Fabien Barthez: will he be remembered as an eccentric genius, or as just plain eccentric?

The former France keeper looks to have played his last game after he was attacked in his car by drunken supporters on Saturday, and ended up punching one of them. It happened after Nantes lost 2-0 to Stade Rennes, a result meaning the eight-times champions will almost certainly be relegated for the first time after a record 44 consecutive years in the top flight.

The next day, Barthez handed back the keys to his Nantes home and drove off for good. He’s 35 and a flamboyant career marred by controversy looks all over.

Some French fans would forgive him anything, as they remember the fantastic saves that helped France become world champions for the first time in 1998.

Others will have a less kind view. This is a man who was suspended for five months for spitting at a referee in 2005, and never apologised. The list of his recent antics includes hurting a team mate with a dangerous tackle in training and saying afterwards he had had fun.

What did Barthez have in mind when he decided just before Christmas to come out of retirement to help Nantes in their relegation struggle? He was probably missing a game he truly loves but soon enough he was making embarrassing blunders reminiscent of his worst days at United.

Then came trouble with his team mates. An individualist, which I suppose you have to be, up to a point, when you’re a goalkeeper, he never won acceptance from the rest of the team. And the atmosphere, already bad before he came along, reportedly became rotten.

Now Barthez is gone and Nantes are getting ready for Ligue 2. “When we see our Beaujoire stadium three-quarters empty next season, it’s going to hurt”, a distraught Nantes fan said. At least the Canaries might have a more reliable, if less recognisable, goalkeeper.

Patrick Vignal is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Paris

Where’s been the best place to watch football this season? The Leagues in England, Spain and Italy have the lion’s share of the money, almost all the best known players and, between them, seven of the eight semi-finalists in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

But from the point of view of the fans there are other, more modest leagues with competing claims. Below, I set out a case for the Bundesliga, while soccer editor Mike Collett says you have to dig a bit deeper to find the real drama in England.

What do you think? Where do you get the best combination of quality and excitement? Where do the fans get the best deal? Read the two pieces and let us know what you think in the comments section on this post.

The idea struck me again this weekend as a nail-biting title race grew ever more tense, with defeats for Schalke and Werder Bremen seeing Stuttgart sneak up to second with three games to go.

Germany’s league seems like a paradise for fans, with highly competitive, attacking football played in front of packed crowds at some of the world’s best stadiums, and with tickets still priced sensibly (look at what Schalke are charging, for example).

The ratio of goals per game is consistently higher than in the other big leagues and the national team plays with real panache. Only the stale form of Bayern Munich has been disappointing, although, as Erik Kirschbaum wrote last week, a lot of people see that as the best news of all.

There are no galacticos here — and how Bayern have missed the only one they did have, Michael Ballack — but there are plenty of classy players, including Dutch playmaker Rafael van der Vaart and eye-catching Brazilians like Diego and Lucio, not to mention most of Germany’s World Cup squad.

Germany has been left behind by England, Italy and Spain, where TV revenues dwarf what the Bundesliga brings in. The fans here will have to watch the Champions League semi-finals on TV this week but if that’s the trade-off for such an enjoyable domestic experience is it such a bad deal?

Kevin Fylan, Berlin

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While the Premier League boasts some of the world’s greatest players, displaying their superlative skills in state-of-the-art stadiums, the really dramatic title chase in England this season has been elsewhere.

The Premier League has been a two-horse race all season between Manchester United and Chelsea, while Liverpool and Arsenal have been either third or fourth since December. In fact, only seven clubs have finished in the top four of the Premier League over the last 11 seasons — this season’s top quartet plus Newcastle United, Everton and Leeds United.

That predictability is nowhere to be found in Division Two — currently known as the Coca-Cola Championship, but still the Second Division to the purists.

Cardiff City, Preston North End, Derby County, Sunderland, and Birmingham City have all led the league at some stage — while Leeds, English champions in 1969 and 1974, European Cup runners-up in 1975 and Champions League semi-finalists in 2001, are about to be relegated to the third division for the first time in their history, along with Southend United and Luton Town.

