Sir Alex: 18th title will come

Sir Alex Ferguson is ecstatic after landing his 10th Barclays Premier League title as United boss. Here's a transcript of his first post-match interview at Wigan:

Was this the toughest title race so far?
“It was a tough one alright and being away from home today made it more difficult. In fairness for most of the game we played well. There were some nervous moments and then the rain came and we were wondering what’s going to happen now, because anything can happen on a rainy surface. Just after half-time we started to get a grip of it. We missed a few chances and the goalkeeper made some great saves. I was saying to myself, “Please give us that second goal.” Of course, my oldest player, ten medals today, gets it – Ryan Giggs. Fantastic."

Was Paul Scholes fortunate not to be sent off?
"I think Paul rode his luck a little bit. I thought his first tackle was reckless and he deserved to be booked. The second one was nothing, a shove and it didn’t merit a booking at all. But there was one a few minutes before that one which puts the case in doubt."

How nervous were you when Chelsea went 1-0 up?
“You’ve got to try and dismiss all the stuff round about you, forget what was happening at Chelsea and concentrate on our own game. I think we did that okay. But there was a guy behind us who kept telling us it was 2-0 to Chelsea after just one minute."

What would you regard as the turning point in the title race?
"It ebbed and flowed a bit. Arsenal, for long periods, looked like they were

going to win it. Then they dropped a few points after we knocked them out of the FA Cup and that told for them. We then dropped a few points at Blackburn and Middlesbrough and that allowed Chelsea to close right in. But the two points they dropped against Wigan probably won the title for us."

How does it feel to have won 10 titles?
"Fantastic. I’m very proud. Proud to have survived for so long. It’s a great club and it’s much easier for me than it is for anyone else. How would I do without this? Tell me."

You're now just one title short of Liverpool's record. Is that your next target?
"I think it will come. This side’s young. It’s developing all the time. It’s a good young team and there are plenty of years left in them. They’ll do it in their own time."

What impact will winning the title have on the Champions League final?
"The great thing is we’re bouncing into the final. We can look forward to it. If we’d lost the title today, it would have been difficult. When we lost the title at West Ham in 1995, we lost the FA Cup final the following week. We were dead then. We’re not dead now, we’re alive. If we win the European Cup, this has to be my best team."

Iniesta: “We have to look to the future

Andrés Iniesta has admitted that he is sad to see Frank Rijkaard leaving the club, but is confident and excited by the prospect of next season and the arrival of Josep Guardiola at the helm.

The 24-year-old midfielder is working on recovering from his knee injury, but spoke to the press on Wednesday: "The thing with Rijkaard is sad, but they are things that happen in the world of football," he said. "But now we have to look to the future and we should confront it with hope and confidence."

Eight years on

Iniesta can now prepare to work under Guardiola, eight years after sharing th dressing room with the incoming head coach. "I am pleased to be able to work with him again," he continued. "He will be the new coach and I have faith that he can change the current situation around. This year has ended sadly for everyone, it was a year full of deception. But in football things can change very quickly and that is what we want."

Heroes

"Josep Guardiola and Michael Laudrup were idols of mine when I was a child," Iniesta then revealed. "Now to work with Guardiola will be important to me and we will all give him our total support."

Reflecting on other issues that have arisen at Camp Nou in recent days, Iniesta spoke first about the whistles aimed at Deco and Samuel Eto'o during hte Mallorca game. "We did not like that because they are our team-mates," he said. "But the fans always have their reasons and we just have to accept it."

Captain’s role

In the future, Iniesta could become one of the team captains at Barcelona and he would relish the prospect. "It would be marvellous to be a captain," he stated. "To any player it would given a boost and more confidence, but right now we have the best skipper we could have in Carles Puyol."

Finally, Iniesta was asked about Bojan Krkic's possible inclusion in the Spanish squad for the forthcoming Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland. "We must not become too excited beacuse the list will not be announced until Friday," he said. "But I would be very happy for him and for those that have supported him all year. He has had a very good season and deserves the recognition."

Ronaldo clinches awards treble

The individual awards keep rolling in for Cristiano Ronaldo, who has picked up the Barclays Player of the Season and Barclays Golden Boot awards to complete a sensational season.

