FERGUSON PLAYS DOWN REAL AIMS

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has backed his club to cope without Cristiano Ronaldo and questioned whether Real Madrid's squad has the right balance to challenge for Champions League glory.

United sold Ronaldo to Real for £80million earlier this summer, with the Spanish giants also spending huge sums to bring in Kaka from AC Milan and Karim Benzema from Lyon.

The spending was prompted by the re-election of Florentino Perez as Real president. He was criticised in his first term for building a side containing sublime talent in some areas but lacking quality and experience in others, particularly in defence.

Ferguson sees a similar pattern emerging again, a view shared by his Milan counterpart Leonardo.

"I understand all too well that losing 26 goals from a winger is hard to replace, but we will try because it is the nature of our club that the expectations never change whether you have Ronaldo or (Antonio) Valencia," Ferguson said.

"I would not like to be (Real coach Manuel) Pellegrini picking his teams."

Ferguson joked: "I told Ronaldo when he left us that they will probably be playing him at centre-half; I don't think they have one.

"It is difficult with all their individuals to pick the right balance and that is part of it."

Leonardo, whose Milan side are involved alongside United in the four-team Audi Cup in Munich, must also cope without Kaka but is also hoping Real's 'galacticos' policy will come unstuck.

Talking about the first term under Perez, he said: "They did not win so much in the end. It is not easy to construct a team with talented individuals.

"To create a team, you need something more and we hope Real Madrid don't have that. Sometimes you need more than talent to win."

A small fraction of the Ronaldo transfer fee was reinvested to sign Valencia from Wigan, and he is expected to feature against Boca Juniors tomorrow.

Ferguson has attempted to play down expectations surrounding the Ecuador star, who he believes will need time to settle in at Old Trafford.

"He has the potential and we hope he will develop and will become a star of tomorrow," he said.

"Valencia is a player we watched throughout last season.

"He is young, athletic, has good power and I think, at the age of 23, he can develop at our club."

United face Boca Juniors tomorrow evening before playing either Bayern Munich or AC Milan in Thursday's final or third-place play-off.

Ferguson added that he had done his homework on tomorrow's South American opponents via late-night television.

"If you can't sleep at three in the morning in England, then you can see Boca," he said. "And I don't sleep at three so I have seen them many times.

"They are one of the best teams in South America. We had a very competitive game with them at Old Trafford three years ago."

Man City in talks over Toure deal

Manchester City are close to signing Arsenal defender Kolo Toure for about £15m, BBC Sport understands.

City boss Mark Hughes, who failed to lure Chelsea centre-back John Terry to Eastlands last week, has long admired the Ivory Coast international.

Toure was first linked to a move to City in January but the Gunners insisted then that he was not for sale.

The 28-year-old has been with Arsenal since 2002 but failed to hold down a regular starting place last season.

Newspaper reports that Toure has agreed personal terms with City are premature but the deal is expected to be completed by the end of this week.

Toure played for Arsenal on Monday night in a pre-season friendly in Hungary, but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: "We will see what's happening in the next 24 hours, nothing is decided yet.

"We have seven centre-backs and I am in the position where I have to play some in midfield but of course Kolo is a very good player and we will see what will happen in the next 24 hours."

Toure has played 326 games for the Gunners, scoring 14 goals, and has two years left on his contract at the Emirates Stadium.

He handed in a transfer request in January, which was rejected by the Arsenal board.As well as missing out on Terry, Hughes had a £15m bid for Everton defender Joleon Lescott rejected earlier this month.

But the Gunners, who have already sold striker Emmanuel Adebayor to City for £25m this summer, have been more receptive to offers from the oil-rich Eastlands club.

On top of capturing Adebayor, City have already brought in former Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez, midfielder Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and striker Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn for a total of about £55m this summer.

Bolton sign Knight and Ricketts Bolton Wanderers have signed defenders Zat Knight from Aston Villa and Sam Ricketts from Hull City.The pair have agreed three-year deals at the Reebok Stadium after arriving for undisclosed fees.

They are Bolton boss Gary Megson's third and fourth signings this summer as he looks to strengthen his squad.

Megson has already picked up midfielder Sean Davis from Portsmouth while defender Paul Robinson signed from West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan.

After impressive displays for Fulham, centre-back Knight, 29, was capped by England against Colombia and the United States of America in 2005.

