Paulo Ferreira: No one doubts that the player who was once described by Mourinho as “a player who will never be a man of the match but will always score” is performing a mess at least in the few games he is participating in. After being the first choice for the Special one, Ferreira is now warming the sub bench watching both Bosnigwa and Ivanovic taking the lead on the pitch. He has contract till 2013 and Chelsea will be better off selling him since they have a first right back and a sub as well. It is also reported that Ancelotti will be offered a £100m to get new players and among the list is Maicon, who has proved to be a strong right back in Inter and Brazil. With changes apparently on the way as Chelsea rebuild for the future, it seems inevitable that there will be a clearout of players in the summer.

Deco: After an amazing start with Chelsea, Deco was looking to reserve  the central midfield position for a long term with Chelsea the injuries drove him to lose his place after Essien starred. With Deco advancing in age and with Chelsea needing more peaceful and speed players, Ancelotti surely will be looking elsewhere for a replacement for the Brazilian who is reported to be keen to return to Brazil in order to spend quality time with his family.

Yury Zhirkov: The over-priced player (£18m) and who hasn’t scored any goal in the EPL, is always considered by the critics to be a weak target for opponents. The Russian player who competed Arshavin for the best player in Russia, failed in surviving the competition in the Premier League where Arshavin had a successful track unlike Yury. He was lucky this year to see the pitch as he subbed the injured Ashley Cole. Zhirkov might be a good sub but for sure he is not worth the money being paid for him.

Henrique Hilario: Whenever Peter Cech is injured, the Chelsea fans will be full of fear for they know well that the team has no good substitutions for Cech. Cudicini, who was the second choice, was mistakes-prone and did not provide the trust needed for the team. After Cudicini left, Henrique Hilario stepped up to the second choice and this made the situation worse since Hilario has never proven that he is worth a position in a title challenger team. So, that’s why it’s highly reported now that Chelsea are looking for a better substitute for their Cech.

Juliano Belleti: It’s so strange how a team like Chelsea keeps a 36 years old player who is not considered an asset for the team. Belleti’s days are over long time ago and as the case of Ferreira, he has no chance in competing Bosingwa and Ivanovic for the right back position which is also expected to be filled with a new player like Maicon. Belleti will head the list of players leaving the Stamford Bridge.

The scene of Rooney being carried out injured after the match in Munich sent a nervous shake to Manchester United and England’s fans, but on the other side there was at least one excited side which will be leaded by Chelsea. Chelsea will consider this injury as a boost for them to win the match on Saturday and take the hot spot and win the title. Also and not far away, Chelsea’s neighbors, Arsenal, will be boosted to take United’s position and who knows maybe compete with Chelsea for the title. But is it this bad? Are United really unable to move on without Rooney? Statistically, United has won 8 matches out of 9 without Rooney but having in mind that most of these matches were not critical and tough matches as the coming ones.  But Rooney’s teammates are confident that they can do it without him; Nani knows the importance of this and he stated that “It’s very important that we stay ahead of our rivals and don’t give them any encouragement”. Vidic on the other side stresses that United are a team and not a one player dependent, “We showed this season, we play as a team” said Vidic. So, who will be able to win: United’s team spirit or the opponents’ moral boost after the injury of Rooney?

Rooney has scored 34 goals this season for United and he has played a very critical role in leading the Red Devils to where they are. Assuming that Rooney will have a bad effect on United and their attacking pace will be slowed, this won’t be a reason for them to concede goals. A draw against Chelsea won’t be bad after all. As for the Champions League clash against Bayern FC, it was clear in the first leg that the Bavarians’ defence is weak and United had lot of chances to score, again with a solid defense without any mistakes and ability to score a single goal, United will not be far from qualifying.

Its now confirmed that Rooney will be out for two to three weeks and it will be up to Dimitar Berbatov to fill this gap and take on his shoulders the job of scoring goals and in the end, Berba is experienced enough as Ferguson said “It is always hard to leave a player of his ability out of important games, and I am sure he can thrive on [the responsibility]. He is experienced enough to be able to handle that.” Also expected to feature and play a role is the young Italian, Frederico Macheda; “He is a terrific talent and can certainly play a big part,” Ferguson said. Manchester United will be playing this week with a big question mark above Old Trafford: Will the ship sink or cruise?

FIFA is always trying to induce the Fair Play system in the game and to promote a clean game. While FIFA can hardly control the fair game inside the pitch, it’s impossible for it to control it outside the pitch. A lot of troublesome players, old and new, who caused controversial incidents inside and outside the pitch. Despite of their questionable manners and character, lot of these players have turned out to be legends and have gained the love of many fans. Among the long list, the light is shed on five players from the oldest to newest in time.

