A big Champions League game on Sky tonight.
This morning I’m thinking about Pato and Rooney
Pato might be the Brazilian who rocks Man United, rather than Ronaldinho.
New Milan coach Leonardo is doing well and if anybody knows how to coach Pato, it’s him.
Frankly, I don’t know much about Pato except that I rate him. He’s 21 and fit again and might have got over the shock of losing Kaka, his best mate. He seems to be a balanced, brainy striker who could elude Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans for five seconds in a 94-minute match. Vidic is not fit yet and Sir Alex is seething about that.
Ronaldinho can’t run these days but his shots, passes and crosses are pinpoint. He has retained his skill, vision and strength. Ronaldinho can still create and kill.
Don’t expect too much tonight because all first legs are cagey these days.
Champions League coaches don’t want to concede an away goal, so they do not want to risk too much in a 180-minute contest which will probably be decided in the last 20 or 30 minutes of the 180.
All the coaches want to have an edge, or at least parity, going into that last 20 or 30.
The Round of 16 games are now spread over a month and the first legs might not provide any answers. But I’ll be happy enough if, for each of the eight first legs, the games supply the questions that we need to ask before the second leg.
Before big games the Milan players sleep at the training camp. They have a tradition to uphold and the club has never lost to Manchester United in this competition.
People now expect a helluva lot from Wayne Rooney and Fabio Capello is there to see how Beckham and Rooney perform.
It’s nice that Rooney has blossomed this season. He doesn’t have a good partner at United, or a good partner for England, which are two big handicaps, but he’s playing very well and scoring lots of goals and making the most of the enlarged role he has been given since Cristiano Ronaldo was sold for £80 million. Manchester United know they might play Real Madrid in a later round.
Last week I said that Wayne Rooney really likes other footballers, that he feels affectionate towards them. He loves playing the game but also likes watching it, which many pros don’t.
This week Wayne said, “Milan have a number of players who can score goals, particularly from set pieces, so I think we’ll have to be wary of that. They have Pirlo and Becks… some great players. Ronaldinho is a special player, too. He’s unbelievable when he’s on form. I saw recently that he was voted Player of the Decade, so that shows how much of a talent he is. We’ll need to be at our best to beat them.”
Rooney recently said that Clarence Seedorf is an amazing footballer.
“For me Seedorf is probably the best player I’ve ever played against. When we played Milan at the San Siro a few years ago, he was unbelievable.”
Remember that Seedorf is not an especially eye-catching player. Most of what he does is subtle craftsmanship that only a connoisseur would appreciate.
Rooney is 24 and a proper working class hero whose biggest fans are Sun readers.
He is one of them. He is at the right club with the right manager. Sir Alex has said Wayne can have only four sponsors and he has to approve them. That is wise. Rooney is sponsored by Nike, Coca Cola, Asda and another firm.
The facts that emerged from the court case are quite interesting. They showed that nobody has tried to change Rooney or attempted to make him more sophisticated as he gets older.
Wayne Rooney is the young prince of the proles. He is what he is, a street footballer who is so talented that he plays for the most successful club in the world.
Last week Manchester Mercantile Court heard that back in 2003, when his agent Paul Stretford worked at Proactive, Rooney, then 17, was to be “branded” with an image which played up his working-class street credentials.
His QC, Ian Mill, reading from internal Proactive documents, said the brand strategy was: “Wayne is a streetfighter, a product of the terraces, the antithesis of DB [David Beckham]. He’s earthy, real, not manufactured, what you see is what you get.” The QC was corrected by the judge, who said that “streetfighter” should read “street striker”.
Stretford left Proactive, who claim £4.3 million in unpaid commission.
2010 has just started and it’s a testing year for Rooney, a year of big challenges.
Tonight is a big test for England’s finest footballer. I like him and wish him well.
He’s a national treasure and not as vulnerable as Gazza was.
Update 3pm : Big news on Arsenal regeneration project.