Liverpool have been warned off a move for Ajax striker Luis Suarez after they were told that only an obscene offer would tempt them to sell.

Reports over the last few days had suggested that the Reds were preparing a deal for Suarez which would involve Ryan Babel moving in the opposite direction, but a souce from Ajax has distanced the club from such a move by saying:

“Babel would be an interesting project but nothing is done. There might be news later this week. We want to keep Luis and only obscene offers would be enough.”

Liverpool consider Suarez as the perfect partner for the out of form Fernando Torres but could now be priced out of a move. Suarez hit 49 goals in 48 appearences for Ajax last season and currently stands on seven goals in 13 games this campaign.

Liverpool currently lie in 13th position in the Premier League and know that they need to dramatically improve if they are to salvage anything from the season. The signing of Suarez would be a huge coup for the Merseyside club who are currently under the temporay guidance of manager Kenny Dalglish.

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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has aimed a broadside at his Spanish employers by reaffirming his desire to return to England.

Mourinho, who joined Real after leading Inter Milan to a domestic and European treble last season, has reportedly been locked in a spat with the club’s sporting director Jorge Valdano.

Their dispute stems from the club’s reluctance to part with funds for a new striker to replace the injured Gonzalo Higuain.

Former Chelsea boss Mourinho has previously admitted harbouring thoughts of returning to England, and the Portuguese manager has now gone further by saying he feels a move back to the English Premier League could occur sooner than he anticipated.

“It’s always important for me and my family to be happy and I love English football and my family love England,” Mourinho told the Sunday Mirror.

“I have always maintained I will return one day but maybe it will come sooner than I expected.”

“If you want to build something England is the place to do it. The culture, the atmosphere and the fair play are unlike anything anywhere else.”

“Besides I want to live in England again. My family loved it here. We still have a house in England and they come back frequently. And if my family are happy then I am happy.”

Mourinho led Chelsea to back-to-back league titles in 2004/05 and 2005/06, but admitted he had had a complicated relationship with Blues owner Roman Abramovich and was not surprised when he was sacked in 2007.

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“I was never under any illusions,” he said.

“I understood the personality of Roman Abramovich and the culture of the people around him, and knew it was not a job for ten years.”

“My role was to give this man what he wanted – victory – knowing that, sooner or later, my time would finish, because there were too many things going on around me.”

Defender Kyle Walker is a surprise inclusion in Fabio Capello’s 25-man England squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Denmark.

The 20-year-old Spurs right-back has impressed in recent months in loan stints at Queens Park Rangers and now Aston Villa, and with concerns over the fitness of Micah Richards and Phil Jagielka, has been rewarded with an international call-up.

Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale’s fine performances while deputising for Mark Schwarzer – who was on Asian Cup duty with Australia – have seen him also chosen for this first senior international involvement.

Front men Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent have all been recalled after missing England’s 2-1 November loss to France with injury, as has Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard.

Steven Gerrard has been named as captain, after Rio Ferdinand suffered a calf-strain in the warm up before Manchester United’s 2-1 loss to Wolves at Molineux on Saturday.

Capello said Bent, who turns 27 on Sunday, was a walk-up start in his side after impressing in recent matches.

“Bent was not as good before the World Cup as he is at this moment,” the England coach said of the Villa man. “He was not the same player.”

“I went to see Aston Villa twice. It is completely different.”

“Before he was only playing for the box. Now, he is a player who can play for the team.”

“At Sunderland before, it was important for them to go straight for the goal. I told him he had to change. He had to work a lot, press a lot.”

“He has probably changed something in his mind, not only in his style.”

Capello said 19-year-old Jack Wilshere would also play a crucial role in the match.

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“He has always been good at short passes and winning back the ball. Now he is playing with confidence,” Capello said.

“He is a really important player for Arsenal and I hope he will be for us too.”