The 6ft 6ins defender joined Villa from Fulham in 2007 for £3.5m but has struggled for regular first-team football and started only 13 Premier League games last season. Full-back Ricketts, 27, who has 34 caps for Wales, started 27 of the Tigers' Premier League games last season and has made 129 appearances for Hull in his three years on Humberside.Megson is also close to bringing in South Korean Lee Chung-Yong from FC Seoul according to the K-League side.

The 21-year-old international spent last week on trial with Bolton and his club side said they expect a £2.1m deal to be completed soon.

"The contract will be signed officially after a work permit is issued," FC Seoul said in a statement.

Lee returned to Seoul on Friday confident the deal would go ahead.

"In about 15 days I should get the work permit. Until it comes, I will spend my time training as hard as possible," he said.

"To adjust quickly, I need to get to know my team-mates. I met manager Gary Megson a few times. He spoke to me but as I can't speak English, I couldn't understand him."

football

Skrtel injury worry for Liverpool
A scan revealed the 24-year-old has strained his hamstring and he is expected to be out for three weeks.

Striker Nabil El Zhar, 22, also limped off in the same game after spraining a medial ligament in his right knee, which will keep him out for four weeks.

Both players have flown home and will miss Sunday's match against Singapore.

Full-back Glen Johnson will also sit out the final friendly of the club's Far Eastern tour in order to rest his Achilles injury.

However, Real Madrid target Xabi Alonso and Israeli star Yossi Benayoun successfully came through training after recovering from ankle injuries and will be available to play.Liverpool get their season underway on Sunday, 16 August against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, a match which Skrtel is now doubtful for.The Slovakia international featured 30 times for Liverpool last season and his absence would be a major blow to manager Rafael Benitez.

El Zhar has only started four games since arriving at Anfield from French side St Etienne in 2006 but Benitez recently handed the Moroccan a new deal to tie him to the club until 2012.

Midfielder Steven Gerrard, who missed the Reds' Far East pre-season tour in order to attend a court case, will not join up with the club for the Singapore game despite being found not guilty of affray.

"We were in touch with him every day and knew what was happening and we were confident everything would be okay," said Benitez.

"Now we need to take care of him, he must rest.

"I have to protect my players. We have already lost two to injury, Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar."

Fans in Asia had been disappointed at missing out on seeing Gerrard whose image was used prominently in promotional material to sell tickets.

"I'm sorry for the fans that we can't bring Gerrard but he is the captain of the team so he is a key player for the rest of the season," added Benitez.

"I hope the fans can respect the decision. We have other big names like Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano and they are all here."

Football

'Owen Minimal Print Gol 15'Hangzhou - three from the match that is Michael Owen dilakoni with Manchester United, the two goals he has in print. Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Owen will be making at least 15 goals next season.

Pada laga debutnya ketika MU menghadapi Malaysia XI akhir pekan silam, penyerang berusia 29 tahun ini menyumbangkan satu gol. In the fight debutnya when the MU Malaysia XI weekends back, attacker is aged 29 years donated one touchdown. Ketika itu, golnya membuat The Red Devils sukses meraih kemenangan dengan skor 3-2. Then, create golnya The Red Devils successfully achieve victory with the score 3-2.

Beberapa hari berselang, menghadapi lawan yang sama, Owen kembali mendulang sebuah gol dan MU pun menang 2-0. Some day one, facing the same opponent, Owen back pan and a touchdown was MU win 2-0. Tandemnya kala itu, Federico Macheda--yang juga menyumbang sebuah gol--, menyebut bahwa mantan pemain Newcastle United bisa menjadi panutan bagi dirinya. Tandemnya epoch that, dardob Macheda - which also contributed to a goalpost -, mentions that the former Newcastle United player could be a role model for himself.

Fergie pun yakin performa Owen selama tur pra-musim ini akan berlanjut ketika musim kompetisi bergulir nanti. Fergie is convinced Owen's performance during the pre-season tour will continue this season when the competition revolving later. Jika menang demikian, manajer asal Skotlandia itu optimistis jumlah gol Owen akan melampaui angka 10 di akhir musim. If so winning, original Scottish manager is optimistic that the number of goals Owen akan exceed 10 digits at the end of the season.

"Jika Anda melihat rekor golnya dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, bahkan selama dua tahun ketika Newcastle mengalami masa sulit, dia bisa mencetak satu gol tiap dua pertandingan." "If you see golnya record in the last few years, even during the two years when the Newcastle experience difficult, she can print one each of the two goals the match."

