The Champions League is back and boy have we missed it.

Plans for overseas expansion in the Premier League may have grabbed the limelight for a short while, but Arsenal v AC Milan and AS Roma against Real Madrid sound so much more alluring that Bolton v Fulham in Shanghai.

While anger spreads against the Premier League proposals, the Champions League last 16 ties promise some sumptuous knockout football now the often tedious group stages are done with.

The beauty of the world’s premier club competition is that anything can happen. The guys at Offside are already in heaven.

Liverpool lost to Barnsley in the FA Cup and are generally in disarray, but a famous European night at Anfield will test Inter Milan to the limit on Tuesday even though the Serie A champions are unbeaten and 11 points clear in the league this season.   

Four years ago Porto shocked everyone and won the title, beating Monaco in the final (Always a great occasion according to Liquid Football). The Portuguese side are in the last 16 again and have a kind draw against Germany’s Schalke.

With Sevilla taking on Fenerbahce in another game, at least two outside bets will make the quarters and could easily go further. On the other hand, the big teams that meet them in the next round could be given a less tricky passage.

But there has to be one surprise, so where it is going to come?

Mark Meadows, Milan  

It’s obvious why Liverpool are out of the title race and now out of the FA Cup — it’s because there’s a large Luca Toni-shaped hole where their first choice centre forward should be.

Sure, you could blame Saturday’s FA Cup defeat by second division Barnsley on the decision to leave Torres, Gerrard and Reina out of the starting line-up, or perhaps, being kind to Rafa Benitez, on the instability of the club following the takeover.

That would be to miss the point. On Saturday at Anfield it was a familiar story for Liverpool fans, as Benitez’s team played some lovely stuff at times, yet failed to beat inferior opposition.

Red Floyd at Have You Ever Been To Liverpool summed it up with, ”We just can’t finish sides off, be it Barnsley and anyone else.” 

It’s often pointed out that Benitez has a good record on transfers, and that’s true in the sense that there have been only a few costly disasters (see Paul Tomkins’s blog for an exhaustive list). There’s one thing Benitez has been unable to do, however, and that’s find a centre forward he can trust.

The Spaniard let Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse go, to be replaced by Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin. Yet none of those players has been an unqualified success as a striker. Certainly the coach doesn’t seem satisfied with any of them.

Fernando Torres has had a great first season but Benitez knew when he signed him that the former Atletico Madrid man is a second striker rather than an out-and-out centre forward.

What Liverpool might have achieved this season with a player like Luca Toni up front. Bayern Munich signed the Italian World Cup winner from Fiorentina for just 11 million euros and he’s enjoying a spectacular first season in the Bundesliga.

His hat-trick against Hanover 96 on Sunday took his total in the league to 13 goals in 18 games, and his overall tally to 22 in 26 competitive matches.

Toni is an uncomplicated player, blessed with patience, much neater control than many in Germany were expecting and a ruthlessness that Liverpool’s current forwards do not possess. All that for 11 million euros.

Of course, there are other players as good, if not better than Toni. Ruud van Nistelrooy would have suited Liverpool just as well, or they could have taken a chance on other out-and-out goalscorers like Eduardo da Silva or Afonso Alves. Then maybe questions like this one at Liverpool Pies wouldn’t even have been raised.

I wrote on this blog some time ago that in Fernando Torres Liverpool may have found their new Dalglish. Sadly, they’re no nearer to finding a new Ian Rush.

Kevin Fylan, Berlin

PHOTO:Toni celebrates his second goal against Hannover, February 17, 2008. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

There is no denying the excitement generated by Brian Howard’s last-minute goal that gave Championship Barnsley their shock 2-1 FA Cup win over Liverpool.

It was a great day for the Yorkshire club and meant that only two Premier League sides - Chelsea and Manchester United - were guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals with the other two survivors, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, hoping to join them on Sunday.

