FOOTBALLMONKEY

Sir Alex Ferguson remembers being summoned by Manchester United’s American owners, the Glazer family, the day after he had kicked club captain Roy Keane out of Old Trafford in 2005 following an increasingly acrimonious breakdown in their relationship. "I was a bit nervous as to what they might say. But when I spoke to them, all they said was they were surprised it had taken me so long," Ferguson admits to friends.

Ferguson has fought and seen off some of the biggest names in football during 25 memorable years at Manchester United - David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jaap Stam and the iconic Keane. Now, on his 70th birthday, Ferguson is taking on his biggest current superstar, Wayne Rooney, unceremoniously dropping the England striker for the game against Blackburn Rovers despite United already being without nine other injured international players.

The reason? Apparently that Rooney and his wife, Coleen, went out for a Boxing Day meal with team-mates Darren Gibson and Johnny Evans and their partners after a 5-0 home win against Wigan. It has bemused and angered Rooney, who has also been hit with a six-figure fine. Ferguson said in a television interview before the game that Rooney was suffering from ‘little strains’, adding: "Wayne has not trained well this week. He missed a few days but hopefully he will train on Sunday."

But the revelation that Rooney was axed as a result of his Boxing Day dinner provides absolute proof that, far from being mellowed by time, Ferguson is more determined than ever to run things his way. And with Sir Alex announcing that he believes he can serve United for another three years, which would take him past Sir Bobby Robson to become the oldest manager in Premier League history, Rooney will know that there can be only one winner if he takes on the boss.

While Rooney may rage against the control exerted by his manager, most fans will view the 36 trophies in 25 glittering years at Old Trafford and say Ferguson deserves to run the club how he wants. Rooney, fuming silently in a private box at Old Trafford while his team-mates toiled in a 3-2 defeat, sensibly did not send out as much as a single tweet to irritate his manager further. But this bust-up could prove to be the biggest and most combustible fight of Ferguson’s career.

If there is no thaw in the coming months, one may have to go in the summer and the smart money would be on Rooney, rather than Ferguson. History is on the manager’s side.

Beckham was the most popular sportsman in the world and a commercial godsend to United at the time of his falling-out with Ferguson in 2003, when the England captain was accidentally struck in the face by a flying boot kicked in anger by Ferguson. But it was the manager, not Beckham, who won. He simply packed Beckham off to Real Madrid and made sure there was a new No 7, Cristiano Ronaldo, waiting in the wings, who would ultimately prove as valuable a player as Beckham and almost as marketable across the globe.

When Stam and Van Nistelrooy were booted out by Ferguson, Stam leaving after claiming the United manager had tapped him up in his autobiography, United were secure that they could compete financially for top-class replacements, such as Rio Ferdinand and Rooney.

For many years, Keane was worth the high maintenance because of his prowess as the country’s top midfielder. But once his legs had gone, he was no longer forgiven his outspoken and demoralising comments against younger team-mates, one famous interview being pulled by the club’s in-house television station, MUTV, for being too derogatory.

Now Ferguson is clashing with Rooney - and the stakes are high. There are few players in the world who could replace the 26-year-old, either on the pitch or in marketing terms. Even if United were to get £40million for Rooney, the money would all have to be invested in a new talisman, possibly Gareth Bale or luring Ronaldo back from Madrid. The troubled Rooney-Ferguson relationship has been bubbling under since the start of last season when Rooney, in an incredible act of brinkmanship, flirted with Manchester City with a transfer request until United gave him a new contract worth £200,000 a week.

Upsetting to the other United players was Rooney’s argument that he did not know if the current squad was good enough. The England striker’s downbeat demeanour since United were knocked out of the Champions League by Basle this season suggests he has not really changed his mind. Ironically, it may be a concern Ferguson shares. In his birthday statement about staying at Old Trafford, there was an important proviso: "We have to continue the dominance of winning leagues and, without question, winning a European Cup is important at this club."

Ferguson admired Rooney’s aggression, zeal and energy when he signed him as an 18-year-old from Everton, taking him from the working class streets of Croxteth in Liverpool to a mansion in Cheshire. He forgave him a litany of indiscretions; smoking, boozing, gambling, womanising. But once Rooney felt he was big enough and old enough to threaten Ferguson’s control, a major fall-out was inevitable.

Ferguson did not like having to persuade Rooney to sign a new deal last season. He will not have forgotten that. United need time for young players such as Chris Smalling, Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones to be ready to take on the best. Rooney is notoriously impatient. But anyone who thinks the striker is bulletproof, particularly in a stand-off with Sir Alex Ferguson, can forget it.


Source: Associated Press, ESPN, Sky Sports

1. Germany could be the new Spain. The average age of the Germany team that started in a 3-0 win over Holland last month, playing a fast-paced and flexible style more reminiscent of the Dutch team of the 1970s, was 24.5. By the time the game ended, it was down to 23.4. Forward Miroslav Klose is the only player over 30 in the squad and there is young talent waiting in the wings wherever you look. Two from Mesut Ozil (23), Toni Kroos (21), and Mario Goetze (19) make up the creative fulcrum that supplies a three-pronged attack with Lukas Podolski (26) and Thomas Muller (22) either side of Mario Gomez (26), whose 22 goals in 22 games this season so far puts him in the company of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie.

Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the Euro 2008 final, and by the same score in the 2010 World Cup semifinal, one of the best games in the tournament. If, as expected, the two sides meet again in the Euro 2012 final, this time there might be a different outcome -- and a new dominant force in world football.

2. French football will become sexy again. In the late '80s and early '90s, the world's best players all wanted to play in France. Enzo Francescoli, Rudi Voller, Dragan Stojkovic and Chris Waddle were at Marseille; George Weah and Glenn Hoddle at Monaco while a few years later, and Rai, Valdo and Leonardo played for Paris Saint-Germain. Leonardo is back at PSG as sports director, and overseeing a revolution at the club thanks to funding from new owners Qatari Sports Investments (QSI). QSI spent €42 million on Javier Pastore, one of nine new signings in the summer, and is set to confirm the arrival of David Beckham. The signing of Carlo Ancelotti as their new big-name coach speaks volume of their desire and intense.

PSG will not be the only beneficiaries of Qatari funding in 2012. Broadcaster Al-Jazeera has agreed to a €90M-per-year deal to show Ligue 1 matches, and a €60M-per-year deal for Champions League game. English clubs' summer failures to sign the likes of Yann M'Vila, Andre Ayew, Eden Hazard and Blaise Matuidi show that the talent drain from France to England is already slowing down. With the extra funding, France will soon become an attractive option for top players.

3. Second Season Syndrome will work for Jose Mourinho but Real Madrid must plan ahead. Mourinho always said that we should judge his work in Madrid not on his first campaign, which was not too bad (Real Madrid's 92-point tally would have won La Liga in nine of the last 10 seasons, and it did win the Copa del Rey), but on his second season at the Bernabeu. Historically, that's when his teams have performed best. At Porto, in his second full season, the team won the Portuguese league and the Champions League; at Chelsea, it repeated its league success; and at Inter Milan, it won a league, Cup and Champions League treble, ending a 45-year wait for the European trophy.

This season Real Madrid is a true Mourinho side, no longer reliant solely on Cristiano Ronaldo's brilliance. Despite its weaknesses, which were apparent in losing the recent home Clasico 3-1, it is a real threat to Barcelona's hopes of retaining its La Liga and European champions crown. But Madrid should be wary. A look at the tribulations of Chelsea (five coaches in four years) and Inter (four coaches in 18 months) shows that life after Mourinho is far from simple.

4. Mario Balotelli will make headlines for his play. If you believe the English newspapers, the list of dramas involving Balotelli is never-ending: damaging his house on the eve of the Manchester derby by setting off fireworks in his bathroom (he claimed it was his brother); throwing darts from a window at a youth-team player; suffering an allergic reaction to the grass during a Europa League game at Dynamo Kiev; and being subbed off "for disrespect" after attempting a pirouette-and-backheel goal in a preseason friendly against the Los Angeles Galaxy, to name a few. On the pitch, he has become a key player for Roberto Mancini, a regular pick in all the big games (unlike Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri, who are benched). He scored the crucial opener in the 6-1 Old Trafford demolition of Manchester United (unveiling a T-shirt with the slogan, "Why Always Me?"), scored the ultimately futile equalizer in the Champions League tie at Napoli, and the first goal in the defeat at Chelsea.

Balotelli is also becoming an important player for Italy, in good time, too, given its injury concerns over Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano. "He is beginning to understand that he cannot waste his talent," Mancini said. And we are beginning to see just how talented he is.

5. Mental health problems need to lose their stigma. There was something poignant about the timing of Ronald Reng's book A Life Too Short, the moving biography of Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke, who took his own life in November 2009, winning the 2011 Sports Book of the Year award. One day earlier, Wales coach Gary Speed had been found hanged in his garage, leaving his family and friends distraught and wondering if he had been hiding a depressive illness. Stan Collymore, the former Liverpool and England forward now a broadcaster, had also just eloquently described his feelings during the worst bout of depression he had gone through for eight years. He is now putting together a football auction to raise money for the Depression Alliance charity. It's not just in the UK. German referee Babak Rafati tried to commit suicide because he was afraid of making mistakes, his solicitor told Bild newspaper, while Chris Schelstraete, a Belgian linesman, slashed his wrists one hour before he was due to officiate a second-division match.

"In professional football, there are many people suffering from psychologically related conditions. Anywhere where there is a desire for quick answers all of the time, an inhuman rate of change, little trust and utilitarian values, will place people under great mental strain," Dr Mark Nesti, author of Psychology of Football, told the Leaders in Football conference. Reng wants his book to help depressives find more sympathy and understanding, while Collymore's honesty and hard work is achieving the same thing and about time too.

6. England will appoint an English coach who is nothing like Fabio Capello. There has been a pattern to England coaches appointed by its FA since Glenn Hoddle left his job as coach in 1999. After Hoddle, who was seen as cold toward his players, came the friendly Kevin Keegan, who made up in man-management what he lacked in tactical nous; then Sven-Goran Eriksson, its first foreign coach, and seen as a tactical genius (how wrong that was); then Steve McClaren, English and young; and finally Capello, foreign, proven and a disciplinarian.

Capello will leave after Euro 2012 and the FA has already said that his successor will be English. Harry Redknapp is the huge favorite, certainly among the press if not the FA, while other candidates include Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew and maybe even Hoddle again. One thing is sure: He will be English. At least that way, the national team's failures can be blamed on football and not translation problems or cultural differences.

7. MLS will have to compete with new markets for top players. Nicolas Anelka turned down offers from three MLS teams - reported to be the Philadelphia Union, the New York Red Bulls and the Montreal Impact - before joining Shanghai Shenhua on a lucrative two-year deal. The Chinese side also wants to sign Didier Drogba from Chelsea, while David Trezeguet, available after a short stint in the UAE, was another target before he signed with River Plate. These players have all been touted for MLS Designated Player slots, but the Chinese market is now competing with teams in Russia, the Gulf States and the MLS to sign them.

Samuel Eto'o currently earns £330,000 per week at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, while Asamoah Gyan is on £125,000 per week at UAE club Al-Ain. Diego Maradona is a coach in the same league, at Al-Wasl, while Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour also bankrolls Al Jazira. Next summer, Alessandro Del Piero and Michael Ballack will be on the market. Both players have been linked with MLS sides, but given the new options available to them now, their arrivals may not be as certain as previously thought.

8. Ghana will get what it deserves - at last. Ghana was African Nations Cup semi-finalist in 2008, losing finalist in 2010, and World Cup quarter-finalist the same year. It's about time to win a trophy, and January's African Nations Cup could be the one. Eight players on its current squad won the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, beating Brazil in the final. Graduates from that side include Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese) and Andre Ayew (Marseille), now key players for their clubs. Even without AC Milan's in-form midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who retired from international football last month (and Emmanuel Frimpong, unavailable due to eligibility problems), Ghana should still have enough to get past group opponents Botswana, Mali and Guinea.

Its biggest challenge could come from Morocco, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, for whom this tournament represents the last chance of its Golden Generation, which includes Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Didier Zokora, to win a title. Ghana's last African triumph was 30 years ago, back in 1982; only one of its current players, John Pantsil, had been born then.

9. So much for the international coaches' merry-go-round. Most of the top coaches going into Euro 2012 are tied down to long-term deals that run beyond next summer's tournament. Joachim Loew (Germany) has a deal until 2014, Bert van Marwijk (Holland) until 2016 and Vicente del Bosque (Spain) a verbal agreement to extend his contract. Morten Olsen (Denmark), Dick Advocaat (Russia) and Giovanni Trapatonni (Ireland) are also signed until 2014. The futures of Paulo Bento (Portugal) and Laurent Blanc (France) will depend on how their teams do, while Fabio Capello (England), Frantisek Smuda (Poland), Oleh Blokhin (Ukraine) and Slaven Bilic (Croatia) are definitely moving on.

International football may typically work in two-year cycles from a tournament perspective, but the men on the bench, particularly Loew, Van Marwijk and Del Bosque, each of whom is trying to make his own history, are now looking longer-term. But wouldn't it be interesting to see how Loew or Van Marwijk would cope at a big European club?

10. If you must talk Moneyball, talk Udinese, not Liverpool. Liverpool sports director Damien Comolli once said that you could acquire 10 world-class players but if one signing doesn't work out, that's the one that you are remembered for. It's almost a year since Liverpool sold Fernando Torres to Chelsea for $80M (great business) and bought Luis Suarez for $35M (also great business) and Andy Carroll for $54M (not so good, so far at least). Comolli might be the most public face of the Moneyball ethos (after Michael Lewis' book, recently made into a film starring Brad Pitt), known in football/soccer as Soccernomics after the book and consultancy established by Simon Kuper, but its most successful proponent sits only two points behind first place in Serie A: Udinese.

Udinese sold the spine of its team, and its three best players in the summer - Cristian Zapata to Villarreal, Gokhan Inler to Napoli and Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona - and yet is still a serious contender for the Scudetto. Coach Francesco Guidolin, who changed last season's 4-3-3 formation into a 3-5-1-1, deserves great credit, as do the scouts who found the current generation of stars: Samir Handanovic, the goalkeeper signed from Slovenian side NK Domzale for $619,000, now worth $26.5M and among the best in the world; defender Mehdi Benatia, signed as a free agent from Clermont and now tracked by Manchester United and Chelsea; and Pablo Armero, who cost $1.5M from Palmeiras, and wanted by Real Madrid. Udinese buy low and sell high. What it does year on year is arguably just as impressive as what Barcelona or Inter Milan do, if not more. With Financial Fair Play regulations kicking in soon, Udinese is the model that UEFA wants all clubs to follow.

Exclusively by Ben Lyttleton

As a sport that spans the globe, association football provides compelling stories in a number of different countries. We pick one story from each major leagues around the globe. This review will feature just one story from different countries. Football is played, thought about and covered by journalists in a mind-blowing number of different ways. Only the most ethnocentric and xenophobic of football fans are truly convinced that the game is inherently better one way than another. Instead of treating the sport like one that is anything but global, here are some of the best stories of the year, from different leagues.

English Premier League

The striker carousel, and Newcastle United getting the last laugh - It seems like so long ago. In January of 2011, Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres made their high profile moves. Chelsea purchased Torres for a jaw-dropping £50 million, causing Liverpool to buy Andy Carroll from Newcastle for £35 million. Though almost everyone agreed that both teams overpaid for their stars, they were supposed to contribute at a very high level. Not only have Carroll and Torres not lived up to their transfer fees, they've both been absolute disasters. If the teams could do it all over again, both Liverpool and Chelsea would like to go back to the way it was.

Incredibly, as disastrous as the moves were for two teams, one team came out of this striker carousel very happy. In June, Newcastle signed Demba Ba for nothing. Not a cent. He scored seven goals in 12 games for West Ham United, but the bigger clubs weren't interested. So far, in 2011, Ba has 14 league goals for Newcastle in 17 games. Liverpool and Chelsea spent tens of millions of pounds to get worse, while Newcastle sold a player for £35 million, bought no expensive players, and improved significantly.

La Liga

Four Clasicos in a month - The late-season series between Barcelona and Real Madrid last spring was unprecedented, and it may never be seen again. In less than four weeks, the two teams played four editions of El Clasico across three competitions. The first match, a league match, resulted in a draw that virtually locked up La Liga for Barcelona. Real Madrid got them back in the second match, winning 1-0 in extra time to lift the Copa Del Rey. Barcelona got the last laugh, winning the first leg of their Champions League semifinal at the Santiago Bernabeu, rendering the fourth game meaningless.

Regardless of that fourth match, the series was incredible to watch. Until Pepe's red card in the 61st minute of the third game, it got more compelling with each passing minute. Lionel Messi's 76th minute goal effectively ended what was, until that point, the highest level of football that the world has perhaps ever seen.

Serie A

The Old Lady returns to the top - Following the Calciopoli scandal, Juventus were forced to vacate their 2005/06 Serie A title and spend 2006/07 in Serie B, from which they won promotion. They've been expected to quickly ascend to the top since being promoted back to the top flight of Italian football, but have not yet qualified for the UEFA Champions League. After a series of disappointments, Juventus have finally returned to the top of the pile in Italy.

Manager Antonio Conte has turned out to be an excellent hire, while the club has made a number of impressive signings in the last year. Alessandro Matri, Mirko Vucinic, Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Marcelo Estigarribia and Stephan Lichtsteiner have all met or exceeded expectations. Juventus look like a lock for a Champions League berth, and no matter your opinion on Calciopoli, European football is better when the Old Lady is a big club.

Bundesliga

Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund Revolution - While the Champions League was not kind to Borussia Dortmund in their first attempt under Jurgen Klopp, they appear set to make a return visit. For the second season in a row, Der BVB is matching Bayern Munich and contending for a title while playing beautiful football. Mario Götze is one of the best young talents in the world, and their depth is unparalleled in Germany. When Klopp took over at Dortmund, they were a club in financial trouble with little going for them but a strong group of youth players. Klopp implemented a system, made a few value signings, nurtured his young players and built a powerhouse for an incredibly small sum of money.

They have still yet to completely replace Nuri Sahin after his departure to Real Madrid, but Ilkay Gündogan appeared to finally find his footing in his last couple of matches, while Moritz Leitner will be a first team player within the next year to 18 months. There aren't too many teams in the world more fun to watch to Dortmund. It's incredible that a team can play such wonderful football and compete with the best clubs in the world while spending so little, and it's an accomplishment worthy of endless praise.

Major League Soccer

Beckham isn't just a flashy name - David Beckham was brought to the LA Galaxy to bring football/soccer into the mainstream. While he didn't accomplish that, he will be leaving Major League Soccer as a bigger and more financially healthy league than when he joined, if he does leave the Galaxy this winter. He was criticized - sometimes fairly and sometimes unfairly - for not putting the Galaxy first during his time with the team. That is, until this season. In what was likely his final year with the Galaxy, Beckham was a footballer first and foremost. As if he really felt that he had something to prove to the die-hard Galaxy and MLS fans that are in it for the actual soccer, he played his heart out all season long. He was obviously suffering from serious back pain in a number of crucial games and played anyway, providing his teammates with spectacular through balls while it looked like he could barely walk.

Love him or hate him, Beckham played through pain for his team this season and led them to a Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup double. He did everything we make mediocre athletes into cult heroes for doing, and he did it while playing 'Hollywood balls' and making Hollywood appearances.

Eredivisie

Ajax's roller coaster year - No team has gone through more of a roller coaster ride in 2011 than Ajax. With the team struggling and Luis Suarez departed to Liverpool, Ajax appointed Frank de Boer as manager to right the ship. He did just that, guiding the team to the 2010/11 Eredivisie title. In the transfer window, Ajax made moves that were widely praised. They were favorites to win Eredivise and they were thought to have a good chance of advancing to the Champions League knockout stages. Everything was going great in Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, things have not gone according to plan. The team was knocked out of Champions League in bizarre fashion as Lyon improbably made up a seven-goal gap on the final day. As of Round 17, Ajax sits fourth in the Eredivise. There has been scandal in the boardroom, with accusations of the legendary Johan Cruyff making racist remarks about Edgar Davids making headlines. The year started terribly for Ajax, reached their highest point in years this summer, then dipped down to a spectacular new low.

Ligue 1

PSG is now obnoxiously rich - First Chelsea, then Manchester City, then Malaga. Now, Paris Saint-Germain. The Ligue 1 outfit was purchased by the Qatar Investment Authority in the summer and is on their way towards being the world's new big-spending superpower. They've already paid an exorbitant sum of money for Javier Pastore and are now heavily linked to Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and AC Milan's Alexandre Pato. Ligue 1 is a strong league, but is nowhere near the standard (or UEFA coefficient) of the top four leagues in Europe at the moment.

It remains to be seen whether or not PSG can become a serious contender for the UEFA Champions League in the short term. Will they be a lone superpower in a decent league? Will they encourage investment in other French clubs? Or will the entire project fail spectacularly? This all remains to be seen.

Argentina Primera

River Plate relegated - It's always a massive story when one of the biggest clubs in a country is relegated. Corinthians, Newcastle United, Deportivo La Coruna and AS Monaco are among the biggest teams to get relegated in the last five years (due to poor play), but does anything really compare to the relegation of River Plate? With 33 domestic titles, two Copa Libertadores titles and one of the best youth academies in the world, they are almost certainly the biggest team to be relegated for footballing reasons in recent history. Relegation can happen to anyone in most leagues. A team can have one terrible season and go down.

In Argentina, however, a team has to be consistently poor. Relegation is based on a coefficient system, and the system was designed to prevent River Plate and their rivals Boca Juniors from ever getting relegated. River ended up in a relegation playoff anyway and lost to Belgrano. Their performance and relegation incited riots both inside and outside of El Monumental. To make matters worse for River fans, Boca Juniors won the 2011 Apertura in their absence. Because the system that was designed to prevent River from getting relegated failed spectacularly, AFA has voted to create a 38 team top flight next season. That wasn't a joke.

Manchester United managed the rare feat this season of outshining Manchester City's goal-scoring prowess on Wednesday to keep the heat on its neighbor in the Premier League title race. While City maintained its two-point lead over United with a 3-0 victory over Stoke, its second-place rivals routed Fulham 5-0 at Craven Cottage. Such emphatic victories have been the norm for big-spending City this season, but for United it was the biggest in three months.

"It was very impressive, we've not scored as many as we'd like to but we'd been playing well. The second part of the season we always kick on and put in performances and that's pleasing. We don't want to rely on the forwards for goals, we need to share them around," Ryan Giggs said.

