A trio of Bayern Munich defenders eager to play at the Olympics are about to feel some heavy-duty arm-twisting by club manager Uli Hoeness, who is not at all happy about the idea of Martin Demichelis, Lucio and Breno missing pre-season training and the first few games of the campaign to play in China.

“We’re going to do everything we can to see that players who are already on their country’s top international team are not going to be called up for the Olympic selection as well,” Hoeness told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend. 

“We’re not going to take that lying down. We’re going to pull every lever we can to prevent that. It’s not going to happen.”

The 27-year-old Demichelis, who just missed a place at the 2006 World Cup, was nominated last week for Argentina’s Olympic squad, who will be defending the gold medal won in 2004 in Athens. According to media reports, Lucio (29) likewise wants to go as an over-age player for Brazil. His countryman Breno is 18 and was recently called up to the Olympics squad.

As Brian Homewood wrote last month, soccer at the Olympics carries a great deal of prestige in Latin America.

Hoeness appears less enthused with Olympic spirit and that could be bad news for Brazil and Argentina because the long-serving Bayern chief is an old hand at this game.

Ze Roberto, for example, was urged to formally retire from the Brazil international side before Bayern Munich would re-sign him last year and before that there was repeated friction with Elber and his international career for Brazil.

PHOTO: Lucio (L) celebrates a goal with team mate Martin Demichelis during Bayern’s Champions League match against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, February 20, 2007. REUTERS/Victor Fraile

Nearly two years after ending his career, Zinedine Zidane has plenty to keep him busy, as he travels around the world for charity and his sponsors.

The retired maestro does miss the excitement of the beautiful game, though.

“It would be great to come back in football. But how, in which way… I don’t know”, Zidane told L’Equipe magazine in a rare interview this week.

What’s for sure is that he won’t delight crowds again with his inventive dribbling and wonderful passing. He says he has turned down offers from Major League clubs in Chicago and Los Angeles and his playing days are over for good.

So what could he do to get back involved?

It’s hard to imagine him becoming a coach. Among the 1998 world champions, only captain Didier Deschamps and defence boss Laurent Blanc successfully moved from the pitch to coaching positions.

It’s doubtful Zidane had the right profile anyway. He was a brilliant playmaker but he was never one to galvanise his team mates with words. And, don’t forget, he was a bundle of nerves. He demonstrated that one last time with the famous head butt into Marco Materazzi’s chest in the final game of his illustrious career, France’s defeat by
Italy in the 2006 World Cup final.

Could he run a club, then? Doubtful again. Zidane is not a businessman and has  consistently avoided conflicts, at least in public. A man of few words, he is happiest out of the spotlight and wants to lead a quiet life as a family man.

So,what’s left? A magician has many tricks and he will probably pull one out of his bag. If you’ve got any ideas in the mean time, please let us know in the comments.

PHOTO: Zidane, Pierluigi Collina and Ronaldo pictures ahead the fifth ‘Match against Poverty’ in the Rosaleda stadium in Malaga, November 19, 2007. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

Amid the humdrum fare that makes up the bulk of the Premier League, Kevin Keegan’s return to Newcastle should be welcomed by fans of football and drama, whatever their persuasion.

Some pundits have sneered at the deluded supporters welcoming their Messiah, pointing out that he didn’t actually win anything during his five years as manager and instead should take much of the blame for blowing a 12-point lead to allow Manchester United to overhaul them for the title in 1996.

But supporting a football team, most teams anyway, is all about hope and trying to enjoy the journey because for the vast majority, every season ends in disappointment.

That is if you consider not winning a trophy to be failure, which unfortunately is not the case for the bulk of the Premier League, where the target each August is to finish above the bottom three nine months later. What joy.

Newcastle fans have always expected more, even when their team was hurtling towards the old third division, and the fact that it was Keegan the player who largely prevented that ignominy ensured he had a place in the fans’ hearts forever.

That he came back as manager and soon had his team not only challenging for honours, but doing so in an exhilarating, joyous, devil-take-the-hindmost style catapulted their affection for the Little Fellah into the stratosphere.

Sam Allardyce’s pragmatic approach might please chairmen and shareholders and secure an annual influx of TV millions by guaranteeing Premier League survival but it does not get the pulse racing.

The comings and goings of men like Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, Steve Bruce, Paul Jewell, Graeme Souness is a merry-go-round of managerial mediocrity, where 17th place is success and mid-table the equivalent of winning the Champions League.

Keegan is different: he wants more and the fans will back him in the way that they would never have backed Didier Deschamps or Gerard Houllier.

The chances are, of course, that for all his force of will, Newcastle’s title drought will roll into a ninth decade and, by measurement of the honours board, Keegan will fail.

But for the revitalised Geordie fans who will go to work with an extra skip in their step today, they know they will have fun trying.

Mitch Phillips is head of Reuters UK Sports Reporting

PHOTO: Newcastle fan Sophie Ross poses with her new shirt outside the ground before the FA Cup third round replay against Stoke City at St James’ Park, January 16, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

Kevin Keegan has stunned the football world by agreeing to return as Newcastle United manager.

The former England coach, who took success-starved Newcastle to the brink the title in his five-year reign before dramatically resigning in 1997, had said he would never return to football after quitting Manchester City in 2005.

Will it be a disastrous return like Howard Kendall going back to Everton or John Toshack trying his hand again at Real Madrid?

Or will it be a successful second spell in charge like…….like……

I just can’t think of one right now.

We want your views below

News of England coach Fabio Capello being investigated for tax fraud in his homeland is the latest in a long line of soccer probes in Italy. 

For example if you thought the Italian match-fixing scandal ended with Juve’s demotion, you thought wrong.

Claudio Ranieri’s side may well be back in Serie A and doing well, but there is a whole lot more to come out of the murky but intriguing inner world of Italian football.

After the original sporting trial in 2006, Juventus were relegated and stripped of their 2005 and 2006 titles. Former general manager Luciano Moggi was also banned from soccer for five years after being caught on phone taps trying to secure favourable referees for matches.

Other clubs including AC Milan were deducted points in the scandal, which outsiders may have thought was over once every team started this season equal.

In fact, the painfully slow and complicated Italian legal system is only now catching up with the sporting bodies. Prosecutors in Naples (why Naples no one is quite sure) have brought a criminal case of sporting fraud against Moggi and others including former referees, federation officials and current club presidents.

New phone taps from the Naples probe have led the soccer authorities to start a new round of investigations into the sporting implications. Although Moggi was banned from all soccer, the colourful 70-year-old has continued ringing his pals across the game to talk about anything he fancied.

It does not look as if anyone high profile has been caught saying something they shouldn’t, but there is likely to further fall-out.

At the same time a separate criminal court case about the GEA World player agency is taking place. GEA was run by Moggi’s son Alessandro and linked to Marcello Lippi’s son Davide. The pair, along with Moggi and others, are accused of manipulating the transfer market by using threats or violence.   

Juve striker David Trezeguet is set to be a witness at the trial on Jan. 29 while many other famous Italian football personalities, including Capello, are set to appear.

The England coach, who quit Juve after the match-fixing came to light and was never implicated, will just be a witness in the GEA case while the FA and his son say the tax issue should be easily resolved. 

One hearing into soccer corruption had to be adjourned recently when the lights failed and the court room was plunged into darkness. It could only happen in Italy.

Mark Meadows, Milan

PHOTO: Former Juventus’ general manager Moggi talks on the phone after his side won the Italian Serie A soccer championship in Bari, May.14 2006  REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Real Madrid fans are a hard bunch to please. 

They are still not happy despite being seven points clear at the top and having a perfect home record. The highest number of points for a 20-team league since the introduction of three points for a win hasn’t excited them either.

The big moan is that the team have failed to consistently play the attack-minded football promised by new coach Bernd Schuster.

After all, Real got rid of Schuster’s predecessor Fabio Capello in June because the team had not provided the sort of entertainment demanded by the club and its fans despite the fact he steered them to their first league title in four years.

“I’ve never seen anything difficult in football,” Schuster told reporters at his presentation. “I’ve got great confidence in myself and the team and I’m convinced my idea of football will fit in with what the fans want.”

Schuster has done better than Capello in terms of results in the first half of the season, but the promised improvement in style has largely failed to materialise.

