Beckham The Centurion!

Tonight David Beckham makes his 100th cap in the England v France International Friendly tonight being held at the Stade De France. Speculation was rife on whether he would actually get his cap but Fabio Capello confirmed this afternoon that David Beckham would start on the right side of midfield.

Rumour had it that Beckham would be wearing some specially made boots with 100 in gold on the tongue of each. As Beckham lined up to take the first corner of the game it was clear the rumours were true. A man who likes his football memorabilia, he will certainly treasure those in the future.

The question on everyone's lips is will Beckham top off his celebratory night with a goal from a trademark free kick? One things for certain I don't think anyone will be fighting him for the ball should a freekick be awarded just outside the box!

Meanwhile the formation and line up was another talking point along with the question of the captaincy. Rio Ferdinand was the lucky man to get the nod for the captains armband. John Terry was overlooked amid speculation that the reason being his recent treatment towards referees. It will be interesting to see whether he changes his "game" to try to fit more into the captains role that Capello seems to be molding and putting on a pedestal.

England lined up 4-4-2 with Gerrard playing just off Wayne Rooney at the front. Beckham started on the right, Joe Cole on the left with Gareth Barry and Owen Hargreaves starting in the middle. The back four lined up with Ashley Cole on the left, Rio and Terry in the middle and Wes Brown on the right. A notable absentee was Frank Lampard who was reported to be suffering from a stomach bug.

Line Ups:
France: Coupet, Abidal, Gallas, Makelele, Malouda, Toulalan, Clerc, Thuram, Trezeguet, Ribery, Anelka. Subs: Landreau, Mexes, Cisse, Govou, Squillaci, Alou Diarra, Flamini, Evra.
England: James, Brown, Ferdinand, Terry, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Hargreaves, Barry, Joe Cole, Gerrard, Rooney. Subs: Robinson, Johnson, Lescott, Bridge, Bentley, Downing, Owen, Crouch, Walcott, Green.

Torres On Fire Again

Tonight Liverpool FC have qualified for the quarter finals of the 2008 Champions League meaning that this year four out of the eight teams left in the competition come from the English Premier League joining Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC and Manchester Utd.

Gerrard led the reds to another European victory winning 1-0 on the night after winning 2-0 at home three weeks earlier in another memorable night at Anfield. Torres goal in the 64th minute ensured the following Liverpool faithful were able to wave their scarves and flags with pride.

Torres only had two shots on target all game but still managed to tuck the one away showing that another Anfield legend is already in the making. Liverpool started well and despite Inter Milan having a couple of chances that they spurned through selfish play they finished the game on top.

One of the talking points of the game was the sending off for Burdisso for his second yellow card. His foul on Lucas seemed a little unlucky to receive a second yellow card but his strong protests after the incident surely did him no favours. After the sending off Liverpool looked to be the better side, going forward when they had the ball. Gerrard had another excellent game and had a couple of shots on goal. The new formation which involves Rafa Benitez selecting two holding midfield players seems to be paying dividends and he must wish that he had started the season with this formation. The last few games for Liverpool have resulted in a bucket load of goals with Torres scoring five goals in the last three games earning his title of player of the month in the Premiership for February.

As soon as he sent off Burdisso in the 50th minute the referee set a precedence for himself and booked a further five players resulting in a total of 10 yellow cards including the two for Burdisso. The game was not especially full of fouls and Inter Milan will especially feel hard done by with the sending off.

By the end of the night Liverpool sailed through into the quarter finals completing the quartet of the top English Premiership Clubs getting through the first knock out round unscathed.