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Ronaldinho insists AC Milan know how to stop Wayne Rooney and end Manchester United’s Champions League hopes.

Rooney was superb during the first leg of the last-16 tie in Milan, scoring twice as United earned a 3-2 advantage to protect at Old Trafford.

But Brazil legend Ronaldinho is not expecting a repeat performance from the England star who has 28 goals in all competitions this season. @Dailymail

Gonzalo Higuain admits he is hoping to fulfil a lifelong dream by claiming the World Cup golden boot.

The Argentine frontman is, injury permitting, guaranteed to be part of his country’s plans in South Africa this summer.

A big-money move to Real Madrid in 2007 offered him a route into European football and he has matured into a world class forward during his time at Santiago Bernabeu.

He hopes that impressive development will culminate in global glory this year, with him leading from the front as he fires Diego Maradona’s side to victory. @Sky Sports

Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed reports that Manchester United’s ‘anti-Glazer’ faction will disrupt the club’s Champions League clash with AC Milan at Old Trafford on Wednesday, insisting he is confident supporters will unite to cheer on his players.

It has been a notable few days in the battle for United ownership, with Ferguson furiously denying he had expressed a willingness to join the ‘Red Knights’ if they were to wrest control of the club out of the hands of the current American owners, who they feel have burdened Old Trafford with far too much debt. @ESPN

Back in the days when his peerless prose used to light up the Observer, Clive James used to say that whenever Jane Fonda came out and said something with which he agreed, it made him stop and think in order to re-evaluate his position.

Most people feel the same way about Sepp Blatter. It is easy to laugh at the Fifa president, who often seems deliberately to cultivate an air of the eccentric, and even easier to assume he and his organisation are always in the wrong, pontificating as they do from their Swiss mountain top about what goes on in the distant valley below. @Guardian

Perhaps it was Spanish national team coach Vicente del Bosque who put it best before Spain’s friendly match against France last week when he warned, “football can be cruel to those who think they are better”.

While Real Madrid’s illustrious history in Europe makes the club one of the world’s greatest and most successful, it can also serve as an Achilles heel as a prestigious history can breed overconfidence and hubris. If Los Blancos are to be successful in the Champions League this season, they must remember that reputations mean nothing on the football pitch and that they must fight for the elusive 10th European crown, affectionately and often times obsessively refereed to as La Decima in the Spanish capital, as if it were their first. @Goal

Bayern Munich boss Louis van Gaal has admitted that he has no idea whether star winger Franck Ribery will remain with the Bavarian giants.

The France international future is yet to be sorted out with speculation suggesting he is set to be on his way out of Allianz Arena in the summer, with a host of clubs waiting to secure his services.

Bayern have admitted that they will sell if Ribery fails to sign a new deal by the end of the season, while the player has refused to reveal his long-term plans. @Soccerway

‘Comeback King’ David Beckham could be forgiven for wandering into the wrong dressing room in tonight’s crunch encounter. United’s former midfield ace has been back to Old Trafford many times playing for England but he’ll lace up those pricey boots in the away changing room in what could quite possibly be his last ever Champions League appearance.

Defying history is a Becks specialty as he’s proved time and time again by returning to play for his country after being discarded by Steve McClaren and doing likewise for Real Madrid under Fabio Capello. With his 35th birthday just around the corner and a World Cup on the horizon he’ll be fired up to put one over his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson. Let’s just hope no boots go flying. @Goal

The two highest scorers in the Spanish League will both be on the Camp Nou pitch this Sunday. Leo Messi, with 19 goals, and David Villa, with 17, are the two main candidates to lift the ‘pichichi’ trophy at the end of the season.

Messi is currently leading the ranking of goal scorers in La Liga with a two-goal advantage over Valencia’s David Villa. In addition, Messi has a superior percentage of chances converted into goals. He scores from 19% of his shots while for Villa it’s 17%. Messi has played 22 league matches, 19 in the starting eleven and 3 coming on off the bench. Villa has played 24 league matches, all of them from the starting line-up. @Barca

Chelsea have reopened negotiations with Nicolas Anelka over a contract extension which would see the France international stay at Stamford Bridge until 2013.

Discussions with Anelka’s representatives stalled last month over his desire for a £40,000-a-week pay hike which would take his weekly earnings to £120,000.

With chief executive Ron Gourlay under instructions to reduce outgoings, a compromise figure will still have to be reached if Anelka is to stay beyond the summer of 2012 when his contract expires. @Dailymail

Forget, for now, about the Red Knights. This promises to be a memorable red night.

Manchester United versus AC Milan. Perhaps when Europe’s leading clubs got together to turn the old European Cup into the Champions League, fixtures like this were what they had in mind.

We are still three steps from the final in Madrid but – after the mundanity of the group stages – this is a fixture dripping in sex appeal.

Two teams blessed with talent yet hindered by equally clear flaws. An ageing, master manager against one of the new breed. And, of course, the return home of one of Europe’s most revered footballers. @Dailymail