footballworld

Ryan Giggs is playing the best football of his 20-year stint in Manchester United's first team, according to Old Trafford legend Sir Bobby Charlton. The 37-year-old Giggs, who this month broke Charlton's record of 606 league appearances for United, signed a one-year contract extension in February. He has now played a total of 867 games for the club, winning 11 league titles. "Last year, I thought that was the best he had ever played but this year he's been even better," said Charlton. "I don't know what he's putting in his tea but he's been at his peak again this season. "He's a great, great professional footballer and I'm ever so proud of him for what he's done, what he's still doing and what hopefully he'll continue to do. "He's got a gift and he's a credit to the game." The Cardiff-born midfielder was 17 when he made his league debut as a substitute against Everton on 2 March, 1991. His first start and goal came two months later, when United beat Manchester City 1-0. It was during the next season that Giggs emerged as a first-team regular. 

He would finish the campaign with a League Cup winner's medal and the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Subsequent seasons have seen him accumulate more silverware than any player in English football history and only two months ago he was named United's greatest player in a poll conducted by the club's official magazine and website. Having started as an old-fashioned winger, he has adapted his game to play a more withdrawn role in Sir Alex Ferguson's midfield. His importance to the team, however, has not changed, a fact recognised by last month's new deal. When asked for the secret to his longevity as a player, Giggs has talked about his yoga regime and the decision he took in 2007 to retire from international football, finishing his Wales career with 64 caps.Pleas for him to reconsider have been a constant theme during the last four years and, if anything, have intensified ahead of England's visit to Cardiff on Saturday. But Giggs has resisted the temptation to face England - the country he played for as a schoolboy - although he offered to help new Wales manager Gary Speed in the build-up to the European qualifier. This has led to speculation about what he will do when his playing days are over (and Giggs has made no secret of the fact he is currently taking coaching courses), but there is no doubt about his short-term goals: United's pursuit of a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble. "I hope we can finish it off for Ryan," said Charlton, who scored 199 league goals for United between 1956 and 1973. "I saw him when he was 15 and he first came to the club. Since that time he's not been anything other than good news. "He's just fantastic to work with as a player, (Ferguson) has told me this many times. He's unique."

John Terry has hit back at the critics who slammed his reappointment as England captain by insisting he should never have been stripped of the armband in the first place. Terry has regained the leadership of Fabio Capello's team just over a year after the England coach deprived him of the honour following an alleged affair with the partner of team-mate Wayne Bridge and reports that he was exploiting the captaincy for financial gain. Capello's decision has been criticised in some quarters because it is felt Terry's distasteful activities off the pitch showed such a lack of respect for the captaincy that he should not have been given a second chance.

Much to Terry's consternation he has become regarded as one of the poster boys for everything that is wrong with English football and he could have gone some way to changing that perception with a contrite tone when he met the English media at the team's hotel ahead of Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales. Instead Terry insisted that, although he has made a concious effort to avoid negative headlines of late, he still felt he had been harshly treated by Capello last year. "Change my ways? That's a difficult word," Terry said. "When I spoke to Fabio, and we can't go into too much details, but when he knew the facts, he knew. "As I said to the manager at the time, I accepted their decision. It doesn't mean to say I agreed with it, and I never will. That's me being very proud and having been honest with them. "Over the last year I'd like to think I've personally kept my head down and done the right thing. "As we get older, we live and learn. We move on. As a man, as a player, we can see I've moved on, on and off the field."

Those accusations of making money off the back of his privileged position were also given short shrift by the Chelsea defender. "I've never cashed in. I'm not the best looking guy anyway, so people aren't going to want me spread all over the place. But I've never tried to cash in on the England captaincy," he said. Another black mark against Terry was a perceived attempt to destabilise Capello by publicly questioning him during the World Cup as revenge for taking away the captaincy. On that subject, Terry was ready to admit he had gone too far, but he was adamant he was just trying to do the best for his country. "I just wouldn't come out publicly and say what I said. It would stay in-house. That's what I learned from that," he said. "Looking back, certain things I shouldn't have said, but I can still hold my head up high. "Certainly. I wasn't trying to upset the apple cart, the squad, the manager. That's not me." With first-choice captain Rio Ferdinand too often injured and Steven Gerrard regarded by Capello as too timid a leader to galvanise the squad, the Italian has taken the substantial gamble of giving Terry a second chance. However, he made such a mess of switching the armband that the situation reached farcical levels as Capello sat in the same directors' box as Ferdinand without being able to talk to him. That led to claims of an England dressing room potentially divided into factions supporting both players, but Terry tried to head off those disruptive suggestions as he invited team-mates to approach him in person if they had any grievances. "Anyone who's been around the squad for five or 10 games, I'd feel they should have the confidence to say what they feel," Terry said. "I don't want to get into too much detail about 'moving on', but it's a massive thing for me today. The emotion is quite overwhelming. "I had the worst night's sleep ever, actually. I was pretty nervous to be honest. "Coming out and having to deal with the questions and stuff like that. It was like the first day back at school really. An intimidating thing, even though I've been in this position many times before. "The England captaincy comes with a responsibility. I totally understand that but it's just so important for me to have it back now and to concentrate on the right things."

West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green made a series of fine saves to help West Ham earn a 0-0 draw against London rivals Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Green was in unbeatable form and saved his best moment until the final minutes when he tipped Gareth Bale's free-kick onto the crossbar. The England international's man-of-the-match display ensured Avram Grant's side overcame waves of Tottenham pressure and moved out of the relegation zone ahead of Saturday's 1500GMT matches. Spurs were handed a tough task when they were pitted against Real Madrid in Friday's draw for the Champions League quarter-finals. But their focus was on this London derby as they tried to close the three-point gap on Chelsea in the race for a top-four finish. Make no mistake, there is no love lost between these two sides. There is a deep-rooted rivalry that has only intensified following the battle for the Olympic Stadium. Tottenham and West Ham both launched bids for the stadium in Stratford and the latter were successful. West Ham arrived at White Hart Lane in their best form of the season. Wins over Liverpool and Stoke in the Premier League have improved their chancaes of beating relegation.

Big-spending English giants Manchester City, Liverpool and Rangers crashed out of the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday to end Britain's interest in the competition. Roberto Mancini's City side, bank-rolled from Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mansour's £500 million investment, beat Dynamo Kiev 1-0 at Eastlands but bowed out 2-1 on aggregate. At Anfield a lacklustre Liverpool eked out a goalless draw with Sporting Braga to put the plucky Portuguese side through 1-0 on aggregate. Scottish giants Rangers, the finalists of the then UEFA Cup in 2008, had been in a strong position after coming away from their first leg at PSV Eindhoven with a scoreless stalemate. But a 13th minute goal from Jermain Lens meant it was the Dutch visitors rather than Rangers whose name went into Friday's draw. Joining PSV, Dynamo and Braga in the last eight were Benfica, FC Twente, Spartak Moscow, FC Porto, Villarreal. In Manchester, City were cut to 10 men in the 37th minute after Italian Mario Balotelli was shown a straight red for a dreadful, high one-footed lunge at Goran Popov in a bad-tempered clash that also saw seven yellow cards brandished. But the home side rebounded immediately after Balotelli's rash challenge through Aleksandar Kolarov, the Serb scoring from an indirect free-kick through a congested area. Over at Anfield, Liverpool striker Andy Carroll made his first start since his £35 million move from Newcastle in January. But Kenny Dalglish's men failed to find their spark against Braga who were progressing to the last eight of a European competition for the first time in their history.

Liverpool's sorry tally of only one goal in their last five Europa run-outs ultimately cost them dear. PSV qualified when catching Rangers on the break, with Lens sliding home Balazs Dzsudzsak's cross from the left.PSG went out 3-2 to Portugual's Benfica after the two teams finished 1-1 on the night. Nicolas Gaitan bagged that all-important away goal for the Lisbon-based club in the 27th minute, an ambitious left-footed shot swerving past the static Apoula Edel in goal.PSG responded eight minutes later, Mathieu Bodmer sending in a screamer of a right-foot volley into the corner of the net, but the Portuguese side held out. In Moscow, Spartak wrapped up a comprehensive 4-0 aggregate victory over toothless Ajax, the Russians winning 3-0 on the night courtesy of goals from Dmitri Kombarov, and Brazilian duo Welliton and Alex. There was no such luck for Spartak's domestic rivals Zenit St-Petersburg, whose 2-0 defeat of Dutch side FC Twente was not enough to overhaul a first-leg 3-0 deficit. And another Russian club, CSKA Moscow, lost 2-1 at FC Porto to go out 3-1 on aggregate, while Villarreal beat Bayer Leverkusen by the same scoreline to qualify 5-3 over the two legs.

Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League quarterfinals despite wasting a host of chances in Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Copenhagen in the last 16 second leg match at Stamford Bridge. Carlo Ancelotti's side went through 2-0 on aggregate and their first leg victory in Denmark meant they were never likely to rue some woeful finishing. But far sterner tests lie in wait on the road to Wembley and there will have to be a significant improvement if the Blues are to reach the final. After three successive wins, Ancelotti must be concerned that his team returned to the kind of flawed display that has been the hallmark of Chelsea's inconsistent campaign. Nicolas Anelka's brace in the first leg had put Chelsea within touching distance of the last eight and Ancelotti clearly felt the job was all but done as he left Fernando Torres, Michael Essien and Florent Malouda on the bench. Chelsea had lost just one of their previous 25 home matches in the Champions League, so it was hardly surprising that Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken admitted his side would need a miracle to go through. The only miracle in the first half was how Chelsea failed to put the tie completely beyond Copenhagen's reach.

