FC Internazionale Milano coach Roberto Mancini is hoping his strikers can return to prominence when the Italian side welcome Villarreal CF to the Giuseppe Meazza for their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg.

Inter have failed to score just twice in all competitions in 2006 but none of their forwards have managed to hit their [...]

 
Olympique Lyonnais coach Gérard Houllier believes "two or three moments of individual brilliance" will decide Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final against AC Milan - and is calling on his players to raise their game in order to compensate for the loss of Juninho Pernambucano.

The Brazilian playmaker, so often Lyon’s inspiration this season, [...]

 
Arsenal FC manager Arsène Wenger hopes the club’s former captain Patrick Vieira will be afforded a warm welcome on his return to London but is keen to ensure his players remain focused on the task in hand as they take on Juventus in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

Vieira left London last summer to [...]

 
SL Benfica and FC Barcelona meet in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals as the title-holders of Portugal and Spain; but as far as the coaches go, it is a Dutch rather than Iberian affair.

Ronald Koeman - himself a European Champion Clubs’ Cup winner with Barcelona - leads Benfica, [...]

 
Eight teams, one dream. The race for Europe’s club title has reached its quarter-final stage, with the reduced field showing five former and three wannabe champions.

Arsenal FC, Villarreal CF and Olympique Lyonnais comprise the latter section, and it is the English side who are in action first with Tuesday’s first-leg visit of Juventus [...]

 
Arsene Wenger insists Patrick Vieira had to be sold to clear the way for the next Arsenal generation.
The Gunners banked £13.7million for Vieira last summer and it looked like a mistake as they slipped down the Barclays Premiership table.
But the Arsenal boss does not regret the transfer because youngsters like Cesc Fabregas have given him [...]

 
Spanish multi-millionaire Juan Villalonga has big plans for the future of Liverpool as a "global force".
The Reds have already acquired a significant Spanish influence on and off the pitch, with manager Rafael Benitez directing the likes of star players Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia.
But latest reports suggest the possibility of a major financial stake-holding from [...]

 
Manchester United may be in sparkling form going forward just now. But it is at the back where Gary Neville reckons their true title credentials will emerge.
Sunday’s 3-0 hammering of Birmingham means a victory over West Ham on Wednesday would see United record seven Barclays Premiership wins on the trot - a sequence not achieved [...]

 
Didier Drogba’s diving admission has provoked a mixed response, with the Chelsea striker receiving unlikely backing from Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Drogba, 28, had been criticised for going to ground too easily, and players’ chief Gordon Taylor suggested he needs to eradicate this element from his game.
Despite revealing "sometimes I dive, sometimes I stand up" after [...]

 
Andriy Shevchenko insists he wants to stay at AC Milan for the rest of his career and is not interested in a move to Chelsea.
The Ukraine star is one of Roman Abramovich’s top transfer targets and the Blues owner is desperate to acquire his services to boost their quest for Champions League glory next season.
But [...]