“When I was with Portugal, I had to choose three players every year for the World Player of the Year award,” he was quoted as saying in Saturday’s Daily Mail.

“One year I chose Didier Drogba, another year I wrote John Terry and another year I voted for Frank Lampard.

“Now these three players are with me, it’s good for me - maybe next season Cristiano is with me. Tell him, if he wants to change I’ll open the door for him.”

Scolari comes up against the 23-year-old winger for the first time since the Brazilian quit as coach of Portugal where he helped Ronaldo develop his skills in the national team.

Scolari, who left after Euro 2008 to join Chelsea, added: “When I arrived in Portugal, Ronaldo was a kid, a young boy of just 17. At that time he had a good character, but he was already thinking about his future.

“He has improved a lot since, more so in Manchester than with the national team. He spends 11 months of the year with United and only one with the national team, but I have watched him improve.

“He will leave United one day… If he goes to another club, whether in one year or two years, I don’t know. He’s my friend. I like him as a father likes his son. But his life is his life.

“Next season I can see him as captain of Portugal because people like him and he has the confidence. He’s a good man, he has grown up and is more mature.”

“Now he is one of the three best players in the world.” (Reuters)

With just two days left before the finish in Madrid, Contador has an overall lead of one minute and 17 seconds over American Levi Leipheimer with Carlos Sastre of Spain in third place, three minutes and 41 seconds behind.

Already the winner of the Tour de France and the Tour of Italy, overall victory in Spain would make Contador the first rider to take a hat-trick of major Tours since France’s Bernard Hinault.

Arroyo and Kiryienka broke away from the main peloton with Frenchman Julien Loubet on the descent from the Navafria mountain pass.

After the two had dropped Loubet 10 km from the finish, Arroyo then charged away for the biggest win of his career.

“Kiryienka…did most of the work for us two to keep clear,” said Arroyo, 28.

“But I told him I couldn’t collaborate because my team were chasing behind, and so he did all the work.”

The Spaniard fractured his elbow just before the Tour of Italy, where he had been due to lead the team, and he said Friday’s win made up for that disappointment. Astana’s Contador will have to defend his advantage on Saturday in a mountain time trial from La Granja de San Ildefonso to the Alto de Navacerrada.

“One minute and 17 seconds should be enough,” he said. “If my legs respond well, then I expect I’ll do okay. I know the climb well, and I’m feeling good.” (Reuters)

Everton will pay nothing up front for the injury-prone Saha, with the fee entirely dependent on appearances.

Saha, who has 18 international caps, becomes Everton’s third major signing of the summer following the arrivals of Denmark defender Lars Jacobsen and Ecuador midfielder Segundo Castillo.

Saha moved to Old Trafford from Fulham in January 2004 in a £12.8 million deal but struggled to force his way into the first team following a spate of injuries.

He has yet to feature for United this season and made just six Premier League starts during the 2007-8 season.

The former Metz and Newcastle United striker will directly replace England striker Andrew Johnson, who quit Goodison Park earlier this month to join top flight rivals Fulham.

Everton’s move for Internazionale striker Obinna has fallen through after the Department of Work and Pensions refused the Nigerian’s application for a work permit. (Reuters)

Juventus eased through to the Champions League group stages after a 1-1 draw at Artmedia Bratislava completed a 5-1 aggregate victory. Juve, out of Europe for two seasons following their involvement in an Italian match-fixing scandal, named a relatively strong team despite winning the third qualifying round first leg 4-0.

Claudio Ranieri’s side went behind when Artmedia midfielder Branislav Fodrek netted with a stunning bicycle kick after 14 minutes but they were soon level as Amauri scored his first competitive goal for the club. The Brazilian-born striker, a close-season signing from Palermo, hung in the air before powering home a header from Czech winger Pavel Nedved’s cross on 25 minutes.

Amauri had earlier hit the post with a header and could easily have bagged a hat-trick.

Slovakian champions Artmedia, who reached the Champions League group stages in 2005, showed much more ambition than they did in the first leg but Juve’s aggregate win was never in doubt.

Juve’s last Champions League appearance was a quarter-final defeat by Arsenal two years ago after which they were stripped of their 2006 Italian title, banned from Europe and demoted to Serie B.

The twice European champions, who visit Fiorentina on Sunday in their Serie A opener, will be looking forward to Thursday’s Champions League group stage draw after finishing third last term in their first season back in the Italian top flight.

Barcelona made it safely through despite losing 1-0 at Wisla Krakow.

The Spanish giants went into their second leg on the back of a 4-0 first leg win over the Polish champions and qualified 4-1 on aggregate.

The two-time European champions were missing Lionel Messi, the Olympic gold medalist with Argentina, but welcomed back Daniel Alves from injury.

Wisla’s Brazilian centre-back Cleber scored the only goal of the encounter in the 52nd minute, but it wasn’t enough to turn around their gaping first leg deficit.

Having ensured their participation in the Champions League proper two months later than they would have originally hoped, the Catalan club can now concentrate on their opening league game against Numancia at the weekend.

Barcelona, who have gone two seasons without a trophy, had met Wisla in the third qualifying round seven years ago, winning 4-3 away and 1-0 at home.

Despite going through to the group stages their visit ended on a low note with an injury time booking for France international striker Thierry Henry.

An injury-time goal by new signing Rodrigo Souza gave Panathinaiko s a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague and their own place in the group stages.

The Greek side went into the game leading 2-1 from the first match and looked content to play for a draw. Dimitris Salpigidis missed a good chance to put the tie beyond Sparta midway through the second half when he overran a back pass.

The Czechs then wasted two gilt-edged chances.

Mario Galinovic fumbled a long-range shot but Libor Dosek could only poke the rebound wide and Miroslav Slepicka also scuffed a shot wide from inside the penalty area.

Panathinaikos secured victory when Gabriel Rodrigues dos Santos floated over a cross from the right and Souza rose at the far post to head the ball firmly into the ground and past the Sparta goalkeeper.
(AFP / Reuters)

However, England’s Owen - on as a second-half substitute - raced clear in extra time to score his second winning goal for Newcastle in four days. Elsewhere, Premier League sides Bolton Wanderers,Hull City and West Bromwich Albion all went out of the Carling Cup in second-round ties against lower-division opponents.

Bolton lost 2-1 at home to third-tier Northampton Town after Kevin Nolan’s late strike failed to undo the damage of two first-half goals from the visitors’ Adebayo Akinfenwa. West Brom, beaten in their opening two Premier League games since winning promotion, succumbed to another team from two divisions below when they lost 3-1 at Hartlepool United.

Although Robert Koren cancelled out Joel Porter’s opening goal for Hartlepool with three minutes remaining, West Brom’s reprieve was only temporary with substitutes David Foley and Richard Barker securing a surprise victory in extra time.

Second division Swansea City came from behind to beat Premier League newcomers Hull City 2-1 after extra time. Spaniard Gorka Pintado cancelled out Dean Windass’s first-half effort for the visitors and his compatriot Jordi Gomez’s 105th-minute penalty completed the turnaround. (Sporting Life)

Goals from Mauro Camorenesi (pictured), Alessandro del Piero, Giorgio Chiellini and a final-minute strike from Nicola Legrottaglie leave the club almost certain to progress into their first European campaign for two years.

2006 winners Barcelona put the disappointment of finishing third in La Liga last season behind them by beating Wisla Krakow 4-0 at the Camp Nou in Pep Guardiola’s first game as coach.

Striker Samuel Eto’o opened the scoring on 17 minutes before UEFA’s Euro 2008 Player of the Tournament Xavi doubled the lead seven minutes later.

Thierry Henry put the gloss on the scoreline with a goal in the second half before Eto’o added his second and Barca’s fourth.

Guardiola had only said on Tuesday that he had changed his mind and would hang on to transfer-listed Eto’o and the Cameroon striker duly responded with his brace.

Ukrainian side Dinamo Kiev chalked up four goals on their trip to Spartak Moscow.

After going behind to a goal from Nikita Bazhenov after just four minutes, Ismael Bangoura equalised before Artem Milevskiy put the visitors in front on the stroke of half-time.

Both players added another after the break to secure a comfortable win for the visitors.

The biggest shock of the night came in Cyprus, where Anorthosis Famagusta beat Greek side Olympiacos 3-0.

Vasilis Torosidis put the ball in his own net after just five minutes to give the home side the lead, with Polish striker Lukasz Sosin and French midfielder Vincent Laban also scoring to give the Greek side - who reached the last 16 last season - a mountain to climb in the return leg.

Schalke 04 take a slender advantage into their second leg encounter with Atletico Madrid after beating the Spanish side 1-0 in Germany, with Christian Pander getting the only goal.

Galatasaray had to fight back from 2-0 down to secure a 2-2 draw at home to Steaua Bucharest.

Goals from Darjo Moreno and Banel Nicolita put the visitors ahead before the Turkish giants hit back with a double from former Blackburn striker Shabani Nonda.

FBK Kaunas, the side that knocked Rangers out of the previous round, lost 2-0 away to Bruce Rioch’s AaB Aalborg courtesy of goals from Caca and Jeppe Curth.

Darjo Srna and Jadson gave Shakhtar Donetsk a two-goal advantage going into the second leg against Dinamo Zagreb, while former Liverpool man Bruno Cheyrou scored the only goal at Brann to give Marseille an away goal advantage for their return fixture.

Last season’s quarter-finalists Fenerbahce were made to work for their 2-2 draw away to Partizan Belgrade.

Striker Veljko Paunovic scored a brace within 15 minutes to give the home side the lead, before a penalty from Alex and a goal from Dani Guiza on his competitive debut drew the Turkish side level.

Panathinaikos won 2-1 at Sparta Prague thanks to an own goal from Stepan Kucera and a strike from Simao, with Czech international striker Marek Kulic’s goal putting the home side on level terms for half an hour in between.

Elsewhere Vladimir Rzhevskiy’s goal on the hour made sure BATE left Levski Sofia with a 1-0 win and Levski coach Velislav Vutsov then resigned immediately after the match; while Portuguese side Guimaraes failed to make the most of home advantage as they played out a 0-0 draw with Swiss side Basle. (Tony Mabert / Eurosport)

With Wayne Rooney struggling with a virus, Cristiano Ronaldo out until October, and Louis Saha continuing to battle with his fitness, Ferguson is short of cover up front. The likes of Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Karim Benzema have also been linked with moves to Old Trafford, and Ferguson confirmed he has several options to consider.

“We are looking at three or four different options in the striking department which I hope will come to a happy conclusion,” said Ferguson.

“Hopefully we will have someone in for the start of the season.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson has suggested Saha has a future with the champions, despite the French striker’s injury troubles throughout his United career.

“You don’t want to give up on people like that just because they have had a few injuries,” added Ferguson.

“When he is fit, Louis is an explosive player who will guarantee 20 goals a season.

“Louis is on a programme at the moment which we feel will get him to 100% fitness.

“It is more about his confidence in doing this programme which will get him back playing all the time. Hopefully that is the case because he is such a fantastic player.” (Sporting Life / Eurosport)

Robinho was said to feel unwanted by Real during their lengthy chase for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, during which he was touted as a makeweight. The 24-year-old was also disappointed by the Liga club’s insistence that he remain in Spain instead of joining the Brazil Olympic squad, in which he was named as an overage player.

Robinho was reported by the Spanish press as wanting to work with new Chelsea boss and fellow Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“It would be a dream for me to work with Luiz Felipe Scolari, who is one of the best coaches in the world,” he told them.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon admitted at the weekend that he was hopeful of signing Robinho but said that Real’s desire to sign a replacement was holding up the deal.

“A key issue over buying Robinho has always been that Real are looking for a replacement,” he said.

“It is fair to say that is what has been holding up discussions.”

Since then Real have signed Netherlands international Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg.

Back at Stamford Bridge, main Blues striker Didier Drogba will miss the start of the season with a knee injury, fellow Ivorian Salomon Kalou is on Olympic Games duty while French winger Florent Malouda struggled in his first season in England. (Reda Maher / Eurosport)

Group A

Argentina were grateful that Barcelona allowed Lionel Messi to stay in Beijing despite winning their appeal to recall him as the diminutive winger scored the first and set up another to secure a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast.

There were shades of offside for the opener as Messi latched onto Juan Roman Riquelme’s superb through ball to slot past goalkeeper Vincent Angban.

Sekou Cisse equalised early in the second half after rising above Pablo Zabaleta to head home, but late on the Argentine quality shone through as Riquelme and Messi combined again, this time to set substitute Lautaro Acosta up with a simple tap in.

In the other Group A match, Australia and Serbia fought to a 1-1 draw, with Ruben Zadkovich’s second-half strike for the Socceroos cancelled out 10 minutes later by Ljubisa Rajkovic.

Group B

The United States have taken the early lead in Group B courtesy of their 1-0 win over Japan.

Houston Dynamo midfielder Stuart Holden’s goal just after the break was enough seal the victory.

Netherlands saw their campaign get off to an inauspicious start as they were stifled by a solid Nigeria to finish 0-0.

The game was marred by the late sending off of Evander Sno for the Dutch for an at best clumsy challenge that landed on an opponent’s ankle.

Group C

Brazil were made to struggle in their Group C opener by a solid Belgium side who had both Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany sent off before Sao Paolo midfielder Hernanes finally grabbed the winner with just over 10 minutes remaining.

The win was enough to send the side featuring Diego and Rafinha - who both, like Messi, have been allowed to remain by their clubs - to the top of the group.

China struggled to a 1-1 draw against a spirited New Zealand side, who went down to 10 men in the first half when Steven Old’s blatant handball earned him a second yellow card.

Despite their advantage, the hosts failed to make it count, and they were shocked when Jeremy Brockie blasted home on 52 minutes.

Defender Li Weifeng spared China’s blushes with five minutes left with an excellent glanced header from a corner.

Group D

Honduras almost made it to half-time before conceding against Italy, but a volley from Sebastian Giovinco (pictured) and a Giuseppe Rossi penalty saw them go into the break 2-0 up. Cagliari’s Robert Acquafresca added the third on 52 minutes to send the Azzurri top of Group D.

South Korea and Cameroon shared the spoils in an exciting encounter in which Chu-Young Park opened the scoring before Mandjeck Georges equalised for the Africans. Albert Baning’s last-minute sending off was the fifth of the day. (Tony Mabert / Eurosport)

“Now I can tell everyone that, yes, I will sign a contract,” he said. “I’m feeling very good here and at the moment my heart is with Arsenal.

“I never told anyone I would be leaving this club, never ever. I’m very happy we’ve found a solution.

“I have three years left on my contract so I’m very happy being part of this family.”

The Togo striker joined Arsenal from Monaco in 2006 and enjoyed a productive campaign in the 2007-2008 season, scoring 30 goals in all competitions.

His pledge will delight Arsenal supporters after the departures of midfielders Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb. (Reuters)