Ryan where?: Despite being one of the first to arrive at Carrington on Tuesday morning, under-fire winger Ryan Giggs does not take part in a United training session open to the media. This unexpected absence does not spark any speculation as to the reason why. Everyone knows the reason why.
Early arrival: Worried by the prospect of flight difficulties caused by the ash cloud set to emerge from the erupting Gyflljylljkl volcano in Iceland, Barcelona announce they will fly to England two days earlier than planned on Tuesday evening. The club fears a repeat of the 14-hour coach journey to Milan last season to their Champions League semi-final first leg against Internazionale, which they lost. Apparently Barca president Sandro Rosell is driving up in a Seat 600.
Early Doors was looking forward to a repeat of the trip to Osasuna last December, disrupted by an air traffic controllers’ strike, which led to the memorable footage of Pedro sprinting down the station platform and jumping on board just as the doors were closing.
Free the Carrington One: Rob Harris, a journalist from the Associated Press agency, has the temerity to ask Alex Ferguson a question about Giggs in a post-training press conference at United’s training ground. Despite framing his name check of the man briefly known as ‘Footballer A’ in the most harmless way possible (“The most experienced Champions League player in the team is obviously Ryan Giggs. How important is he for the team on Saturday?”), Harris gets a terse reply from Fergie (“All the players are important, every one of them”).
Later in the same presser, as a translator is recounting another answer for the benefit of the assembled Spanish media, Ferguson is caught on mic plotting to ban Harris from the training ground. That’s just the hands-on attention to detail which won him the LMA’s Manager of the Year award earlier in the week.
Pap Attack: The cars of several journalists stationed near Giggs’s house are reportedly attacked by a group of masked men who leap out of a Ford Transit van. Tyres are slashed, bodywork is kicked in and eggs are thrown. “Shortly after 3.20pm on 24 May 2011, police were called to (an address) in Worsley, following reports a number of cars had been damaged,” Greater Manchester Police said. Reports that the men were all wearing rubber Giggs masks in a nod to a scene from Looking for Eric remain unconfirmed.
Worst triple substitution ever: Fans flock to Old Trafford for Gary Neville’s testimonial against Juventus. Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Giggs start the match in tribute to their retired team-mate alongside former colleagues Nicky Butt and David Beckham. Hearts are in mouths every time one of the trio set to feature on Saturday touches the ball, but they are replaced unscathed after 30 minutes by Gabriel Obertan, Darron Gibson and Bebe. Beckham shows he has learned his lesson after jumping that tackle against Brazil in 2002 by not shirking a challenge on a teenage pitch invader, wrestling the little tyro to the ground.
Sleeping with the enemy: Barca land in London and head off to their Hertfordshire hotel. Arsenal gracefully offer the services of their London Colney training ground to the team which eliminated them from the competition in the second round. “It highlights the respect between the two clubs and we are obviously very grateful to them,” a Barca spokesman says before sneaking off to ‘have a chat’ with Cesc Fabregas.
It is announced that Barca will lay on coaches for any fans travelling from Catalonia whose flight plans are disrupted, and that the team will be returning home after the final on a plane covered in pictures of the players. It would almost be worth them losing just to see them sheepishly emerge from said plane on to the El Prat runway come Sunday.
Top Gea: Ferguson reveals after Neville’s testimonial that United are set to sign Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea. The 21-year-old is in line for an £18 million move to Old Trafford this summer. With Sergio Aguero already announcing his intention to leave Atletico, and Diego Forlan mulling over a move to UAE to play for Diego Maradona’s club Al Wasl, the Rojiblancos look set to lose their three best players – as well as their manager – a year after winning the Europa League. There is a warning in there for Porto.
Banner brandisher banned: A United fan has slammed the club for the “horrific treatment” which saw her dragged from her seat and arrested for unveiling a ‘Love United Hate Glazer’ banner at Old Trafford, causing her to miss out on a ticket for Saturday’s final.
The Guardian’s Owen Gibson reports that 27-year-old Carly Lyes, a trainee social worker, was forcibly removed from the ground during the home leg of the quarter-final tie against Chelsea after unveiling the banner for “two to three minutes”.
Lyes said: “I know the ground regulations very well and asked which one I had broken. I was told I’d broken ‘all of them’. (A steward) told me that it was their stadium and, if they didn’t want me in it, I shouldn’t be in it… The police came over and said I needed to leave. They said I had breached the peace and needed to leave. They dragged me down the stairs. I was taken to the concourse, put in handcuffs and taken to a cell underneath the stadium.” Lyes’s season ticket was subsequently suspended, rendering her ineligible to apply for a ticket for the final.
A club spokesman responded: “The individual in question infringed the ground rules of the stadium and was obstructive and aggressive when asked to comply by the stewards.”