But was it a great day for the grand old competition or just the latest in the lengthening line of examples of how far it has fallen in the eyes of the big clubs?

If this had happened 20 years ago - when Liverpool were really shocked by Wimbledon in the final - it would have left the Kop wailing and the manager hanging his head.

Rafael Benitez, however, has eyes only for Europe and that is a dangerous game to play.

Liverpool have been reliant on the goals of Fernando Torres this season but the Spain striker was safely wrapped up away from the action on Saturday as Benitez kept him fresh for the midweek Champions League first leg against Inter Milan.

And as in Liverpool’s previous FA Cup struggles this season against Luton and Havant and Waterlooville, captain Steven Gerrard started on the bench.

Benitez complained afterwards about his team’s profligacy in front of goal and, in his defence, international strikers such as Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch should have been good enough to deal with the best of Barnsley.

However, if the Spaniard really cared one jot about the FA Cup then Gerrard and Torres would have started and the chances are that Liverpool would have been in Monday’s draw.

Out of both domestic cups, already 19 points off the pace in the Premier League and by no means guaranteed Champions League progression, Benitez seems to have placed all his chips on one big bet - and at dangerously short odds.

Failure back at Anfield against Inter on Tuesday would pile the pressure on Benitez, at a club who really are not big enough these days to pick and choose which trophies they would like to win.

Mitch Phillips, London

PHOTO: Liverpool’s John Arne Riise reacts with frustration during the FA Cup defeat to Barnsley at Anfield, Feb.16 REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

Fans, AC Milan and even his surgeon are unsure whether Ronaldo will play again.

The 31-year-old Brazilian suffered his second career-threatening knee ligament injury in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Livorno. He had an operation on Thursday which doctors said was a success, but the rehabilitation time of nine months is a tough ask for any footballer, not least one who has struggled with niggles and his weight for the last few years.

Knee specialist Gerard Saillant, who also oversaw the operation on Ronaldo’s other knee eight years ago, was cautious about the future following the complex surgery. “It depends on him,” he said.

Even before his tearful exit on Wednesday, his desire to get fully fit and play top flight football had been questioned all season. The three-times World Player of the Year managed just six appearances this term.

AC Milan have tried their best to cheer him up, but the best form of consolation - the offer of a new contract - has yet to materialise. His current deal runs out in June.

The Offside reckons “The Grim Reaper swoops for Ronaldo’s career” while the Italian Soccer Serie A blog agrees it may be the end.

But we can’t forget he has come back from the same injury before, despite the doubters. He surprised everyone by recovering sufficiently to shoot Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002.

This time it does feel different though. I watched him closely against Siena last Sunday where he dejectedly lumbered around the field with his head down for 45 minutes…and that was before the injury.

Is it really the end? Let us know your views.   

Mark Meadows, Milan

PHOTO: Ronaldo clutches his knee after a challenge with Livorno players during their Serie A match in Milan, Feb 13 . REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

I am not much of a fan of women’s soccer, so goodness knows how I ended up watching an 85-minute documentary about a match between Iran’s national women’s team (did you even know such a thing existed?) and a local Berlin girls’ squad.

You can still catch “Football Under Cover” if you happen to be in Berlin for the Film Festival this week. It tells the true story of the match which took place in Tehran in April 2006 and the onerous preparations for it.

Even an amateur like me can see it was not a great match. For starters, it lacked pace. No wonder. The sturdily-built young women could barely move for all their clothes: long smocks over tracksuit bottoms and headscarves which I would guess obstructed vision.

But this misses the point. The film is not about football, it is about power.

The players show a gritty determination to overcome bureaucratic barriers to get the match played in the first place, and the all-female crowd also shows defiance.

The women go wild, cheering, whistling, shouting and jumping up and down before the sinister presence of black-robed female “guardians” who order the crowd to act in a more dignified way.

The film dwells mostly on the Berlin team’s frustrating preparations and their reservations about going, but it is an Iranian player who steals the show.