Once again it is goalkeeper Iker Casillas and striker Ruud van Nistelrooy who have been the club’s stand-out players. The Spain keeper has produced a host of heroic performances to prevent Real slipping to defeat against dominant rivals, while the Dutchman has been at his clinical best by taking full advantage of relatively few chances up front.

Like Capello, Schuster has often used the club’s most talented playmaker Guti as a second-half substitute rather than in the starting lineup, suggesting he is not prepared to take too many risks for the sake of entertainment.

Schuster has gone on record as saying that because of their status, tradition and the players at their disposal, Real and Barca are obliged to play the best football in the league, but his team have frequently resorted to the sort of counter-punching tactics that would have brought a smile to Capello’s lips.

Schuster certainly talked the talk when he took charge, but are the players finding it hard to drop the Capello style of play or is he taking a leaf out of the Italian’s coaching manual?

Simon Baskett, Madrid

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s coach Bernd Schuster walks on the pitch following their Champions League Group C soccer match against Werder Bremen Nov. 28 REUTERS/Christian Charisius

“Cristiano Ronaldo is not only the best player in the world…but probably the single most gifted player to play in England since the Belfast Boy….What a *so and so* player. I am in awe…”

So wrote the curiously named Pimpy the Magic Elf on the RedCafe message board after Cristiano Ronaldo scored three of Manchester United’s six goals in Saturday’s second half demolition of Newcastle.

So just how good is Ronaldo? On current form, he must surely be the world’s best.

He’s always had the skill, talent, and particularly in the aftermath of that wink, the attitude to excel. Over the past season and a half however, he’s maximised these attributes to become more indispensable than any other player.

The statistics are staggering. His 25 goals in all competitions last season led him to an unprecedented clean sweep of England’s three major individual honours. This term he’s scored 22 in all competitions, with 16 coming in the league. And remember, he’s a winger and it’s still January.

Comparatively, it gets scarier. He’s already scored as many Premier League goals (51) as Steven Gerrard and is fast catching the league’s highest scoring midfielders Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes (95). His team mates took a combined 737 games to reach their totals. Ronaldo has almost averaged a goal every other game in his 112.

But the best since Belfast Boy George Best?

There’s still a bit to go. Question marks remain over a failure to yet light up the latter stages of the Champions League as Kaka did last season or indeed Best 39 years earlier. Despite performing well in major tournaments for Portugal, he was found wanting in both their Euro 2004 final and World Cup 2006 semi-final exits.

But you just get the feeling all that could change in the coming months. With United on course to crack the Champions League again and Euro 2008 on the horizon, he is on the verge of reaching the kind of heights last scaled by Zinedine Zidane 10 years ago.

First he must celebrate a birthday in February. His 23^rd. That is perhaps the most frightening statistic of all.

Click here to read an envy-filled tribute to Ronaldo by Mitch Phillips, but please leave your comments about the Manchester United maestro below.

Padraic Halpin, London

PHOTO: Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his third goal in Manchester United’s 6-0 win over Newcastle United in the Premier League, Jan 12 REUTERS/Phil Noble

Remember those kids at school who were good at everything, who represented the county at football, cricket, athletics, chess and country dancing?

Well watching Cristiano Ronaldo parade his incomparable box of skills reminds me of the injustice of it all. Why couldn’t those seemingly-unconnected schoolboy talents have been shared around more fairly?

I have been lucky enough to attend five World Cups, three European championships, a stack of European finals and any number of other top international and club matches over the past 30 years but never have I seen anyone who delivers the sheer pleasure of the Portugal winger.

His hat-trick in Manchester United’s 6-0 thrashing of Newcastle United on Saturday was sublime. 

Many before him have had sumptuous ball skills, though I cannot personally recall anyone to match his foot-to-ball glue, but none have complemented those skills with terrific pace, great dead-ball delivery, accurate and visionary passing and an eye for goal that shames many top strikers in comparison.

He’s not the strongest tackler in the game but is not afraid to get stuck in, while he is probably the best header of a ball in the Premier League, which it seems to me is just plain greedy.

To cap it all, women swoon at his good looks and tune in just on the off-chance he might again peel off his shirt during one of his many goal celebrations. True, he remains a diver at heart and in deed but he is not as bad as he was and doesn’t turn 23 until next month, so there is still plenty of time to mature in that department.

