The 31 year old midfielder can now take time to reflect on where his footballing career will take him. There are rumours of possible moves to Olympiakos and Roma, but the Swede may elect to move to the MLS where his Calvin Klein modeling skills could help him join David Beckham on Bilboards across America.

No doubt there will be chuckles of belly laughter in Glasgow and Edinburgh at the fact that losing over the two legged tie has cost the Gers around £12m in competition and television revenue. The embarrassment comes days after Celtic manager Gordon Strachan complained about not being able to compete with English clubs in the transfer market after his side slumped to a two-nill defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Feyenoord Jubeleeum. Which begs the question why can the two big Scottish clubs not compete when they get capacity attendances every week, they have global followings buying club merchandise and they appear every year  in European competition?

Strachan commented that Spurs manager Juande Ramos may not be able to do what he has done in getting to the last eight in the Champions League if he had the same budget and no stars. But as normal he is comparing apples and orange in his own charming manner. The competition for the Champions League and UEFA Cup places is less fierce in Scotland than in England. So Ramos needs the big stars and even bigger transfer budget, to get near the European competition places.

In comparison to the Old Firm, Tottenham have a much smaller stadium, a smaller global following which should translate to a much smaller budget. However they have the benefit of the Premier League television deal and they appear to be managed much better financially than the Old Firm.

Rangers manager Walter Smith confessed that his side were not in the game against Kaunas and that it will be difficult to motivate his players following the crushing defeat that will deny his team another glorious run in Europe. News that will not impress the Rangers fans who give anything to play at Ibrox.

One of the new features is the new 2.5mm thick Predator SMART foam on the strike zone, which gives the player 3% more force, and 8% more swerve, this no doubt will have goalkeepers quaking in their boots at the start of the new season. The new foam adapts to the kicking techniques of the player to provide maximum velocity or deft control. The new compound provides superior grip in both wet and dry environments.

There are two insoles with each pair of boots a light weight insole and a new dynamic PowerPulse™ insole which boasts 40g of tungsten powder. That helps transfer the weight to help provide more power upon impact with the ball.

The new boot still has some of the traditional features like the X-Traxion quick change stud system, that gives ultimate grip of the ground and improved weight distrbution, reducing pressure form the studs. Off-centre A-symmetrical loop lacing, to give the player a larger striking surface for shooting and passing with, and K Leather to help with fit and ball feeling.

The new ADIDAS Predator Swerve are available at the following prices:

Firm Ground RRP £120 / Soft Ground RRP £130

This year the boot will be worn in the Premier League by Michael Carrick and Dean Ashton.

The F50 TUNiT is the choice of a number of Premier League players Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur), Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Philips (Chelsea) and Ashley Young (Aston Villa) to name just a few. The new F50.8 TUNiT provides the player with additional support the sockliner is now separate from the chassis which lets the player insert their own orthopaedic sockliner if required.

The new TUNiT new flagship range is a available in three different packs:

The Start Pack:
One pair of synthetic uppers, one pair of sockliners, chassis and three sets of studs (firm, hard and soft ground). The Start pack gives you three ways to assemble your shoe depending on the pitch conditions. RRP £120

The Colour Pack:
Two pairs of uppers (one synthetic and one ClimaCool), one pair of sockliners, chassis and three sets of studs (firm, hard and soft ground). This offers six ways to build your boot. RRP £180

The Premium Pack:
Three different pairs of uppers (two synthetic and one ClimaCool), two pairs of chassis and sockliners (comfort and lightweight) and three sets of studs (firm, hard and soft ground). This offers 18 different configuration options. The Premium Pack retails at RRP £270

Everyone in football knew that the majority of the transfers would not happen until the European Championships were over. However Ramos got in ahead of the game and made a bold move buying Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb, luckily the midfielder made it through the competition unscathed and may have inflated his price tag which was already a club record.

Ramos brought in two goalkeepers in Ranieri and the Brazilian Gomes who helped put the Spaniard’s side out of last seasons UEFA Cup. These arrivals signalled the end of Paul Robinson’s reign and he was offloaded to Blackburn Rovers. Ramos continued to reduce his wage bill buy getting rid of a number of players signed by Martin Jol. Sunderland manager Roy Keane was only too happy to avail of the services of players like Chimbonda, Tainio and Malbranque who had helped Spurs to two top five finishes in the last three seasons.

The biggest coup for Ramos though was the rapid and unexpected sale of the clubs biggest earner Robbie Keane. A player who in the euphoria of the Carling Cup celebrations said he would be happy to stay at the club for as long as he was wanted there. Just a few months on and the whiff of interest from Liverpool and he was ready to head up the M6 to Anfield. The irishman’s departure has made way for Darren Bent to come out of the shadows and stake a claim for a first team place. An opportunity he has grabbed with both hands scoring seven goals in two recent friendlies.

There have been a few more other high profile arrivals at White Hart Lane, Mexican youngster Giovani dos Santos moved from La Liga giants Barcelona for the benefit of his career on the advice of former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry.

John Bostock arrived amid controversy after a tribunal decided the fee to be paid to Crystal Palace should be just £700,000. A decision that angered disgruntled Palace chairman Simon Jordan, who has since vowed to leave football and find suitable new ownership for the Championship side.

The most recent arrival was that of David Bentley, who made it clear after the departure of Mark Hughes from Blackburn Rovers for the managers job at Manchester City, that his future lay elsewhere. Spurs won his services with a £15m bid that could rise to £17m depending on his success. The bitter pill for Spurs fans is that a large share of the £15m will be finding its way to Arsene Wenger’s transfer kitty, due to a clause in the players original sale from Arsenal to Rovers.

There will more than likely be more movement in and out of the Spurs dressing room with Dimitar Berbatov indicating that he would like to move to Manchester United, although Spurs would prefer him to stay or move to another league. Should he leave Spurs have been linked to a number or potential replacements including Andrei Arshavin who has allegedly agreed personal terms with the club.

Will Ramos be able to get all these new players to work well enough to improve on last years poor league position? Will he continue to have his midas touch for trophies? Given a full preseason will he be able to win yet another UEFA cup?

The new boot builds on the foundations of the original. It uses the eVent membrane which keeps feet dry and lets them breath helping to keep the players feet at the right temperature. The accuracy rings too have been kept on the new boots to help players control the ball better.

The new boots have V-twin offset lacing system, an evolution that provides the players with a larger striking area, giving them more feel and control of the ball.

The heel counter technology employed in Nike 5 training shoes has been incorporated in the new boot, to provide players with increased protection and greater stability.

Nike have used learning’s from other sports about the sweet spots and the dynamics of striking balls and put them in to the new boot. The increased sweetspot gives players increased accuracy in passing and shooting. The rings provide greater traction on the ball giving more control of spin, swerve and trajectory.

The boots will be worn by a number of Nike sponsored stars like Rooney, Gattuso, Torres and the like however if you mere mortals would like to wear them you will have to pay in the region of £120.

Reina Poor Performance

Wes Brown put the home side ahead on 34 minutes, when Reina failed to deal with a Wayne Rooney cross. The Spaniard only managed to punch the ball against the back of the advancing defender, which was to be the start of a bad day for the Liverpool keeper.

Bennett Steals The Show

Even with all of the talent on display and three goals in the match, the centre of attention was Referee Steve Bennett. After just eleven minutes he reached for his book and entered the name of Argentinean Javier Mascherano for unsporting conduct after a late challenge on Paul Scholes. Bennett created the talking point of the game just before half time, when he booked Fernando Torres for dissent after the Spaniard had been the victim of two suspect challenges. Having seen the injustice Mascherano approached Bennett and asked him ‘What’s happening?’ not foul language and was given a second yellow for his trouble. The scenes after Bennett issued the Red Card became farcical as the Argentine demonstrated his disbelief that he had been dismissed from the game for a simple question. Bennett’s heavy handedness came just a few days after Ashley Cole got away with a torrent of abuse at the 4-4 draw between Tottenham and Chelsea where Bennett was the fourth official. Bennett has a history of dishing out injustice to Mascherano, last season he let Jermain Defoe away with biting the Argentinean.

Ronaldo Ends Liverpool’s Hopes

Liverpool fought to get back in to the game but after 35 minutes in the second half United goalden boy Cristiano Ronaldo headed home a corner that Reina got nowhere near to put the game beyond the visitors. Just one minute later Ronaldo’s Portuguese compatriot Nani thundered home a shot from the edge of the area to put the home side three up.

Who Is The real Villain?

Mascherano will no doubt be villainised in the media as an example of what not to do for kids and pros alike. When the truth is it should be Bennett who is crucified in the press for ruining a crunch game for the billions of spectators around the world and for demonstrating the huge inconsistency of Premier League referees, who have been hounded and abused for years by players some of whom were not even given a talking to never mind a red card.