Niloofar, who has dressed as a boy to train without a headscarf, has posters of David Beckham plastered over her bedroom and even dreams about him. “Luckily, he spoke Farsi in my dream,” she giggles.

PHOTO: Film still from http://flyingmoon.com/german/football_d. html

If you check out the blogroll on the right-hand side of the page you’ll see I’ve overhauled the list of our favourite blogs.

A hat-tip here to Ahmed Bilal’s 2007 Soccerlens awards. Quite a few of Ahmed’s nominations for the awards were new to me and I was impressed by many of them, hence the (overdue) update to the blogroll. I’ll be adding more links as and when I get chance to check out all the sites.

In the mean time, I’d encourage everyone to go and vote in the Soccerlens awards (yes, even we get a mention) and if you have a favourite blog we haven’t linked to, please let me know, as we’re always on the look out for interesting new sites.

Kevin Fylan, Berlin 

When the Barcelona sports press pluck an impossible sounding idea from out of nowhere it’s not always wise just to chuckle and turn the page.

No one believed it when Sport newspaper floated the possibility of Louis van Gaal returning to Barca in 2002, yet a couple of months later, after the fans had got used to the idea, the Dutchman was starting an ill-fated second spell.

Could the same thing be happening with Jose Mourinho, who is currently getting the rehabilitation treatment in the Catalan media?

With the battle to wrest the league title from arch-rivals Real Madrid seemingly a lost cause, a host of leading players failing to live up to their billing and a series of increasingly pedestrian performances on the pitch, Barcelona are already thinking about next season.

They still have a chance of claiming any one of three major trophies, but unless they manage to overhaul Real and win the league or clinch a third European Cup no one seriously seems to believe that Frank Rijkaard will remain at the Nou Camp next season.

So who should step into the Barcelona hot seat?

A year ago, Juande Ramos was one of the favourites, but his multi-million move to Spurs seems to have scuppered that plan. Inevitably, given their history of Dutch coaches, Rijkaard’s former AC Milan colleague Marco van Basten has also been talked about as a likely candidate although interest in the Netherlands boss appears to have faded.

Given Barça’s desire to be seen as the guardians of the beautiful game Arsene Wenger is the connoisseur’s choice, but the name that comes up most frequently is that of Mourinho.

The Portuguese, who first came to notice when he was Bobby Robson’s assistant at the Nou Camp in the 1996-97 season, has undergone a remarkable metamorphosis from traitorous hate-figure to prodigal son in the space of the last 12 months.

Vilified as the architect of the “anti-football” that allowed Chelsea to dump Barça out of the Champions League three seasons ago, despised for his accusations that Rijkaard tried to pressurise referee Anders Frisk, scorned because of his criticisms of Lionel Messi’s play acting and ridiculed for his old job as Robson’s translator, Mourinho is now viewed in some quarters as the club’s saviour.

But if Rijkaard does go, would the Portuguese really be the right man to replace him? Shouldn’t Barça try to tempt Wenger away from his young charges at Arsenal instead? Or should they look to continue the Dutch connection and go for Van Basten?

And if the squad really needs to be whipped into shape is there anyone out there in favour of a third spell for Van Gaal*?

PHOTO: Van Gaal and his then assistant Mourinho watch their Barca team play Real Sociedad, May 14, 2000. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino.

* Follow the link for a nice look at the parallel lives of Van Gaal and Mourinho.

We now have another example to add to the list of ridiculous injures to have afflicted goalkeepers, after Bayern’s reserve keeper Michael Rensing came off second best in a tangle with his shoelaces.

“A couple of days ago Michael hurt his back while tying his shoes,” coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told reporters with the Bayern team. “I’m confident he’ll be able to play, though. In an emergency we’ll find someone to tie his laces for him.”

What is it about goalkeepers that makes them so vulnerable to this sort of accident?

