The death of Sir Bobby Robson, England's most successful manager after Sir Alf Ramsey, had been expected given his long battle with cancer, but his passing still jolts.

The son of a miner, Robson's career was characterised by dignity, loyalty and hard graft and no little success.

As a player he won 20 England caps, but it was as an innovative manager that he will be best remembered, notably his success in guiding England to a World Cup semi-final in 1990, when his side came agonisingly close to reaching the final.

Before his stint with the national team, Robson managed Ipswich for 13 years, guiding the Suffolk club to FA and UEFA Cup success and twice led the Portman Road side to the runners-up spot in the old First Division.

At Ipswich, Robson brought in two Dutch players -- Arnold Muhren and Franz Thijssen -- who helped forge Ipswich's reputation as a passing side playing attractive and enterprising football.

After stepping down as England manager in 1990, Robson then went to Holland, where he managed PSV Eindhoven, before going on to coach Sporting Lisbon and Porto in Portugal and then Barcelona in Spain.

While he was at Barca he helped to preside over the development of the Brazilian striker Ronaldo, before he returned to England to manage Newcastle in his native north-east.

Robson was famed for his malapropisms. Once when former England captain Bryan Robson emerged from a lift, his manager greeted him by saying "Hello, Bobby," to be met with the response: "No boss, me Bryan, you Bobby."

The football knight will be much missed. What are your memories of Sir Bobby and what is his importance to English football?

If your first reaction on hearing about the Samuel Eto’o-Zlatan Ibrahimovic deal was “How much?” then I can assure you you weren’t the only one.

To land Ibrahimovic, who is due to be presented this evening at the Nou Camp, Barcelona will not only hand over the Cameroon international striker but will also give Inter Milan a reported 45 million euros and the loan, for one season, of Aleksandr Hleb.

According to Marca, who are not exactly fans of Barcelona it must be said, that makes the total cost of the Swedish striker at least 87.5 million euros (with Eto’o valued at 35 million, and Hleb for a season at 7.5).

So how on earth is Ibrahimovic worth close to 90 million euros? How on earth is he valued at double Eto’o, one of the world’s top strikers?

Ibrahimovic is the sort of striker coaches love. Tall and strong, he is happy playing with his back to goal and therefore gives the team a target man. He scores goals too, of course, and he has contributed to six league title-winning campaigns with Ajax and Inter.

But Eto’o is no mean player himself. The Cameroon international is also strong but relies more on his skill and explosive pace to get past defences. After signing for Barcelona in 2004 he proved to be the missing piece in the puzzle, joining forces with Ronaldinho to get the team back to title-winning ways.

Eto’o scored not only in the 2006 Champions League final win over Arsenal, but also in this year’s victory over Manchester United and he will leave Barcelona with a record of 130 goals in five seasons.

I think it goes without saying that Ibrahimovic is not really worth 40-45 million euros more than Eto’o, so it looks like yet another case of Barcelona letting a player go at far less than their market value, and for reasons other than simply their value to the team.

It happened with Schuster, Stoichkov, Romario, Kluivert, Rivaldo and Riquelme and now coach Pep Guardiola says he’s happy for Eto’o to go for no reason other than a “feeling”, even thought they’re getting next to nothing for him.

Why is it so many big names seem to leave Barcelona in such circumstances? Why have they never mastered the art of selling?

And looking to the future, can you see Ibrahimovic living up to the inflated price tag the Spanish press have put on him?

PHOTO: Barcelona’s new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden poses in front of a FC Barcelona sign at the team headquarters in Barcelona, July 26, 2009. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

It would be among the biggest swap deals ever in soccer but there is a long way to go before it becomes reality.

Inter Milan and Barcelona may have agreed to the transfers of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o (plus a bit of cash for the Italians on top) but the players have yet to agree terms and that looks trickier than might be expected.

Manchester City pulled out of talks with Eto’o after becoming frustrated while media reports say he is asking for astronomical wages.

