Either Spanish fans are more desperate than ever for a football fix over the holidays, or attitudes towards the English game have changed massively since I moved away three years ago.

I’ve been back in Spain on holiday for the last week or so and I’ve been amazed at how much respect there is for the Premier League. But is it just a brief fling while La Liga is on hold and Spanish players are providing the inspiration at Liverpool, Arsenal and elsewhere? Or will Spanish fans be hopping on Easyjets to visit Anfield and the Emirates for years to come? 

When I lived here the Spanish attitude towards English football was one of, well, not quite contempt exactly, but you certainly wouldn’t find anyone looking up to it.

People would sometimes express admiration for the loyalty of the fans — actually cheering on your team when they’re losing and playing badly is an alien concept at the Bernabeu or Camp Nou — but the quality of the football? What quality?

Now everyone you talk to has an opinion about the English league, and most are enthusiastic. El Pais devoted two pages to English football on Sunday, including a long look at whether Spain should follow suit and play over the Christmas period.

Over the weekend there were at least two live games on free-to-air TV. The problem is that one of them was Man City v Liverpool on Sunday. That was the one I watched and as an advert for English football it could hardly have been worse. Liverpool’s plan A was to boot the ball forward to Torres and hope for the best, while Plan B was to boot it out wide on the left to Kewell and see what happened. The best player on the pitch was the Man City defender Richard Dunne.

So here are a couple of questions for fans in Spain and further afield. Is Spain’s love affair one to last, or will passions fade as soon as Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres and the like move on? From what I could see the quality of the football in England doesn’t seem to be appreciably better these days, though perhaps the players were just exhausted.

And what about the other big leagues? Should they follow the lead of the Premier League and programme matches through the holidays? If football is as much about entertainment as it is sport these days, surely leaving the Premier League with the spotlight to itself makes zero sense for rival leagues in Spain and Italy.

Kevin Fylan, Valencia

PHOTO: Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha (R) challenges Liverpool’s Fernando Torres (L) for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match in Manchester, northern England, December 30, 2007. REUTERS/Phil Noble

The latest ruling on matches at high altitude has added yet more confusion to a story which already has taken more twists and turns than a bus travelling along an Andean road.

The saga began earlier this year with a blanket ban on matches above 2,500 metres above sea. This would have prevented Bolivia from staging matches in the traditional venue of La Paz (3,600 metres) as well as Colombia and Ecuador playing in their respective capitals of Bogota (2,700) and Quito (2,800).

Following a wave of protests, led by Bolivia President Evo Morales, FIFA later raised the limit to 3,000 metres and also made a special exemption for La Paz. The South American World Cup qualifying competition then started in September with matches in all three cities.

Earlier this month, however, FIFA made another u-turn with an out-of-the-blue ruling that banned international games in cities above 2,750 metres “without proper climatisation.”

It said: “FIFA Executive Committee agreed that, unless those involved were allowed to acclimatise, no matches in FIFA competitions would be permitted at an altitude in excess of 2,750 metres above sea level.

“Furthermore, this decision will be integrated into the regulations of all FIFA competitions with immediate effect and it was recommended that the same limit be enforced in all other international competitions.”

The South American Confederation (CSF) threw the ball back into FIFA’s court by asking for it to reconsider the ban and pointing out that it was changing the rules of the World Cup qualifiers after the competition had started.

Meanwhile, the draw for next year’s South American Libertadores Cup, which features a number of clubs based at high altitude in the Andes, went ahead in Asuncion with no official mention of who would be playing where.

Some of the Andean teams said they would be allowed to stage games in their own stadiums. Brazil’s Flamengo, on the other hand, said they would refuse to play at high altitude and insisted they had FIFA on their side.

In the midst of all the in-fighting, nobody bothered to ask FIFA to explain how long it considers necessary for the players to climatise.

Perhaps if we knew this, the matter would be easier to resolve. And while FIFA are about it, maybe they could make a similar ruling banning matches played in extreme heat, something which has become all too common at some recent World Cups.

The colour red is prominent at Christmas whether its Santa’s red coat, Rudolph’s red nose or this season’s “in” colour – a red card from the referee.

A record-equalling 19 red cards were shown in England’s four top divisions on Boxing Day – the worst number on a single day since 19 were handed out on December 13, 2003.

Wednesday’s number was swollen by the continuing proliferation of two-footed lunges which have appeared from nowhere in the last month to blight the English game.

Chelsea’s Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho was the worst offender on Wednesday for a wild two-footed assault on Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.