The England squad: Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Man City), David Stockdale (Fulham); Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Man City), John Terry (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Aston Villa); Gareth Barry (Man City), Stewart Downing (Aston Villa), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Man City), Scott Parker (West Ham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa); Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Darren Bent (Aston Villa), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)

Jonathan Tehoue scored a fairytale equaliser in the dying minutes as Leyton Orient stole a 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round.Tehoue, substituted on at the hour for fellow striker Scott McGleish, danced between Kieran Gibbs and Ignasi Miquel in the 88th minute and fired a sublime low strike under Gunners goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, prompting wild celebrations in the stands at Brisbane Road.It was a stunning end to the League One side’s tie with the mighty Arsenal, who controlled the match from the outset and took a deserved lead in the 53rd minute through Thomas Rosicky.The Czech Republic midfielder rose to meet Nicklas Bendtner’s cross and unleashed a powerful header beyond Orient custodian Jamie Jones for his first league goal in more than a year.Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made wholesale changes following the Gunners’ midweek defeat of Barcelona, with only Alex Song retaining his place in the side.The manager handed 18-year-old Spanish centre-back Miquel his debut in the Arsenal shirt, as well as starts to Bendtner, Bacary Sagna, Andrey Arshavin, and Maroune Chamakh. But the final result will no doubt displease Wenger, with a fifth-round replay at the Emirates now added to Arsenal’s already busy schedule.Meanwhile, two goals from Patrick Viera helped Manchester City beat Notts County 5-0 in a fourth-round replay.League One side Notts County impressed during the early exchanges with a Karl Hawley shot hitting the post before Yaya Toure was forced to block Neil Bishop’s effort.Krystian Pearce headed over from a corner and City goalkeeper Joe Hart could only parry Alan Gow’s free-kick.Roberto Mancini’s hosts eventually worked their way into the game, with full-backs Aleksander Kolarov and Micah Richards both going close.But City’s expensively assembled strike force of Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko struggled to find their rhythm and it was left to veteran midfielder Viera – a four-time FA Cup winner with Arsenal – to break the deadlock, heading the home side in front on 37 minutes.County pressed for an equaliser early in the second half, but heads dropped when Viera struck again, connecting with a Kolarov corner to make it 2-0 on 58 minutes.Balotelli was replaced by Carlos Tevez on the hour mark and the Italian made no secret of his displeasure at being withdrawn, storming straight down the tunnel.Tevez eventually made the score-line comfortable for City when he rounded opposing goalkeeper Stuart Nelson to score in the 84th minute, before Dzeko and Richards struck late on to flatter City.They will now play the winner of match between Everton and Reading for a place in the semi-finals. Elsewhere, an Ivan Klasnic strike in the 19th minute at Craven Cottage gave Bolton Wanderers a 1-0 win over Fulham in an all-Premier League fifth-round tie.Croatian front-man Klasnic was on target in Bolton’s fourth-round replay win over Wigan last week and he repeated the feat in West London, netting the winner with a volley from 12 yards out.Bobby Zamora came off the bench in the defeat to make his first appearance for Fulham since suffering a broken leg in September. Bolton will now face Carling Cup finalists Birmingham in the last eight.

Inter Milan manager Leonardo says his side will put everything on the line in Tuesday’s Champions League second leg against Bayern Munich.Bayern won the first leg 1-0 of the Round of 16 tie in Milan and will be strong favourites to knock the reigning European champions out in Germany, but Inter’s Brazilian manager said his side will be aggressive in searching for a positive result.”It’s a game in which both teams have to give everything they have, and they have a great deal. With the quality these two teams have, you get an idea of the game,” Leonardo said. “It will be a different type of game nonetheless, because we’ve already played the (home) game, which we lost 1-0. We aren’t coming from a 0-0 draw.” Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder said despite contrasting results from the two sides in their respective league clashes on the weekend, Inter – second on the Serie A table – were confident of causing an upset at the Allianz Arena and advancing to the final eight.”They won last weekend (against Hamburg). They won 6-0 so I’m sure that will give them a bit of confidence. But we also have a good feeling. Even if we drew against Brescia (on Friday), we’re in good shape and it’ll be a nice game,” the Dutchman said.”It’s always nice to play against my Dutch colleagues. I worked with (Bayern manager Louis) van Gaal at Ajax and of course with (Arjen) Robben in the national team and Real Madrid … I want to beat them, that’s the only thing.”

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but the bi-annual referee criticism forum is in session. From Martin Atkinson’s failure to send Chelsea defender David Luiz at Stamford Bridge to Massimo Bussaca’s decision to send off Robin van Persie at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night, the role of the referee in these key matches has been under scrutiny more than ever before.

The link between player and manager pressure and referee performance is an age old debate and one that is incredibly difficult to accurately settle. Everyone knows that winning a penalty at Old Trafford has been a rarity in recent seasons, and several times over the last 18 months it might be argued that John Terry has been given freedom to handle in his own box during games at Stamford Bridge – but why do these perceived injustices continue to occur?

If you look at the way these top sides have consistently been accused of influencing officials, it is impossible not to sympathise with the referee that crumbles and decides not to award a penalty against players or managers that have a reputation for regular and vociferous complaining.

I wrote earlier this week about the need for sides to rule the influence of the referee irrelevant through their performance – if you find yourself relying on one decision to go your way then there is every chance that you will, rightly or wrongly, lose out.

This may well be easier said than done for a lowly Premier League side visiting Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, but the ultimate message is that there is an inevitable risk of an official making a crucial call in a tight game – if you are happy to let your players take that risk, then blaming the referee when he makes a bad call becomes futile.

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Arsene Wenger may well have a point in criticising the decision of Bussaca during Tuesday night’s game, but the reality is that his game plan relied heavily on many things going Arsenal’s way at the Nou Camp. As Robin van Persie very accurately surmised, there were 95,000 people packed into the stadium during the match and as such you may reasonably expect the partisan crowd to have some bearing on some 50-50 decisions – it is part of the reason why so few teams are able to travel to Spain and win.

If you look at Wenger’s complaints, whilst they are certainly reasonable, they are also completely necessary. Having lost a Carling Cup final to Birmingham, thrown away two points at home to Sunderland in the league and now crashing out of Europe, a basic admittance that his side weren’t good enough to compete with Barcelona could have done major damage to his side’s confidence ahead of the remaining key fixtures this season.

In fact, Wenger might even argue that a Champions League exit is better this way. Pride intact, the Frenchman can rightly point to the sending off as a pivotal moment in the game without losing face to Arsenal fans who now run the risk of seeing the number of success starved seasons stretch to six. The statistical domination over two legs can be happily put aside with that decision acting as an asterisk to Barcelona’s victory.

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Ultimately then, the role of the referee is not as simple as the accurate interpretation of events on the pitch. Managers, players and fans may ask for precise decision making at all times, but the varying goals and objectives of each side mean that sometimes incorrect decisions can be just as beneficial as making the right call.

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he has unfinished business as the head of soccer’s world governing body and that he is still full of energy.The Swiss, who is vying for a fourth term as FIFA president, was in Kuala Lumpur to meet the head of the Malaysian FA, Sultan Ahmad Shah, as he continues to canvas support for the upcoming June elections.”I feel still full of energy and I’ve not yet finished my work in FIFA,” Blatter said.Blatter, 75, is currently the only candidate for the role, however reports suggest Asian Football Confederation head Mohamed Bin Hammam is due to announce his intention to challenge Blatter.However in his 13th year as FIFA president, Blatter was not concerned by the competition. “I have support from different Asian associations, but I must have the support from the whole family of FIFA,” Blatter said.Blatter also hinted that FIFA are more likely to award a World Cup finals to a single nation.His comments came after the Association of South-East Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) announced their intention to make a joint bid to host the tournament in 2030.”The idea is a very good one but the realisation is not easy,” he said. “The principal of the World Cup which has been admitted – and especially after the World Cup 2002 – when we had two organising committees.””If there’s a single country able to organise the World Cup, preference shall be given to these single countries.”

Tottenham’s chances of progressing to the semi-final stage of this season’s Champions League are minimal following a determined ten-man performance in Madrid which ultimately ended in humiliation. Captain, Michael Dawson, revealed that Peter Crouch, the striker whose two early challenges saw him dismissed within 15minutes, has apologised to his team-mates and conceded that, “we went out there to give our all and it didn’t go to plan.” Crouch’s exit not only left his side with a numerical inferiority, but also demonstrated a tactical conundrum that is troubling a number of Spurs fans.

It was difficult for the Lilywhites to create anything that was not a result of Gareth Bale’s ingenuity, and struggled without an offensive target until van der Vaart was replaced by Jermain Defoe in the second-half. Although the nature of the tie has been significantly altered by the premature removal of Crouch, and perhaps Tottenham’s midfield would have been afforded greater freedom to be creative in Crouch’s presence, the first-leg at the Bernabeu raised a few questions about Spurs’ best formation for deploying van der Vaart and Modric whilst also incorporating Bale.

I’m not saying Harry Redknapp faces a dilemma on the scale of Lampard and Gerrard – which has somehow existed as a scapegoat for most of England’s disappointments since the turn of the century – but Tottenham do seem to perform better when Modric is positioned deeper and van der Vaart is allowed the freedom behind a striker. The best example of this is perhaps the 3-1 defeat of Internazionale last November when Modric was allowed considerable time and space on the ball and was able to control possession as well as instigate attacks.

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It isn’t always easy for an offensive-minded player to restrict their innovation, but the Croatian’s discipline in the role was creditable, and it is worth mentioning that it was his run from deep that created the first goal. Modric’s inventive dummy was followed by a precise through-ball for van der Vaart, who finished emphatically. The move was only able to encourage a chance for the Dutchman due to the venture forward from Modric, as once his side-step got him past the Inter midfield, one of the central defenders was forced to step forward, which allowed van Der Vaart the room to unleash a shot at goal.

Following his first ever Spurs training session last September, van der Vaart in fact singled out Modric for special praise, saying, “you can always play good players together, and today it was nice to play with Modric, for example. He’s a good player.” What’s more, Modric has recently praised the impact van der Vaart has made during his seven months at White Hart Lane, and proclaimed, “Rafael’s arrival has given us great motivation, he’s proven to be a really great player. We were playing well before we bought him, but since he arrived we have started playing better.”

I personally don’t believe Tottenham have any significant strategic concern regarding two of their most valuable assets. Barcelona are proof that a team of offensive players can work efficiently in tandem, and Harry Redknapp will possibly look at the Iniesta-Xavi axis as inspiration for positioning his two stars. It is believed that van der Vaart’s exceptional displays in his first season at Spurs are largely a result of the freedom Redknapp provides his most creative players, and the Dutchman has previously conceded as much. With Sandro beginning to instill confidence in his abilities with the Spurs supporters and Tom Huddlestone soon to return from injury, Tottenham can afford to allow Modric and van der Vaart to roam in the opposition half because undoubtedly, this partnership could be the difference between Champions League and Europa League qualification with just eight Premier League games remaining.

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Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross praised manager Tony Pulis after his side reached their first FA Cup final on Sunday.Stoke thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-0 at Wembley and qualified to meet Manchester City at the same stadium on May 14.

But it was Pulis who Shawcross singled out for special praise after the match.

“He’s been a legend for a long while,” Shawcross said.

“He’s done so much for the club to take us to where we were.”

“When I first joined we were struggling in the Championship and for him to take us all the way to the FA Cup final and hopefully a top 10 finish (in the Premier League) is massive.”

“He doesn’t get enough credit for it, he’s got very good man management and he’s a very good manager.”

Jermaine Pennant, who set up Stoke’s third goal for striker Kenwyne Jones after half an hour,

also praised the organisation of the Potters.

“It’s a massive day, it’s a massive victory,” Pennant said.

“It just shows how much the club is pushing forward and much people have invested in the club.”

“Everyone behind the scenes has worked hard to get here and people talk about our game play but to win 5-0 in the semi-final, you’ve got be doing something right and we can play football too.”

“We are not as bad as what people think.”

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Pennant said he was looking forward already to the showdown with Manchester City on May 14.

“Yeah, it will be great. I’ve played in finals but never actually played in a FA Cup final so it is going to be a great moment for me as well,” he said.

“Like I say, it is the first time Stoke have been in the FA Cup final so it is going to be a great moment for all the players.”

Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has declared his side’s triumph in this year’s La Liga was the toughest campaign he has been involved in.Barcelona secured their third successive La Liga crown on Wednesday with a 1-1 draw at Levante.

The point they secured gave the Catalans a six-point advantage over bitter rivals Real Madrid with two games to play, but Pep Guardiola’s men claim the title because of their superior head-to-head record against Real.

Valdes, 29, has won five Primera Division titles with Barca, but rated this one the most difficult of them all.

“We have fought as hard as we can and we deserve it,” Valdes said.

“It has been a very difficult year and the fans know that. Today we can celebrate to the maximum. It has been a hard-fought title and now’s the time for celebrations.”

“It has been very hard. Of the ones I’ve won I’d say it’s been the hardest league of all.”

“It has been very tough in terms of the media, but we have managed to isolate ourselves very well.”

“Now we can celebrate in Barcelona.”

Club skipper Carles Puyol said the club would celebrate the victory, but would swiftly turn their attention to the Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley on May 28 as Barca look for their third European triumph in five seasons.

“Now is the time to celebrate because the league is an important title,” Puyol said.

“Afterwards we can rest and prepare for the final at Wembley.”

Malian midfielder Seydou Keita, who scored Barca’s goal at Levante, echoed his skipper’s sentiments and said the team’s focus would move quickly to United.

“It is a very important day for Barcelona fans,” Keita said.

“Now we have the Champions League final to come, which is very important for this club.”