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MANCHESTER - Ageless stars Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs received most of the plaudits after Manchester United kicked off their 2010/11 Barclays Premier League campaign with an impressive 3-0 win over Newcastle United here on Monday (yesterday morning, Singapore time). Indeed, Scholes, 35, provided a masterclass, pulling the strings from midfield as he led the Newcastle engine room personnel on a merry chase, having a hand in all three goals. He teed up Giggs expertly for the Welshman to round off the scoring, and Sir Alex Ferguson would have been well-satisfied with his team's start to the new season, especially after champions Chelsea put West Bromwich Albion to the sword on Sunday in a 6-0 drubbing. The only dampener for the Old Trafford faithful would have been another average display by Wayne Rooney. While it does look as if the United striker has rediscovered his hunger, after his abysmal performance for England at the World Cup - his game was still peppered with poor first

The Mercedes GP team has confirmed that it has released Nick Heidfeld from his contract in order for the German to become Pirelli's official test driver. Heidfeld was the team's reserve driver for this season, but will start driving for Pirelli at the start of today's test at the Mugello circuit, where the German will be at the wheel of a 2009 Toyota F1 car. "We can confirm that the team is pleased to allow Nick Heidfeld the opportunity to join Pirelli and contribute to their development work for the company's imminent return to Formula 1," said Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn. "Nick is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove extremely useful to Pirelli and therefore of benefit to the sport as a whole. "Nick has been a real asset to Mercedes GP Petronas since joining our team this year and we are pleased to see his career progressing." Heidfeld was left without a racing seat fo

Harry Redknapp has tried to take the pressure off his Tottenham side ahead of their Champions League debut. Spurs take on Swiss side Young Boys in Berne in Tuesday's play-off first leg. And asked what failure to reach the group stage would mean, the Spurs boss said: "What can it mean? What are we going to do - commit suicide? "Listening to everybody, we'll end up hanging ourselves. All you can ever do is your best. If we play at our best, we've got a great chance." Tottenham made it into the Champions League play-offs for the first time in their history after finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, and they will be guaranteed at least £10m if they progress to the group stage. "Nobody expected us to get here in the first place last year," said Redknapp. "We suddenly went from where we were to finishing fourth in the Premier League. "People's expectations get very high but I don't think about not qualifying. "It'

Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld has been singled out as the preferred choice of development driver by new Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli. The Italian manufacturer will replace Bridgestone as F1's sole supplier from 2011 onwards, and plan to develop their new rubber over the coming months. Heidfeld, who contested 169 grand prix between 2000 and 2009, has spent the 2010 season as the Mercedes team's third driver, but could be set to leave the role to work for Pirelli if the marque have their way. "Before the last race in Abu Dhabi we'll do six tests with an F1 car from 2009," Pirelli's chief of competition Paul Hembery said this week. "We need an extremely experienced but also very fit driver, who can do 500 miles a day and not collapse afterwards. Heidfeld fits this profile very well and would be an ideal candidate." However it remains unclear as to whether Heidfeld will be allowed to take the role on, with the German having been ruled out ea

Gerhard Berger says that nobody would have complained about Michael Schumacher's move on Rubens Barrichello if it happened in his day. Berger, who raced against uncompromisingly hard drivers such as Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet and Schumacher himself, says the racing was much tougher back in the 80s and 90s. "We drove harder and more brutally," Berger told Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung. "Three times a lap we drove each other into the walls without complaining. This was just part of it. We would have thought nothing of an action like Michael's against Barrichello." Although Berger initially backed Schumacher to add to his tally of seven drivers' titles, he now doubts the German will add to his record haul. "Before the season I would have answered this question with a resounding yes. Today I have to say no. His teammate Nico Rosberg clearly has his nose in front. Michael is trying to counter Nico's youth

LONDON: Steven Gerrard concedes his England team are not among football’s elite and has urged fans to lower their expectations. A dismal World Cup campaign which ended in a 4-1 second-round thumping by Germany highlighted to Gerrard that England aren’t the world power they consider themselves to be. “It’s you guys, not me, who say how good we are,” the England captain told a media briefing on Tuesday. “At the moment, we’re not up with the best. We went out in the last 16 ... are you guys going to lower the expectations?” Going into the tournament, coach Fabio Capello had declared that England were capable of reaching the final after winning nine out of 10 qualifiers. In reality, though, Capello knew something that he’s only just acknowledged: England were too mentally and physically fatigued to end their 44-year World Cup title drought. Gerrard thinks the English public shouldn’t burden the team with the expectation that they will return from Ukraine and Poland with the 2012 European t

Russian F1 Driver Petrov Backed to Retain Place at Renault Russia’s first and only Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov has been given the nod of approval to retain his place at Renault in 2011 from team bosses despite numerous higher profile candidates being linked with his seat. International, the 10th of August 2010: Following his superb fifth placed finish in the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, Russian F1 driver Vitaly Petrov is said to be “doing the right things” in order to assure his place at Renault with a view to the 2011 championships. Despite the increased attention on Renaults 2nd driver position, with likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld being mentioned, Petrov’s outstanding displays this season and his 12th place standing on the drivers championship, the best of all the rookies, has pleased team bosses. Following his best finish (5th) in Hungary, Renault team principal Eric Boullier explained, “You don’t take a decision on one race result, but if he starts to shine like thi

Adrian Sutil has played down Force India's chances of repeating the team's surprising Belgian Grand Prix result of 2009. Giancarlo Fisichella secured pole position at the demanding Spa circuit last year and narrowly missed out on victory, finishing second behind Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari. And although Sutil himself qualified on the front row before finishing fourth and setting the fastest lap at Monza two weeks later, the German does not fancy his team's chances this time around. "Last year we had an incredible car there, it was a big advantage. We don't have that advantage anymore," Sutil told the Indian media. "Still, we should be able to score a lot of points in the coming races. We have a very good chance in Spa and Monza." Team-mate Tonio Liuzzi was slightly more optimistic about the team's chances and thinks a podium is again a possibility. "I think we will be again pretty competitive," Liuzzi told AUTOSPORT. "To match las