Tito Vilanova wants to innovate at Barcelona. He wants to bring his own approach, which I understand perfectly.

It appears that he had already a large influence during Pep Guardiola's reign, but now he is in charge and is bringing his own personality to the team.

At the moment he has had a very good start in the league. In spite of that I believe that the new players are not completely on the level of the old ones.

Barca had, for a few years, players who had the talent, the intelligence, the desire to win and humility.

Perhaps even in a large club like Barcelona that is very rare, and it will

Cristiano Ronaldo's behaviour recently has affected the atmosphere in the Real Madrid changing room.

All great players at great clubs like the limelight and when it is occupied by one man alone, that does not make the others happy.

The media decides who gets that limelight, and it loves a star. In this case, however, Ronaldo's ability makes him worth it.

I do not know if Ronaldo needs to be told often that he is loved, but he is a superb player. Great players are often people who aspire to be the best and possess a very strong ego because they are not satisfied with being average. They want to

It's necessary to give new arrivals time. Olivier Giroud worked hard in pre-season to get ready, but he pushed himself and I think that he is feeling the consequences of that a little today.

He does not know the team and his new colleagues very well yet. Some great players spent four or five months here even before they started playing.

Giroud has already played several matches, but to see him at his best, it is necessary to give him a bit of time.

We were happy with how he played in the Champions League against Montpellier, but for the first goal it was a change of position from Lukas

Manchester United's new signing Robin van Persie speaks at a news conference at Old Trafford in August 2012 (AFP)

Robin van Persie is the kind of player you rarely meet in your life: an exception, the very definition of the word. He has everything a coach dreams to have in a single player: he's smart, classy, clever when he moves, has killer-instinct, and is focused during 90 minutes.

He has a deep love for football. He watches matches at home, analysing everything. It's so rare for a single player to have such a quest for perfection, allied with such talent and class. It's fortunate. He spent eight seasons with me, and he never stopped developing himself. We could never imagine he would become the

Spain are my favourites for the Euro 2012 final. Throughout their years of success, they have tried to keep the same philosophy, which is based around wanting to have the ball.

Although they have struggled to score goals, they are the masters of possession, they are the best in the world technically and I have big respect for what they have done. To show such consistency at that level is absolutely unbelievable - three finals in a row.

Negative possession

These guys are more than outstanding footballers; they are really intelligent and they are winners. I want to give them credit for that.

The key to success is always the intelligence of the players and what they make of a situation.

They faced a very difficult situation before the European Championship began with the corruption scandal in their country and with bad results in their preparation.

Their job was to identify the problem and sort it out and they did that very well.

I'm pleased for Italy for various reasons. They showed that no matter what kind of problem you face before a big competition, you can always find solutions if you're mentally strong and united.

As well, I'm especially pleased for them because this Euro

England against Italy is a 50-50 game. Italy are always a surprise and you never know how they will respond. They are a team comfortable with big tournaments who are efficient and who play with a very attractive style as well.

England had no expectations and are now in the quarter-final which is already a miracle for the whole country. They can create a massive surprise and go further and further.

They have lots of players who can be creative. Wayne Rooney is a striker/midfielder, he is not just a striker, and there is a good connection between their deep midfield and high midfield, between

I would say if you look at the prestige of the teams, Spain against France could be the best of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals because those two teams have the highest quality players together on the pitch. It could be an absolutely amazing game.

We will see a different French team against Spain. This game against Spain is not a 60-40 for Spain, but it is a 50-50 game. France have all the weapons to beat Spain because they have individual quality: they have players who can dribble, who can provoke, who can be very strong in one-on-one situations like Nasri, Ribery, Menez and Ben Arfa. I am not