Anyone who claims to the contrary – and there are still plenty who bury their heads and sing the same old songs of denial – has simply not been paying attention to events on the field

First to go were the Ashes. WITH THE exception of Surrey and Gloucestershire, and their patient supporters, the last nine months have been a stinker for English cricket. Giggs injured a hamstring during United’s 1-1 draw with Wimbledon on Saturday and will miss the holders’ match against Sturm Graz tomorrow He will be out for four to six weeks. Roy Keane is set to play against Graz, however, after damaging a hamstring while on international duty for the Republic of Ireland at the start of the month.. “The team have confidence in Stefan,” Matthaus declared, “anyway, he will not be alone on the pitch – we will help him and defend him.”Rangers could also play their third-choice keeper, Antti Niemi, because Lionel Charbonnier has a back strain.Rangers (probable, 4-4-2): Charbonnier or Niemi; Porrini, Amoruso, Moore, Vidmar; Reyna, Ferguson, Van Bronckhorst, Albertz; Mols, Johannson (or Wallace).Manchester United hope to have Ryan Giggs back in action for the later group games in the Champions’ League. “If we can get a result, it would give Scottish football the respect it deserves.”Matthaus, who, when he is not feuding with his Bayern team-mates, is their captain, will have to nurse the fourth-choice goalkeeper Stefan Wessels, who is making his debut at the age of 20, after injuries to Oliver Kahn and his two deputies The 16-year-old Jan Schlosser will be on the bench.

We have beaten teams like Parma and Bayer Leverkusen and at our best we can beat anyone, but we have a long way to go to become one of the top teams.”The German, however, admitted there was extra motivation for putting on a show against Bayern. There was too much euphoria after we had beaten Parma with people saying: `They’re going to win the Champions’ League’. “For me, Bayern are one of the favourites this year, along with Manchester United again,” he said. “They have such a strong squad that they really have two teams, just like United.

They also have experience in the Champions’ League, whereas we don’t – but we need that.”Albertz, who has rarely played this season because Dick Advocaat, the Rangers coach, has used the German international as a substitute, is expected to start tonight against Bayern, after the good impression he made as a substitute in Valencia, with Advocaat even admitting: “That is a possibility.”"Maybe what happened to us in Valencia was not a bad thing,” Albertz reflected “It was a wake-up call for everyone, fans and players. Outside Bayern’s hotel, sat the now-famous coach (Mercedes, not Ottmar Hitzfeld) which drives ahead of the Bundelsiga team simply to ferry the cosseted stars dubbed FC Hollywood to training and back.Bayern may have been traumatised by those last two minutes against Manchester United last May, but Albertz insists his countrymen have sufficient Teutonic will to overcome the memory. While Albertz was giving a press conference at Ibrox, across the city Lothar Matthaus was holding court. The man who cost pounds 4m from Hamburg three years ago, and who has become an idol of the Ibrox supporters, believes the Scottish champions received a “wake-up call” with their disappointing defeat by Valencia in the opening game last Wednesday, and must prove it in the Group F encounter with last season’s beaten finalists.
Yesterday, Germans were like Glasgow buses: you don’t see one for ages, then a whole fleet comes along. JORG ALBERTZ last night predicted that Bayern Munich can go the whole way in their Champions’ League journey this season, but the midfielder admitted that unless Rangers defeat his German compatriots, their own European ambitions will have come to the end of road for another year. “I want to become a full-time supporter and watch this club and team realise it potential,” said McCann yesterday Time will tell if Celtic’s fans share McCann’s view.. More and more joined the military struggle, however, “Many of us have been raped by Sri Lankan army soldiers.