Juventus boss Gigi Delneri returns to Sampdoria on Sunday for the first time since taking the reins at the Turin giants in May.

After leading Sampdoria to a fourth-placed finish last season and into the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, the 60-year-old was looking for a new challenge with Juventus, who finished a disappointing seventh in 2009/10.

When asked what type of reception he expected from the supporters at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Delneri was not sure how he would be received.

“What reaction do I expect from the fans? Recognition, the same as I feel for the supporters. I don’t think Sampdoria miss me or (former striker, now at AC Milan) Antonio Cassano and every season is its own story,” Delneri said.

“Besides, it is always exciting for them to take on Juve, regardless of who is on the bench. We had an extraordinary year together that culminated in the Champions League, thanks also to the fantastic atmosphere around the club.”

Delneri downplayed talks of a Serie A title challenge, with his side sitting in sixth position, seven points behind league leaders AC Milan.

“Let’s go easy on talk of the title. I think Juve must always fight to get the best and will improve when we get everyone back from injury,” he said.

Brazilian striker Amauri is back in the side after fracturing his nose, and Delneri has not ruled out a move for Sampdoria front man Giampaolo Pazzini.

“Both strikers are very talented. Pazzini has played more often than Amauri this year, which is why he has scored more goals,” he said.

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“As for other signings, for now we have brought in Luca Toni and will see what else happens. It is a tough moment for the club and we’re trying to improve the squad, but know it is not easy.”

“We’re keeping our eyes open to check out any bargains, but unfortunately at times we want players beyond our budget.”

It’s amazing really what a little bit of time can do in football. Cast your minds back to last season and Dimitar Berbatov was something of a whipping boy in the stands at Old Trafford. Now though, the Man United striker is the focal point of the attack and pretty much saved his side from an embarrassing defeat to Blackpool on Tuesday night.

United supporters aside, most would deem this type of behaviour towards a footballer as fickle. Those who deemed the Bulgarian surplus to requirements may have been over-reacting, but they certainly had a point to be annoyed.

Berbatov was a direct placement for the outgoing Carlos Tevez. The Argentine represented something of a work-horse, which always goes down well with the home fans. Berbatov has never really had that in his locker, and was ultimately labelled ‘lazy’.

What was most infuriating for the fans though was that they never saw enough of his unquestionable quality. He’s one of the most technically gifted players to be playing the game but last season in particular, he rarely showed it.

United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson has suggested that the reason his £30 million striker is now finally starting to show his worth is because Berbatov himself and his team-mates are starting to realise just how good he is. If we were being pedantic, his one fault this season is that he becomes overly frustrated with his colleagues because they’re not capable of matching his ability.

I could also offer another reason why he is now producing the quality which made Fergie spend so lavishly on him. Berbatov was always the star-man at Tottenham. He was their main attacking threat and played like a man determined to carry the weight of his team. He then joined United, who at the time already had Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Is it just a coincidence that Berba’s form comes at a time when United had lost two of those stars and the third is lost looking for form? Ferguson would have recognised that his attack was depleted compared to that of the Champions League winning 2009 season. It was time for the big Bulgarian to step up, and I would put good money on the manager telling him so.

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The player himself as suggested that the best is yet to come, so United fans will be hoping that the likes of Rooney will let him have the limelight for a little bit longer. Was he too expensive? Is he lazy? Maybe so, but his contribution this season has elevated him from the United boo-boy to the Stretford End hero whose name is now sung along with past greats such as George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo. What’s that United fans? Give it to Berba? Oh how times have changed indeed…

Former England coach Steve McClaren is keen on an immediate return to management after being sacked by Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

McClaren, 49, joined Wolfsburg in May 2010 after winning the Dutch Eredivisie title with FC Twente.

The Englishman leaves Wolfsburg 12th on the Bundesliga table, one point off the relegation zone after winning just once in their last 11 league matches.

The team also made an embarrassing exit from the DFB Pokal Cup at the hands of second tier outfit Energie Cottbus.

“Naturally, I am hugely disappointed that my time as head coach of VfL Wolfsburg has come to an end,” McClaren said in a statement.

“Since I came to the club, I have worked really hard to implement changes to bring stability and success on the field. I believe we have been making good progress and have only lost two of the last ten games in the Bundesliga.”

“Unfortunately, although I have enjoyed a good personal relationship with the senior management of the club and general manager, Dieter Hoeness, whom I fully respect, we have not been able to settle on a formula that I thought we needed to bring long-term success and therefore sadly the time has come for me and the club to move on.”

“I now look forward to the challenge of securing another management opportunity in football.”

McLaren’s assistant Pierre Littbarski has been appointed caretaker manager and will take charge of the team for the visit of Hamburg on Saturday.

Another former Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh will be leading the opposition at the Volkswagen Arena.

Veh took over from title-winning manager Felix Magath in July 2009, but lasted just six months in charge before suffering the same fate as McLaren.

“Of course it wasn’t nice back then,” Veh said.

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“I still think we could have accomplished a lot more but as I always say, we coaches have to live with that. There’s always situations when things don’t go well and the coach is held accountable for that and is the first in line to go, even though that is not always the right decision.”

Veh believes Wolfsburg could prove to be an unknown quantity in their first outing under new leadership.

“There always is the chance that due to a change new energy is set free,” he said.

“But if it were this easy then there would be changes every three months. What remains is that we don’t know how they will play. Maybe they will have some new ideas.”

AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso has apologised for losing his cool in his side’s Champions League defeat on Tuesday.

Tenacious midfielder Gattuso was involved in several incidents during the Italian giants’ 1-0 home defeat to Tottenham, which means Milan will need to win at White Hart Lane to make the Champions League quarter-finals.

The game became ugly when AC Milan’s Mathieu Flamini only received a yellow card for a crude two-footed lunge on Tottenham’s Vedran Corluka, who had to be substituted.

Gattuso traded words with Tottenham’s assistant manager Joe Jordan before shoving him in the face. Tempers flared again after the final whistle, with Gattuso head-butting the Spurs coach.

The retired Italy international had to be restrained by team-mates and escorted down the tunnel. He is expected to face a sanction from UEFA.

“I lost control,” Gattuso told reporters after the match.

“There is no excuse for what I have done. I take my responsibilities for that.”

“I was nervous. I didn’t want to argue with players and I did it with him, but I was wrong to do what I have done.”

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp did not want to comment on the incident at the post-match press conference, but was quoted as telling The Daily Mail: “He picked on the wrong man there. I know who I’d pick between Joe and Gattuso anyway … Joe all night long.”

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Redknapp believes the incident showed Milan were ‘rattled’ – a fair achievement for a club who are making their first appearance in the Champions League.

“Milan lost their heads at the end there – they were rattled, for sure – and I guess that’s a good sign,” he said.

Gattuso also picked up a yellow card in the match, meaning he will miss the second-leg clash at White Hart Lane on March 9 regardless of any UEFA punishment.

West Ham capped off a great week with their second win in seven days, as they followed up the impressive victory against Liverpool to cruise past Stoke 3-0 at Upton Park and in turn move out of the Premier League relegation zone.

It has to be said that Avram Grant’s men were gifted the opener by Stoke, as Demba Ba capitalised on a defensive mix-up to give the Hammers the lead after 20 minutes. 10 minutes later it was 2-0 thanks to a Manuel Da Costa header, a two-goal cushion that West Ham took into the break. They were tested more after the break, but managed to keep a clean sheet and Thomas Hitzlsperger continued his good form since his return from injury with a trademark strike to put the icing on the cake.

So what FIVE things did we learn about West Ham today?

