm plans about what to do when he retires from playing.
    The England star has won six Premiership titles, three FA Cups and a European Cup. But he told the club’s official magazine United, ‘I want to carry on playing as long as I can and win more trophies simple as that.
   ‘But when I do hang up my boots, I’ll come to watch the matches.
   ‘I’ve got season tickets that my mum, dad, sister and granddad use to sit in the same seats every week and I’ll use those tickets for the rest of my life.
   ‘I’ve grown up a fan and all my mates are fans and to be able to watch United with my mates will be a fantastic experience.
   ‘I know it will never replace what I’m doing now but I also know I’ll always follow Manchester United.’
   And Neville plans to spend the rest of his life playing for or watching United.

Premiership leaders Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho should learn to take defeat gracefully warned his former mentor Sir Bobby Robson on Wednesday.
   Robson worked with Mourinho at both Barcelona and FC Porto over a six-year spell and he urged the Portuguese manager to take the blows as well as he took the victories.
   Mourinho reacted to defeat by Barcelona in their Champions League first knockout round first leg defeat by refusing to speak as is compulsory to the press because he alleged that the referee Anders Frisk had gone into the Barcelona dressing room.
   On Sunday he was sent from the bench because he was believed to have made a provocative gesture – by raising his finger to his mouth – to Liverpool fans when his team levelled late in the League Cup final clash which ended in a 3-2 victory for the London outfit.
   He said it had been aimed at the media for suggesting that after two successive defeats they had claimed his team were choking.
   However, Robson said Mourinho should just get on with his job and accept the reverses.
   ‘It has all gone for him just lately and that is marvellous, but sometimes you have to have a bit of humility and learn how to lose,’ said 70-year-old Robson.
   ‘It is when it goes against you and you get a bit of bad luck that you learn, and he’ll get it straight,’ added Robson, who took England to the 1990 World Cup semi-final and the 1986 quarter-finals.
   Robson, though, believed that the defeats would have done him the world of good and he could see Chelsea going on to win the domestic title for the first time since 1955.
   ‘Jose is doing very well at the moment.
   ‘He has got one pot – possibly two to follow – a big game against Barcelona to come and I cannot see them losing their lead in the Premiership.
   ‘They are in a good position and I would expect them to go on and win it, which is a wonderful achievement.
   ‘What has occurred over the last couple of weeks will stand him in very good stead for the future. If he is intelligent, he will take it on board – and he is very intelligent.
   ‘He will have learned more in the last fortnight than the last eight months. Before that, it was all about winning,’ added Robson, who was unceremoniously sacked by Newcastle early in the season.
   Robson said he would cherish the chance to pit his wits against Mourinho, who guided Porto to the UEFA Cup and Champions League trophies in successive seasons before decamping to Chelsea last summer.
   ‘I am not in a hurry to take the wrong job, but I am ready to take the right job and I feel there is another job in me,’ said Robson, who also coached Ipswich and PSV Eindhoven.
   ‘I know the area I am capable of working in and of course I would like a job in the Premiership if one was
   available.
   ‘It would not worry me if I had to pit my wits against Jose.
   ‘But it is not just a case of him and me against one another. It would be his team against my team – but I would not be afraid of that.’

Johan Cruyff said the Dutch had lost a national figure and he had lost the man who taught him about soccer after the death of Rinus Michels on Thursday.
   In 1974, Michels led a Dutch team built around Cruyff to the World Cup final where they lost 2-1 to West Germany in Munich.
   ‘I always greatly admired his leadership. He was always very clear in what he wanted and what he expected from you and sometimes in order to achieve that he overdid it a bit.
   ‘Then when things started working, he would ease up a bit and give you more freedom,’ Cruyff said.
   ‘Both as a player and as a coach there is nobody who taught me as much as him. I will miss Rinus Michels.’
   Michels and playmaker Cruyff won the European Cup with Ajax Amsterdam in 1971 and then moved to Barcelona where they won the Spanish title in 1974. Michels returned to the Dutch national team to guide them to the 1988 European title.
   ‘(He was) a sportsman who put the Netherlands on the map in such a way that almost everybody still benefits from it,’ Cruyff said on his website.
   ‘For the outside world, Michels and I were often seen as the trainer and the player, but after I moved to Barcelona from Ajax over 30 years ago a strong personal relationship developed.’

Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham will remain in Spain next season while wife Victoria moves the family back to London.
   Victoria is said to be feeling lonely after spending so much time away from her friends and family, and is desperate to return home. David will split his time between England and Spain, allowing him to see his family, and continue playing for Real Madrid.
   A friend told the Sunday Mirror, 'Victoria has really tried to get used to life in Spain for David's sake. But she can't hack it. She just doesn't enjoy living so far away from her family. She wants to come home.' Victoria will celebrate her homecoming by hosting a huge party to mark her 31st birthday in April.
   The friend added, 'David is being understanding. He adores his wife and wants whatever will make her happy. But Victoria knows how much David loves playing for Real.
   'They know they will have to have a long-distance relationship again - just like it was for much of the time David was at Manchester United. Victoria is certain they can still be happy - despite being based in different countries.'

Manchester United are ready to bid big for Lyon midfield ace Mikael Essien in the summer.
   The Ghana international is being lined up by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson as Roy Keane’s eventual successor and will attract a £10 million offer from the Premiership giants in June, says the Daily Star.
   Essien has been outstanding in the Champions League for Lyon this season and has also attracted concrete enquiries from Spanish pair Real Madrid and Barcelona.
   Ferguson is aware of the growing interest in the young African, who came close to joining Everton 18 months ago, and hopes to tie up a deal quickly with Lyon before his price-tag rises.

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti has told his vice-president, Adriano Galliani, to drop all thoughts of trying to price Ronaldinho away from Barcelona.
   Galliani declared last week that one of his great dreams was to see Ronaldinho playing in a Milan jersey. But Ancelotti insisted on Wednesday, ‘The Brazilian is a great player. But we have many great players at Milan. Signing Ronaldinho would be overkill.’

Almost 40,000 players around the world will have the chance to vote for their ultimate fantasy football team with the winners honoured at soccer's Oscars.
   The international players' association on Wednesday launched the FIFPRO World XI Player Awards, to be held on September 19 at London's Wembley Conference Centre and annually after that.
   The awards ceremony, which will include the world's hottest music acts and international celebrity guest presenters, will be broadcast to a worldwide audience of over 300 million people.
   'There are no greater footballing critics than the players themselves,' said FIFPro president Gordon Taylor. 'To be recognised by your fellow professionals from across the world will be a unique honour.'
   England defender John Terry, captain of English Premier League leaders Chelsea, also offered his support at the launch, saying, 'I'll definitely put it in the diary.'
   Other awards to be voted on by the world's 40 professional organisations that form FIFPro will include player of the year and world XI legend with a young player of the year chosen by the fans. However, manager of the year is not on the agenda.

Ronaldinho has urged Barcelona to stay calm as they seek to return to winning ways ahead of the Champions League return match against Chelsea.
   For the first time this season, the Spanish league leaders have gone two games without a win following draws away to bottom club Numancia last Sunday and at home to local rivals Espanyol on Tuesday.
   The results have allowed Real Madrid to trim the gap at the top of the Primera Liga to six points and the out-of-form Brazilian knows the pressure is on for Barca at Osasuna on Saturday before they seek to protect their 2-1 first-leg advantage in the last-16 tie at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
   The FIFA World Player of the Year said, ‘We have to be calm and continue to work, we still have an advantage in the league and there is a long way to go.
   ‘The confidence is the same and we also are fighting in the Champions League so we cannot get used to picking up draws.
   ‘We need to change certain things around and start to put on pressure from the start so as to maintain our advantage.
   ‘Virtually all the teams that come to the Nou Camp come to defend and not to win, and we need to try to score early so that we have more of the ball and make the opposition have to come forward looking to equalise.’
   Winger Ludovic Giuly has been ruled out of the match against Chelsea through injury.
   The back problem which prevented the Frenchman from playing against Espanyol on Tuesday is worse than originally thought and he is expected to be on the sidelines for 10 days.
   Barca will miss the pace of Giuly and coach Frank Rijkaard is likely to replace him with Maxi Lopez, who made a dramatic impact against Chelsea at the Nou Camp scoring and then setting up the winner for Samuel Eto’o.