Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will be like the rest of us this summer. He’ll be watching the European Championship on the TV like everyone else. 33 year old Ferdinand has never played in the European championships and now he never will. England begin their campaign with a game against France on June 11th followed by games with Sweden and Ukraine.

It has to be one of the most dramatic finishes ever in the history of the Premiership. With minutes left City looked to have blown it and United looked to be on their way to glory. They led Sunderland 1-0 away from home as City struggled 2-1 at home to QPR. And then came a crazy five minutes. After incredible work by QPR and their keeper Kenny first Dzeko stole in for the equaliser and then in the dying seconds Aguero pounced  for the winner and the clincher for the title.

Sunderland defender John O’ Shea has emerged as a doubt for the Republic of Ireland for the European championships next month. O’ Shea was forced to come off during Saturday’s Premiership defeat to Manchester United with  an old calf injury. The Republic players are set to meet up in Dublin this Sunday. Their opening game is against Croatia on June 10th.

Spain’s Carlos Puyol is set to miss the European championship because of a knee injury. Puyol was out for six weeks earlier in the season with the problem and now Barcelona say he will have to have an operation this week which will keep him out of action for a further six weeks.

The 34 year old Captain suffered pain in Barcelona’s 4-0 weekend win over Espanyol and will undergo “arthoscopic surgery” to rectify the problem.