So once again Mr. Sepp Blatter wants to control the number of foreign players in the european teams.

Great idea but very much improbable that will be approved by the UEFA members. And that's about it.

But I decided to write (and read your opinions) about it.

Mr. Blatter's idea is not just bullocks. It does have a good intention behind it. He claims (and he's right) that the way the big clubs are right now make it impossible for a smaller team to fight for a league title. And that is very bad for football, very bad for the national teams but very good for global business for those big clubs.

When we see a team like Arsenal for example. 25 foreign players and only 12 Brittish on the 2007-2008 squad.  With Internazionale  Milan from Italy it's even worse. Out of the 29 players on the regular first team only 4 are Italian. It's not rare to see Inter playing with a starting XI that features only Marco Materazzi as an italian born player (well and then he gets a red card and Inter ends up with 10 foreign footballers on the pitch).

It is a pleasure for the fans to see their team win titles and sweep their rivals off the map for one season but when it happens like in France where Olympique Lyon (10 foreigners) is about to win the French League for the 7th time in a row, I start to understand (and partially agree) with the FIFA President.

The main difference between me and SOME other people that write here at OleOle is that I'm absolutely NEUTRAL.

I love good football and I know some of you will say "if you love good football you should love the foreign presence because they give quality to the Brittish teams". 

They do. The English sides of Manchester United and Chelsea fought for the league this season and going to play for the continental title thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Vidic, Anderson, Ballack, Drogba, Cech, Essien, etc... 

Of course there is also Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney BUT neither of the two teams could rely on an all-Brittish squad to get this far in the tournaments. WE KNOW THAT!

And as the powerful clubs become richer, more international and consequently more powerful we see the National Teams becoming weaker and weaker. England out of the Euro ... hmmm... that might say something... 

So, (try to) leave your passion aside just for little bit and think how much more exciting would be if we had other teams besides Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and ManU in England, Real Madrid and Barcelona (and sometimes Valencia) in Spain, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan in Italy, Olympique Lyon in France. 

What's your opinion on this? 

According to the Spanish Website MARCA.COM, Ronaldinho's brother Roberto de Assis had a meeting with Manchester City's representatives to promote the brazilian midfielder. But he also talked to Internazionale and AC Milan (that already offered 20 million Euros to Barcelona). Chelsea was the first club that showed interest in adding Ronaldinho to their squad back when the problems appeared between the player and his present club.

      --> Ronaldinho wants to know what his next team will be.

Thierry Henry is also target by AC Milan. The Rossonero sees the French striker as a perfect replacement for Ronaldo and along with Pato and Kaká (and maybe Ronaldinho) they would form a great offensive line. Besides the Milanese team some English teams are also targeting Henry: Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Newcastle. But the most surprising proposal came from the recently built MLS franchise Seattle Sounders FC.

     --> Where will the French striker go next? He's waiting for a definition

Sunday, 5:45am. It was still dark outside when I got up to watch Internazionale versus AC Milan.

All I hoped was for a great game to keep me awake and to get me even more excited for a great football Sunday.

They didn’t let me down.

First it was very nice to see Internazionale's players line-up in a "tunel" formation to greet AC Milan as they stepped onto the pitch. They all clapped in recognition of Milan's achievement in Japan. A great gesture. 

But Internazionale was eager to beat the World Champions.  

Internazionale dominated the first half but it was Milan who scored first. Inzaghi was fouled at the left side  of the half-circle and Pirlo invited goalkeeper Julio Cesar to watch the ball curves and rest inside the net on the top right corner.

That was Milan’s only shot on the first half that still had some great runs by Kaka, one of each, ended up causing Samuel to get injured. Defenders need a special health insurance when playing against Kaká. He literally “bent” Samuel. The defender was replaced by Materazzi.

And at the 35^th minute justice was made. In a good play on the left side of the pitch, the ball found Julio Cruz in the box to score his 10^th goal for Internazionale this season.

In the second half Milan came back with Emerson, Gillardino and Serginho in the places of Gattuso, Inzaghi and Seedorf.

Serginho for Seedorf was the weirdest sub coach Ancelotti could have made. Ok, Seedorf was not brilliant but the team certainly lost a reference.

And with a very unorganized defense came Internazionale’s second goal. A shot by Cambiasso (the best player of the game in my opinion) that was deflected by Kaladze and could not be saved by Dida.

Man of the Match: Cambiasso

After the second goal it seemed that the Nerazzurri still wanted more. They were putting pressure on AC Milan’s defense and brought in the 20-year old Portuguese player, Pelé.

Milan’s offensive efforts were not working and even though the Rossoneri played a little better towards the end of the match, it was not enough to change the score.

I honestly expected more from AC Milan from a team. They were the world champions but they deposit all their hopes on Kaka’s shoulder. He actually did what he could but many times I felt he was playing by himself.

As for Internazionale, they have a very balanced, organized team, I personally wanted to see more from Ibrahimovic but Julio Cruz and Camibiasso did the job. It’s inter on their way for a second championship in a row.

AC Milan versus Inter will be he frist great battle this sunday.

It's a match that will be interesting more because of the rivalry, the tradition and the number of great players that will bo on the pitch but in fact if you look at the Serie A table you will see that this game matters a lot more the World Champions AC Milan than for their rival neighbors.

Internazionale is leading the Serie A with a reasonably comfortable 7 point difference to the second place (Roma) on the other hand AC Milan has only 18 points in the 11th position.

If AC Milan intends to repeat the sucess of 2007 they'd better start winning games and what would be better than starting against their biggest rivals?

I believe it will be a close game and I really can't wait to see Kaká for AC Milan and Ibrahimovic for Inter to put up a great show!

Any score prediction??? I'd say 2 x 1 for AC Milan - just because the game matters a lot for them.

Here is how the teams might play, according to the Italian Newspaper "Corriere Dello Sport"