He was forced to apologise to Agbonlahor afterrwards saying: “It was never my intention to hurt Agbonlahor with the tackle. I was going for the ball and I don’t want people to think I tried
to hurt another player. I didn’t see him after the game to apologise but I asked for a message to be passed on to him.”

Reading’s Brynjar Gunnarson also went for a two-footed lunge on West Ham’s Hayden Mullins while in recent weeks Tottenham’s Didier Zokora, Manchester City’s Stephen Ireland and Peter
Crouch of Liverpool have all been sent off for similar rash tackles.

The two-footed lunge is one of the most dangerous in the sport because it can easily result in the victim suffering a broken leg or ankle, and it is a miracle that no-one has ended up in hospital yet.

Footballers have always tended to mimic each other whether its in the type of cars they drive, the clothes they wear or the nightclubs they get drunk in. Now it seems, its in the fouls
they commit.

Last week Portsmouth’s Sol Campbell was complaining that players don’t get enough respect from crowds. When you see them trying to commit full frontal assault on each other, is it any
wonder ?

The two-footed studs-up lunge can end a career. Here’s a way to stop it. Ban the player who committed the foul for at least three months. If the victim is out for nine months with a broken
leg, the purpatrator cannot play until the victim is fit again.

And if the worst comes to the worst and he loses his career — then the perpetrator is banned for life too. I guarantee two-footed jump-tackles would disappear from the game tomorrow.

Arsene Wenger promotes the idea of England calling up Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia:

The Spanish goalkeeper, who joined the club in July 2004, will be eligible for UK citizenship next year. “I could only advise you to take advantage of it and call him up for the England squad,” said Wenger.

Many of those who supported the appointment of Italian Fabio Capello as England manager made the argument that nationality was irrelevant and what mattered was getting the best man for the job. To play, of course, you need to meet citizenship or nationality criteria but if he becomes a British citizen then Almunia would be an option for Capello.

So would any other Premiership foreigner who gained a British passport and wasn’t ruled out by having previously appeared for another national team. Perhaps all those young foreign-born players in the youth systems of top Premiership clubs might not be undermining the future of the England team at all. Perhaps they are the future of the England team?

On the face of it, an England national team with an Italian coaching staff, a Spanish goalkeeper and a smattering of foreign players across the field sounds absurd but if getting results is all that matters for the FA and most England fans then why not?

It is over a decade since the late, former sports minister in the UK, Tony Banks - a Chelsea fan – floated the idea of England featuring Premiership foreigners. He was roundly mocked for suggesting Gianfranco Zola as an England player (Zola wouldn’t have been eligible as he was already an Italy international) but now, with England so desperate to change their fortunes, his idea doesn’t seem too far fetched.

The counter-argument to the ‘best men for the job’ position is that the England team is supposed to represent the best of English football in the same way that a school team represents a school and a ‘town team’ represents the best kids from a given conurbation. In such a context, signing up non-English players to the team is an admission of defeat.

But what do you think? England fans, would you be happy with a Spanish goalkeeper playing for an Italian coach if it brought success to your country? Or would it dilute the prestige of any success that might come? Non-England fans, should a passport really be all you need to represent a country in international football? If so, who would you like your national team to ’sign’?

PHOTO: Manuel Almunia (L) saves a penalty from Robbie Keane during Arsenal’s English Premier League match against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium in London, December 22, 2007. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Frank Rijkaard has been accused of being a lame duck coach, lacking tactical awareness and being soft on his players following Barcelona’s 1-0 home defeat by arch-rivals and league leaders Real Madrid on Sunday.

The result ended Barca’s 100 percent home record this season, and left the Catalans seven points behind the leaders in second place.

While not a heavy defeat, Sunday’s showdown seemed to highlight the contrasting fortunes of the side in a number of areas.

Tactically Bernd Schuster won the battle against Rijkaard. Real closed down their opponents all over the pitch, stifling their creativity, and leaving them little room to work their trademark, quick passing moves.

Rijkaard’s questionable decision to field Ronaldinho, short on confidence and fitness, and Deco, just returned from injury, backfired when teenage forward Bojan Krkic and Eidur Gudjohnsen have both impressed in recent games.

Schuster’s decision to field Julio Baptista instead of playmaker Guti in midfield paid dividends as the super-motivated former Arsenal man scored the game’s only goal.

Throughout 2007 Barca have appeared unable to string together the consistency necessary to win a major trophy, and Rijkaard’s mild attempts to get tough with the players look little more than a cosmetic papering over of the cracks.

