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After Manchester United set down a huge marker against Arsenal in their recent 8-2 victory, questions are being asked whether this new generation at Old Trafford now has the ability to go on and conquer Europe and win the Champions League?

There is little doubt that this is an impressive set of young players who have a bright future ahead of them and they certainly have the ability to claim United’s 20th league title this season, although their City rivals may have something to say on the matter.

What has impressed me most so far this season is this the strength of the squad Ferguson has built. In their recent trashing of Arsenal the side were missing the main defensive partnership of Ferdinand and Vidic, there was no place for Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Park or Valencia in the midfield and upfront, the superb Hernandez and last season’s top scorer Berbatov were left on the bench. With an average age of just 23 it is obvious that Ferguson has done a marvelous job putting together a new team but are they ready to challenge Barcelona for the Champions League this year?

This new crop of young footballers mixed with experienced players should help United progress to the final stages of the Champions League once again, but I just cannot see the current side getting past Barcelona unless Ferguson finds a way of competing against them.

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Ferguson’s new generation at Old Trafford is made up of recent young signings and players brought through their impressive youth system who have gained experience on loan at other Premier League clubs.

This youth mixed with experience has worked well for Ferguson in the past and he is obviously hoping that this team will be just as successful.

Why can’t United win the Champions League then? Well the same reason they didn’t last year, standing in their way are one of the greatest clubs sides ever to have existed in Barcelona. The bad news for United is that the Catalan side look an even better outfit this year after the summer arrivals of Fabregas, Sanchez and the emergence of Thiago adding to an already powerful team.

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In the final last year United were the better team for the first 20 minutes, hassling and chasing everything and making it difficult for Barca to play their game but then the Spanish champions took hold of the game and I think United lacked the sort of midfielder who could break up their play and then keep the ball. It was really disappointing to see a relatively inexperienced Barcelona defence untested, one shot on target all game says a lot. Unless Ferguson can find someone who can break up Barca’s majestic play it is unlikely they will be able to beat them again this year.

The Champions League looks a tougher prospect this year for all the teams involved as along with the usual challengers I think Manchester City will be a force in this season’s competition with the undoubted class they possess in their squad and it will be interesting to see how they get on in their debut campaign.

I believe that United will once again challenge for the top European honours this season but I think they will come up short as it will be difficult to topple such a strong Barcelona side that has only been improved this summer. The future may look very bright at Old Trafford but it could be one without the top European trophy with the Juggernaut that is Barcelona standing in their way.

Two months after he was sacked as coach of Brescia, Beppe Iachini is back in charge of the Serie A side.

Brescia moved quickly to remove Mario Beretta, the man who replaced Iachini on December 6, after the 3-0 home defeat to Chievo left the Rondinelle bottom of the table.

The loss, Brescia’s fifth in their last six games, sparked protests from angry fans who demanded a meeting with Beretta.

“I am not going,” Beretta told Sky Sport Italia television.

“They insulted me for 90 minutes. If they had been civil then I would’ve gone to the meeting, but in this atmosphere they can forget it.”

That paved the way for Iachini’s return. “I am sorry for Beretta, as he was unlucky in this experience,” Iachini said.

“I return with great enthusiasm to pick up the work that was interrupted. We need to rediscover the unity and spirit that took us to win the Serie B championship and get a good start to this season.

“I still have an excellent rapport with the fans and I know the President always had faith in me.”

“It will take something special to avoid relegation. I haven’t seen the recent games, so I’m not sure what awaits me. Quite aside from tactics, we need to find our self-belief again, our enthusiasm and remember to think as a team unit, not individuals.”

“We also hope for a bit more luck, which was notably absent from my last few matches in charge.”

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President Gino Corioni was less generous with Beretta’s plight.

“I never saw Brescia play football with him in charge,” Corioni said.

“It’s true, we lost with Iachini as well, but at least the team used to play.”

Spain stamped their name in the football history books after a scintillating performance in the Euro 2012 finals saw them comprehensively beat Italy in Kiev.

Vincente Del Bosque’s men made a mockery of those who had labelled them ‘boring’ during the week with a supreme display of precision passing against the hapless Azzurri. First half goals from David Silva and Jordi Alba put the defending champions in a commanding position before they were effectively handed the game after Thiago Motta limped off just after coming on as a substitute leaving Cesare Prandelli’s side with just 10 men for the remaining half hour.

Fernando Torres and Juan Mata jumped off the bench to apply the gloss and ensure La Roja became the first team to successfully defend the Henri Delauny trophy and record three successive major tournament victories. It proved to be a fitting end to the best European Championships and certified their dominance as the best team on the planet with Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta and Xavi  the only players to start in all three finals,

Prior to the final Arsene Wenger accused Spain of “betraying their philosophy” by using their tiki-taka to choke the momentum out of games and playing to their desired pace. Their response was emphatic as they tore Italy apart in the first half and took only eight minutes to register their names on the scoresheet. Andres Iniesta exhibited his trademark vision to slide an exquisite ball into Cesc Fabregas to cross from the byline for an unmarked Silva to nod the ball past Gianluigi Buffon.

Italy offered a rapid riposte with a flurry of corners that came to nothing butt once that small burst of momentum died Spain got back into their flow and doubled their lead just before the break with a wonderfully crafted goal. Picking the ball up just inside the opposition half Xavi weighted an elegant through ball to Jordi Alba to outstrip the Azzurri defence with his pace and calmly slot the ball past Buffon for his first international goal.

The Italian’s willl be disappointed that they didn’t test Iker Casillas, who was enjoying an uncharacteristically shaky evening in goal, enough in the first period. Antonio Cassano did bring save out of the Spain skipper with a fierce strike from range before Mario Balotelli fired a wild effort over the bar. Having lost Giorgio Chiellini to injury Prandelli made the drastic decision to use his two remaining substitutes Antonio Di Natale on for Cassano at half time and Motta for Ricardo Montilivo 11 minutes later.

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Di Natale should have halved the deficit soon after coming on but header over before poking an effort straight at Casillas inside the six-yard box before disaster struck for Italy. Four minutes after coming on Motta was stretched off with a hamstring injury leaving with only 10 men and an insurmountable task to claw back two goals. Torres then entered the fray for Spain and steered home their third before unselfishly setting up fellow substitute Mata in the dying stages to round off a performance worthy of champions.

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham admitted playing against his former side Manchester United on Wednesday was difficult.Beckham spent 10 years with the Old Trafford outfit and was an integral part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1999 Champions League winning side, before leaving England for stints at Real Madrid, AC Milan and now Los Angeles.

Beckham played for the MLS All Stars side which was thrashed 4-0 by United in a friendly on Wednesday, the first time he has played against his former side.

“It’s always going to be emotional coming up against Manchester United,” Beckham said. “It’s always difficult as well.”

“So obviously to play against Manchester United still with Sir Alex Ferguson as manager, still with some of the players that I played with and the fans I played in front of for many years – it’s emotional.”

Beckham also made special mention of Ferguson, singing the praises of the man who was so influential over the early years of his career.

“I had many years and many successful years playing for Manchester United and playing under Sir Alex Ferguson,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for him because he gave me a chance when I was 16, 17-years-old and he had the faith to give youngsters a chance so I owe him a lot.”

“He was a father figure to me for many years.”

Porto had to sweat but were able to maintain their eight-point buffer at the top of Portugal’s Liga Sagres, thanks to a 1-0 win over Beira-Mar on Saturday.

Brazilian striker Hulk converted a 35th-minute penalty at Estadio Municipal de Aveiro to record Porto’s 15th win in 17 games and preserve their unbeaten record in the league this campaign.

Second-placed Benfica – who loom as the only realistic threat to Porto’s title chase – beat Nacional 4-2 at Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica.

The hosts went ahead in the eighth minute when Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan scored, before Brazilian defender Sidnei doubled their lead after 20 minutes to give Benfica a 2-0 buffer at half-time.

Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo seemingly put the game out of reach when he scored six minutes after the break, but two goals within the space of ten minutes gave Nacional hope of nabbing a point.

