The Flying Club Cup

A few non-Carling Cup stories first off. The News of the World report that Ronaldo will be offered a huge new contract:

MANCHESTER UNITED are to offer Cristiano Ronaldo an incredible new recession-busting deal which will make him the Premier League’s first £200,000-A-WEEK player.

United hope the record £10.4million- a-year contract will stop the Portuguese winger from joining Real Madrid.

There is also a quote from a "Portuguese source":

And a Portuguese source close to the player added: “Cristiano wants to clear his head of the Real Madrid move once and for all. When he agreed to stay at United last summer he thought it would be just for one more year.

“But now he seems to be setting his mind on the long term because he realises he can fulfil all his ambitions at Old Trafford.”

While it sounds good, given the number of "sources" always willing to say he wants to go Real, I think it should probably be greeted with a little scepticism.
The Sunday Times returns to Europe with Jonathan Northcroft praising our performance against Inter:

In Milan, United afforded their architect a pleasure few managers are privileged to taste. They should have achieved a superior scoreline to the 0-0 that makes them favourites to progress, but, in terms of performance, you can hardly be expected to do better than exert comprehensive control over one of the world’s top teams in one of the most hostile arenas. “There was overwhelming evidence of the technical and tactical superiority of the European champions,” was the verdict of La Repubblica newspaper. At the Colosseum the Christians aren’t supposed to dominate the lions.
Their authority on Tuesday was reminiscent of that which, before their decline, Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan exuded. United’s previous two trips to the San Siro had involved taking beatings from that side, something Ferguson recalled as he reflected on his team’s progress. “You saw a team that’s grown up together. They took on board how we failed the last time we went there, and we got right about Inter from the start. The only thing to contend with was the atmosphere. It was the kind of atmosphere you love to be involved in. After that, we just went and played.”

There's an interview with Rio Ferdinand for a magazine which most of the papers run quotes from. The Mail concentrate on comments he made about Jose Mourinho:

'There are very few people who could take over [from Sir Alex],' said Ferdinand in an interview in GQ magazine out this Thursday.

'If you're talking about someone with the ego and personality to do it, then Jose Mourinho is the name that jumps out at you.

While also looking at some of the other things he said in another piece, here talking about Sir Alex's "Hairdryer":

The worst we've seen is after we have behaved badly on a night out. Then, the fireworks explode and he goes bananas. Everyone's heads are on the floor, desperately trying not to catch his eye. And he's right to do it and we all know that if we do it again, we'll be out the door.'

The News of the World look at comments he made about Ronaldo:

The Old Trafford defender said: “It’s true he didn’t say what a lot of people at the club wanted him to say during the summer, especially the fans.

“They didn’t want to hear him say he wanted to leave. He was badly advised and could have handled things better.

“But he’s a brilliant player. As much as Ronaldo likes his nice cars, houses, girls, watches, the guy is one of the top three-to-four per cent of professionals I’ve played with.

“Why do people hate him? Because he’s got everything. He’s a good-looking guy with every woman in the country after him, all the money in the world and he’s a fantastic player.

“And he’s not ashamed to walk with his chest out. Nothing wrong with that.”

Onto the Carling Cup, and nearly all the papers pick up on comments by Sir Alex about wanting to win the Champions League as a priority, from The News of the World:

Ferguson said: “I’d be happy to win just one thing this season and my choice would be the Champions League. That would be great for us.

“It would give us back- to-back wins, plus we have only won it three times before. It would mean more than equalling Liverpool’s 18 domestic titles.

Given that a few of the papers are still making little comments about the devaluing of the Carling Cup it's interesting that there isn't similar comments about the Premier League after this. If the papers are willing to accept the prioritising of the Champions League over The Premier League, why aren't the prepared to accept that the Carling is, rightly, a low priority?
Sir Alex also plays down talk of a cleen sweep of trophies, from The Independent:

"First of all I don't think it will be done. I mean, you can lose a cup game quite easily, any which way – we have Fulham away in the FA Cup, and that's a difficult task, they're playing very well at home.

"So I have to look at the more sensible options, and that is the Premier League, where we have a seven-point lead and are 10 goals better off than our next opponent, and a home tie with Inter Milan in the Champions' League, when all we need to do is win to get through to the last eight.

"But cup football is always fraught with the unpredictable. Take [the FA Cup tie with] Portsmouth last year – how did we lose that game? With the chances we had in the game, we should have buried them."

The Mirror concentrate on similarities to Jock Stein, the only manager to complete a quadruple:

"I have never thought of equalling Jock's record. I had forgotten all about it - although I do remember now that he also won the Glasgow Cup in 1967 as well and there were some good teams playing in that. What Jock did was incredible. You think about it winning the European Cup with a 14-man squad all from within a 25-mile radius of Celtic Park.

"I was on the receiving end of a few defeats at that time. But I think Bill Shankly summed Jock Stein up best by saying he was immortal."

Sir Alex also reveals some advice Stein gave him:

"Jock was a fantastic manager. I always remember asking him why he never criticised players and he gave me my most important piece of advice.

"Jock made a great point, he asked why should he penalise a player's family by criticising him in public?

"You may want to throttle a player but you don't need to tell the press about it.

"He said all you do is make enemies of their cousins, their uncles, their aunties, their mothers, their pals, their teacher and their milkmen. Why do it? You fall out with them all."

The Sunday Times has a good article with Jonny Evans:

Ferguson has elevated Evans into the company of Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic by describing them as the best bunch of centre-backs he has had at United. “Sometimes the manager gets carried away a bit,” Evans says with a smile. “The thing about this club is that you get scrutinised every day. I’ve played 20 games this season and I’m still fighting to stay at the club. The manager has let players go who people said were in their prime; Paul Ince, Ruud van Nistelrooy - great players.”

Patrick Barclay uses the Carling Cup final to praise Ryan Giggs, which seems a little strange. I wont quote from it, it's here from The Mail on Sunday.
Also in The Mail on Sunday is a piece by Sir Bobby Robson on how playing our youngsters could "backfire":

Sir Alex Ferguson is going to throw in his youngsters against Spurs at Wembley. I admire the sentiment, but the reality is that it may tip the balance towards Tottenham and Manchester United will miss out on a trophy.

It could, but if you look at the team we're likely to play, it is amazing how deep our squad is, and the team that goes out at Wembly should be more than good enough to win. Sir Bobby compares it to Villa's team in the UEFA cup during the week and to Blackburn's team against Coventry in the FA Cup replay. A comparison which I'm not sure is fair, our squad is stronger than Villa's or Blackburn's making resting players less a white flag and more an opportunity to be taken.