Paul Gascoigne “Gazza”: Gazza is known as the tearful player who was able to make whole England including the Queen to cry, the player who was named in the 1990 FIFA World cup All-Stars team, the player who was inducted in the English Hall of Fame in 2002, and the player who had a successful football career. Besides Football, Gazza is known to had undergone therapy for bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder, and alcoholism.  Gascoigne had an instable and tragedical childhood where his family lived in a single upstairs room in a council house with a shared bathroom, and moved several times during Gascoigne’s early life. Several sad events had a huge impact on Gazza’s mental life; the death of his friend’s younger brother and his own dad caused lot of mental disturbances for Gascoigne. Shoplifting was one of the things that excited Gazza and alcoholism was one of the childhood friends where he got drunk on a bottle of vodka stolen by a friend at age of fourteen. After retiring from football, Gazza stayed on the front pages of sports papers where he repeatedly threatened to harm himself under the effect of alcohol and he was arrested for this purpose several times as well. On February 10,2010, Gascoigne was retained for questioning after a pub disturbance and the following day, he was arrested for drink-driving.  Football fans will always remember Gazza the football legend but at the same time will always remember the “drunk” Gazza hoping that his seven year old nephew Cameron Gascoigne would revive a better picture for his uncle; Cameron has just signed a contract with Newcastle United after he scored 22 goals in 30 minutes in the Youth League.

Eric Cantona: Still labeled “King Eric” by Manchester United fans, Cantona was known for his short-temper which led him to fight with teammates, opponents, coaches, referees, and even fans! The talented French forward, who led the Red Devils to 9 titles including 4 premier league titles, has done everything from punching teammates to dangerously tackle opponents to publicly trash talk coaches to throwing balls at referees. But during the 1995-1996 season, he was involved in an incident which attracted headlines and controversy worldwide. In an away match against Crystal Palace, Cantona was sent off by the referee for a vengeful kick on Palace defender Richard Shaw after Shaw had pulled his shirt. As he was leaving the pitch after sending him off for brutally kicking crystal palace defender “Richard Shaw”, he attacked a crystal palace fan with a famous “Kung-fu” style kick followed with series of punches. Even after leaving, controversy was never far away; in 2006 The Sun newspaper reported Cantona as saying that Manchester United had lost their soul and that the current players were a bunch of sheep. The Old Trafford idol reckoned the days of maverick entertainers like himself and George Best were gone and feared the Red Devils were betraying their past by putting out boring.

Paolo Di Canio: No one can ever doubt the football skills of the King of Controversies who was a legend in the Italian Club “Lazio”. When he was not busy pushing referees and other players, he was busy scoring magnificent goals and marking his name in the Legends Land. Di Canio had lot of famous controversial moments; he is famous for an incident on the pitch in September 1998 where he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal, which resulted in an extended ban of 11 matches and him being fined £10,000. Another famous series of controversial incidents is the continuous fascist gesture to salute Lazio fans, and again Di Canio was banned for one match game and fined €7,000, but this did not stop him from saying that he “will always salute as I did because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people.I saluted my people with what for me is a sign of belonging to a group that holds true values, values of civility against the standardization that this society imposes upon us.” Despite the “Referees-fighting” and “Fascist-gestures”, Di Canio won the FIFA Fair Play Award after a “special act of good sportsmanship”. In December 2000 and in a game against Everton, Di Canio had a clear chance to score a goal after he skipped past the goalkeeper Paul Gerrard, but Di Canio rejected to score and held the ball instead because Gerrard was lying injured after he twisted his knee when attempting the ball clearance

Antonio Cassano: Cassano was nick-named as Peter Pan as a clear reference to Diego Maradona’s nick name. Cassano has established himself as a great football player at a very young age after he paired with the King of Rome, Francesco Totti, in leading Roma to the Calcio in 2001.  Cassano was also known for his short temper which led him to clash with Roma former manager, Fabio Capello who was known for his strict personality. The two had a very awkward relationship and this began when Cassano stormed out of the team’s practice after his international debut. In 2004-2005 and after many clashes with former manager Cesare Prandelli, he wrangled with the replacement Rudi Voeller for an entire month until the latter resigned due to poor results. But what astonished the football fans was his weird claim that he missed Fabio Capello who he considered to be “like a father”. But this did not appear to be valid when he clashed again with Don Fabio not in Roma but this time in their new club “Real Madrid”. Upon joining the Galacticos, Cassano started to gain weight after pool eating habits which made the management fire him until he regain his playing weight. On October 30, 2006, he was suspended by the team for his “disrespect” to Capello in the dressing room after excluding him from the playing list in the game against Gimnastic. Besides his bad behavior with his managers, Cassano was also known for the bad behavior on pitch and especially with referees. In the final of the Italian Cup against Milan in 2003, he was sent off after protesting against the referee’s decision and he flashed the sign of horns at the referee as he was walking out the pitch. His Red Cards were a main reason behind his continuous clashes with his managers. The trail followed Peter Pan to Sampdoria. In a match against Torino and after being shown the “RED”, he threw his jersey at the referee. This behavior built a raft with Sampdoria’s fans.

Mario Balotelli: Mario Balotelli or Super Mario is leading the new age of Controversy. At the age of 19, he had attracted the sights of football fans and critics with his magnificent abilities and skills which made Jose Mourinho “the Special one” favor him in the first team. But Balotelli also attracted the fans and critics with his disciplinary problems and especially in clashing with Mourinho, and who would dare to do that with the Special One. Mourinho accused the little boy with lack of effort in training stating “as far as I’m concerned, a young boy like him cannot allow himself to train less than people like Figo, Cordoba, and Zanetti.” After the clash, Super Mario was excluded from the next match in the Champions League. In a clear message to Balotelli, Mourinho favored McDonald Mariga who is considered much less than Balotelli in terms of skills. A lot of controversial players were known for clashing with managers, other players, referees, teammates, and even fans, but what was brand new was what Super Mario introduced when he was caught kissing AC Milan’s Jersey, the fierce rivals on Inter, and it is well known in Italy how sensitive the relationship between football rivals and especially in Milan is. He was also caught watching AC Milan’s games several times.  

A lot of players had a controversial history in Football but despite that many of them were able to turn into legends, win awards, and even win Fair Play awards. But on the other side, some players failed to separate their personality and character from football and created their own failure as in the case of Antonio Cassano who missed the Italian National side spot twice. The hope will remain in new players like Mario Balotelli to learn from the mistakes of Cassano or at least learn how to be controversial legend. Do you think controversial football players must be remembered? Do you think balotelli can make it to a controversial legend?

Gary Neville: When asked about his future, the Manchester United Loyal servant and captain responded that he is currently focused on this season and not on the next.  The English veteran has turned 35 last February and I believe it’s time for him to retire at peek. Neville won’t be able to serve the Red Devils for a full season due to his deteriorating fitness and as it’s known that the side flanks in a football team require energetic players who can give more than 90 minutes. Maybe it would be time for the young Brazilian Rafael to shine and dominate the right flank or maybe a new side back.

Wes Brown: Each season the first player expected to leave United by both fans and critics would be Wes Brown, but Sir Alex Ferguson would surprise us all with keeping the Mistake-Prone defender. Hardly can we remember a season without remembering a critical mistake by Brown with the player not improving since a long time. Despite of his role as a backup player who can cover the center and right side of the team, but it’s the best time for Manchester United to cash in the 29-years old.

Luis Nani: Individually, Luis Nani is a great player with fabulous skills and talent. But on the other side, Nani is considered to be a very selfish player with very low team-work spirit and always drawing the Z-H-Z curve (Zero to Hero to Zero). He proves himself in single games and not in a season. He does not to play as a first team player and at the same time it would be wasteful to see him taking the chance of younger talented players from playing. Although Nani has renewed his contract till 2014, I still believe, Manchester United are better off without him.

Paul Scholes: A true United legend who left his fingertips on all Manchester United trophies since his debut in the League Cup in 1994 where he scored 2 goals. Despite of his great skills and vision, it’s time for the veteran to step away and make way for a new player where Manchester United are in need for a young talented playmaker.

Dimitar Berbatov: It’s time for Berba to stop trying; he has got his chance to prove himself and has failed in a big part. With wonderful skills and an amazing vision of the pitch, Berba lacked the fast pace that other United players owned. Rarely do we remember a game in which Berbatov was the hero in it; the fact is his performance was always good in BIG WINS. Red Devil Berbatov is different that Berbatov of Spurs and totally different than the Berbatov of Leverkusen. It’s time for Manchester United to sell Berba in order to give chance to younger players like Macheda and King.

However, this does not imply in any way that Barcelona are turning into a one man show.  A club that has won absolutely everything last year, Barca is known for its unselfish play, entertaining football and team-comes-first mentality. Guardiola, a former Barca player, kept the tradition, and instilled the right teamwork spirit in all of the players. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Keita, Busquets, Pedro, Henry and even Ibrahimovich have all contributed to the success of the team so far, and it was never felt that any of these players have ego or self-importance issues.

Last year, Chelsea were the trickiest opponents for Barcelona in the Champions League, if not in all competitions. They were able to frustrate Barcelona for long periods and almost knocked them out of the competition. One of the key elements behind Chelsea’s play was neutralizing Messi, who couldn’t move easily, couldn’t do what he does best. Yet, Barcelona kept their composure, were persistent about their philosophy and style of play, and in the end it paid off when Iniesta scored a last-second goal. Barcelona’s schedule gets interesting in the coming few weeks. Two meetings with another beautiful-football club, Arsenal, in the Champions League quarter-finals, and a highly-anticipated showdown with La Liga joint-leaders Real Madrid.  Guardiola will sure count on a group effort from his players, and it would be critical that each player plays up to his potential. If teams are hoping that Messi gets injured, thinking Barcelona would fall apart, they should know better. Messi would be missed for sure, but Barcelona will keep walking.