Ibrahimovic on the other hand is reportedly the most paid player in the world and Barca will have to be careful not to destroy their wage structure if they want to recruit him.

Furthermore, Barca president Joan Laporta met Inter’s Massimo Moratti earlier in the close season and they both agreed a swap deal was not a good idea because they still wanted to keep their strikers.

The situation has changed since then, with Ibrahimovic repeating a desire for a fresh challenge and Eto’o looking more like departing, but in soccer money talks and there could still be more twists.

Sweden’s Ibrahimovic, away in the U.S. with Inter which could complicate matters, seems more keen than the Cameroon international. Ibra would definitely be more fed up if he agreed terms with Barca but the swap collapsed because Inter would not meet Eto’o’s demands.

Then Inter’s Jose Mourinho, eager to know who his main striker will be as soon as possible, would have to use his famed motivation skills to make Ibra commit fully again to the Serie A champions.

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) passes the ball around Club America’s Juan Carlos Silva during the second half of their World Football Challenge at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California July 19, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Watching Cristiano Ronaldo getting the rock star treatment at a packed Bernabeu stadium on Monday night, I found myself thinking back to the U2 concert I had been to at Barcelona’s Camp Nou last week.

At a record $130 million, the Portuguese winger has cost Real considerably more than the Irish band’s entire world tour, which kicked off in the Catalan capital and is reported to be their most expensive to date at an estimated $100 million.

Industry publications believe the 360 tour could earn Bono & co. as much as $400 million, while Real president Florentino Perez is banking on Ronaldo and fellow new signing Kaka shifting enough shirts and other merchandise to maintain the club’s place at the top of the rich list.

He also hopes to use his new signings as bargaining chips to help him negotiate lucrative contracts for marketing and audiovisual rights.

Bono donned a Barcelona shirt midway through last week’s concert and praised the club for being the only one to carry the Unicef logo.

But at the Bernabeu on Monday it was all about showing off the most expensive and glamorous player in the world, reportedly on an annual net wage of 13 million euros.

“I have always said that if a club wants the best players it has to pay,” a beaming Ronaldo told reporters at a post-presentation news conference. “I am happy to be the world’s most valuable player and I feel proud.”

Perez the showman has successfully stolen the headlines from arch rivals and last season’s treble-winners Barcelona in recent weeks. (more…)

There is nothing new about putting expensively assembled football teams into the hands of former players with glorious on-field pasts and little coaching experience. But I think it’s fair to say that Pep Guardiola’s remarkable success in his maiden season in the Barcelona dugout contributed to AC Milan and Juventus recently appointing novice managers Leonardo and Ciro Ferrara.

Juve’s Italy defender Nicola Legrottaglie said he sees Ferrara as “the Italian response to Guardiola”. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, meanwhile, preferred to compare Leonardo to the precedent they set with Fabio Capello, who like the Brazilian was a club director before his 1991-96 stint in charge that produced four Serie A titles and a Champions League.

Leonardo’s apparent weakness is that he is absolutely new to coaching. Guardiola had been successful with Barcelona B before he got the first-team job at the Camp Nou. Ferrara can count on his experience at the helm of Juve’s youth team and at Marcello Lippi’s side in the Italy coaching staff, as well as the two matches he won in Serie A to clinch automatic Champions League qualification after Claudio Ranieri was sacked.

Ferrara’s challenge may be how to stamp his authority in the locker room. He now finds himself in charge of the team’s so-called senators, such as Alessandro Del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet, after playing alongside them before retiring in 2005. This could complicate matters if he wants to drop one of his old team mates. But if he is seen to favour them it could create rifts.

It might be easier for Leonardo to be the tough guy when necessary as, although he is younger than Ferrara, his playing days are further behind him.

Lippi, however, is confident Ferrara has what it takes to overcome these hurdles: “He has the charisma, personality, intelligence, wisdom and charm to establish a relationship with top level professionals and construct something important with them.”

The pair’s ability to match the success of Guardiola and Capello will also depend on the raw materials the clubs give them to work with in the transfer market.