Sunderland, who came down last year, began the season with four straight league defeats and looked to be heading for the third division themselves. Then Roy Keane took over as manager, guided them to an unbeaten 17-match unbeaten run earlier this year, restored their pride and this weekend saw their Premier League status restored with automatic promotion.

The difference between the Premier League and the Second Division is that there are so many genuinely big clubs who are real contenders for honours.

The likely playoff quartet: Derby County, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton, have all recently been in the Premier League. Clubs like Sheffield Wednesday, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Norwich City, Leicester City, Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers regularly attract crowds of over 20,000 in generally superb stadiums that would be a credit to most other top divisions anywhere in Europe.

It might not be the elite division, but in almost every other way it’s first class. The tickets are cheaper too.

Mike Collett is Reuters soccer editor, based in London

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Writing in his programme notes before their Champions League semi-final this week, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson called on fans to “reproduce the volume of noise that has accompanied us in recent matches”.

He went on to say that support in recent games had been “out of this world” and recalled how before the 7-1 home win over AS Roma “I asked particularly for your backing…”

Now this is not to say anything against United fans, who created a decent amount of noise on Tuesday and kept the prawn-sandwich munching to an absolute minimum, but surely the manager of Manchester United Football Club shouldn’t have to actually ask fans at Old Trafford for their support?

Will Rafa Benitez ask fans chant Liverpool’s name a few times at Anfield next week? Will the Spaniard plead with the Kop to sing a song or two? I think not.

Of course, not everywhere can generate such deafening noise as Anfield. Despite the high stakes at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, Chelsea fans did not make that much of a din during their first leg with Liverpool.

Arsenal’s home ground capacity has soared from 38,500 to 60,000 with the move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, but there is still no ‘wall of noise’ to lift their team and shatter the nerve of opponents.

It all begs a simple question. They may not have the best team in the Premier League, but do Liverpool have the best supporters?

* Everton apparently have a different problem with some of their fans, with grown men passing themselves off as kids. A sobering statement on the club’s Web site says: “At recent games the club has made stringent efforts to detect the misuse of junior tickets by adult supporters.”

It warned would-be tricksters that stewards will be extra vigilant for Saturday’s home game with Manchester United. In other words, any plump, balding 50-year-old thinking of trying to squeeze into their old school uniform can forget it.

Trevor Huggins is Reuters sports correspondent based in London

After 14 contests in the three years they have been working in England, you might have thought that Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez and his Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho would have tired of what newspapers describe as “mind games”.

Far from it. In the run-up to and the aftermath of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, the niggling between Benitez and Mourinho has gone on and on.

Among the taunts from Benitez is that Chelsea have got where they are only because of Roman Abramovich’s millions and among those from Mourinho that Liverpool are not good enough to fight for more than one trophy.

Mourinho’s complaint — and he has a good line in lost penalty complaints — about a handball not given at Stamford Bridge was met with the sarcastic retort, “If he says it’s a penalty then it MUST be a penalty,” from Benitez.

Spanish and Portuguese rivalry goes back hundreds of years and there was bound to be keen competition between two men arriving from the Iberian peninsula to make their mark in a foreign league.

Tabloid newspapers lap it up, of course, asking leading questions and often being extremely selective in their reporting to make the sniping appear even more keen.

But are the public really that interested? Two such obviously talented, sophisticated and intelligent football managers should surely be able to capture the imagination of the fans in more edifying and elegant ways.

Clare Lovell is a Reuters sports reporter based in London

I recently mentioned that Zinedine Zidanes son Enzo was winning plaudits playing for one of Real Madrids youth teams. Fair enough, you might say, to be talking about the heir to the Frenchmans throne now that he has retired, especially if it is his son.

The Catalan press, however, have gone one better, saying they have already found the successor to Barcelonas 19-year-old Argentine forward Lionel Messi.

The player in question being 16-year-old prodigy Bojan Krkic. Krkic, the son of a former Red Star Belgrade player who moved to Spain in 1988 to play for Catalan side Mollerussa, scored on his debut for the Barca first team in this weeks 4-0 win over Ali-Alhi in an exhibition match in Cairo.

The youngster has scored 10 goals since being promoted to Barcelona B earlier this season. He is reported to have scored over 500 times since joining the Barca youth ranks as an eight-year-old and will be in action for Spain in next months Under-17 European championship in Belgium. Does that mean he’s already halfway to doing a Romario?

Oh yes, and Barcas 17-year-old forward Giovani dos Santos also played in Cairo. The  Mexican was, of course, dubbed the new Ronaldinho over a year ago…

Simon Baskett is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Madrid

There was one question Alex Ferguson could not answer after Manchester United’s rollercoaster 3-2 victory over AC Milan.

Whether it will be good enough I dont know,” he mused ahead of next week’s second leg in what will be a hostile San Siro stadium. “We will be going over there, and its a big game now, with a big chance.”

The suspicion has to be that United have indeed done enough.

Yes, Milan are likely to pull United’s threadbare defence apart again — as Kaka did so convincingly in scoring twice at Old Trafford — even if Rio Ferdinand recovers from a groin strain in time.

And, yes, Milan have the kind of European experience that twentysomethings Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are still dreaming of. Milan have reached two Champions League finals in the last four years, winning in 2003 and losing to Liverpool in 2005, and feature the likes of four-times winner Paolo Maldini and three-times winner Clarence Seedorf in their ranks. Coach Carlo Ancelotti even won the European Cup twice as a player.

But goal-happy United pose the greater attacking threat and a never-say-die spirit embodied in Rooney’s stoppage-time winner on Tuesday. A goal down at kickoff next week, Milan know they have to get forward — thereby exposing themselves to Ronaldo’s pace and Rooney’s finishing on the break.

Ryan Giggs summed up the challenge as United bid to repeat their 1999 Champions League success. “We’ve got to go out there with confidence and the second half here in mind - knowing that if we keep the tempo up and keep our shape we’ve a great chance of creating chances,” he said.

Maldini was not so sure. “They have their weapons and we have ours,” he said. “Kaka is a great player and he shows it in the big games.”

But will Kaka be enough?

Trevor Huggins is Reuters sports correspondent based in London

Kakas two superbly taken goals for AC Milan against Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final, and Cristiano Ronaldos flashing runs, will have been watched with a mixture of envy and frustration by Real Madrid fans last night.

Kaka and Ronaldo were Real’s two big transfer targets for next season, but both options now appear to have been closed off.

Ronaldo recently signed a new contract with Manchester United running until 2012, while Milan have resolutely refused to play ball over Kaka, and last night the Italian clubs vice-president Adriano Galliani made it look even more unlikely. There is no chance that he will leave. I am sorry for Reals fans, he told Spanish television station Antena 3.

Real president Ramon Calderon was voted into office in July on the back of a commitment to bring Kaka to Madrid. The failure to complete the promise has haunted him all season, and especially since they stumbled out of the Champions League in the first knockout round.

Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham were the galacticos signed by the former president Florentino Perez. If Calderon wants to revive the policy, who should he now turn to? Could crazy money still be enough to prise Kaka and/or Ronaldo away? Or which other players should be on their shopping list?

Mark Elkington reports on Spanish sport for Reuters from Madrid

The most astonishing soccer story of the week is not the revelation that Jose Mourinho was once smuggled out of Stamford Bridge in a laundry skip to avoid UEFA officials or even that Queen Elizabeth II is a lifelong fan of Arsenal.

Far more bizarrely comes news from Zagreb that Croatia and Hungary are planning to ask UEFA for compensation to cover the cost of their failed bid to host Euro 2012.

The joint bid received “nul points” from UEFA’s executive committee. The winning bid from Poland and Ukraine received eight of the 12 votes, while Italy got the other four.

The Croats are saying that the two million euros “could have been directed to other important soccer projects.” Perhaps they could have thought of that in the first place. Because if UEFA gives them even a single cent back, wouldn’t every football fan feel justified in going back to get the cost of the ticket refunded every time their team lose?

Or perhaps every club could ask for their 20 million pounds, euros or dollars back if their star forward fails to score the 25 goals they expected him to score when they bought him.

The fans of relegated clubs could go one further and ask for compensation for the mental anguish of seeing their side go down, or to help them cope with the teasing by their work or school mates over their team’s failures.

Hungary and Croatia entered a football competition and lost. Is asking for their money back really a sporting gesture?

Mike Collett is Reuters soccer editor