The only defectors were a few top stars, such as Michel Platini, who played for Italy's Juventus while captaining France's international team in the 1980s.
Italy's Juventus is steaming towards an undefeated season and the electrifying Borussia Dortmund has clinched the German Bundesliga, England's limp contenders are giving fans plenty of fuel for their well-oiled anxiety machine.
At a time when the Spanish superclubs Barcelona and Real Madrid are amassing points at an unprecedented rate, Italy's Juventus is steaming toward an undefeated season and the electrifying Borussia Dortmund has clinched the German Bundesliga, England's limp contenders are providing English fans with plenty of fuel for their well-oiled anxiety machine.
Going into the weekend, Germany's Bayern Munich and Italy's Juventus were 20 and 10 points clear respectively in their domestic leagues.
The 19-year-old continued his fine run of goalscoring on Sunday when he struck in Inter's stunning 3-1 win over Juventus - and the Nigerian's displays have impressed the Inter president.
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The allegations were uncovered as prosecutors investigated doping allegations at Juventus, Italy's most popular and successful club.
The match will be the last in a continental campaign that has included victories over defending champions Shaktar Donetsk and Italian giants Juventus for Hodgson's side.
With Lech Poznan drawing with Juventus in Wednesday's other Group A tie, City find themselves going to Turin for the final match of the pool having already qualified.
United have recently been linked with a number of goalkeepers, including Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus and Ajax's Martin Stekelenburg, who are seen as potential replacements for Van der Sar.
Towards the end of last season, when it looked likely that Benitez could be leaving Liverpool, he was strongly linked with Inter's rivals Juventus, before they appointed Luigi del Neri.
It also owns 60% of Juventus, perhaps Italy's best-known football club, and 9.8% of Banca Leonardo, a boutique investment bank.
Italian prosecutors also launched an inquiry into Capello's earnings as Juventus boss as part of a wider probe into allegations of corruption at the club.
Players missing include defensive stalwarts Igor Tudor of Juventus and Bayern Munich's Robert Kovac, top scorer Davor Suker, now with 1860 Munich, and Middlesbrough striker Alen Boksic.
They might even point to the very Saturday's Milan-Juventus game.
Juventus benefitted from Muntari's unseen ghost goal but was penalized when its own forward, Alessandro Matri, had a goal disallowed in the second half for offside, while replays suggested otherwise.
Inter's achievement of winning five scudettos in a row equals the record set by Juventus in the 1930s but one of Inter's championships could yet be struck off.
Meanwhile in Italy's Serie A, Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Bologna.
Kwadwo Asamoah is a Ghana international who plays for AC's Serie A rivals Juventus.
In the night's other game, Juventus cruised past Celtic 2-0 to complete a comfortable 5-0 aggregate win.
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The Azzurri will be without captain Fabio Cannavaro for this weekend's showdown with the Juventus defender serving a one-match ban.
Bayern already have one foot in the semifinals of Europe's top club competition, taking a 2-0 lead to Italy for Wednesday's second leg against Juventus.
Since signing for Inter from Juventus following the Turin side's demotion to Serie B in 2006, Ibrahimovic has become one of the most prized strikers in Europe.
The valuable three points, coupled with a 2-0 defeat at Calgliari for previously second-placed Juventus, left Jose Mourinho's men in charge in their defense of the title.
Meanwhile, speaking from the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, where Ghana play Burkina Faso in Wednesday's semifinal, Kwadwo Asamoah, who plays for Milan's Serie A rivals Juventus, called for an end to racist abuse in football.
The striker missed City's midweek 1-1 Europa League draw with Juventus and it looked as though the want-away controversy would rumble on into tonight's tie with Everton.
The Italians are expected to rely on a Juventus-dominated side in Saturday's game.
After that he won Italy's Serie A twice with Juventus, though the titles were vacated due to a match-fixing scandal.
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In Italy , Juventus gave hope to Serie A's title hopefuls after dropping points in the 1-1 draw at Parma on Sunday.
Tevez is expected to miss City's Europa League match against Juventus on Thursday, and Mancini might also be without fellow striker Mario Balotelli.
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