Manchester City in no panic over selling Carlos Tevez

Manchester City are in no rush to meet striker Carlos Tevez's demand to leave Eastlands and are likely to ask in excess of £40m to consider selling.

BBC Sport understands Tevez's latest request to leave City has left chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak "sanguine" about developments.

The club believe they are in a position of strength over any potential Tevez transfer and are in no mood to plead with the striker to stay.

Tevez is contracted at City until 2014.

A spokesman said: "Carlos is a contracted player to Manchester City for another three years and we have had no offers for him."

Tevez, 27, asked City for a transfer in December and while it now seems inevitable he will eventually move on, City are relaxed about the latest twist and are determined he will only leave when the time and price is right for them.

City boss Roberto Mancini insisted recently that Tevez would stay after a proposed swap deal with Inter Milan for striker Samuel Eto'o fell through - but there is still no great shock inside Eastlands after Tevez made his desire to leave public once again.

The Argentina international wants to be reunited with his family - with Milan believed to be a favoured destination - but there is unlikely to be a swift resolution with City determined not to be railroaded into a deal by the player and his advisors.

City's stance on Tevez is hardened by the fact that he is on a contract reportedly worth in excess of £200,000-a-week, while there is no pressing need for cash to flow into Eastlands given the vast wealth of the club's Abu Dhabi owners.

The cost of any Tevez transfer will limit the market, with Inter Milan sporting director Marco Branca recently insisting the Serie A club would not make a move because they were unable to afford the wage packet he was receiving at City.

English clubs handed tough task

England's chances of producing three semi-finalists in the Champions League for the third successive season were dented on Friday by a tough-looking last 16 draw.

Holders Manchester United were paired with Italian champions and Serie A leaders Inter Milan while Premier League leaders Liverpool take on nine-times champions Real Madrid after the draw made at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Last year's runners-up Chelsea were paired with Juventus, managed by former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri, while Arsenal, finalists in 2006, play AS Roma in a third Anglo-Italian clash.

The Manchester United tie will see another former Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho, returning to face Premiership opposition in his new role in charge of Inter.

"Obviously Jose has put us out of the competition before," said United's communications director Phil Townsend in reference to Mourinho's success at the same stage in 2004 with eventual European champions Porto.

"But equally we put Inter out in 1999 when we went on to win the tournament so maybe that's a good omen for us."

Real Madrid's meeting with Liverpool will mark only the second time that the Spanish nine-time European champions have met the English five-time winners in the competition.

Their only previous encounter came in the final of the 1981 European Cup with Liverpool winning through 1-0.

Cristiano Ronaldo wins Golden Ball award

Cristiano Ronaldo won the Golden Ball awarded to the European Footballer of the Year on Tuesday, becoming the fourth Manchester United player to take the honour and the first since fellow winger George Best in 1968.

Ronaldo's brilliant scoring form helped him beat Barcelona striker Lionel Messi into second place, while Liverpool forward Fernando Torres was third in the poll results announced overnight by France Football magazine.

Ronaldo dominated the voting, tallying 446 points. Messi had 281 points and Torres had 179.

That gave Ronaldo two points more than Kaka won last year's award with.

Ronaldo was second last year with 277, while Messi was third with 255. Kaka, Milan's Brazilian playmaker, was eighth this time with only 31 points.

Ronaldo scored 42 goals in all competitions last season as United won the Premier League and Champions League trophies.

The 23-year-old Ronaldo adds the Ballon d'Or award to the FIFA Pro World Player of the Year trophy he won in October, and the Professional Footballers Association and the Football Writers awards.

He also becomes the first Premier League player to win since former Liverpool forward Michael Owen in 2001, and the first Portuguese player since winger Luis Figo won it with Real Madrid in 2000.

France Football's award was decided by an annual poll of football journalists with a short list of 30 players.

Following Portugal's disappointing showing at the European Championship in June, Ronaldo underwent an operation to his troublesome right ankle injury in July that then kept him sidelined until September 17.

Inter Milan meets Napoli in Serie A after midweek loss in Europe

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has publicly accepted the blame for his team's home loss to Panathinaikos. Now, he must motivate his players for Sunday's Serie A match against Napoli or risk increasing his culpability.

"I accept the blame for this defeat and now we have to look forward," Mourinho said Wednesday after his team lost 1-0 to Panathinaikos in the Champions League group stage.

After a slow start, Inter has opened a three-point lead over city rival AC Milan in the Serie A, but the team has won only its first of five games in the Champions League. Despite Wednesday's loss, Inter qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Mourinho will be looking to make sure his team's lackluster Champions League performances aren't transferred to the Serie A.

Napoli, four points behind Inter to be tied for third, has been one of the biggest surprises after finishing eighth last season, 35 points back from Inter. Napoli has seen several games slip away this year in the last minutes otherwise it could be even higher.

Last week, Cagliari scored in the final minute of injury time to draw a game that Napoli had controlled almost from the start. Coach Edoardo Reja berated his players, saying their youth was also partly to blame for a similar result against AC Milan earlier.

Mourinho, for his part, is likely to continue experimenting until he finds a winning combination. He has had a different starting lineup in each of Inter's 13 league games this year. On Wednesday, he started with two wingers and then later fielded three strikers.

Also Sunday, AS Roma hosts Fiorentina. Roma started slowly, dropping to just one point clear of relegation, but the team has played well lately including a 3-1 Champions League win at CFR Cluj and a 3-0 victory at Lecce last weekend in the Serie A.

Captain Francesco Totti scored in both games and appears to be finding form after injuries hampered his start to the season.

"I said this was a quality team and I have been proven correct," Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. "The crisis is over. In the game against Cluj, I saw some things in the team that give me reason to hope. We can still improve very much."

Roma is 16 points behind Inter with a game in hand, but Totti and teammates are expected to find a demoralized Fiorentina after it was eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday.

AC Milan, which travels to Palermo, plays Portsmouth later Thursday in the UEFA Cup.

Juventus hosts Reggina on Saturday looking to rebound from last week's loss to Inter and an uninspired 0-0 draw with Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League. Juventus had already qualified for the last 16 with two games to spare.

Also, it's: Atalanta vs. Lazio; Cagliari vs. Sampdoria; Genoa vs. Bologna; Siena vs. Torino; Udinese vs. Chievo Verona; and Lecce vs. Catania.

Anorthosis Famagusta dream of last 16

Cypriot underdogs Anorthosis Famagusta will reach the Champions League last 16 later on Wednesday if they beat Werder Bremen at home and Group B leaders Inter Milan defeat Panathinaikos.

The competition newcomers can seal their shock progression with a game in hand and will be confident after holding the Germans to a 0-0 draw in Bremen in their first group game.

Inter, who drew 3-3 at Anorthosis last time out, need just a point at the San Siro to go through but coach Jose Mourinho is keen to finish top of the group following Saturday's morale-boosting 1-0 Serie A win over Juventus.

Last season's runners-up Chelsea can ensure a place in the knockout stages with a victory at Bordeaux but they will be wary after the 3-1 defeat at AS Roma in their last Group A game.

Roma visit Romania's CFR Cluj, who beat the Italians 2-1 away in their group opener, but neither can progress just yet.

Liverpool will have inspirational midfielder Steven Gerrard back from injury for the visit of Marseille while fellow Group D leaders Atletico Madrid host PSV Eindhoven. Wins would put both sides through while draws for both would also suffice.

Sporting entertain Barcelona in Group C with the two clubs already through to February's last 16. A victory for Barca in Lisbon would make sure they finish top of the group.