Cristiano Ronaldo has clearly been borrowing some of Wayne Rooney’s hair product, judging both by his smooth new hairstyle and his ultra slick performance against the Czech Republic in which he stamped his mark on this tournament.

Not unsurprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo absolutely dominated the build-up to tonight’s first Euro 2012 quarter-final between Portugal and the Czech Republic.

Nobody saw Roy Hodgson sneak into Gdynia on the eve of Euro 2012 but he was surely there; how else do you explain how the luck of the Irish, so painfully missing in the group stages in northern Poland, has turned up wearing an England shirt in Ukraine — and like a disloyal cat fed cuts of salmon by a wealthy neighbour, shows no signs of returning home?

Alex Ferguson has issued a video message to Manchester United season ticket holders restating the club’s desire to regain their Premier League title – but warning of further last-gasp drama in the years to come.

Slaven Bilic still walks with a slight limp, the legacy of an operation he had back in January. Doctors tried to fix his old hip injury, which dated back to the most glorious period of his playing days, an episode which effectively ended his career.

Helenio Herrera was in one of his more abrasive, arrogant moods. But then, he had cause to be. His Barcelona had just battered Wolves 9-2 on aggregate in the 1959-60 European Cup and, at Birmingham airport, he was holding court.

In the spring of 2004, Jose Mourinho was hugely motivated by the prospect of restoring Liverpool to proper glory.

Manchester United have claimed almost 10% of the world’s population support Alex Ferguson’s team.

France midfielder Samir Nasri revealed he deceived Manchester City team-mate Joe Hart in order to score his equaliser in last night’s Euro 2012 draw in Donetsk.

England boss Roy Hodgson insisted his side remained a work in progress after their battling Euro 2012 draw with France in Donetsk last night.

Roberto Di Matteo was the obvious choice to become full-time Chelsea manager next season, according to former Blues defender Frank Leboeuf.

Manchester United are in talks to sign highly-rate Crewe youngster Nick Powell.

An arduous club season, no matter how successful, might not be the platform on which the national side can thrive

Ashley Young ia adamant he is not a diving “cheat”.

Former All-Ireland winning Clare captain and current Dublin hurling boss, Anthony Daly

Wojciech Szczesny suffered a hugely disappointing start to his Euro 2012 campaign as he was sent off in Poland’s incident-filled draw against Greece in the opening match.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who from a young age made no secret of his desire to be regarded as the best in the world, has been dogged for years now by a football snobbery that says no player can ever be regarded as ‘a true great’ until he has underlined his talent by weaving his magic on the World Cup or European Championship stage.

A is for Arshavin: The diminutive little playmaker lit up this tournament four years ago, tormenting a fine Dutch side and inspiring Russia to a place in the semi-finals.

Polish hero returns home

Former England defender Sol Campbell believes Rio Ferdinand should have had the chance to turn England down and says he never bought the argument that the Manchester United player was left out of the original squad for footballing reasons.