Luis Alberto and Rene Mihelic scored in the 76th and 85th minutes respectively, only for Benfica’s Franco Jara to make sure of the result for the home side with his 89th-minute goal.

Vitoria Guimaraes won 3-2 at Rio Ave when Edgar Silva converted a 90th-minute penalty – his second goal of the game – to move his side to fourth place on the table.

Sporting Braga fought back from two goals down to draw with 10-man Vitoria Setubal 2-2.

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Naval de Maio’s Robin Previtali broke Portimonense hearts with a 90th-minute equaliser in their bottom-of-the-table clash, which finished 1-1.

Olhanense accounted for Academica 2-1 in a come-from-behind win, while Uniao de Leiria equalised in the final stages to force a 1-1 draw with Pacos de Ferreira.

Steven Gerrard feels England’s 1-0 win against tournament co-hosts Ukraine proves the team is slowly gaining momentum at Euro 2012 after qualifying for the knockout rounds with a headed goal from Wayne Rooney.

The England captain has played a pivotal role in galvanising his teammates to the summit of Group D and according to Sky Sports News is confident the much criticised national squad will continue to progress when facing Italy in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

“It was a difficult group and the idea was to try and win it. No-one believed in us at the start but we’re gaining momentum at the right time.

“I don’t think tonight’s performance was fantastic, but we stuck together, got the job done and won 1-0 against a good team.

“We’ve been criticised in the past maybe for not turning up, under-performing and we can take that, we’re man enough. But you saw a reaction.

“When you get criticised it’s not nice and you have to react by playing better and I think that’s what we did.”

Gerrard was careful not to underestimate the Italians and insisted England appreciate the challenge on offer. Despite avoiding an undesirable clash with World and European champions Spain, the squad understand that Roy Hodgson’s men will still have to play the best teams eventually if they harbour any hope of lifting the trophy.

“Italy are next, they’ve got match-winners and we have to give them respect.

“And if we do well in the next game we might play Spain again in the competition.”

Inter Milan boss Gian Piero Gasperini says Wesley Sneijder will play in the Italian Super Cup on Saturday.Sneijder has been linked with a big-money move to English Premier League champions Manchester United, but his new manager insists the Dutch midfielder will be in action when Inter battle with city rivals AC Milan at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing.

“He’s playing for us, training with us and he’ll play on Saturday,” Gasperini told reporters on Tuesday.

“There is no Sneijder problem.”

Gasperini also spoke of his move to Inter Milan, describing the his appointment to the Serie A giants as an ‘honour’.

Gasperini had been out of a job since leaving Serie A rivals Genoa in November 2010, and jumped at the opportunity when Inter came calling in June after the departure of Leonardo.

“The biggest difference between Genoa and Inter Milan is the latter has much bigger influence,” he said.

“For me, it is a huge step forward to coach Inter Milan, a team with huge influence. I think this is a great honour in my career.”

Inter will be without the likes of Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso for the match, but new capture Ricardo Alvarez is likely to feature.

The Argentine attacking midfielder – signed from Argentine Primera Division 2011 Clausura champions Velez Sarsfield – said he could not wait to be involved with his new teammates.

“I am very happy to be here in China for the game,” Alvarez said.

“I am pleased to be playing with my new teammates. This is a very important match for me and I hope we can win the title.”

It all kicked off in the world of Twitter last week. The first FA improper conduct charge related to the social networking site was handed out to Liverpool’s Ryan Babel and a couple of QPR players didn’t hold back in letting Blackburn’s El Hadji Diouf know their feelings towards him. So with Twitter becoming more popular amongst footballers and them seeing it as a chance to have their two pennies worth, is Twitter just a bit of fun or are players stepping over the line?

Let’s start with the Babel case. Babel posted a link to a mocked up picture of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt. While probably not the most sensible move, surely it was just a bit of fun and the FA giving him a fine is just showing how out of touch the organisation is with reality. Just because Babel is a footballer does it mean he doesn’t get a right to free speech? I’m sure Webb didn’t lose any sleep over it, it might have just encouraged him to put Babel in his book the next time the two of them meet!

PFA chief Gordon Taylor summed it up perfectly by saying “Where’s our sense of humour gone in our game?” Taylor went on to say “To my mind, and to most footballers’ minds, it is the same sort of stuff that flies about every weekend via mobile phones, but they are obviously taking a stance on it. I thought a warning would have been sufficient.” Let’s face it, referees get abuse shouted at them for 90 minutes every weekend, I’m sure one Tweet isn’t going to make a big difference.

Then there’s the Tweeting incident involving QPR. I want to start off by saying that El Hadji Diouf is one of the players I despise most in British football. By all accounts his behaviour in the FA Cup was disgraceful, but then that doesn’t surprise me. QPR manager Neil Warnock obviously doesn’t have a very high opinion of him, describing him as a “sewer rat” after his four-letter tirade to Jamie Mackie as he lay on the ground seriously injured.

On Twitter following the match QPR’s Bradley Orr posted “Never come across a more repulsive human being than E-H Diouf! The things he was saying were disgusting! The lad has just broken his leg! You horrible disgusting man E-H Diouf! Your time will come!” Maybe the last bit was a tad unnecessary. Goalkeeper Paddy Kenny added “That **** Diouf will get it one day, what goes around comes around.” I think maybe Diouf would do well to stay clear of the QPR players in the near future.

You can’t really blame the QPR players for venting their feelings towards Diouf in response to the despicable actions of the Senegalese striker. Maybe they would have been better off keeping their opinions of him to themselves, but then we wouldn’t get to follow an interesting Twitter account! I wonder what Twitter misconduct charge Babel would have been given if he said that about Mr Webb?

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Babel now says he’s in “Twitter Jail”, but is that where footballers should stay? I hope not because Twitter gives us an insight into what players are actually thinking, rather than the mundane cliché’s they come out with in post-match interviews. Does anyone know if Ian Holloway has a Twitter account? That would be well worth following, that’s for sure!

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Roy Hodgson is set to give Theo Walcott a starting jersey against Ukraine on Tuesday, as the Arsenal winger has been deemed fit to feature.

The Gunners attacker came off the bench against Sweden to score one goal and set up another in a 3-2 victory, but was a doubt for the decisive Group D game after picking up a hamstring strain.

However, with Walcott able to feature he may well start the match according to The Guardian.

Roy Hodgson is eager to avoid an early elimination and is expecting a tough game against the co-hosts.

“There have been plenty of surprises already in the tournament and we are not unaware that, with expectations building, we are starting to become the favourites in this match,” Hodgson said.

“But that doesn’t change anything. We have got a cup final and we will do the best to play as we have done in the previous two games. I have made it clear to the players that nothing other than that will be good enough.

“If we think this is going to be an easier game for some reason then we are fooling ourselves. The obvious pitfall would be you could be tempted into trying to shut up shop, to drop deeper and deeper and cling on to the result.

“If you sit back you give the initiative to the opposition, so don’t be surprised if they take it. Our aim must be to take the initiative.

“We would all be disappointed now if we had to take the plane home after this game. There would be an enormous disappointment and dissatisfaction. We believe we have done enough to go on but Holland thought they could and Russia thought they could, so it is naive to believe that, just because you think you are able to do, it will be enough.

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“We believe in ourselves and, in some ways ,it’s rather nice people back home are hoping and even believing we can do well, and we’re giving them something to dream about and cling on to,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has confirmed the club have agreed to a fee with Corinthians for the sale of Carlos Tevez.Speaking in Vancouver during City’s pre-season tour of the United States, Mancini would not confirm the size of the deal, but it is believed to be in excess of 40 million pounds.

Tevez has been pushing hard for a move away from the English Premier League since City’s FA Cup final victory over Stoke on May 14, citing a desire to be close to his daughters, who live with their mother in Argentina.

The striker’s former club Corinthians, where he played between 2004 and 2006, had their initial offer rejected last week, but the Brazilian outfit are now believed to have reached an agreement with City.

“We have an agreement with Corinthians but Carlos now is still a City player,” Mancini said.

Atletico Madrid forward Sergio Aguero is believed to City’s first choice to replace his Tevez, who finished last season as the club’s top scorer.