The operation, due to take place in Spain later Sunday, will rule the 26-year-old Spanish international out of action for around six weeks, not leaving him much time to be fit for the start of the FIFA World Cup on 11 June. Spain manager Vicente del Bosque must submit his final 23-man squad for South Africa on 1 June with the European champions’ opening game against Switzerland on 16 June.

Torres will miss not only the Premier League run in but also the remainder of Liverpool’s Europa League campaign, which continues this week with a semi-final against Torres’ former club Atletico Madrid.

A Liverpool spokesman told the club’s official website: “Fernando saw a specialist in Spain earlier today [Sunday] and it was decided that he would need surgery on a torn cartilage in his right knee. This will be carried out later tonight. We cannot comment ahead of the operation, but as a guide, the usual rehabilitation period for this type of procedure is around six weeks.”

Torres, who has scored 22 goals in all competitions this season, missed Liverpool’s draw with Fulham last weekend as a result of the problem. This is his second date with the surgeon’s knife this season as he had an operation on his knee in January which sidelined him for a month. Fans can now buy football tickets for the world cup online i-e England world cup tickets are now available online. Ticket4football provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get World Cup Semi Finals Tickets and World Cup Final Tickets online.

Ancelotti told Radio Anch’io lo sport: “The England team has excellent credentials. They have players who play at a very high level and there are great expectations for the World Cup.”

“In Italy the situation is different because they are going through a transitional period. (Coach Marcello) Lippi will do well to unite the players who are emerging within the squad and those who were successful in 2006.”

Ancelotti has been mentioned as a possible successor to Lippi after South Africa 2010, but reiterated his desire to remain at Stamford Bridge. “Me with the national team? No I am fine here,” he said.

“I hope to stay at Chelsea, we have good chances to win things. I hope after Lippi it is an Italian coach, but it is hard to say who the best candidate is.”

Carlo lauds Claudio
Ancelotti also had words of praise for one of his Chelsea predecessors Claudio Ranieri, whose Roma side went top of Serie A yesterday with just five games of the season to go. “It is surprising that Roma have overtaken Inter Milan at the top,” said the former midfielder.

“But they have had an extraordinary season which has seen Ranieri do things no-one could have foreseen. The Giallorossi have not missed a beat. The one-point lead over Inter now has to be maintained though. And that will be hard as it is not easy.”

But Ancelotti believes Ranieri is the man to guide Roma to their first Scudetto since 2001. “Roma needed a coach like him, someone who could unify the squad,” said the Ancelotti. “The club made the right decision to take him on.” You can buy football tickets for the world cup online i-e England world cup tickets are now available online. Ticket4football provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get Switzerland World Cup Tickets , Champions League tickets and Champions League final tickets.

The visitors looked to be in control when Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice shortly after half-time, but the Gunners battled back after Walcott’s 66th-minute introduction. The England winger struck three minutes after coming on and the home side drew level when skipper Cesc Fabregas crashed home a penalty after Carles Puyol fouled him to earn his marching orders.

“It was a fantastic game for the neutral and to be involved in tonight was great. I always knew if I could get on I could show what I could do,” Walcott said. “It’s been very frustrating for me not to get to start as many games as I want, but the team did fanatically well to come back tonight, not just myself. We showed some fantastic character.

“They missed chances and we missed some unbelievable chances as well. In the end it was a 2-2 draw. The regret I have tonight is, and I don’t deny we did play against a great side, but we gave away two cheap goals.” (Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger after the draw) “We were very disappointed in the two goals, we want to keep clean sheets, but if you look back at the game they had a lot of possession and I think 2-2 is probably a fair result in the end,” he continued. Buy football tickets for the world cup online. Ticket4football provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup 2010 tickets you can also get England world cup tickets and Champions League final tickets.

Centre-half Carvalho suffered ankle ligament damage during Chelsea’s 5-0 win away to basement club Portsmouth, a victory that left them just a point behind leaders Manchester United. If the injury is worse than first feared, Carvalho could miss the rest of this season.

“Chelsea can confirm that Ricardo Carvalho suffered ankle ligament damage in last night’s game against Portsmouth,” a club spokesman said Thursday. “The club will be able to determine over the next 24 hours whether the injury requires corrective surgery, however we can confirm at this point that he’ll be out for at least four weeks.”

Carvalho’s injury has left Chelsea with just two first-choice central defenders in Brazilian Alex and captain John Terry. The Portuguese international’s setback comes just days after right-back Branislav Ivanovic was ruled out for a month following a knee injury sustained during the 1-1 draw at Blackburn last weekend.

The Blues have been without left-back Ashley Cole (ankle), midfielder Michael Essien (knee) and right-back Jose Bosingwa (ankle) for much of the current season. England World Cup Tickets are now available online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get Champions League final tickets, FA Cup final tickets and World cup 2010 tickets from the same spot online without any headache and with guaranteed delivery of tickets at home.

The 25-year-old was recently linked with a move to Real Madrid but he claims he is focused on reaching the UEFA Champions League with Spurs.

Palacios was quoted in The Sun as saying: “The truth is I’m very, very happy here. My team-mates have really helped me to settle in.

“We have worked very hard to get to fourth position. I think if we keep on working hard we can achieve what we want. We are in a great position and we are all very concentrated on keeping that fourth spot.”

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Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel and the impressive Alberto Aquilani all scored in the space of six minutes to give the Reds an unassailable half-time lead. Torres rounded off the win in the second period before Nadir Belhadj’s late consolation.

The result will give Rafael Benitez’s men encouragement going into Thursday’s UEFA Europa League second leg against Lille, and Reina told ESPN: “We knew that it was a must-win game. Fortunately we did it and performed really well, hopefully we can do it again on Thursday. When the team is playing well we can score any time. For those ten minutes we were incredible.”

Aquilani and the fans have been frustrated in equal measure by his inactivity since a £17 million summer move from Roma. And he said: “I have waited a lot of time (for the goal) but I am very happy today because we won the game. We need to win a lot of games to get in the top four and this is the first.”

Manager Rafael Benitez was also delighted his unusually attacking approach paid dividends. “We were expecting a good game, to play well and score goals,” he said. “The most important thing was to play with an offensive mentality and a lot of quality.

“I think the team was doing well so the midfielders had a lot of possession, so maybe it is easier for people to see (Aquilani). I was very pleased for Ryan (Babel) as well, and Maxi (Rodriguez) did a good job.”

Opposite number Avram Grant was understandably subdued and admitted the hosts’ first-half goal rush had left his side rattled. “Like against Arsenal and Manchester United, we lost our shape,” he said. “It was not a good seven minutes and we lost the game.

“I think the second half we got back into the game, we didn’t play brilliant but we could do more. It was not easy for us even though we scored one goal and created a couple of good chances before.”

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Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said after Saturday’s victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, which the striker missed, that the 24-year-old was “a big doubt” for the last 16, second leg after aggravating a knee injury on England duty last week.

However, Rooney’s presence at Carrington this morning suggests United’s top scorer will be involved at Old Trafford as the Red Devils attempt to progress at the expense of David Beckham and his team-mates.

Ryan Giggs also trained this morning, after having a plate removed from the arm he broke at Aston Villa recently. But the Welshman was limited to a solo session and Ferguson has already declared the winger will not come into contention.

United do have options, though, with Dimitar Berbatov impressing at Molineux on Saturday, while Paul Scholes scored his 100th Premier League goal. Michael Carrick is suspended following his late dismissal in the San Siro, so Darren Fletcher is expected to return.

However, it is the sight of Rooney that will cheer United fans the most as they attempt to build on their 3-2 win in Italy.

Although the Red Devils have never been knocked out of a two-legged European tie after winning the leg first away, their chances of victory will be significantly enhanced if the 28-goal player is around to help them. Buy football tickets for the world cup online. Ticket4football provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup 2010 tickets you can also get England world cup tickets at cheaper price without any delay and headache.

The second tier youth league is the Football League Youth Alliance, also founded in 1997, in which those Football League clubs that have Centres of Excellence status field their youth teams. The league, which currently has 58 clubs, is divided into four regional conference leagues. The Youth Alliance also operate the annual Youth Alliance Cup.

The FA Youth Cup is a nationwide cup competition for Under-18 teams organised by the FA. Over 400 clubs enter the FA Youth Cup each season. Buy World cup 2010 tickets for the world cup online. Ticket4football provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get England world cup tickets for all their world cup matches.