Dimitar Berbatov was replaced in the first half of Bulgaria's 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Serbia, with the injury believed to be his hamstring. He is now obviously a doubt for this weekend's match against Aston Villa. It could have been much worse for Bulgaria when considering that Serbia missed two penalties. Click to continue reading...

Nemanja Vidic took his time to settle in with United, adjusting to life in England as much as playing on the pitch. He quickly won the fans over though with his tough attitude and brave approach to the game, with a chant created for him not long in to his United career. Comments circulated a few [... Click to continue reading...

Before the season started, Stoke were favourites to go down. So far, they're doing fairly well, with only goal difference keeping them out of the top ten, as well as being above The Richest Club in the World (TM) in the table. Their not-so-secret weapon appears to be the incredible throw-in of Rory Delay, which averages [. Click to continue reading...

Seriously? Three goals for Hull? At Old Trafford? Now, I understand that United has a frustrating tendency to struggle against lower ranked/newly promoted teams (granted, Hull is actually higher than us in the standings), but this game was a far different animal. Generally, we scrap out a 1-0 victory over teams like Bolton and Reading, and only manager 0-0 draws against less than intimidating opponents.

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Click here for Ronaldo's first, click here for Carrick's, click here for Ronaldo's second, and here for Vidic's. "VIDEO: Ronaldo, Carrick and Vidic's Goals Against Hull" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United have four players listed in the top 30 players in Europe, ahead of the Ballon d'Or announcement at the beginning of December. Four of the eleven players from the Premiership belong to Manchester United, which is unsurprising, considering our success in England and Europe last season. Click to continue reading...

Didier Drogba is just one of those players you love to hate. Long before Cristiano Ronaldo became public enemy number one, Drogba inspired hatred from all around the country. He's over six feet tall, he is well built, yet threw himself to the ground, crying like a little bitch, whenever the opportunity arose. Click to continue reading...

Ahead of our third home game of the season, Nemanja Vidic has spoken of his desire to wrap up another three points and go on to a winning streak. He acknowledges we've had a tougher start to the season than our rivals, in terms of fixtures, but hopes that we can continue winning, so that we're [...] Click to continue reading...

It was the big talking point from this weekend's game at Ewood Park. Should Manchester United's first goal been disallowed because Vidic backed in to Blackburn goalkeeper Jason Brown and elbowed him in the face, or - as the commentators mentioned - it was Brown's mistake for not asserting himself and punching the ball to [. Click to continue reading...

1. Liverpool are king of the comebacks. They did it in the 2005 Champions League final, they did it in the 2006 FA Cup final, and now they're doing it in the Premier League. Two goals down at Man City yesterday and Liverpool came back to win 3-2. They also came from a goal down to [...] Click to continue reading...

Good news for United, Nemanja Vidic is set to return from suspension. While Edwin van der Sar is said to have recovered from a knee injury sustained during the Manchester United vs. Chelsea match. Also Ronaldo will be in the starting line-up. While Bolton will have Johan Elmander and Matt Taylor back from injury. Click to continue reading...

Mikael Silvestre has revealed the chance to play first-team football was the main driving force behind him trading Old Trafford for the Emirates. The French defender had struggled to infiltrate the central defensive pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, while Patrice Evra has made the left-back slot his own, leaving him little choice but to [. Click to continue reading...

In less than three weeks, my wife and I have a new arrival planned for our household: our first baby boy. So while my wife was enjoying her baby shower yesterday, I ended up watching our three other children. Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to watch as much live football as I [...] Click to continue reading...

It's been a long time coming but Liverpool finally beat Man Utd at Anfield today for the first time since 2001. And for Rafa Benitez it was the first time he'd gotten the better of Fergie in the Premier League. And he did so with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard starting on the bench. Gerrard came [. Click to continue reading...

Zenit St. Petersburg is the first Russian team to lift the European Super Cup. At the Stade Louis II of Monaco, the winners of last year's UEFA Cup beat the European Champions Manchester United by 2-1, and it was a result thoroughly deserved by Dick Advocaat's team. Only at the very end did the Russians [. Click to continue reading...

It didn't count, and it got him sent off for a second bookable offence. But Paul Schol's handball in the dying moments of Man Utd's 2-1 defeat to Zenit St Petersburg was still a might impressive effort. First of all it's bravely blatant. None of that sneaky stuff favoured by Diego Maradone, just a full on [. Click to continue reading...

Nemanja was quoted as saying some not very nice things about Manchester this week, which he has since denied, although some have doubted how sincere his denial of the comments were. It's a bit shady isn't it? He hasn't denied the interview took place, but claims he was just trying to get across the negative feelings [. Click to continue reading...

MANCHESTER United defender Nemanja Vidic has admitted the real reason he wants to leave England is because he is afraid of Mary Poppins. The Serbian had already stunned United fans after he announced yesterday that he wanted to quit Manchester on account of the piss-awful weather. However, pals close to Vidic revealed that it was not [. Click to continue reading...

Nemanja Vidic loves the English weather, the English lifestyle, and just about everything else England has to offer. This is according to Russian football magazine 'Football Weekly'. One of the most interesting quotes attributed to the Serbian defender has to be this one: "In England, they say that Manchester is the city of rain. Click to continue reading...

The shortlist for the UEFA Player of the Year candidates have been announced, with six United players featuring. Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo will almost certainly win the overall award, five other players have been recognised, with Edwin Van der Sar being named in the UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year category, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic up [. Click to continue reading...

Apparently the standard of English football, despite the travesty of the national team, is not going down. It is going up. The evidence is there for all to see. No fewer than 17 of the 20 nominees on UEFA's list for Club Footballer of the Year are based in the English Premier League. Furthermore, seven nominees are English, making England the best represented nation on the shortlist, ahead of Spain (five). Click to continue reading...

Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard have been shortlisted for this year's UEFA European Club Footballer of the Year award.

Seventeen of the 25 nominees play in the Barclays Premier League, a reflection of the fact three English teams reached last season's Champions League semi-finals. Click to continue reading...

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are one of the best defensive partnerships in Europe and are certainly one of the best Manchester United have ever seen. However, it was the strength of the Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce pairing which help bring the league title back to Old Trafford back in 1993, and Pally has [. Click to continue reading...

When Chelsea signed Branislav Ivanovic from Lokomotiv Moscow in January, many members of the media were referring to the Serb as the next Nemanja Vidic. £10 million and 0 appearances later, Chelsea are claiming that the defender hasn't impressed anyone at Stamford Bridge and are ready to let him leave for AC Milan. Click to continue reading...

The 'Holy Trinity' statue now stands proudly opposite Old Trafford, looking up to the one of Sir Matt Busby. It raises the question of whether in 50 years it'll be a statue of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes added to the grounds somewhere. Three totally committed players who between them have an incredible [. Click to continue reading...

Nemanja Vidic is a favourite with the fans because of his fighting mentality and bravery. He'll stick his head, leg or body in the way of anything if it means United will benefit, and he's paid the price for this with bruises, cuts, and even being knocked unconscious. In an interview with the United magazine, Vidic [. Click to continue reading...

Sunday, August 10th, 2008
15:00 GMT, 10:00 EST
Wembley Stadium

Every year the English top flight season kicks off with the Community Shield. While the competition has no real bearing on anything, it's a celebration of football; the English league champion faces off against the FA Cup winner from the previous season. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United v Portsmouth
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
15:00 GMT, 10:00 EST
Wembley Stadium

Every year the English top flight season kicks off with the Community Shield. While the competition has no real bearing on anything, it's a celebration of football; the English league champion faces off against the FA Cup winner from the previous season. Click to continue reading...

In a somewhat emotional return to Aberdeen for Sir Alex Ferguson, 25 years after winning the UEFA Cup Winners Cup against Real Madrid, United finished 2-0 winners. Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney were the goalscorers, in a game which featured first teamers Gary Neville, John O'Shea Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Michel Silestre, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, [. Click to continue reading...

The scene chosen for the duel enters both representing of the country that invented the sport king will be the Olympic stage Luzhikí of Moscow, whose turf has provoked in the last hours some doubts, as much due to its state, irregular, like a its lack of verdure. Although Moscow is considered land neutral, the Chelsea starts off with a small advantage because his owner is the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, who has been spent more than billions of dollars with the aim of turning to the London team into the best one of the world. Click to continue reading...

Serbian hard nut Nemanja Vidic obviously isn't a fan of my work. If he was he may have seen my Liverpool Feel 'Raf' Of Drogba scribblings claiming that Rafa Benitez's critique of the Ivorian was one of the main reasons Didier smashed Pool's Champions League dreams. Ho-hum. With this in mind, I find myself wincing for [. Click to continue reading...

Good morning folks. Wednesday is here, which means today is the day of the Manchester United-Barcelona Champions League semifinal. It promises to be a match-up for the ages and will certainly have most of us glued to the TV this afternoon.

Since that is still several hours away, here are some soccer stories to tide you over this morning:

Vidic doubtful for semifinal

Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic is doubtful for today's Champions League semifinal vs.

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Unlike the comedy of errors that Chelsea and Liverpool managed to produce in their first leg match, I have sky-high expectations for the Barcelona - Manchester United match. Barca will look to salvage something from what has been a bit of a lost season for them while United will be looking to overturn last year's disappointing loss to AC Milan and that's where our comparison begins. Click to continue reading...

It's that time of the season when the player of the season awards start being handed out. It's also the time of the season when us fans argue about who has been the best player in each of the positions. It is unlikely that any two fans would select an identical ‘team of the year' [...] Click to continue reading...

England international defender Rio Ferdinand has been at Manchester United since 2002 and the 29-year old insists that he wants to stay at Old Trafford for the rest of his playing career. Rio Ferdinand's current contract with the club ends in 2009 and although follow up progress on a new and improved contract is still not [. Click to continue reading...