Jury remains out after Franck exchange

IT WAS the eagerly-awaited Champions League quarter-final first leg between two old rivals, two bitter old feuding football nations, and two players, at differing stages of their respective careers, for whom the tie at the Allianz Arena served as something of an audition.

For United full-back, and captain on the evening, Gary Neville, the target was simply maintaining his place in the only team for which he has ever played, with the added incentive of a possible place in Fabio Capello’s England World Cup squad for South Africa this summer.

For the player standing opposite him in the Bayern Munich line-up, Franck Ribery, the game could have had far bigger impact, the chance to show his worth against elite European opposition and earn himself a move away from the Bundesliga to greater fame and fortune in England or, more likely, Spain next season.