Despite mouth-watering encounters such as Germany vs. Argentina and France vs. Spain, all curious eyes are firmly fixed on the clash between Fabio Capello's England side and the African Champions Egypt in Wembley. The Footballing world is anxious to know whether the squad can put up all it's off field distractions aside and perform to the best of their abilities. Asked in an interview whether or not he would take a U-turn on Terry's sacking, Capello replied "I think no. I think the next captain will be Rio (Ferdinand). For Wednesday, the captain will be Steven Gerrard." The Italian clearly wanted to put things straight before England fight their ‘real battles' on the pitch.

The Glazers had taken on ridiculous loans to complete their takeover of Manchester United. The Club as a result have plunged into debts of up to $716.5 million. Red Knights, a group of City bankers, lawyers and life long United supporters have confirmed that they are considering a $1 Billion take over bid of the World's most valuable football club. The Red Knights have the support of Manchester United Supporter's Trust (MUST), UK's largest supporters trust. A spokesperson for the Glazers told BBC sport that the club was not up for sale. But the current owners are being pressurized through vocal campaigning by the above mentioned trust. The ‘Green and Gold' campaign has seen supporters carry the colors of ‘Newton Heath', which was renamed as Manchester United in 1902. Plots such as boycotting club merchandise and not renewing season tickets have are being formulated to hurt the Glazers in their pockets. The takeover bid can only be successful once the Glazers accept the proposal and hence, bleeding the Glazer wallets could tilt the Pan Balance in their favour.

Last night's Europa League action had everything upsets, beatings, extra-time anxieties et al. With defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk out of the fray and former European heavyweights - Juventus and Liverpool making it through, UEFA's most lackadaisical competition has the football universe giving it the attention it deserves. An average of 3 goals per game was scored last night in the round of 32, certainly not a minor offering from Europe's second most prestigious club competition.

Three time UEFA Cup winners Liverpool won 1-3 on the night against Romanian Champions Unirea Urziceni. A screamer from Mascherano and goals from Steven Gerrard and Ryan Babel secured an easy passage to the round of 16, with a 4-1 aggregate win for the Reds. The other Merseyside team weren't quite as fortunate. Everton were kicked out of the Europa League by Portuguese heavyweight Sporting Lisbon, 4-2 on aggregate. The Toffees 2-1 lead from the first leg at Goodison was more than cancelled out by a 3-0 thumping at Lisbon. Second half goals from Miguel Veloso, Pedro Mendes and Matias Fernandez assured the ‘Leões' (Lions) a place in the next round. Roy Hodgson's Fulham were the success story of the round as they ended defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk's European campaign. The London club carried a 2-1 advantage from Craven Cottage to Donetsk and a 1-1 draw in the Ukranian city took them to the next round, not bad for a team playing in their second ever European campaign.

Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan scripted a 2-1 win over Premier League giants Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 match at the San Siro. While the Argentine pair of Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso scored for Inter, Salomon Kalou was on the score sheet for the Premier League leaders. The match was evenly contested and was marked by some stubborn defending from an Inter side who made sure that Chelsea, despite having plenty of the ball had few clear cut chances from open play. The second leg would need the Premier League side to raise their game a notch or two as tonight's game showed that Inter are well capable of putting the tie to rest with the attacking threat they possess.

It was the match that had been on the boil for too long. Words had been exchanged between either sides, and the battle lines were drawn. It was now up to the action on the pitch where the league leaders from Italy and England - Inter Milan and Chelsea - locked horns in the Champions League round of 16.

Jose Mourinho, the erstwhile Chelsea manager picked skipper Javier Zanetti in the left back slot with regulars Chivu and Santon both out with injury, while Goran Pandev started on the bench. Samuel Eto'o and Diego Milito started upfront for the Italian side. Wesley Sneijder played just behind the two as Mourinho hoped that the Dutch playmaker will live to his immense talent displaying that razor sharp acumen on the pitch. There was also welcome relief for Mourinho and his men as Julio Cesar was back into the line up after passing a late fitness test following a car accident that he was involved in last week.

FC Barcelona came from behind to end their first leg tie against VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League Round of 16 on level pegging. The home side gave a great account of themselves - more so in the first half - as they dominated the Catalans in the early exchanges and could well have been 2 or 3 goals up rather than the miniscule 1-0 lead they took into half-time. Big money signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalized for the European Champions as Barca forced Stuttgart on the defensive. The match petered out to a dull end as Barca's ‘keep ball' tactics had little or no end product but they did succeed in wearing out the home side.

The Champions League encounter between Stuttgart and Barcelona was billed as an entertaining prospect especially considering the recent run of the form of German giants. Pep Guardiola was without the services of first choice full backs Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal, with Carlos Puyol and Maxwell filling in. French veteran striker Thierry Henry started off the bench, with Andreas Iniesta, Ibrahimovic and Messi deployed as the front three. VfB Stuttgart were in a positive frame of mind as well - especially on account of their recent goal scoring exploits - and picked an attacking formation headed by the tall and pacy Pavel Pogrebnyak. Joining him up top was 28-year old German striker Cacau, who playing for the suspended Ciprian Marica, hammered 4 goals against FC Koln over the weekend to earn himself a starting berth.

Bayern Munich doubled their tally of home goals in this seasons Champions League on a night that will be remembered for refereeing errors as the German Giants beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the first leg of the first knock-out round of the Champions League.

Having kept the Germans at bay for most of the first half before an Arjen Robben penalty handed Bayern the lead, Fiorentina equalized early in the second through Per Kroldrup. The Italians then fell prey to two costly errors from referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, to first have Massimo Gobbi expelled and then see Miroslav Klose score the Bayern winner from an offside position. In the midst of all the crazy action, a sparkling return from Frank Ribery and an equally good display from Arjen Robben was the highlight of the day for Bayern.

Porto won the first leg of their much anticipated UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash against the English proponents of the 'beautiful game' - Arsenal - by a margin of 2 goals to 1. Arsenal would count themselves unlucky as both of Porto's goals were down to goalkeeping errors (in fact howlers) from stand-in keeper Lukasz Fabianski. On the positive side, Sol Campbell, in his return to Champions League action after nearly 4 years got the vital away goal for the Gunners and led credence to their belief that they are still in with a chance of a quarter-final spot.

Porto welcomed the English Premier League giants Arsenal at the Estadio do Dragao in a match that was being billed as a ‘test of character' of both sides. While Arsenal have often flattered to deceive on the big stage, Porto are slowly coming into their own and a match against Arsenal was going to be an eagerly anticipated barometer of the Portugese club's progress.

With Arsene Wenger's Gunners rocked by the recent additions to the dreaded injury list - Andrey Arshavin, William Gallas, Alex Song, Eduardo and Manuel Almunia - Porto sure had a chance to press home the advantage against a severely depleted Arsenal side.