Roy Keane has gone and Michael Ballack is reportedly lined up as his replacement.
Ballack might not be interested in Manchester United if the team fails to reach the second round of the European Champions League, however, and a loss to visiting Villarreal today will put the Red Devils on the brink of elimination.
One victory in four games puts Manchester United, which has made the second phase 11 straight times, in danger of missing out on the last 16.
"It has been a difficult week but it is in the nature of our club that we have to come through them," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. "This game on Tuesday is absolutely vital, we've got to win this game to qualify and it is truly, really important."
With FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Lyon and Arsenal already through and Juventus, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Liverpool, Chelsea and Inter Milan almost there, Manchester United could get left behind.
Although the Red Devils won eight Premier League titles in 11 years under Ferguson, the veteran manager is frustrated that he has led the team to only one Champions League triumph -- in 1999.
His team received some help on Sunday when Argentina playmaker Juan Ramon Riquelme was ruled out of Villarreal's lineup because of a thigh muscle strain. Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, who left Manchester United last season, will miss out on a return to Old Trafford because of a torn thigh muscle.
The Spanish club leads the Group D standings with six points and will qualify for the last 16 with a victory today.
"I had always dreamed of a game like this," Villarreal president Fernando Roig said Sunday. "I thought about it four years ago when I went to see a Manchester-Valencia game and now it's a reality.
"Our aim is to win there and ensure our qualification. It would be really great but we know it will be difficult. The group will probably be decided in the last round when we play Lille."
Last-place Benfica has four points and can still make it.
The Portuguese champions visit second-place Lille, which is level on five points with Manchester United.
After this week's games there is only one round left and the top two in each of the eight groups qualify for the second round. The third-place finisher has the consolation of dropping into the UEFA Cup, but it will be the end of the European road for the team that finishes last.
Already having guaranteed a place in the second round with 10 points from four games, Barcelona hopes to follow up its impressive 3-0 Spanish league victory at Real Madrid on Saturday with three more points against visiting Werder Bremen. Its three group rivals are tied on four points with Panathinaikos hosting Udinese.
Juventus and Bayern Munich are even at the top of Group A and both will clinch spots in the second round with victories today. Juve only needs a draw with third-place FC Brugge while Rapid Vienna, which goes to Munich, is already eliminated.
Arsenal, which has never won European soccer's biggest title, is already through with 12 points and visits FC Thun today. Ajax, which has won the title four times but is sixth in the Dutch league, will qualify with a victory against visiting Sparta Prague.
French champion and league leader Lyon has already qualified from Group F along with Real Madrid, and the two teams meet tomorrow. That means a Rosenborg victory over Olympiakos will only guarantee a place in the UEFA Cup.
Defending Champions League champion Liverpool has a three-point lead over Premier League leader Chelsea, and the two don't meet again until Dec. 6. Before that, Liverpool hosts Real Betis and a draw will guarantee a second-round spot while Chelsea can also get there by winning at Anderlecht if Betis loses.
Inter Milan needs a draw with second-place Artmedia Bratislava on Wednesday, but any of its rivals can still make it. Last-place FC Porto hosts Scottish champion Rangers, which lost to Glasgow rival Celtic 3-0 Saturday.
Like Manchester United, six-time champion AC Milan is struggling to make it to the last 16.
Milan has failed to win any of its last three Group E games and badly needs a victory at Fenerbahce tomorrow. Its confidence has been hit by a 3-1 loss at Fiorentina on Sunday.
Group leader PSV Eindhoven, which was a semifinalist last season, has a two-point lead and visits Schalke without American striker DaMarcus Beasley, who has a slight hamstring injury.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB