Arsenal's Champions League shortcomings are laid bare on Wednesday's back pages after the defeat by Dynamo Kiev which left them on the brink of an early exit. Gunners keeper Jens Lehmann is the fall guy for gifting Dynamo a killer second goal in Kiev as his side's miserable form in Europe continued.
"Lehmann loses it" is the headline in the Daily Express, which declares that "only a miracle can save Arsenal now".
Arsenal's woes jostle for column inches with the forthcoming Champions League clash between English and Scottish champions Manchester United and Rangers.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's return to the club he used to play for captures the imagination, although the man who grew up in Glasgow and is a close friend of Rangers boss Alex McLeish shows no signs of sentimentality.
 | BACK PAGE HEADLINES The Times: United's young guns wary as they enter hostile territory The Guardian: McLeish turns rage on United Daily Telegraph: Ibrox failure haunts Ferguson The Independent: Ferguson will not appeal against suspension The Sun: Fright Van Man (Ruud van Nistelrooy) Daily Express: Lehmann loses it Daily Mail: Rock bottom (Arsenal) Daily Star: Veron: I owe Ran big time Daily Mirror: English kings, European chumps (Arsenal) |
"We have come to bury Caesar - not to praise him," Ferguson tells the Daily Mail.
According to The Sun, United goal machine Ruud van Nistelrooy is in less bullish mood after suffering a 4-1 mauling at Ibrox with PSV Eindhoven in 1999.
Former Rangers midfielder Giovanni van Bronckhorst tells the paper: "I know from Ruud that when PSV played us at Ibrox he thought it was very frightening... and now he has to face it again."
The war of words taking place via the media at the Rugby World Cup shows no sign of abating with the French the latest rival nation to take a pop at "favourites" England.
France lock Fabien Pelous, coach Bernard Laporte, assistant boss Jacques Brunel and former coach and captain Pierre Berbizier all stick their oars in.
"They cheat in the loose scrums and the lineouts," Pelous tells the Express, while Berbizier adds: "England have often waged this kind of propaganda war, so it serves them right."
Elsewhere, former New Zealand captain Stuart Wilson calls Lawrence Dallaglio "the most professional cheat I have seen".
But perhaps the most surprising statement of all comes from Wales winger Tom Shanklin, who tells The Sun his team can beat England if they clash in the quarter-finals.
England coach Clive Woodward seems content to let the storm rage around him.
"I just want to thank all these coaches and players for all their feedback," Woodward says in the Express.
MMIX
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