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Porto, Benfica and Sporting Braga all progressed to the Europa League quarter-finals in a good evening for Portuguese sides on Thursday.The night was not so kind for British teams, with tournament favourites Manchester City, Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers all exiting continental competition far earlier than they would have liked.Porto, who are unbeaten in 32 league games and are 13 points clear of Benfica at the top of the Liga Sagres table, produced another excellent performance to defeat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at the Estadio Do Dragao.After they won the first leg in Moscow 1-0, Brazilian striker Hulk, who has 29 goals in all competitions, gave Porto the perfect start with a goal inside the first minute.Freddy Guarin doubled Porto’s advantage after 24 minutes and although Zoran Tosic scored five minutes later for CSKA, the Russian side was unable to take advantage of their chances and were knocked out of the competition.After a 2-1 victory at home, Benfica’s 1-1 draw in France against PSG secured their progression.Nicolas Gaitan’s 27th-minute goal put the Portuguese side two goals in front on aggregate and despite Mathieu Bodmer’s equalizer eight minutes later, Benfica progressed to the last eight where they will be joined by Sporting Braga who held on for a 0-0 draw at Anfield against Liverpool to give them a 1-0 aggregate triumph.Aleksandar Kolarov’s first-half strike was not enough for Manchester City, who despite defeating Dynamo Kiev 1-0, failed to progress after losing 2-1 on aggregate while Rangers also missed out by a goal, with Jeremain Lens’ 14th-minute away goal at Ibrox giving PSV a 1-0 win on the night and over the two legs.Villarreal knocked Bayer Leverkusen out of the competition after a 2-1 second-leg win at El Madigral.The fourth-placed La Liga outfit claimed a brilliant 3-2 away win in the first leg and booked their spot in the last eight with goals to Cazorla and Giuseppe Rossi, before Eren Derdiyok struck a late consolation for the Bundesliga side.Other results saw four-time European Cup winners Ajax Amsterdam knocked out after they were hammered 3-0 by Spartak Moscow, thanks to goals from Dmitri Kombarov, Welliton and Alex, which ensured they won 4-0 on aggregate.But Ajax’s Eredivisie rivals Twente had more luck, progressing despite a 2-0 defeat at Zenit St Petersburg.Twente won the first leg 3-0 but first-half strikes to Roman Shirokov and Alexander Kerzhakov made for an exciting second half, in which Zenit were unable to extend their advantage as the 2008 UEFA Cup winners exited the competition.

There is no competition in club football more special than the UEFA Champions League. Just ask Steve McManaman and Christian Karembeu. Both players have great memories of the competition and indeed won the coveted trophy whilst at Real Madrid. They now work as ambassadors for UEFA at the Heineken-sponsored UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour.

Speaking on the Bangkok leg of the tour, McManaman, who scored a magnificent volley in the 2000 Final against Valencia, said: “The Champions League means everything to me. One of the reasons I actually left Liverpool was to play in the Champions League.

“Whilst I was there, only the domestic champions got to play in the competition and I wanted to test myself against the very best in the world. You have to test yourself against the best teams in Europe, that is what it is all about. And because I joined such an illustrious club with such great players, I was fortunate enough to win the Champions League the first year I got to play in it and that was fantastic!”

Karembeu was an unused substitute in the 2000 Final, but started in 1998 when a solitary Pedrag Mijatovic strike was enough to sink Juventus at the Amsterdam Arena. In that same summer, the 53-times-capped French international lifted the World Cup in Paris and although he remembers both occasions very fondly, he is unable to compare one to the other.

Karembeu said: “The Champions League is the first title that I won as a player so it means a lot me. It was also the first time in 32 years that Real Madrid had won the trophy and that made it extra special because the club were missing it. Both for me personally, and for the club it was genuinely a dream come true. It was one of the best moments of my life without question.

“But to then go on and win the World Cup in your home country is something else. You can multiply any feeling or emotion that you have by ten because you know that the whole country is with you every step of the way. I suppose looking back it is almost idealistic the way that I won those titles but I could not have done it without my teammates. I could not compare winning one trophy to the other because it was two different experiences with two different sets of people and I will cherish both memories for the rest of my life.”

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The Trophy Tour

The schedule of the 2011 UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken is:

February 22 – 27: Kuala Lumpur

March 5 – 6: Penang

March 11 – 12: Kuala Lumpur

March 16 – 17: Bangkok

March 19 – 20: Chiang Mai

March 25 – 27: Kon Kaen

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April 6 – 9: Seoul

April 15 – 17: Hong Kong

There will me more to follow about the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken…

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Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says Aaron Lennon could make a surprise return against Stoke on Saturday.The England winger missed Spurs’ midweek 4-0 Champions League quarter final first leg mauling at Real Madrid with a virus, but could recover in time for this weekend’s match.

“We will see if he feels any better when he comes in on Friday,” Redknapp said. “Whether he will be fit enough to train or not – we are not sure.”

“The kid was unwell – he was too ill to come in to training on Thursday. He will be doubtful but it depends how he is in training.”

With the second leg of that Madrid tie to come on Wednesday there has been speculation that Redknapp could rest some players against Stoke.

But he has insisted Tottenham need as strong a team as possible as they look to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League once again.

“I cannot afford to rest anybody because we have lots of players injured to start with,” Redknapp said.

“We are still trying to make the top four and compete in the Champions League.”

“It is hard trying to compete on two fronts – usually we compete on no fronts here at Tottenham.”

“It?s a tough ask to make the top four of the Premier League and next year it will be even harder because I’m sure Liverpool will be stronger.”

“We finished above Manchester City last season then they went out and spent about 140 million pounds in the summer to try and make sure they made the top four this time.”

Redknapp insisted the midweek flop in Spain has been forgotten because the Stoke game is of vital importance.

“I have forgotten about the Champions League, I am totally focussed on the game with Stoke,” he said.

“Stoke is the next match and that is the all-important game for us and the one we will concentrate on.”

“We have been making lots of chances and only one defeat in the last eight Premier League games.”

“We are playing well but you cannot always win.”

“Stoke is a good club; the fans are unbelievable and they get behind their team. It is a well-run club and it will be tough.”

Tottenham will be without defenders Ledley King (groin), Alan Hutton (knee) and Jonathan Woodgate (calf) and midfielders Wilson Palacios (knee) and Steven Piennar (groin) while Vedran Corluka (ankle) will face a late fitness test.

UEFA has opened disciplinary cases against both Real Madrid and Barcelona following Wednesday’s fiery Champions League tie at the Bernabeu.Barca triumphed 2-0 in the semi-final first leg, though a brace by Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was largely overshadowed by theatrics on and off the pitch.

Referee Wolfgang Stark had his hands full as both sides played up challenges, argued vigorously and niggled at each other through the match, culminating in a red card to Real defender Pepe for a challenge on Davi Alves.

Real boss Jose Mourinho vented his fury at the dismissal to the fourth official and was subsequently banished to the stands, and later unleashed a torrent of accusations at Barcelona, UEFA and the officials in his post-match press conference.

Unsurprisingly, Mourinho attracted the attention of UEFA, who have announced they will investigate the Portuguese manager’s comments in one of five disciplinary charges levelled against Real.

The Spanish club have also be charged in relation to Pepe and Mourinho’s dismissals, a pitch invasion following the final whistle and the throwing of missiles onto the pitch by Real supporters.

Barca face just one charge after substitute goalkeeper Jose Pinto was shown a red card for his part in a half-time brawl as both sides headed to the dressing rooms.

Both cases will be heard by UEFA’s disciplinary board next Friday.

Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas has labelled his side’s Europa League final against Sporting Braga as a ‘great challenge’.The two sides will meet in Dublin on May 18 to decide the winner of Europe’s second-tier club competition and although Porto have won both meetings between the two sides in Liga Sagres this season, the champions will not be taking Braga lightly.

Porto booked their spot in the final despite losing the second leg 3-2, as they cruised through on aggregate 7-4.

Villas-Boas also expressed his pride in his players after the victory, which keeps their chances of a historic treble alive, with the league title already wrapped up and a spot in the Portuguese Cup final, against Vitoria de Guimaraes, booked.

“I am very proud of my players for achieving this important objective,” Villas-Boas said.

“We resisted the initial Villarreal pressure and now we are into the final with Braga, who eliminated great teams such as Sevilla, Liverpool and Benfica. It is a great challenge for us.”

Porto defeated Braga 3-2 in their league clash in September before winning 2-0 away from home in February.

Villarreal boss Juan Garrido praised Porto after their aggregate victory, insisting they deserved to make the final.

“They (Porto) won and they deserved it,” Garrido said.

“I congratulate Porto, who have done a great job in winning this round. We fought with all we could.”

Garrido also thanked the fans who attended the second leg at El Madrigal, as they stuck by their team and saw them win on the night thanks to goals in the last 15 minutes from Joan Capdevila and a Giuseppe Rossi penalty.

“We played a good game and appeared to be doing well with the fans. Today (Thursday) I saw the fans believe in the team,” he said.

“I appreciate the fans’ support of the team.”