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London : Despite putting on a brave face in their high-stakes battle to keep Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford, Manchester United are making a contingency plan in the burly form of Germany and Bayern Munich winger Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Sir Alex Ferguson is preparing a £12 million bid for the German in the event that Ronaldo leaves the club to join Real Madrid, according to Sunday newspaper reports.
News of Manchester United’s interest will disappoint Chelsea with the West London club also preparing a bid for the 23-year-old who is in the last year of his contract with Bayern and has attracted considerable attention from Premier League clubs after stating his interest in moving to England.
“England does have a good appeal, as it is one of the world’s best leagues and I have heard all about it from Michael (Ballack), Jens Lehmann and Thomas Hitzlsperger who have all played there,” Schweinsteiger said. “I’ve always wanted to play there and we’ll see if it happens this year.”
Increasing interest
Vienna: Austrian and Swiss soccer officials said on Sunday they were confident that Euro 2008 would bring a long-term boost to local interest in the sport despite the early exit of both co-host teams.
Speaking at a news conference, the presidents of the two national football associations said the performance of the home sides and some bad weather had been the tournament’s only negative points.
“From the Swiss point of view, we are of course not satisfied with the performance of the national team,” said Swiss FA president Ralph Zloczower whose team were eliminated after just two games, five days into the June 7-29 event.
“We had the target of reaching at least the quarter final and we didn’t make it. But interest remained high throughout the tournament and the atmosphere in the fanzones could not have been better.”
The decision to award Euro 2008 to Switzerland and Austria attracted some criticism based on the two countries’ relative lack of profile as footballing nations.
Austrian FA president Friedrich Stickler said on Sunday that his country's reputation for being interested only in Alpine skiing was exaggerated.
Majestic presence
Vienna: The king and queen of Spain will be rubbing shoulders with Hollywood actor Harrison Ford and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in the VIP seats in the final.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were included on a list of special guests distributed by Uefa. The German delegation is headed by the country’s chancellor Angela Merkel who has been a regular attendee of matches throughout the tournament.
Ford, Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo and Jamaican reggae artist Shaggy, singer of the tournament’s two mascot songs, are among the invited guests from the entertainment industry.
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