Where once under-achieving Spanish players were more virility and machismo than style and substance, now they go in search of a hat-trick of major tournament titles.

Never mind Trap’s much-anticipated squad announcement on Monday.

THE ODDS are stacked against them and history suggests they haven’t a hope but there is something tangible about Ireland’s demeanour heading into the World Cup Pool C showdown with Australia that suggests something special is on the cards at Eden Park tomorrow morning.

IF Pep Guardiola is a student of Johann Cruyff, then Sergio Busquets is a student of Guardiola. The defensive midfielder, who divides opinion outside Spain, played under Guardiola in his one season as Barça’s B team boss in 2007-08.

PELE’S visit to Ireland this week reminded me that I’ve been lucky enough to meet with the five footballers I consider to be the greatest of all time: George Best, Maradona, Johann Cruyff, Zinedine Zidane and ‘El Rei’ himself.

WE ALL know that getting to the final of the Champions League is hard but I say that getting away from it is harder still.

IS there a man, woman or child left in the country who doesn’t know by now that Giovanni Trapattoni’s birthday is on St Patrick’s Day? Or who hasn’t seen his infamous Bayern Munich press conference on Youtube, the one which might best be described as being, at once, scary and hilarious?

Johann Cruyff has denied holding talks with Jose Mourinho about the possibility of the former Chelsea coach taking charge of Barcelona at the end of the season.

TALK OF DIVORCE hung heavy in the Spanish air yesterday with Ronaldinho’s forecast split from Barcelona filling the back pages.

The early leaderboard had a truly international flavour to it on the first morning of the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

ARSENE WENGER last night hailed Thierry Henry as unique as the Frenchman stood on the brink of scoring his 100th Premiership goal ahead of tonight’s clash against Southampton.

ARSENE WENGER fears Arsenal winger Robert Pires is becoming a marked man by referees because of his reputation for diving.

BERTIE AHERN could be their popular champion. We’re talking about the 15% of the population that feel left out and ignored.