"Dia benar-benar mampu melakukannya, mencetak satu gol di tiap dua laga. Jadi, jika dia bermain setidaknya 25 pertandingan musim depan, saya pikir ia akan mencetak 15 gol," tandasnya di situs resmi klub. "He was really able to do so, print one goal in each of the two fight. So, if he played at least 25 seasons before the match, I think it will print 15 goals," he said on the official club website.

Fergie sendiri belum memastikan siapa yang akan menjadi tandem utama di lini depan MU musim depan. Fergie has not ensure their own who will be the main Tandem front lines in front of the MU season. Selama tur pra-musim ini, ia selalu melakukan rotasi terhadap empat orang striker yang dimilikinya; Owen, Macheda, Wayne Rooney, dan Dimitar Berbatov. During pre-season tour of this, he always make rotation of the four people who had striker, Owen, Macheda, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

"Kami sebenarnya tengah merotasi empat penyerang kami. Kami memiliki pemain baru seperti Owen dan ada pemain muda seperti Macheda yang tiba-tiba mencuat. Kami harus menemukan kombinasi yang terbaik," tukasnya. "We actually rotate the four attackers us. We have new players such as Owen and have young players such as Macheda a sudden mencuat. We must find the best combination," accuse him.

FORMULA 1

Alonso grabs shock Hungary pole Fernando Alonso grabbed pole for Renault in a chaotic qualifying session that was delayed when Felipe Massa crashed head on into a tyre wall.

The session ended in confusion after a computer timing system failed leaving drivers unsure of their final places.

Eventually it emerged that Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber would start second and third in Budapest.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton qualified in a season's best fourth position while Brawn's Jenson Button was eighth.

Massa's condition has been described as "serious but stable" following emergency surgery after he suffered skull damage and concussion.

The Brazilian hit a tyre wall after a spring from Rubens Barrichello's car flew up and hit Massa's helmet.

The Associated Press news agency quoted a hospital spokesman as saying Massa's condition was "life-threatening".

But Ferrari denied the reports, insisting the operation was "positive".

The accident had a direct impact on Barrichello's team-mate Button who missed most of the third qualifying session as his pit crew removed the same part from his car.

"It was difficult, we did not know if we would get one or two timed laps in," said Button whose eighth place finish was his worst qualifying performance of the season.

"Because I didn't get to do my first run in final qualifying we had way too much much fuel on board and the balance of the car was not very good.

"In one way it is good because I have got a lot of fuel on board, but we are a long way back on the grid and also on the dirty side."I don't think we would have got pole, I think that was way out of our reach, but we would have been amongst it."

Fuel weights confirmed that Button would move two places up on the grid if the weight of fuel he was carrying had been taken into account.

But the Brawn man is still over half a second off the pace of Red Bull's fuel adjusted pole-sitter Vettel.

Alonso drops down to seventh fastest when the extra weight being carried by the cars behind him is taken into account.There were chaotic scenes at the end of the final qualifying session as drivers swapped lap times with one another in parc ferme, the enclosure where they leave their cars to be weighed and assessed.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh described the failure of the timing screens as a "disaster".

"It was quite a stressful qualifying to be honest," added Alonso.

"The times were not working at the end and we were in parc ferme chatting between ourselves to ask what times we did to see who was on pole position.

"It is nice to start on pole anywhere, but here it is particularly good. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, we are more competitive, but we are not as quick as the Red Bulls.

"We will try to win, but being honest and realistic our target is to get some good points. We were aggressive this time and got what we wanted - or maybe even better than we wanted."

Red Bull's Vettel was pleased with his team's response after having problems with grip on Friday.

"We took a good step forward overnight and are very confident for the race, we should be good tomorrow," said Vettel.

"Our biggest challenge is the threat of the Kers (kinetic energy recovery system) cars behind us, we will see what happens on the run down to the first corner."

Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Webber was equally bullish about his team's chance as the Milton Keynes-based team look to close a 19.5 point gap on rivals Brawn in the constructors championship.

"Well done, Fernando for getting pole, but Sebastian and I are in a position to capitalise and make some good points on the Brawns," said Webber.

Williams's Nico Rosberg was fifth fastest at the Hungaroring ahead of Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who was sixth.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday's Grand Prix on the fourth row of the grid with Brawn's championship leader Button.

