John Terry: I always believed I'd be England captain again

Chelsea skipper John Terry has said he always believed England coach Fabio Capello would make him the national side's captain again after stripping him of the armband last year.

Moving on from last February's scandal, when he was stripped of the captain's armband after an affair with former team-mate Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend, Terry said he had done his time and was now ready to lead from the the front.

'I moved on very quickly from the decision about losing the captaincy and I've never fallen out with the manager.' the defender told The Sun.

'I've always done whatever the manager needs of me to make sure we win. But I've never given up hope that I will captain England again.'
The 30-year-old explained that after his meeting with Capello - in which he lost the captaincy, he remained composed and vowed to perform in every national match he played in.

Terry's actions went down notably well with Capello, who operates on respect, but the lack of communication toward Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand has attracted many critics.
The injured centre-half was scheduled to sit down with Capello during United's Champions League match with Marseille at Old Trafford last week, but was alleged to be have been 'snubbed' with the Italian refusing to meet and discuss his ambitions to lead the squad.
'When the manager told me in that meeting at Wembley that I was losing the job I accepted and respected his decision - even though I did not necessarily agree with it - shook his hand and his assistant Franco Baldini's hand and told them I'd always give 100 percent,' Terry said.
'The manager said he really appreciated that and hoped that would be the case.'


NIni/metro.co.uk

Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City - Ancelotti goes on the attack to overcome Mancini

Three points on home soil was enough to lift Carlo Ancelotti's resurgent Chelsea side above their weekend opponents Manchester City and into third spot in the Premier League. The pre-match build-up centred around two big-money strikers, with influential skipper Carlos Tevez, who has tormented Chelsea with six goals in his last five outings, failing a late fitness test for City and £50m Fernando Torres returning to the Chelsea starting line-up.

Roberto Mancini opted to deploy Edin Dzeko as a lone striker instead of bad boy Mario Balotelli but the Bosnian’s first touch often let him down, somewhat the story of his Premier League fortunes since arriving from Germany. Torres, who was contained for the vast majority of the opening 45 minutes, saw his first sight of goal blocked out by a lunging challenge from the combative Nigel de Jong, returning after a five game absence. However, despite a lively opening to the game, it was not bite that City were missing as they put in several excellent defensive challenges but lacked any real penetration going forward.

Ancelotti, looking to take more than a point away from the game, which is more than can be said for his Italian counterpart, replaced Malouda and the still goalless Torres with Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba. The ploy paid almost instant dividends as Drogba’s whipped free-kick picked out David Luiz who headed home his second vital Chelsea goal under some unconvincing marking. The again-impressive Luiz read the game well all afternoon, reacting quickly to danger with pace and assurance and also looking to burst forward with some brave attacking play.

Mancini, chasing the game late on, reacted by bringing on two precocious attacking talents of his own in the form of the volatile Balotelli and quick-footed Adam Johnson, however the game already looked to be slipping from City’s grasp and the two forward players saw little of the ball to make an impact on proceedings.

Lively Brazilian Ramires soon stole the ball off Balotelli with one of many good tackles and generally looked to have an endless reserve of energy all afternoon, his hard work finally being rewarded as he showed his samba roots by jinking past two players and stroking the ball home assertively to finish the tie off in stoppage time.

City did not look threatening in the final moments with the normally attack-minded full-backs Micah Richards and Kolarov refusing to look for the overlap and make things difficult for a comfortable Chelsea backline. As the game came to its close Chelsea, rather than retreating into their shell and defending their lead continued to press forward as Richards was forced to block to deny Ashley Cole, who conversely, certainly did not fear the overlap.

Chelsea will be more than happy with their days work as they dominated their wealthy rivals for much of the game and take three points against a side who have got the better of them in their three previous Premier League encounters.


Nini/adifferentleague

MotoGP 2011: Qatar Results

Casey Stoner opened the 2011 MotoGP season with a perfect start on the Repsol Honda taking the victory at Qatar.
The 2007 champion boosted his Losail winning tally to four followed across the line by Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
Jorge Lorenzo split the Honda white wash of the top positions turning a worrying two days behind him to take second, the reigning champion took advantage of a slowing Pedrosa with some calculated passes. After losing the lead to Stoner, Dani was unable to match the pace of the number 27 Repsol Honda and appeared struggle in the latter stages, the third-placed Spaniard complained of arm-pump issues in Parc Ferme.
Andrea Dovizioso got the better of an all-race battle with the Gresini Honda mounted Marco Simoncelli, the riders taking fourth and fifth respectively. The second factory Yamaha of Ben Spies had the carbon discs glowing in to turn one to dispose of Valentino Rossi on his first race on the Ducati to take sixth.
The top ten was rounded out by Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Hiro Aoyama. Cal Crutchlow in his rookie race on the Tech 3 Yamaha got the better of Hector Barbera in a last lap tussle to the chequered flag.
With only 16 riders taking to the grid for the opening round with Alvaro Bautista breaking a femur in a free practice crash, the race saw only 13 riders finish the race with Randy de Puniet taking the honours of the first race crasher of 2011.
Full results:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 42'38.569
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing + 3.440
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team + 5.051
4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team + 5.942
5. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 7.358
6. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing + 10.468
7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team + 16.431
8. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 26.293
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team + 27.416
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 28.920
11. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 34.539
12. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team + 34.829
13. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing + 37.957
14. Toni Elias (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP Not classified (4 laps)
15. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Pramac Racing Team Not classified (21 laps)
16. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Pramac Racing Team Not classified (22 laps)

Nini/visordown