Fabio Capello's move to reappoint John Terry as England skipper in place of Rio Ferdinand was given a resounding endorsement from the Chelsea fans who hailed their defender with chants of "there's only one England captain". But Terry had few chances to show his leadership qualities as Copenhagen's bright pink shirts left more of an impression than the players wearing it. Ancelotti's side created and then squandered chances from the start, with Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole both shooting wide when they should have at least tested Copenhagen goalkeeper Johan Wiland. Yuri Zhirkov had an even better chance to open the scoring after Didier Drogba's clever back-heel and Cole's pass carved open the Copenhagen defence, but the Russian winger curled his shot wide. Zhirkov almost made amends when he collected Ramires's sublime cross-field pass and slipped a perfectly weighted ball through to Anelka, whose shot lacked the power to beat Wiland from a tight angle. After spending 25 minutes penned into their own half, Copenhagen were agonisingly close to taking a shock lead when Dame N'Doye's whipped free-kick caught Petr Cech moving the wrong way and cannoned to safety off a post. The Danish defence was pierced moments later but Zhirkov was having a night to forget in front of goal and he was off-target from close-range after Anelka crossed from the touch-line.

Drogba fared little better when the Ivorian volleyed wide from Jose Bosingwa's deep cross early in the second half. John Obi Mikel had Chelsea's closest effort when he hit the crossbar after Terry and Anelka flicked on Lampard's corner. But Chelsea's profligacy spread to Anelka, who was twice played in by Drogba, only to dwell on the ball and give Copenhagen time to clear the danger. Torres, who had failed to score in five appearances since his £50 million move from Liverpool, was finally sent on to replace Anelka with 20 minutes to play. The Spaniard nearly made an immediate impact with a deflected shot that looped just wide.Torres also burst into the penalty area and forced Wiland into action with a rising drive, but his wait for a goal continues.

Real Madrid put their recent European woes behind them to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2004 with a comfortable 3-0 win over Lyon on Wednesday. Real Madrid had crashed out at the last 16 stage of the Champions League for six successive seasons, but new coach Jose Mourinho brought an end to that jinx. Goals from Marcelo, Karim Benzema and Angel di Maria secured victory as Madrid progressed 4-1 on aggregate. Brazilian full-back Marcelo scored his first Champions League goal on 37 minutes to break the deadlock, before Benzema netted his sixth goal of the competition on 65 minutes against his hometown club. Argentine Angel di Maria added a third on 76 minutes as Real took revenge on Lyon, who defeated them at this stage last season, and keep alive their hopes of a first Champions League title since 2002. Mourinho, who won the trophy with Inter Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu last season, is looking to provide Real with their 10th European Cup and make history by becoming the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs. "We did what the manager wanted and went out to win the game," said Marcelo. "This victory gives us a lot of confidence and we owed it to the Madrid fans. We are not thinking about who we could get in the next round. We will just wait for the draw and see." Real welcomed back top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo from injury -- the Portuguese star having missed the last two league games with a thigh problem and the world's most expensive player was thrust into the starting line-up.

Lyon had never lost in their three Champions League trips to the Bernabeu but the French visitors knew they would have to score in the Spanish capital after the 1-1 draw in the first leg. Lyon welcomed back striker Lisandro Lopez and Brazilian captain Cris shrugged off a knock to start. Ronaldo tried his luck with a long range free-kick early on but his effort sailed over the crossbar. With four minutes gone Real almost scored but goalkeeper Hugo Lloris raced out to thwart German international Mesut Ozil, who had timed his run to perfection. On 21 minutes Madrid got a real scare when Argentine Cesar Delgado curled a shot towards the bottom-right corner but goalkeeper Iker Casillas got down to palm away. Real responded by upping their game and took the lead on 37 minutes thanks to a fine individual goal from Marcelo. The Brazilian exchanged passes with Ronaldo before surging into the area, cutting back onto his left foot and firing in a shot that deflected off Lloris on its way in. The relief was tangible and Benzema, in fine form with six goals in his last three league outings, was denied by Lloris four minutes later after latching onto a Marcelo cross. Benzema had the ball in the net 60 seconds later with a fine header but was flagged offside. Coach Claude Puel threw on striker Bafetimbi Gomis to give his side more firepower, but it was the hosts who looked the more dangerous, especially from set-pieces. Benzema had a penalty appeal turned down on 63 minutes but shrugged off the disappointment to score three minutes later. A defensive mix-up allowed Benzema a free run on goal and the Frenchman slotted home for his sixth goal in the competition this term.Lyon sensed the game was up and winger Angel di Maria went clean through on goal in the 76th minute before producing a neat chipped finish to complete the scoring.