Kaka’s sale to Real Madrid should give Milan the money for much needed squad rejuvenation, while one of Leonardo’s challenges will be to restore Ronaldinho to his best so his playmaker compatriot is not missed. It will also be interesting to see if he is better than his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti at convincing the club to buy the players he wants rather than big names who are easy to land.

Ancelotti wanted someone like Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor or Palermo’s Amauri, who was snapped up by Juve, for his attack last year. Instead he ended up with Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko, both of whom had poor seasons.

Ferrara will be able to base his attack on new signing Diego and Fabio Cannavaro’s return will bolster the backline. But with Pavel Nedved gone, the Turin side still look a couple of good signings short of being able to topple Inter Milan in Serie A and go all the way in Europe.

PHOTO: AC Milan’s Leonardo poses for photographers with club chief executive Adriano Galliani (R) after replacing Carlo Ancelotti as coach, June 1, 2009. REUTERS/Paolo Bona

The departure of Kaka from AC Milan to Real Madrid marks the end of the Italian era in European football. Not only can Italian clubs not attract the best players in the world to play in Serie A but now, when they unearth a talent like Kaka, they can’t stop them from leaving.

Italians used to describe their Serie A as ‘il campionato piu bello del mondo’ , the most beautiful championship in the world. It was not just because Italians love nothing more than talking themselves up — Serie A was the first league in the world to sign up top foreign stars, bringing in international talent at a time when the English league, for example, stretched no further than Scotland in search of players.

Beginning in the late 1950’s when the likes of Brazilian Jose Altafini (AC Milan) and Welshman John Charles (Juventus) were among the top performers, Serie A prided itself on being the league that had the money to bring in the best in the world.

After the 1966 World Cup, where Italy was humiliated by North Korea, foreigners were banned as part of an attempt to strengthen the domestic talent base and the national team, but when the rule was relaxed in 1980, the top clubs began importing talent again and before long Italy had become the first league to truly take on global status.

Frenchman Michel Platini at Juventus led the new wave and then the biggest name of all, Diego Maradona almost single-handedly led Napoli to titles in 1987 and 1990. The great Milan sides of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello were built around foreign stars — the Dutch trio of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten helped transform Serie A from a league dominated by cautious and defensive teams into a showcase for the world’s best talent.

Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus and Andreas Brehme helped Inter to the title in 1989, and by the nineties, any player in the world who could be considered a match-winner was being snapped up by an Italian team.

Just ten years ago, the top teams in Serie A included players such as Ronaldo at Inter, George Weah and a young Andriy Shevchenko at Milan, Gabriel Batistuta at Fiorentina, Hernan Crespo, Pavel Nedved and Juan Sebastian Veron (all at their peak) at Lazio and the best of his generation, Zinedine Zidane at Juventus. It was the departure of the latter to Real Madrid in 2001 that suggested Spain was beginning to replace Italy as the place where the world’s best could get paid best.

Since then though, England’s Premier League, flush with television cash, has begun gobbling up players that in the past would have headed to Serie A. In the 1990’s the likes of Fernando Torres, Michael Ballack, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Didier Drogba would have almost certainly been Serie A players. Real and Barcelona in Spain and Bayern Munich in Germany have also proven stronger in the transfer market that Italy’s top teams. It would have once been unthinkable that Italian World Cup hero such as Luca Toni would choose to play in the Bundesliga rather than in Milan or Turin.

A week after Milan captain Paolo Maldini, who played with or against all those great talents from the late eighties onwards, finally hung up his boots, Kaka leaves Milan for a fee of around 68 million euros and Adriano Galliani, who runs Milan on behalf of tycoon and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi conceded the golden era of Serie A was now over: “Ten years ago Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could have played in Italy but now no one even considers it,” he said.

That is the painful truth for Italian fans — it is not so much that Italian clubs cannot compete with Real’s occasional obscene bouts of cash-throwing that hurts but that Italian clubs are no longer even considered as likely destinations for the world’s best or most promising.

