Marcello Lippi, the only manager to have won the World Cup and
European Cup, yesterday said that he would be cheering for Arsenal
as the latter competition unfolded.
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The Premier League leaders are among four English sides, along
with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, awaiting their fate
in today's quarter-final draw, a quartet, said Lippi, everyone
would be trying to avoid.
"Any of the four could win the Champions League, but at this
moment the way Arsenal play is the one I like best. It would be
good for football if Arsenal could win. They play on the ground,
they manoeuvre the ball, very, very well. It's very fast and very
technical."
Lippi's verdict may come as a surprise to Sir Alex Ferguson, a
long-time friend of the former Italian manager. Lippi did add:
"Manchester United play great, great football and Alex Ferguson is
the type of manager able to renew his team, and, every four to five
years, to bring it back to an excellent level of top-class
football."
Ferguson, incidentally, is a lone dissenting voice among the
English clubs in enthusing at the prospect of an all-Premier League
tie. With no seeding or country protection in the midday draw, to
be made in Nyon, Switzerland, an all-English tie looks probable.
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, and the Liverpool and Chelsea
players Steven Gerrard and John Terry all said they wished to draw
foreign opponents, but Ferguson said: "We will relish the chance to
face another English team in the quarter-finals."
Manchester United are unique among the Premier League clubs in
not having faced domestic opponents in the Champions League before.
Chelsea and Arsenal met in the quarter-finals in 2004, with Chelsea
winning. Chelsea and Liverpool have met three times, twice in the
knockout stages, with Liverpool winning both times. The other
qualifiers are Barcelona, Roma, Schalke and Fenerbahce.
Lippi, who reached four European finals with Juventus, winning
in 1996, added: "When I won it, it was the last year of the
European Cup [when only domestic champions entered]. Then it became
the Champions League and now it's possible that even a team that
has finished fourth can win it. It was more beautiful, more
significant when it was the European Cup."
* The France striker Karim Benzema, who had been linked with a
move to Old Trafford, has extended his Lyons contract until 2013.
"It is out of the question to leave now. I want to continue to
improve here," he said.