The 23-year-old Portuguese wing wiazard also collected a merit award for reaching 30 league goals this season.

Ronaldo was pivotal in United's Barclays Premier League title success and it was no surprise that he earned the Barclays Player of the Season accolade for the second year in succession.

Whichever way you look at it, Ronaldo has been exceptional this season, and the stats back it up. His 31 goals from 34 league appearances helped see off stiff opposition for the awards from Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor and Fernando Torres of Liverpool.

It's the first time a player has scored more than 30 league goals in a season since Alan Shearer’s 31-goal haul for Blackburn Rovers twelve years ago.

The merit award for reaching 30 goals will also benefit one lucky charity as Ronaldo will receive £1,000 for every goal scored to be donated to a charity of his choice.

However, for all the personal awards showered on the Madeiran magician, his sights will be firmly set on the Champions League trophy in Moscow next Wednesday.

Carlos Tevez Biography

Carlos Alberto Tevez (born February 5, 1984 in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine football striker who made his name with Argentine giant Boca Juniors and currently plays for Brazil's Corinthians. He is currently regarded as one of the most promising prospects in the world. FourFourTwo labelled him as the new Diego Maradona.

He was born and raised in the humble neighbourhood of Ejército de Los Andes, known as "Fuerte Apache", from where he got the nickname of Apache. Carlitos has a scar from the right ear to his chest, product of a burn with boiling water when he was a young boy. Carlos declined plastic surgery since he would have to be out of the playground for four months.

Carlos Tevez joined Boca at the age of thirteen and played his first professional match with Boca on October 21, 2001 against Talleres de Córdoba. He played for the team until the end of 2004. With Boca Juniors he won an Argentine Championship (2003), a Copa Libertadores (2003), an Intercontinental Cup (2003), and a Copa Sudamericana (2004). Because of the Intercontinental Cup of 2003, he didn't participate in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Argentine team.

Tévez was a key part of Boca's victory in the 2003 Copa Libertadores, but his greatest achievement was during the 2004 Olympic Games, where he won the gold medal with his team, and scored eight goals in six matches to be the top scorer of the competition. He also participated in the 2004 Copa América, helping Argentina to the runner-up spot.

The Argentine Football Writers chose him as Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004, and also Sportsman of the Year 2004. He was named Futbolista latinoamericano más destacado ("Most notable Latin American footballer") in 2003 by Latin American Fox Sports, and in the same years was the world's second Top Goal Scorer 2004 in international competitions (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) with 16 goals, one less than Ali Daei from Iran.

In December 2004, he transferred to Sport Club Corinthians Paulista for $20 million with a five year contract worth $10 million, following the Brazilian club's deal with Media Sports Investment. The deal was the biggest transfer ever in South American football. Initially Tévez was not well received by the Corinthians fans - including Brazilian president Lula. However, Tévez has since become the captain and star of the team that won the 2005 Brazilian league, and the fans' favourite player and was being linked to Chelsea FC as a result of Roman Abramovich's link to MSI.

Chelsea manager José Mourinho saw Tévez in action against River Plate during the Copa Libertadores in 05/04/2006, but has played down the transfer speculation linking Tévez with Chelsea. However Chelsea would offer Corinthians a sum of between £12 million and £60 million, but Corinthians stuck a minimum release clause of about £68 million on Carlitos. Corinthians investor Kia Joorabchian has said Tévez is very happy at the club and he would be sold in 4-5 years time. It is alleged that he would prefer to join Manchester United if he were to move to England. This was confirmed when Tevez was spotted wearing a Manchester United shirt whilst training with Corinthians. There are many rumours saying Tevez will come to Manchester United as they are a club out for a striker with Ruud Van Nistelrooy gone to Real Madrid.

Tevez was selected by José Pekerman for Argentina for the 2006 World Cup. He started the first match against the Ivory Coast on the bench but came on as a substitute for the match against Serbia and Montenegro. He scored the fifth goal and assisted Lionel Messi's sixth goal in Argentina's 6-0 victory. In Argentina's drawn final Group C match against Holland, Tevez played the entire duration and emerged man of the match.