Poor Santiago Canizares had to miss the 2002 World Cup after he dropped a bottle of cologne on his foot, David Seaman is said to have injured his back while reaching for a remote control and, if memory serves, former Liverpool keeper Michael Stensgaard had his career ended by an ironing board.

If you’ve got any more examples (I’m sure there must be loads) let me know in the comments.

Teams in Italy will try anything to get a result reversed, it seems.

The 2006 match-fixing scandal involving favourable referees is still on everyone’s minds and some clubs hope the authorities will come down hard even on minor offences.

Last month Palermo wanted a 1-0 defeat at AS Roma overturned or replayed because a ballboy had broken the rules by placing the ball on the corner spot, allowing Roma to take a quick corner from which Mancini scored. The Italian league quickly rejected their appeal. 

Now Catania have appealed against Marco Materazzi being allowed to play in Inter Milan’s 2-0 win over the Sicilians on Sunday.

The defender was included despite skipping Italy’s 3-1 friendly win over Portugal the previous Wednesday because of injury. The argument seems to be that Inter broke a rule designed to stop international pullouts for very minor injuries.

Catania’s appeal will probably have no effect but it adds to the controversy surrounding the game. Esteban Cambiasso was offside when he scored Inter’s first in the second half, the latest in a series of refereeing decisions which have gone the way of the league leaders recently.

There is certainly nothing untoward going on this time, but nobody trusts anybody in Serie A these days.

Mark Meadows, Milan

How long can Germany get away with having three players who are so skilful, so effective, so sheer all round bloody entertaining playing week in, week out in the Bundesliga?

I suspect the answer to that is not very much longer, so we should enjoy watching Diego, Franck Ribery and Rafael van der Vaart tearing up Europe’s most entertaining major league while we still can.

I was away when our peerless trio of attacking midfielders were (inevitably) named first, second and third in the Bundesliga’s poll of professionals for best player over the first half of the season.

It prompted a headline from The Offside – “Foreign Lilliputians taking over Germany … still” which may have been a bit heightist but remains a pretty good indication of just how influential the three pint-sized playmakers* have been.

Werder Bremen’s Brazilian Diego and Hamburg’s Dutchman Van der Vaart are carrying their teams from midfield, creating most of the chances while weighing in with goals (10 apiece making them the joint-top scorers with Bayern’s Luca Toni).

Ribery has scored a more modest five for Bayern but without his sublime talents the Bavarians would not be sitting three points clear (see Bayern Lounge for a look at how effective he’s been this season).

On Sunday, Ribery was out with a hamstring injury when Bayern played Werder in the top-of-the-table clash at the Allianz Arena. While Bayern by no means played badly, they were short of that dash of inspiration the Frenchman has given them since his 25 million euros move from Olympic Marseille and they had to settle for a 1-1 draw (inevitably, it was Diego who scored for Werder).

Bayern should be able to keep Ribery for at least a year or two more but the signs are not encouraging for fans of Werder and Hamburg.

Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo reported on Tuesday that Barcelona are now eyeing Diego as a replacement for Deco and even though Werder are determined to hold on to him for one more year, you get the feeling that if Barca don’t get him Juventus or someone else will.

The same goes for Van der Vaart. Hamburg got a real bargain when they signed him in 2005 from Ajax Amsterdam, with many clubs unwilling to take a gamble because of his injury problems. He has been far from injury free in his two-and-a-half seasons in Germany but his form has remained so good that signing him no longer looks risky.

It’d be nice to think that Germany could compete with Spain, Italy and England and keep all its top players, but I’m sure that’s just naive. Brighter lights, better boot contracts and Golden Ball awards all beckon from Europe’s top three leagues and when that happens few players seem able to resist.

Kevin Fylan, Berlin

* They’ve got me at it now.

PHOTO: Diego scores for Werder Bremen against Oliver Kahn during the game against Bayern, February 10, 2008. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach