Manchester United 3 - 0 Fulham : Highlights Video

1st Half

2nd Half

DAVID BECKHAM will have an emergency op on the heartbreak injury which crushed his World Cup dream.

The England superstar, 34, flies out to Finland today to see specialist Sakari Orava and goes under the knife inside the next 24 hours.

Becks was in tears as he left the AC Milan dressing room after rupturing his left Achilles tendon in the 1-0 win over Chievo.

Club doctor Jean-Pierre Meerseman, who is booked on the flight to Scandinavia with Becks, confirmed: "The World Cup is finished for David Beckham."

Milan boss Leonardo added: "David felt the muscle move up which is a typical symptom of a ruptured Achilles. It is a massive blow."

Midfielder Beckham, England's most capped outfield player with 115 appearances, suffered the injury seven minutes from time in the Serie A clash at the San Siro.

He signalled frantically to the Milan bench, pointing to his ankle, as he was about to kick a ball unchallenged.

A Sky Italia TV touchline reporter heard him tell doctors: "It's broken, it's broken".

It is a massive blow to England's World Cup hopes and a huge shock for boss Fabio Capello.

The Italian phoned the ex-Three Lions skipper straight after the game to console him.

Beckham was determined to play a part, however small, in South Africa.

And he arrived at Milan for a second loan spell from LA Galaxy in a bid to play himself into Capello's 23-man squad.

The England legend put on a brave face for the cameras as he left the San Siro on crutches.

He was due to spend the night at Milan's Principe di Savoia hotel before flying to Finland this morning.

Becks will be examined by Dr Orava with the operation set to take place this evening or tomorrow morning.

Orava is an Achilles specialist and treats Milan's players who suffer similar injuries.

But it could take up to a year for Beckham to fully recover.

Consultant sports physician Dr Tom Crisp said: "The chances of him being fit to play at the World Cup are non-existent."

Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said: "The satisfaction of the victory is overshadowed by the pain of David's injury."

Team-mate Ignazio Abate added: "David was in tears. He didn't say very much."

REAL Madrid Out of Champions League

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Madrid got a flying start when Cristiano Ronaldo put them ahead in just the sixth minute of Wednesday night's return clash at the Bernabeu and the Primera Division leaders might have had the tie sewn up by half-time after dominating the opening 45 minutes.

However, a much-improved Lyon turned things around in the second half and deservedly drew level on the night through Miralem Pjanic's 75th-minute strike.

That proved enough for Lyon to seal a 2-1 aggregate victory and send big-spending Madrid tumbling out of the competition at the last-16 stage for the sixth successive season.

It also ended their dreams of winning a 10th European Cup crown at their Bernabeu home, where this year's final will be held.

Madrid-based Marca, the biggest-selling daily in Spain, believe the exit will cost Real coach Manuel Pellegrini his job, with their front page announcing: "OUT. Goodbye Champions, Goodbye Pellegrini."

It continued inside: "The same upset as every year. The Whites fall after failing to take excellent chances in the first half. Lyon's changes at half-time changed the match. (Gonzalo) Higuain maintained his bad luck in Europe and Kaka didn't get going.

"Madrid again go crashing against the curse of the last 16. Lyon join Juventus, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Roma and Liverpool in the list of executioners."

Rival Madrid daily AS's front page read: "Catastrophe. Madrid couldn't overcome Lyon not even in the Bernabeu."

Inside the paper discussed how the "failure" and "nightmare" continues for Madrid and how Lyon deserved to go through.

El Pais newspaper made reference to the huge amounts of money that Madrid spent last summer following the return of Florentino Perez to the club presidency.

In a bid to take Madrid back to the top of the domestic and European game, the nine-time European champions spent in the region of 250million euros on new players - including a world-record 94million euros on Ronaldo.

El Pais's headline read: "Football has no price."

It continued: "Lyon question the realism of the mega-project of Florentino Perez and Madrid, who ran out of steam in the second half, fell for the sixth successive season in the last-16.

"Titles are not bought, they are won."

Barcelona-based sports dailies El Mundo Deportivo and Sport, meanwhile, both went with a huge "KO" on their front pages.

El Mundo Deportivo also twisted the knife by highlighting the possibility of Madrid's arch rivals Barca defending their European crown at the Bernabeu in May.

"Madrid will not be in the Bernabeu final! Failure of Florentino's project, incapable of overcoming the last-16 of the Champions League for the sixth successive year," the paper continued.

"Barca's dream of winning their fourth European Cup in Chamartin (Bernabeu) grows."

Sport added on their front page: "The great failure", whilst underneath showing the pictures of Perez, Pellegrini, Ronaldo and Kaka with captions alongside them.

The captions read: "'Florentino, broken. 300million thrown away'. 'Pellegrini, sentenced. The Bernabeu calls for his head'. 'Cristiano, humiliated. He promised every title and has already lost two'. 'Kaka, the next problem. He left the pitch insulting the coach'."

Inside, Sport added: "Galactic humiliation", referring to the 'Galacticos' term given to Perez's star-studded and expensively-assembled squads of now and during his pervious time as president between 2000-2006.

Manchester United 4 - 0 AC Milan (7-2 Agg) : Match Highlights

ALEX FERGUSON last night challenged Wayne Rooney to top Cristiano Ronaldo's goals record at Manchester United.


Rooney struck twice as United buried AC Milan to march into the Champions League quarter-finals.

That took him to 30 goals this term - 12 short of the Portuguese winker's 42 which led United to Euro glory in 2007-2008.

Boss Fergie revealed the England striker has Ron's mark in his sights.

He said: "It's a challenge. I am happy he's got to the 30 mark but to be honest, he just keeps on improving."

Milan's crushing defeat ruined David Beckham's hopes of a dream return to Old Trafford.

But Becks declared: "Wayne is one of the best, if the not the best player in the world with Lionel Messi and Ronaldo.

"They don't come better than that. He's a young player who's always willing to learn.

"He'll always be a worry to any team and any defenders. He is such an exceptional talent."

United cruised into the quarter-finals with a 7-2 aggregate win over the Italians. And Fergie insisted he does not mind who they get in the last-eight draw on Friday week.

He added: "It was a marvellous second-half performance. We got a break with the early goal in the second half and that gave us a chance to settle.

"After that we played very well. When we play at that tempo, we are very difficult to play against - it was a solid performance.

"With the kind of team I have got, it doesn't matter who we are playing in the next round."

Rooney became only the second player after Walter Pandiani to score home and away against Milan in a European tie when he headed in Gary Neville's 13th-minute cross.

An outstanding pass by Nani, delivered from the left with the outside of his right foot, left Rooney with the easy job of prodding past Christian Abbiati as the keeper dashed out a minute after half-time.

Beckham came on to a hero's reception on 64 minutes - and was light-heartedly booed by his old fans with his first touch.

Park Ji Sung added United's third on 59 minutes and Darren Fletcher headed in on 87 minutes to complete the rout.

Fletcher said: "It was a great result. To win 4-0 against AC Milan in Europe is a great achievement and not many teams do that. We fully deserved our result."

As for on-fire Rooney, he added: "If he keeps going the way he is he can definitely reach the 40-goal mark. Wayne is not the kind of player to take it easy now. He will be trying to push on.

"There are so many great teams in the Champions League - but if you want to win it then you have to beat the best teams.

"We will see what the draw brings and take it as it comes but I think the rest of the other teams will look at us now."

1st Half Highlights

2nd Half Highlights

Beckham wearing Manutd Green - Gold scarf and post match interview

Carling Cup Final : Aston Villa vs Manchester United 1-2 : Goals Video

Aston Villa 1 Manchester United 1 : Michel Owen


Aston Villa 1 Manchester United 2 : Wayne Rooney (HD)

Manchester United retain Carling Cup

Wayne Rooney came off the bench to net the winner as Manchester United retained the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Wembley.

Rooney, a first-half replacement for Michael Owen, powered a header past Brad Friedel with 16 minutes to go as United claimed their fourth League Cup final success. 

Villa, who themselves were looking for their sixth League Cup win, had taken the lead early on through a James Milner penalty but Owen levelled for United before hobbling off. 

Martin O'Neill's men will probably point to the fact that Nemenja Vidic could have seen red for his part in the penalty incident, but United probably deserved to lift the silverware in a closely contested match.
Villa flew out of the traps and took the lead with just five minutes on the clock, although they could easily have been given a man advantage by referee Phil Dowd. 

Ashley Young's ball over the top for Gabriel Agbonlahor saw the England frontman outpace Vidic into the area, but the Serbian defender repeatedly tugged at Agbonhalor's shirt and eventually clipped his legs to bring him down. Dowd correctly pointed to the spot, with Milner converting emphatically from 12 yards, but Vidic could have been shown a red card for being the last man - in fact he wasn't even shown a yellow! 

Villa's lead did not last long, however, with United hitting back seven minutes later. 

Richard Dunne was ponderous on the ball and was robbed by Dimitar Berbatov who burst into the box. Dunne got back to get a tackle in but the ball broke to Owen who produced an expert finish across Brad Friedel and into the far corner. 

However Owen, who was looking bright, suffered yet more injury woe when he pulled up with what looked like a hamstring problem shortly before half-time and was replaced by the in-form Rooney.
It was United who started the brighter in the second period, with Michael Carrick forcing Friedel into a smart stop to his right. 

But, after a decent spell of Villa pressure, Sir Alex Ferguson's men took the lead with yet another Rooney header. 

Man-of-the-Match Antonio Valencia and Berbatov played a neat one-two down the right, the former's cross picked out Rooney 12 yards from goal and he strained his neck muscles to send a majestic header into the top corner. 

It could have been 3-1 moments later when another Valencia header found Rooney again, but this time the England striker's downward header struck the foot of the post and rebounded to safety. 

Villa piled bodies forward in search of an equaliser but United held out to make it back-to-back Carling Cup wins.