Berlusconi talked up Ronaldinho as the man who will now be the standard-bearer for Milan but the impression is that he moved to Italy after his best years, served with Barcelona, were over.

Money is the main reason for Italy’s relegation from Europe’s elite — Milan, Inter and Juventus no longer have the resources to compete with England and Spain’s top clubs. Italian clubs ignored marketing and merchandising as they presumed their wealthy owners — the Berlusconi, Moratti and Agnelli families — would take care of everything. Moratti still finds the cash but Milan and Juve now operate in the world of budgets rather than blockbuster transfer deals.

With the lack of foreign quality and top wages, Serie A has lost the sheen of glamour that once led fans from all over the world to tune in and watch. The days when Ronaldo and Zidane were face to face in an Inter-Juve match, with a supporting cast of quality Italians and exciting foreign players, is over. Does anyone watch Serie A on satellite or cable anymore?

The proof that this really is the end of an era is the way that the Italian media and fans have just shrugged their shoulders at the departure of Kaka. They know they cannot turn down offers of that size — offers their own teams used to make every summer.

KAKA: Kaka attends Brazilian training at Arruda stadium in Recife, northeastern Brazil, June 8, 2009. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

ZIDANE: Zinedine Zidane shows his Juventus shirt at a news conference announcing his move to Turin, July 3, 1996. REUTERS/Claudio Papi

While Real Madrid were tying up their deal to sign Kaka from AC Milan, Barcelona seemed curiously ambivalent about the possibility of losing one of their big-name players, the  Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o .

The 28-year-old has a contract until 2010 when he will be able to leave free of cost, unless an extension can be agreed or the club decide to cash in on him now.

The first meeting to discuss the issue between his agent Jose Maria Mesalles and Barca’s sports director Txiki Begiristain, took place on Monday with very little seemingly resolved.

“The technical staff and the representative have met to try and agree a period of continuity, which is what we would like,” Barca president Joan Laporta said on the club website.

Mesalles said no renewal proposal had been forthcoming so far, but insisted Eto’o wanted to continue.

He was quoted in Spanish media as saying: “We are open to every possibility. If we have to look at a renewal we will study it, but if there is another possibility we will study that too.”

Inter Milan and Manchester City have been linked with interest for Eto’o, while Barca are reported to have considered a swap deal involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and moves for Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan or Olympique Lyon’s Karim Benzema*, or maybe even Bayern Munich;s Luca Toni.

But why would they not want to hang on to a player who scored 30 goals in the Primera Liga last season and netted the opener in their Champions League final victory over Manchester United?

Media reports have suggested there are differences over the terms of a renewal, and that coach Pep Guardiola may want a different style of striker to lead the line along with Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi.

Perhaps Barca’s greatest fear is that if they cannot meet the player’s demands on an improved contract, or convince him to take up an offer from another club, he could just walk away from them next year denying them a substantial payday.

It is an issue that is unlikely to be resolved quickly, as Mesalles recognised: “The market is open until August 31 and anything can happen before then.”

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Samuel Etoo scores against Deportivo Coruna during their league match in Coruna May 30, 2009. REUTERS/Miguel Vidal

* corrected at 1730 GMT, June 10 after we originally had wrong first name

Manchester United palpably failed to become the first team to retain the European Cup in the Champions League era but few would bet against Barcelona managing the feat next season.

And where would be the perfect place for Pep Guardiola’s stylish side to achieve it? The Nou Camp? No, next year’s final is in Madrid and the Barca fans I spoke to in Rome after the game could not think of a better venue to show their rivals and world football that they are undisputed kings.

May 22 next year is a long time to wait for the first Saturday final but Guardiola will quickly turn his attention to that quest once he recovers from all-night revelry. (When he was hurled into the air by his players during the on-pitch celebrations, he looked a little scared their weary limbs would not support him).

What’s scarier still is that Barca easily overcame United 2-0 without needing to play especially well.

Barca were definitely not at their best in the semi-final with Chelsea and yet still they went on to complete the first ever Spanish treble.