He is the one player in the world I would gladly pay money to watch, and for a professional sports reporter, that’s saying something.

For a statistical look at Ronaldo, please see my colleague Padraic’s blog, where you can also leave your comments.

Mitch Phillips, London

It is very rare in modern football that you witness the debut of a player you have never seen before. 

Normally fans have watched the guy strut his stuff for another club or have seen glimpses of a youngster in the reserves.  

On Sunday I sat impatiently waiting for Milan’s new teenage Brazilian striker Pato to announce himself to Serie A in the game with Napoli.

Having been on holiday and at a Ferrari event in the mountains in recent weeks, I had missed the incessant build-up to his debut on Italian TV and so had not seen the clips of him eagerly ripping defences apart for previous club Internacional.  

Like the nine-year-old ignorant of Roberto Baggio at Italia 90, I had no idea what to expect. Officials at Milan said if Pato played like he did in the training he would score 30 goals between now and May.   

In the end Pato (his nickname meaning duck) played just like any other 18 year-old making his debut in front of 80,000 people at the San Siro. He was extremely nervous and shot straight at the keeper twice in succession only to have Clarence Seedorf spare his blushes by smashing the ball into the net.  

Pato did get his goal though to round off the 5-2 victory, Milan’s first at home in the league this term. Even me as a nine-year-old could probably have finished it off but if the Italian papers are to be believed it was one of the greatest goals in history.   

The jury is still out on Pato, but he will certainly improve and he showed one characteristic which is generally the mark of really great players — humility.      

“I am not the phenomenon, Ronaldo is. I told him that after the goal,” Pato said after the original Brazilian wonderboy scored his first two goals of an injury-ravaged season.  

Mark Meadows, Milan

PHOTO: Pato congratulates Ronaldo after his goal in the 5-2 win over Napoli, Jan 13 REUTERS/Daniele la Monaca

On Friday I mentioned the risks involved on both sides in Juergen Klinsmann’s impending move to Bayern Munich as coach.

Now the shock has subsided a little I wanted to take a closer look at why Bayern moved in for Klinsi — a man who faced regular criticism from the club’s top brass when he was dragging German football kicking and screaming into the 21st century during his time as national team coach.

Jan at The Offside yesterday offered five reasons why bringing in Klinsmann was a good move. Consider this a sixth: Bayern are taking a calculated gamble on the ‘galactico’ factor.

When Florentino Perez was running Real Madrid he demonstrated that signing ‘A list’ names like Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and then Beckham was good business in itself, even if they didn’t always quite fit the bill on the pitch. Simply to have your brand represented by such figures was worth millions in merchandising and marketing. To have them play well and win trophies was a bonus.

It was a policy copied by the new regime at Barcelona, following the election victory of Joan Laporta. They failed in their bid to sign Beckham but did bring in Ronaldinho with the express intention of boosting the club’s media profile and starting a “virtuous circle” of sporting and financial success.

Everyone knows that Klinsmann is big box office but perhaps you have to live in Germany to realise just how big a draw the 43-year-old former striker really is.

Since the World Cup he has become the man everyone in German football wants to be associated with. TV pictures of Klinsmann’s arrival in Munich on Friday led every news bulletin, and his smiling face even managed to knock pictures of the baby polar bear at Nuremberg zoo off the front pages for the first time in days.

In Klinsmann, Bayern are getting one of football’s few real galacticos, and they’re doing it on the cheap, compared to the tens of millions it would cost to bring in a Ronaldinho or Kaka.

Certainly it’s a risk, certainly there will be fireworks and the clash of personalities may bring casualties (see this comment from Andrew Gray on Friday’s post).

Only time will tell if his unorthodox ideas can have the same effect on a club as they did on the national team. What’s certain, however, is that at a stroke Bayern have increased their marketing value and become an even bigger worldwide draw. Don’t be surprised if they spend next summer touring Asia or the U.S.

KLINSMANN PHOTO: Juergen Klinsmann smiles during a news conference in Munich, January 11, 2008. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

GRATUITOUS BUT CUTE POLAR BEAR PHOTO: A handout picture shows a polar bear cub being fed in Nuremberg, January 11, 2008. REUTERS/Handout/Tiergarten Nuernberg/Stadt Nuernberg