It was a tighter encounter at Aston Villa, with Arsenal relying on Yossi Benayoun's late goal to secure a 2-1 victory for his fifth-place side. Liverpool is two points behind Arsenal after Charlie Adam missed a penalty kick in a 0-0 draw at Wigan. Luis Suarez featured for Liverpool a day after receiving an eight-match ban - on hold pending any appeal - for racially abusing United defender Patrice Evra. A player at the center of a more serious racism investigation, John Terry, is due to captain Chelsea at Tottenham on Thursday, a day after being told by prosecutors that he will be charged for hurling abuse an opponent.

But after two days of off-field controversies, United produced an eye-catching display that cast the Premier League in a more positive light for its global audience. United had failed to win on its past three visits to Craven Cottage but Danny Welbeck's fifth-minute opener, capitalizing on lax defending, ensured that miserable run would come to an end.

The lead was doubled when a cross from Giggs was headed home by Nani in the 28th before the 38-year-old midfielder extended his unique streak of having scored in every Premier League season since its inception in 1992. A shot deflected off Philippe Senderos and looped into the net three minutes before half time. An industrious performance from Wayne Rooney was capped in the 88th when the England striker fired home from 30 yards. But United saved the best until last as Dimitar Berbatov netted his 50th goal for United with a nonchalant backheel from Antonio Valencia's cross.

The victory, though, came at a cost with Phil Jones forced off injured in the 20th after being caught by Clint Dempsey's arm while dueling for the ball. "We'll send him for an X-ray tomorrow. It doesn't look good," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said.

City will spend Christmas Day top of the top flight for the first time since 1929. Sergio Aguero opened the scoring in the 29th and Adam Johnson, who started a league game for the first time in over two months, added the second in the 36th to give City a commanding halftime lead. Aguero scored his 15th goal of the season early in the second half. "For our supporters I think it's a good Christmas," City manager Roberto Mancini said.

At Villa Park, the hosts scoring the 20,000th goal since the Premier League began in 1992 was not enough to upset Arsenal. Marcus Albrighton's landmark goal did cancel out Robin van Persie's 17th-minute penalty, but Benayoun scored his first Premier League goal for Arsenal to secure Arsenal's eighth win from 10 matches. While Arsenal has staged a revival after a fine start to the season, Newcastle is plummeting, with a 3-2 home loss to West Bromwich Albion extending the side's winless run to six games.

Paul Scharner struck West Brom's winner in the 85th just when it looked as though Demba Ba had rescued a point for Newcastle four minutes earlier. West Brom had led twice - through Peter Odemwingie and Gareth McAuley - but the goals were canceled out by Ba on both occasions.

At Goodison Park, Leon Osman gave Everton only its third home win of the campaign - a 1-0 triumph over Swansea. Sunderland overtook Queens Park Rangers just above the relegation zone after Wes Brown's last-minute earned a 3-2 victory at Loftus Road after the visitors threw away a 2-goal lead.

Former England midfielder Peter Reid had said he would never forgive Diego Maradona for the ‘Hand of God’ goal which helped knock England out of the 1986 World Cup finals.

But when Reid bumped into Maradona while filming at the Argentina legend’s new club in Dubai, they literally kissed and made up. Reid is filmed laughing and joking with Maradona, whose two goals put Sir Bobby Robson’s England side out of the quarter-finals in Mexico.

The former Everton star was one of several players left trailing in the wake of Maradona when he scored his superb second goal and during their exchange Reid jokes that he wants to see his face because he only saw his back in Mexico. The footage from Abu Dhabi Sports TV shows Reid embracing the Argentine and then, when Maradona’s left hand is around his shoulder, he gives it a quick kiss.

Reid told, "It was good to see him and we had a bit of light-hearted banter and a good laugh. I think I look in better shape than he does now anyway! I told him the only mistake I made in my playing career was not catching him and kicking him and I still think that. We had a nice chat and I finished by telling him, through the interpreter, that he still handballed it. And he seemed to accept that."