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso make up the fifth row, after Massa who qualified 10th, was ruled out of Sunday's race.

Torro Rosso rookie Jaime Alguersuari goes from the back of the grid in 19th, after suffering technical problems in the first qualifying round.

Rossi secures Donington pole spot
World championship leader Valentino Rossi will start Sunday's British MotoGP at Donington from pole position.

The Yamaha rider bumped team-mate Jorge Lorenzo from top spot in qualifying, with Lorenzo having to settle for third after being passed by Dani Pedrosa.

Casey Stoner, who is third in the title race behind Rossi and Lorenzo, had another frustrating day, coming fourth.

Britain's James Toseland finished ninth fastest, equalling his best qualifying performance so far this season.

Rossi was satisfied with his day's work, securing his first pole position at Donington since 2005, which was the last time he won at the circuit.And with rain on race day a distinct possibility, he said the weather could play a significant factor. "We're not at the maximum with the hard tyre, so if tomorrow is dry, we'll have to reconsider and modify out settings as I don't have much grip," he told BBC Sport.

Pedrosa trailed Rossi by just 0.095 seconds, and admitted he nearly pinched front spot from under the nose of the reigning world champion.

"At the end I wasn't fully concentrating so I couldn't make the best lap time, but front row is good, as we've not been there in the last few races so that's important," said the Honda rider.

Kemajuan Yamaha Bikin Rossi Senang
Posisi ketiga di free practice II tak mengecewakan bagi Valentino Rossi. Pembalap Italia ini yakin Yamaha akan lebih baik di Donington Park daripada tahun lalu.

Rossi memang kalah cepat dari Dani Perdrosa dan Casey Stoner di sesi latihan terakhir Jumat. Namun dia justru merasa motornya lebih kompetitif saat melewati Craner Curves dan the Melbourne loop daripada saat 2008.

"Saya cepat di bagian pertama trek dimana tahun lalu saya tidak terlalu baik dan di bagian terakhir dimana, dimana tahun lalu Stoner dengan Ducati sangat cepat dari kami," ungkap Rossi sepeti dilansir Auto Sport.

"Jadi ini merupakan tanda bahwa Yamaha menunjukkan banyak perbaikan pada akselarasi. Kami sedikit mengalami masalah dengan ban dan kami telah membuat sebuah langkah yang baik," ujar pembalap berujuluk The Doctor ini.

Rossi pun tak terlalu mempermasalahkan posisinya di belakang Pedrosa dan Stoner di trek basah ini. "Saya merasa senang dengan latihan ini karena saya merasa nyaman pada motor dan dapat mengerem dengan baik di trek basah.

Jelang MotoGP Inggris
Lorenzo Siap Bersinar di Tengah Hujan
Donignton Park - Jorge Lorenzo mengakui bahwa di masa lalu ia bakal merasa takut ketika berlaga di tengah guyuran hujan. Namun, itu masa lalu. Kini ia siap bersinar di tengah hujan yang mengguyur.

Ramlan cuaca dari Yahoo memperkirakan hari ini kawasan di Leicestershire, kawasan di mana sirkuit Donigton Park berada, akan diguyur hujan.

Apa tanggapan Lorenzo tentang ramalan cuaca ini? "Mungkin beberapa tahun yang lalu saya akan merasa takut bila hujan datang," tukasnya kepada Autosport.

"Saya pikir setiap rider akan sedikit takut, karena Anda bisa jatuh karena kesalahan kecil," tambah pembalap asal Spanyol itu.

Namun Lorenzo menegaskan, andai hujan benar-benar turun, ia bersiap bersinar di tengah hujan. "Saya sudah banyak mencapai kemajuan dan saya siap untuk merengkuh hasil positif," ujar pembalap tim FIAT Yamaha itu.

Lorenzo menilai posisi start ketiga di balapan hari ini merupakan keuntungan. "Pencapaian kualifikasi ini sungguh merupakan kejutan. Saya mampu mencatat waktu yang baik dan ban belakang saya tidak menunjukkan masalah. Jadi saya cukup percaya diri di balapan," lanjutnya.

"Hal lain, saya berharap bisa meningkatkan performa dengan ban soft," tutup pembalap yang kini menghuni posisi kedua klasemen sementara dengan poin 162 itu.