A Hungarian official who is younger than some of the Manchester United veterans has been awarded the honour of refereeing the European Champions League final against  Barcelona at Wembley. Viktor Kassai refereed the World Cup semi final between Spain and Germany and was in charge of United in the Champions League against Spanish opponents Valencia earlier this season. At just 35 years of age Kassai is younger than United stars Edwin van der Sar 40, Ryan Giggs 37 and Paul Scholes at 36.

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Spain’s Valencia comes to Old Trafford on Tuesday night hoping to register their first away win over Manchester United and collect the three points which will take them to the top of Group C. Three previous visits produced two draws and a defeat. With both sides assured of progressing to the knockout stage of the Champions League, another honourable draw will not surprise especially if Sir Alex Ferguson decides to field a starting line up with one eye upon the top of the table clash against Arsenal on Monday.

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Watching the thumping Barcelona inflicted on Real Madrid at the Camp Nou in the Classico last night, my mind could not help wandering what major football clubs – including Manchester United, has in store for their fans in the next 10 or 20 years. A world wide audience of half a billion viewers – read that slowly, yes, 500 million, was estimated to have watched that game on television, internet, mobile phones and whatever else modern technology can provide. Ask yourself, what else will that same technology be able to offer us in the next decade or two?

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The Portugal winger Nani has apologised to his team mate Cristiano Ronaldo after denying the winger a memorable goal in their side’s 4-0 friendly mauling of the world champions Spain. Ronaldo looked to have put Portugal ahead with a superb effort in the first half, after cleverly turning inside Gerard Piqué before scooping his shot over Iker Casillas. The stunning effort was dropping into the net but Nani raced in from an offside position to head the ball in from point blank range, leading to the goal being disallowed. ”I touched the ball because I thought I wasn’t offside. Everything happened so quickly” explained Nani “after having time to think about it I apologised to Ronaldo. It was a great piece of play and I shouldn’t have ruined it.” Click on the pic to watch the video.

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It’s a well known fact that newspapers are not exactly the bastions of truth but there are some which have proven to be more reliable than others, The Guardian is one of them. If you can believe what it is reporting, Manchester United is looking  for not one but TWO goalkeepers to replace veteran Edwin van der Sar when his imminent retirement is eventually announced. According to a report published on Thursday, United has “provisionally agreed a £3.5m deal to replace Edwin van der Sar with a goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has flatly described as not good enough to play for the club. Anders Lindegaard, the newly established Danish international, will move to Old Trafford in January but Schmeichel thinks Sir Alex Ferguson is making a serious error bringing in the 26 year old from the Norwegian club Aalesunds FK.

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Having been a lifelong, avid book reader, primarily football autobiographies of course, the release of Sir Alex Fergusons new book “Football Bloody Hell” scheduled to hit the shelves this week already has me salivating. It’s a book that has been anxiously awaited since Fergusons “Managing My Life” a decade ago and if a preview written by Andy Mitten for the Manchester Evening News is any guide, it will be sitting on my bookshelf the minute it hits the stores.

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