Guardiola is 38 and in his first season in charge. He must think this management game is easy, and I guess it can be when you have players of the class of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. (Were Inieista and Henry ever really doubts for the final? They looked in fine fettle to me)

Their 6-2 thrashing of Real recently just shows what they are like when they are really on form.

Perhaps they’ll leave their best performance for the Bernabeu again next year…

PHOTO: REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Barcelona deposed Manchester United as European champions with an outstanding 2-0 victory in the Champions League final at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday.

Samuel Eto’o struck the opener after 10 minutes when he cut in from the right past Nemanja Vidic with surprising ease and his low shot beat United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar at his near post. Xavi cracked a free kick against a United post at the start of the second half before Lionel Messi sealed the win after 70 minutes when he scored with a beautifully timed header from Xavi’s cross.

It was a curiously subdued performance from United, while Barcelona got full value for a performance that was thoroughly professional but hardly brilliant.

Alex Ferguson was content to say the best team won. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Xavi (R) and Victor Valdes celebrate victory over Manchester United. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Full-time: Barcelona 2 Manchester United 0.

Pre-match:

Now the teams are in, and there are no big surprises (see below) here’s Mike Collett’s view from the press seats at the Stadio Olimpico:

Manchester United first out to warm up with 40 minutes to go before kickoff — wearing royal blue tops and white shorts with thousands of fans sainging “Glory Glory Man United…”

Barcelona following them out a couple of minutes later in vivid orange tops reminiscint of the colour they wore when they first won the European Cup in 1992 …. Weather absolutely fantastic, sky still blue, can hardly hear myself talk to colleagues next to me!

No small-talk in the back room for UEFA president Michel Platini, who is out in his seat already. Platini, of course, has decided that this will be the last CL final to be played in midweek. From next season in Madrid the final will be played on a Saturday. Platini wants more familiies and children to have the chance to see the match live and thinks a midweek final restricts schoolkids from going. What about the cost of the tickets?

And this from Mark: The “opening ceremony” starting with what looks like about 50 women dressed in red and green wearing swimming caps and holding shields. Quite what that has to do with Rome or soccer, no one is quite sure…

Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 5-Carles Puyol, 24-Yaya Toure, 3-Gerard Pique, 16-Silvinho; 28-Sergio Busquets, 6-Xavi, 8-Andres Iniesta; 10-Lional Messi, 9-Samuel Eto’o, 14-Thierry Henry.

Manchester United: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 22-John O’Shea, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 3-Patrice Evra; 13-Park Ji-sung, 16-Michael Carrick, 8-Anderson, 11-Ryan Giggs; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 10-Wayne Rooney.

What does it mean? over to Mark Meadows in Rome: “Iniesta and Henry are fit to start for Barca with Silvinho getting the nod at left back. United’s Park Ji-sung is the first Asian to play in a Champions league final while Ryan Giggs will captain the holders.”

More to come…

Evening all, and welcome to our (first) live Champions League final blog. I’m at Reuters HQ at Canary Wharf but I’ll be passing on live updates from our reporters in the stadium — goal flashes, red cards, near misses and general observations from the best night of the European football season.

I’ll put the latest update at the top…

While we wait on definitive team news — particularly on whether Iniesta and Henry will make the Barcelona starting line-up — here’s Milan-based sports correspondent Mark Meadows, who arrived at the Stadio Olimpico a fairly comfortable five hours before kick-off:

A sprinkling of fans are beginning to enter the stadium on what continues to be another lovely sunny day. ‘FOR SIR MATT’ is written out on the seats in Man Utd’s end. It would have been Busby’s 100th birthday yesterday.

Some of those giant inflatables are also fluttering about behind one goal. Strangely they are all dressed in Barca’s kit.

Fans were congregating in the city centre from early on Wednesday. A ’sing off’ between the two sets of supporters was heard while the Barca fans have made the Trevi fountain their spot. More United supporters were around the Colosseum.

More to come… And remember, comments are always welcome…

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o (L) celebrates his goal with teammate Lionel Messi at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, May 27, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples