Dutch midfielder Royston Drenthe came off the bench last night and won his team a last gasp penalty in the last thirty seconds of the game. Speaking to the press today, the midfielder highlighted his contribution, and also looked forward to the next Champions League clash in Turin…

It was Royston Drenthe's turn this weekend to give the post-training player conference, and the winger was full of smiles after last night's thrilling derbi at the Vicente Calderon.  "Winning a penalty is always great," he began, "We were up the entire match and it was a real downer when they equalized."
 
A journalist poked the issue about it being an unfair penalty, but the Dutchman simply chuckled off any doubts, "It was a penalty. Absolutely," he boomed. Drenthe was then asked whether or not he would have liked to convert it, but the midfielder was glad he did not. "I was so thrilled to have provoked it but I wasn't prepared to take it, not under that pressure," he confessed.
 
The talk was then switched over to the highly anticipated fixture against Juventus, but Drenthe did not make any bets. "It will be a difficult match, they are a great team and want to do well in the Champions League after missing out for so long.  But, we have a good team and will do whatever it takes to win out there," he concluded.
 
Despite his powerful performances, it remains highly unlikely that Drenthe will take the field in Turin, particularly due to the return of his compatriot Arjen Robben to the starting lineup.

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon admits he would like Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon at the Santiago Bernabeu as he looks ahead to the crucial Champions League clash on Tuesday between the two giants...

Los Merengues will be in Turin as they attempt to take firm control of group H and, as always, there are fireworks expected.

Calderon will also be at the Olimpico and he has revealed that Buffon is a player he would like at the Bernabeu, leading to speculation that he will try and make enquries while he is in Italy.

The Italian international will not play as he is injured but this hasn't stopped the chief from showing an interest.

"Buffon is the player of my dreams, he is a legend and I want him at Real," Calderon told Tuttosport.

"He is a Real Madrid player, I also like [Mauro] Camoranesi and, of course, [Alessandro] Del Piero.

"However, we have a world-class 'Keeper in [Iker] Casillas and to be honest we don't really need a replacement in goal.

"I will be in Turin on Tuesday to watch the game. It will be a great day for football. It's a European classic and we are delighted to be playing Juve.

"We want to fight for La Liga and for the Champions League as well as everything else."

Los Merengues have always been keen on Buffon and they have spent good money in Turin in the past such as the Zinedine Zidane signing in 2001.

Reports suggest Juventus will be open to a mega money move if it arrives.

Barcelona are intensifying their interest for Coritiba striker Keirrison. Sport says the 19 year-old's agents, who own 80 per cent of his registration, also have Barca defender Henrique on their books. Henrique is currently on-loan at Bayer Leverkusen."It is true that Keirrison will not be in Brazil next season. But there is nothing concrete," conceded Coritiba president Jair Cirino.Keirrison is off contract in April and it's understood Brazilian management company intend to buy his registration in January with the view to selling him to a European club

Guti has been ruled out of the Madrid derby this weekend after failing to convince doctors that he had recovered from a muscle strain in time to be included in the squad.

The Spanish midfielder faced a race against time to be ready to play for el Real against their city rivals Atlético in the Vicente Calderón on Saturday evening.

Bernd Schuster was hoping that Guti would be available with earlier reports suggesting that he would step back into the team in place of Rubén De la Red.

Instead, the German coach will have to have a rethink about his line-up after being told by Madrid medics that the playmaker's muscle injury is still not completely gone.

While it is believed that he could play, doctors have advised both Guti and Schuster that he risks making the injury worse and the pair agreed it was best if he sat out the game.

Mahamadou Diarrà and Arjen Robben are both also doubtful for the match and will undergo late fitness tests to see if they can be included in the list for the trip across the Spanish capital.

There was some good news this week for Schuster though with Fernando Gago returning to full fitness and he will be part of the coach's plans for the match.

Rubén De la Red believes that he is capable of playing anywhere in Real Madrid's midfield and that he has the talent and confidence to compete with the big money signings.

Los Merengues' youth team product returned to the club in the summer after a successful year with Getafe and is pushing for a regular place in Bernd Schuster's team.

With the coach shuffling his team, De la Red could be asked to slot in to a defensive midfield position rather than play in his more comfortable role further forward in the derby against Atlético this weekend.

"I only care about playing, I don't care how. I want to help the team and I will try to do my best in that position if that's where the coach wants me to play. I've played as a defensive midfielder before and managed to help the team," he explained.

"I think we all have much responsibility on this team. There is a quality squad here despite the injuries."

Rafael Van der Vart, Guti, Fernando Gago and Wesley Sneijder are all jostling for De la Red's usual position, but he believes that he is as good as any of them.

