When The Gun Draws

After the rubbish that's been in the papers the previous days this week, it makes a refreshing change to have nothing to complain about today. The Champions league draw is the main focus. Ronaldo chooses Bayern as the team to avoid, from The Times:

Steven Gerrard claimed on Wednesday that no one will want to be drawn against Liverpool after a week in which they humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 and United 4-1, but it seems Ronaldo would prefer to be paired with the Merseyside club, Arsenal or Chelsea than Bayern.

...

“Bayern Munich are very strong,” Ronaldo said. “I watched them play against my old team, Sporting Lisbon, and I was very sad because I didn’t expect Sporting to lose so heavily.

“But this can happen in football. Bayern are very good — they have mature players, strong players, quick players. Franck Ribéry and Miroslav Klose are very impressive. Bayern play like a team and they look very difficult to beat.”

Rooney wouldn't mind Liverpool:

The England striker, 23, said: “We know Liverpool always play well in Europe. It would be a couple of exciting games — but we’d take it.”

Barcelona's Carles Puyol wants to avoid ... Man Utd:

The Spanish legend said: “I want to be the champion and for that reason it will be excellent to avoid Manchester United in the draw.

“We still remember last year. United were lucky to win the game and it was very painful to be eliminated, but they are still the European champions and English champions so we do not want to face them now.

“It would be wrong to say that we fear any side in Europe, but at the same time it is logical to respect the power and quality of our rivals and particularly a team like United.

The Guardian gives the only possible reason for wanting to avoid Liverpool:

The second leg of the tie will take place in the week that Liverpool mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy and there are deep concerns behind the scenes about Rafael Benítez's team being pitted against Sir Alex Ferguson's.

Privately, there is a sense at Old Trafford that it would be better if the two clubs can avoid each other at such a delicate time in Liverpool's history. However, if they are to meet in the Champions League for the first time United intend to be proactive and investigate various ways of trying to promote a more respectful relationship.

How that will take effect has not yet been discussed but one possibility is that Ferguson, the manager, and the club's ambassador, Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the survivors of the Munich air disaster, will speak out about the importance of good fan behaviour.

Elsewhere, Ronaldo doesn't quite agree with Sir Alex about the quintuple being impossible:

Despite Fergie's claim that the Quintuple cannot be done because of the amount of luck needed to scoop all five trophies, Ronaldo said United's players feel it is possible.

"We're positive about all the competitions we're involved in and we want to win them all," said Ronaldo.

"The Champions League is completely different to the Premier League in which we have to respect all the teams because it's such a long season.

"In the Champions League, it's different. If you lose you go home straightaway, so it's a more nervous game when you play, with more immediate pressure."

Gazza regrets not coming to Man Utd:

"Maybe if I had stayed at Man U I might have been still there,"

"I don't know, you just look at these players and the squad of young kids that play, young Rooney that's there, the Neville Brothers and Becks, the way he (Ferguson) just brought them on and there are so many.

"I got invited to the academy and it is a magnificent place and you can see the way he treats his players, he treats them with respect but he also makes men out of boys.

"It took me six years to get back talking to Sir Alex, I called him from Lazio and asked him would he re-sign us.

"He was with Eric Cantona and he said he would see what Eric Cantona was going to do but I think everyone knows if you do something to Sir Alex Ferguson the way I did you don't get a second chance."

Vidic not going anywhere according to his agent:

Vidic’s agent Silvano Martina quashed any idea of a move.

He said: ‘Any other club would be a step down for him.’

And Gordon Taylor gets involved in the popular pastime of heaping praise on Giggs:

"You can't ask for a better example to today's youth than Giggs. Ryan has been a classic role model. He doesn't seek the limelight. He's modest. We presented an award recently to Ryan at Old Trafford.

"One of the union lads with us died shortly afterwards so I wrote to his family to say how sorry I was, and his mother said, 'Well at least he achieved one of his ambitions – meeting Ryan Giggs'.

"Ryan's very much in the style of Tom Finney; you could put him anywhere along that line in midfield. If he was in goal he would do a job for you! When United had difficulties against Inter Milan, Ryan came off his position on the wing and calmed the team down.''