Liverpool's Xabi Alonso on way to Juventus

Liverpool's Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso appears to be on his way from Merseyside after his agent Inaki Ibanez spent five hours in negotiations in Italy.

Alonso, 26, whose appearances in a Liverpool shirt have been limited this season after the arrival of Argentine Javier Mascherano, looks likely to join Juventus in a £16 million deal.

Claudio Ranieri's side are thought to be offering the Spaniard a four-year deal, although they are known to be reluctant to meet Liverpool's price despite both clubs being keen to finalise a deal.

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said: "We can't deny our interest.

"But it's important we get value for money.

"Managing director Jean-Claude Blanc is working on this and on other possibilities."

Rafael Benitez is known to be eager to complete Alonso's move so he can concentrate his efforts on capturing the signature of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry.

The Basque footballer was Benitez's first signing at Anfield four years ago in a £10.5 million transfer from Real Sociedad.

Alonso has scored 12 goals in 136 appearances for Liverpool, and played in their remarkable Champions League final comeback against AC Milan in 2005, scoring the third goal, after missing from the penalty spot.

Juventus have also been linked with Frank Lampard, Werder Bremen's Diego and Chelsea target Rafael Van der Vaart.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/

Champions League

The Champions League contains 32 teams in the group stage, and is be preceded by three qualifying stages. The champions of all countries enter the Champions League, but high ranked countries can send up to 4 teams. Some teams of high ranked countries are directly qualified for the group stage, while others have to play qualifying rounds. See wikipedia for more general info.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
1st Qualifying Round	July	30 champions from countries ranked 23 or lower
2nd Qualifying Round	Jul-Aug	involving 28 teams: 15 winners from 1st qualifying round 7 champions from countries ranked 16-22 6 second-placed teams from countries ranked 10-15
3rd Qualifying Round	August	involving 32 teams: 14 winners from 2nd qualifying round 6 champions from countries ranked 10-15 3 second-placed teams from countries ranked 7-9 6 third-placed teams from countries ranked 1-6 3 fourth-placed teams from countries ranked 1-3
Group Stage	Sep-Dec	involving 8 groups of 4 teams each: 16 winners from 3rd qualifying round 9 champions from countries ranked 1-9 6 second-placed teams from countries ranked 1-6 1 defending cup holder
Play-offs	Feb-May	involving 16 teams: 8 group second-placed teams and 8 winners from group stage play the 2nd round, the quarter finals, the semi finals, and the final

Losing teams in the 3rd qualifying round enter the 1st round of the UEFA Cup, and third-placed teams from the group stage enter the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup.

The defending Champions league cup-holder always takes part. If the defending cup-holder does not finish in a qualifying place in their domestic competition they will come in at the expense of the last-placed side of that association, except for associations ranked 16 or below (which implies that the champion of each country always takes part). In this case the last-placed team for the Champions League of that association has to take part in the UEFA Cup. Only if the defending Champions league cup-holder also did not qualify for the UEFA Cup this will lead to an additional UEFA Cup berth for that association.

If the defending cup holder already qualified directly for the group stage of the Champions League, the champion of the 10th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the group stage, the champion of the 16th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 3rd qualifying round, and the champions of the 23th and 24th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 2nd qualifying round. Similar changes are made if the cup holder already qualified directly for one of the qualification rounds.

If in the group stage of the Champions League two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria are applied to determine the group rankings:

1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question
2. Superior goal difference from the matches between the teams in question
3. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches between the teams in question
4. Superior goal difference from all group matches played
5. Higher number of goals scored
6. Coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons (Team Ranking)

See the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League 2007/2008 (pdf file of 480 kB at uefa.com) for a complete and formal description of all regulations.

Source : http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/

Inter seek to clinch Serie A title

Inter Milan are hoping to avoid another embarrassing collapse when they seek to finish the season as Serie A champions at Parma on Sunday.

Six years on from the debacle in which Nerazzurri blew a huge lead at the end of the campaign to hand the title to Juventus, Inter will attempt for the third successive week to win a match and clinch the scudetto. "We still have a one-point advantage over Roma," said Inter coach Roberto Mancini. "We cannot make any dramas, this is football and we have to now focus on clinching a victory at Parma." Mancini's side enjoyed a sizeable lead earlier this year but a recent drop in form allowed Roma to claw their way back into contention. Inter still looked to be in command with three rounds remaining but a defeat in the Milan derby and a 2-2 draw at the San Siro against Siena means the title will go down to the wire. If Mancini's team fail to win their third straight scudetto, the draw with Siena will go down as one of the darkest moments in club history. Italian defender Marco Materazzi failed to convert from the penalty spot after refusing spot-kick specialist Julio Cruz the chance to convert the attempt himself. Materazzi is hoping more than anyone that his gaffe does not cost his team the scudetto. "We need to bounce back and think about the next game which will be a final," said Materazzi. "I will try to make the difference." The Gialloblu will be tough opponents because they need to win to have a chance of avoiding relegation. For them to stay up Parma need second-placed Roma to triumph at Catania. Should both Parma and Roma win, Inter will have a true nightmare finish to their season. Claudio Ranieri's Juventus, who meet Sampdoria on Saturday, have already assured themselves a third-place finish but who will join them in the Champions League qualifying round is still to be decided. AC Milan and Fiorentina go into the final game fighting to finish in the top four. Fifth-placed Milan must win against Udinese and hope Fiorentina fail to come out triumphant at Torino. Fiorentina hold a two-point lead over the Rossoneri but know that if they finish level on points with the Rossoneri, it will be Milan and not them to claim the fourth spot as their rivals have a better head-to-head against the Viola. Genoa will be eager to beat Atalanta in Bergamo in the hope of leapfrogging Napoli in the standings to finish seventh. Napoli face a challenge when they travel to the Eternal City to meet Lazio. Sunday's game at the Sant' Elia between Cagliari and Reggina will be a celebration with both sides having guaranteed themselves top flight football next season. In-form Siena will have an added motivation to take a positive result against Palermo as they are one point away from beating the club's Serie A record of 43 points. In a battle to avoid the drop, Empoli take on relegated Livorno knowing that a win coupled with a defeat for Catania would mean they avoid relegation.
Source : http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,3033_3572575,00.html

Referee on EURO 2008 have to be more be fair

As highest authority of Europe football, UEFA very hoping of referee to undertake in Euro 2008 can give or obtain cash for their duty better. For they, considered to be by black clothes corps referee is 17th contestant of EURO 2008. So, they give the stock enough to them. In workshop on Regensdorf they got six item of instruction. Between that six instruction, UEFA command the referee to immediately to give the red card to collision ossify which can cause to serious injure, and hope the player and official can accept the referee decision. Collision Player which got away from referee perception also will be given dubious. UEFA will use the evidence of video record utilize to give dubious. Include coach and official.

UEFA do not only merely giving instruction without supply big payment. Besides boosting up its 60 salary gratuity, the referee also will get the payment 10 thousand euro of every match. Referee assistant will accept 5 thousand euro. Fifth and Fourth referee will get 4 thousand and 3 thousand euro. Also, they get bonus. The bonus is watch for them. Watch produced by Hublot is exclusive, cause is only passed to the referee and referee assistant on EURO 2008.