"I work as hard as the rest and the coach decides who plays. I think I'm as good as anyone else. We all work hard to earn a spot on the team. The player who's fittest makes the cut in the end," he continued.

Looking ahead to the game in the Vicente Caldéron at the weekend, De la Red thinks that the visitors will not have an easy time against their city rivals.

"Atlético de Madrid are a very good team. They are strong contenders for titles despite losing three games. No team is favourite at this stage because there are many matches left to be held," he said.

"We will see who has chances of winning the league halfway through the second part of the campaign."

The Spanish giants are keeping tabs on Hernanes and Dentinho, two promising youngsters who are set to become hot property.

No other clubs in the world quite have the penchant for picking up South American talent quite like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Now it seems that these two young Brazilian protégés are coveted by both, and it could lead to fireworks.

Hernanes is a Sao Paulo midfielder who was on the verge of joining Pep Guardiola's Camp Nou revolution in the summer, and only the high demands of his club ended Barcelona’s interest. However, he is still on the radar of the Catalan giants, and there are murmurs that a deal may soon be resurrected.

Madrid and Calderon are lurking however, should any proposed move break down. But they are favourites to land Dentinho, who is the bright young hope of Corinthians. The striker is just 19 years old, and although he is on the radar of clubs in England and Italy, it is Real who have made the first moves to secure his signature. They have suggested an asking price, and even arranged representatives to meet with Corinthians in the hope of reaching an agreement. Watch the space for further updates.

Europe’s premier club competition is now well underway and 32 of the continent’s finest teams are all still in the running to reach the knockout phase next year. Mark Pickering assesses the credentials of three of the more noteworthy teams in this year's edition of the Champions League...

The tournament, which enters group Match Day Three on November 4th, is replete with squads that are the envy of world football and features no less than eight previous Champions League winners.  

While there’s the usual cast of mainstays like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, who are synonymous with the competition, there are also some little-known newcomers and returning sides in this year’s European showpiece.  

Three of the most intriguing entrants are Spanish standouts Atlético Madrid, Cypriot newcomers Anorthosis Famagusta and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj.

The headline-grabbing trio have already made a splash in this year’s competition and are well placed to reach December’s draw for the knockout stages.  

Atlético are participating in the tournament for the eleventh time in their history and are intent on making up for lost time with their last appearance in the competition coming over a decade ago.  

Serbian Radomir Antić guided the Los Colchoneros to a famous league and cup double in 1996 and a much coveted Champions League berth.  

The double winners had a squad brimming with talent including Argentine legend Diego Simeone, Serbian playmaker Milinko Pantić, Madrid native Juan Manuel López and his widely popular countryman Kiko.  

The Spanish side won their group ahead of eventual competition winners Borussia Dortmund but narrowly lost out 4-3 to defending champions Ajax in the quarter finals.  

Twelve years on and the Spaniards have a squad reminscent of their class of 1996.

Now under the stewardship of Mexican Javier Aguirre, whose best known for guiding perennial strugglers Osasuana to the brink of the Champions League, Atletico are well placed domestically and gearing towards European honours.  

The star-laden squad has a strong Argentine influence with 20-year-old prodigy Sergio Aguero, captain Maxi Rodriguez, veteran keeper Leo Franco, on loan midfielder Ever Banega as well as naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernia.

Aguirre’s ranks also prominently feature a Spanish core with namesakes Luis and Raul Garcia and their compatriot Antonio Lopez also holding key roles.  

The Mexican coach invested well in the summer, boosting his squad with a string of shrewd signings including Ajax’s John Heitinga, former French number one Gregory Coupet from Lyon, Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi and Porto’s Paulo Assunção.  

Their timely spending spree added much needed depth to the squad and all but ensured Atletico would be a force to be reckoned with this term. That has proved the case as the La Liga side produced a highly polished performance to convincingly beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in Holland in their opener and followed up with a gutsy 2-1 win at the Vincente Calderon against Marseille.  

Now Atletico lead the way in Group D with maximum points and have a mouthwatering double header against Fernando Torres’ Liverpool in their sights which will likely decide who finishes top of the group.  

With such a talented squad, an ambitious president and the astute Javier Aguirre at the helm the Spanish side were expected to perform admirably in their return to the competition but brushing aside Champions League regulars PSV and Marseille with such ease has raised eybrows.  

Atletico will keen to test their mettle against Liverpool and could well torment their former idol Torres.   

Elsewhere newboys Anorthosis Famagusta, who became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage and are one of the least fancied teams in the competition, are heroically topping Group B.

The little-known Cypriots overcome Greek giants Panathinaikos by three goals to one this week after a hard fought goalless draw away at Werder Bremen on Match Day One.  

Their resolute performance in Germany is the more commendable of their two impressive results as they kept out a free-scoring Werder Bremen side that had scored 18 goals in their previous six Bundesliga games and thumped Bayern Munich 5-2 a fortnight ago.  

Despite their stellar start to their first ever Champions League campaign their efforts have gone largely unnoticed.  

The Old Lady, who are coached by charismatic Georgian Temuri Ketsbaia, might be newcomers to European competition at the highest level but they do boast a wealth of international experience in terms of personnel and some familiar names.  

Former Real Madrid and Brazil star Savio, much travelled former Bordeaux man Paula Costa, former Portsmouth midfielder Giannis Skopelitis and towering Greek defender Traianos Dellas, once of AS Roma, all ply their trade with the Cypriot Champions.  

They may not be household names or at the height of their careers but collectively form a cohesive side who are relishing their first foray in the Champions League.  

The Cypriots have a daunting couple of games against Italian giants Inter ahead but will take heart from their two group games so far and strive to remain in the hunt for an unlikely place in the next round.  

Fellow newcomers CFR Cluj-Napoca have been the darlings of the tournament so far and attracted plaudits as well as unprecedented mainstream attention after beating AS Roma in Italy and holding last year’s finalists Chelsea to a stalemate.  

The Romanian Champions, who have an international flavour with ten South American players on their books, five Portuguese, three Ivorians, a Canadian and a handful of Romanians, have wildly exceeded expections.   

The Champions League newcomers stunned Roma in their first game in the competition with a deserved 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and in doing so sent shockwaves through European football.  

CFR Cluj proved their result in Italy was far from a fortunate one by taking the game to Chelsea in Romania and could well have emerged with all three points.

Six years ago they were among footballing backwaters in the the third tier of Romanian football - now they’ve become the first team from outside Bucharest to win Liga 1 in 17 years and are more than holding their own against Europe’s elite.  

The latest chapter in their meteoric rise is being overseen by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta who will be looking for more of the same in the crucial double header against bottom placed Bordeaux. 

Mark Pickering

Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has confirmed that he will allow Wesley Sneijder to join up with the Dutch national side for their World Cup qualifiers after this weekend.

There had been rumours yesterday that Real Madrid were prepared to put up a fight to stop Netherlands national team coach Bert van Marwijk from calling up Wesley Sneijder for next week’s World Cup qualifying duties.

The Oranje playmaker had only just returned from a serious damaged cruciate knee ligament and he has yet to play an official game this season for Los Merengues, although he could finally be given a run out this Sunday against Espanyol.

But Schuster told reporters at the pre-game press conference that “there will be no problems” if Sneijder is called up by van Marwijk and is asked to play in Holland’s two qualifying games against Iceland (October 11) and Norway (Oct 15).

“It is an agreement that both coaches have entered into,” was Schuster’s simple explanation, although he declined to confirm whether or not he will give Sneijder a cameo on Sunday..

KS Leong

Sergio Agüero can go as far as he wants after his hat-trick in midweek against PSV according to Atlético de Madrid's last goalscorer in the Champions League, Milinko Pantic.

The Argentinian striker has won many plaudits since his commanding performance in Holland and the former Colchoneros star believes that he can become a legend.

"The boy has everything and he can do anything. He is really that good. He seems like he is 30 or older," Pantic told Marca..

"His second goal in midweek showed what he can do. Right now he is happy and in a good place.

"I think he will stay there for a long time although if Robinho's case is an example then it will up to the player when he goes."

Pantic still follows his former club's exploits and believes that Atlético can finally win a piece of silverware this term.

"I enjoyed the game against PSV and everyone should be very proud. It is a great day. The team was serious about their job and they can aspire to win everything," he added.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

After successfully breaking into the first team last year and making 30 appearances Bojan Krkić might have expected to see even more minutes this season, however under new manager Pep Guardiola he is finding chances hard to come by…

Bojan Krkić has for a long time been regarded as the crown jewel of Barcelona’s cantera system, but now since the arrival of Pep Guardiola he has found himself relegated from superstar to substitute.

The Spanish international, who debuted for his country earlier this month, was one of the key players under Frank Rijkaard towards the end of last season, making 30 appearances and scoring 10 goals.

However, so far this year he is yet to start a game and has played only 54 minutes over the space over 5 games, approximately 12% of the minutes played by Victor Valdes. To add insult to injury Bojan has also seen fellow youth talent Pedro outshine him in terms of minutes played so far, with the twenty-one year old racking up 171 minutes to date.

The drop from first team starter to the bench will no doubt hurt Bojan, especially after he signed a new contract over the summer which ties him to the club until 2013. It is likely that the further into the season we get the more chances he will get though, as Barcelona prepare to compete in La Liga, the Champions League as well as the Copa Del Rey.

James Walker-Roberts