But are these criticisms valid?

Barca are second in the table and cruised through their Champions League group to make the last 16. They are favourites to see off Celtic, and therefore make the quarter-finals.

They are still in the King’s Cup and have only lost three games in all competitions this season. Ronaldinho is Barca’s second highest scorer in the league and is only 27.

Are we all jumping the gun, or is it time for Barca president Joan Laporta to ring the changes before Real run away with everything?

PHOTO: Frank Rijkaard gestures to his players in the last minute of their defeat by Real Madrid at the Nou Camp, December 23, 2007. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

Referees and linesmen make mistakes. They always have and always will, but never as many as the one-eyed observers from the rival dugouts in the Premier League would have you believe.

One of the most tiresome developments of the modern game is the post-match interview when disgruntled managers preface their comments with, “I don’t want to whinge about the referee” before doing just that.

The problem is exacerbated by TV’s armchair analysts, who can agonise for hours, aided by half a dozen TV camera angles and computer simulation, then see no issue with pronouncing that an incident was tough to call but that the officials should have done better.

They had a field day Saturday when it seemed that Stephen Hunt’s late goal to secure a 2-1 win for Reading over Sunderland had not crossed the line before being beaten out by goalkeeper Craig Gordon. It wasn’t clear at first glance nor with aid of slow motion replays and only after several angles were made available did it appear that the linesman had made a mistake.

That was tough on Sunderland, who were denied a last-minute winner against Aston Villa last week by a seemingly harsh refereeing interpretation of a challenge on the Villa keeper, but as the more enlightened used to say, these things even themselves out over a season.

That attitude seems to have been replaced by a weekly witch hunt. It was certainly all too much for Sunderland manager Roy Keane, who even before Saturday’s game was claiming that the match officials, like players, are “well-paid and should be held accountable for their mistakes”.

After the Reading disappointment, he added: “I’ve seen a replay and I am told to believe every game that if an official is not sure on any decision, be it a sending off or a penalty kick, if they are not sure they can’t give it. If the linesman is sure then all credit to him. He must have fantastic vision because we have watched it a few times and it is still unclear.”

If the linesman had not flagged the goal he would still have been making a decision, though Keane seems to believe that not awarding a goal, penalty etc does not count.

Reading manager Steve Coppell obviously benefited from Saturday’s call but he is always careful not to criticise referees.

Coppell admitted that in real time he thought Hunt’s effort had come back from the woodwork and that the linesman’s integrity should not be questioned. When forced to discuss the issue further by a Sky Sports interviewer Coppell merely said that if players made as few mistakes as the referees then managers would be out of business.

A few years ago Italian referees became so fed up of the constant criticism that they suggested the TV stations spent a weekend making their judgements without the benefit of any replays. It didn’t happen but, for a few weeks at least, the moaning stopped.

As usual the Champions League draw has set up some cracking ties to look forward to in February and March.

Holders AC Milan visit Premier League leaders Arsenal before a second leg at the San Siro in the standout tie.

Life continues to be tough for Rafa Benitez with last season’s runners-up and 2005 winners Liverpool drawn against Serie A leaders Inter Milan, although Roberto Mancini’s side have flattered to deceive in Europe in recent years. 

Manchester United and Chelsea will probably be secretly pleased with their ties against Lyon and Olympiakos respectively while AS Roma against Real Madrid will be an intriguing clash.

Barcelona, 2006 winners, will play Celtic with or without Ronaldinho. Schalke face 2004 champions Porto and Fenerbahce take on Sevilla.

See our main football site for draw details and reaction.

So after that draw, who do you think is best-placed to lift the trophy this year?

FIFA has decided it will only officially recognise as world club champions the winning teams from the four tournaments organised by itself — Corinthians in 2000, Sao Paulo in 2005, Internacional in 2006 and AC Milan in 2007.

The decision has already infuriated Zico, who played in the memorable Brazilian team Flamengo which outclassed Liverpool 3-0 in 1981 in the early days of the one-off fixture in Tokyo.

“There’s nothing to argue about. We took part in a very difficult Libertadores, we played European champions, as the representatives of South America, and we won,” he said.

It is hard not to sympathise with the current coach of Fenerbahce. It also raises the question — was the world club championship better off before FIFA stepped in?

It used to be delightfully simple: the winners of the European Cup (later the Champions League) met the winners of the Libertadores, its South American equivalent.

The match was played on a home-and-away basis until a few ugly ties, mainly involving Argentine pair Estudiantes and Racing Club, marred its history. In 1980, it was reborn as a one-off tie played in Tokyo and continued that way, trouble free, until 2004.

The first FIFA tournament in 2000 was anything but a true world club championship.

Corinthians, the eventual winners, were only included because they were domestic champions of hosts Brazil. The Sao Paulo-based club have never won the Libertadores. 

Palmeiras, the real South American champions at the time, did not take part at all and neither did Jubilo Iwata, who were Asian champions. Instead, Al Nasr of Saudi Arabia, winners of the 1998 Super Cup, sneaked in.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it failed to catch fire and the “unofficial” match in Tokyo kept going until 2004 before FIFA tried again.

In 2005 and 2006, they kept it simple and only the champions of the respective continents took part, although the quality of most games was desperately poor.

This year, FIFA allowed Asia, one of the weaker confederations, to have two representatives — champions Urawa Reds from Japan and runners-up Sepahan of Iran.

Somehow, it just seemed more straightforward in the old days when teams such as the Pele-inspired Santos graced the contest.

Brian Homewood, Rio de Janeiro

PHOTO: Kaka raises the trophy after AC Milan’s victory over Boca Juniors at the Club World Cup, Japan, December 16, 2007. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Love him or hate him, no one can say Antonio Cassano is boring.

The controversial striker, on loan at Sampdoria from Real Madrid, has fallen out with just about every manager who has ever coached him following numerous tantrums.

Earlier this month he was fined after approaching the touchline and shouting obscenities at Reggina coach Renzo Ulivieri, who had accused him of diving.

In Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Fiorentina, the Italian showed a softer side when he burst into tears after receiving a booking which rules him out of this weekend’s game at his favourite former club Roma.

His performance brought a new meaning to the phrase drama queen and put Paul Gascoigne’s mild whimpering at Italia 90 to shame. Cassano ranted before collapsing to the floor like a troublesome two-year-old and blubbered on and off for the rest of the match, finding time to score a great headed equaliser before being substituted.

Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu and Christian Vieri tried to calm him down but Cassano was still crying in the dugout and well after the final whistle.

His love for Roma, where he openly admitted this week he would like to return, may have annoyed some Sampdoria fans but not others.

A Genoa baker has invented a new cake inspired by Cassano. The Dolcekassano is surprisingly sweet and over-exuberant just like its namesake.
     
The cake includes almonds from Bari, Cassano’s home town, and is topped off with a flake to make it a 99 — Cassano’s shirt number at Samp.

Mark Meadows, Milan

Watching Real Madrid over the last few seasons has been a fraught experience. The team has been a bundle of nerves, the football has veered from the tedious to the heart-stopping, and the results have been totally unpredictable.

But things have changed this season at the Bernabeu. There is a pattern, a logic, to the way Real are playing and for the first time in four years they look as though they could be serious challengers for the Champions League once again.

Certainly it’s hard to imagine anyone relishing the thought of getting them in the draw for the first knockout round on Friday*.

It’s true that Lazio’s distinctly un-Italian defending gave Real a generous helping hand in their last Group game, but make no mistake, Bernd Schuster’s team were deeply impressive as they tore the Serie A side apart in the first half.

Even taking account of the hype of the Madrid-based press, Raul is looking sharp this season, Robinho is finally living up to his billing and Van Nistelrooy remains one of the best finishers in the game.

Schuster has plenty of options in midfield, with the inconsistent and occasionally brilliant Guti on hand when needed, the lively Wesley Sneijder showing glimpses of his talent and Julio Baptista staking his claim to a place with some powerful performance in recent games.

At the back new signing Pepe looks to have been a very useful, if extremely expensive, signing.

Some of the credit must go to Fabio Capello for the psychological work he did on the players last season, but Schuster seems to have taken it a step further and developed a team that is playing some excellent football.

Real are top of the Primera Liga, have won all 10 of their home matches this season and have three months to prepare for their assault on the trophy they really prize.

Could this be the year they land that elusive 10th European Cup? Maybe, maybe not, but Liverpool, Arsenal, Roma and the rest of the second-placed teams from the group stage would surely rather avoid testing their strength this early in the competition.

PHOTO: Robinho celebrates after scoring for Real against Lazio during their Champions League Group C match at the Bernabeu, Madrid, December 11, 2007. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

* We’ll have full coverage of the draw, including reaction, on Friday from 1200 CET at our main Web site.