The 27-year-old centre-back has been impressive in the heart of the Reds defence under the new manager

The 27-year-old centre-back has been impressive in the heart of the Reds defence under the new manager Rafael Benitez this season.
The England international, who was born and grew up in Liverpool, has helped guide the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions’ League – and now he is setting his sights on further success.”When I say life, I mean it,” said Carragher “I want to stay here. I’m not kidding myself; I don’t think I’m going to go any higher than Liverpool. If your club’s in the Champions’ League that’s the ultimate, and obviously you want to win trophies. I’ve been lucky enough to do that here in the past and I want to win bigger trophies now – the Champions’ League and the Premiership We’re not at that level yet. But the new manager – if he can bring in a few more players – can get us to that level.”Carragher also believes that reaching a new level of consistency is the key to keeping Steven Gerrard at the club, adding that success in Europe’s premier competition could persuade the captain to stay.”Steven wants to be involved in the latter stages of the Champions’ League. At the moment that’s where we are – and maybe we can go even further,” he said “We’re all delighted to be in the quarter-finals It’s not just Steven.

We all want success for this club.”In the summer who knows what’s going to happen. But in terms of him staying, a result like this [beating Bayer Leverkusen] can only help.”. Manchester United fans have told Malcolm Glazer to forget trying to win their support for his intended Old Trafford takeover by giving them their own stake in the club. It had been anticipated the American would launch an £800m bid for United last week, although he has still not made a move.Sources close to the Glazer camp insist there are no problems, although it has been suggested that the Irish duo, John Magnier and JP McManus, will refuse to sell. With a 28.9 per cent stake in the Old Trafford outfit through their Cubic Expression investment vehicle, Magnier and McManus know Glazer’s plans have no chance of succeeding without their agreement. And while there has been no public statement from the Irish camp since February’s confirmation that they remain “long-term investors in the club”, the duo are acutely aware of the strength of their position.If Glazer cannot win their backing, he knows the bankers JP Morgan will refuse to release funds to try and complete the deal but the indications are he remains optimistic.Although the details of Glazer’s offer remain under wraps, it has been suggested he would leave 25 per cent of shares available to supporters’ groups in an effort to placate fears over the future of their club.But such talk has been scoffed at.

“We dismiss any notion that this offer would be in any way acceptable,” said Sean Bones, chairman of the influential fans group Shareholders United. “This is an obviously token attempt to placate the fans and supporter-shareholders into thinking they will have some sort of stake in the club after Glazer takes over. Glazer would not offer shares in Manchester United, he would only offer them in his bidding company Red Football Corporation. They would almost certainly be Class B shares with no voting rights and would be far less than 25 per cent.”The staggering thing is he thinks all we care about is money. Does this man not realise the emotional stake supporters have in the club.”In granting Glazer limited access to club accounts, the United chief executive, David Gill, previously indicated he would not be able to recommend a bid from the American because the proposals put forward were “aggressive” and “potentially damaging” to the club.Yet Gill may come under pressure himself next week, with United’s half-year results due to be released on 22 March, a fortnight after the club’s costly exit from the Champions’ League.. Arsene Wenger tried to play up the FA Cup and then let slip where the competition lies in his thoughts.

“Someone just told me that in the last five years this is the fourth time we have reached the semi-finals,” he said, and then was surprised when he was corrected.On the Premiership or the Champions’ League, the Arsenal manager can relate his side’s progress almost to the minute but the FA Cup? It barely registers until the team coach is reaching the environs of Wembley or Cardiff. And when even a principal participant has failed to notice five successive visits to the last four it seemed appropriate that this tie should be dominated by two players, Ashley Cole, who played no role, and El Hadji Diouf, whose contribution lasted nine minutes.
Cole sat through this tie on the bench nursing a tight hamstring and thoughts about an impending meeting with the Football Association; Diouf sat in the dressing-room contemplating a moment of stupidity in the ninth minute when he flung an arm in Jens Lehmann’s face. He might as well have punched each of his Bolton Wanderers team-mates. With 11 players on the pitch Bolton could have exploited Arsenal limbs and minds exhausted by a Champions’ League exit 60 hours earlier. But once Bolton were behind, thanks to Freddy Ljungberg’s third-minute goal, and suddenly without the dismissed Diouf, their chance was effectively over, bar a few scares. In fact, the Gunners could have matched Manchester United’s 4-0 win at Southampton without an eyebrow being raised.The Bolton manager Sam Allardyce praised his men who stayed on the pitch but the sense of loss over the opportunity to win a first major trophy for 47 years weighed heavily on him.

His side were out and the pregnant question was whether Diouf, who has already served a three-match suspension for spitting in the face of Arjan de Zeeuw in November, will also be out of the Reebok Stadium door.The Senegalese striker is on loan from Liverpool and, until Saturday’s act of madness, had seemed destined for a permanent move Now, even Allardyce seems unsure. “It will affect our attitude towards him because for the second time this season we’re going to be without him for three matches,” he said, before describing Diouf as a key player in Bolton’s progress. “He’s reacted today, got sent off and it’s cost us very, very dearly.”He controls himself for 98 per cent of the time and then something crops up, the red light goes on and the fuse blows. He didn’t deliberately try to hit Lehmann in the face – you can see when he flings his arm back Diouf’s not even looking at him – but he knows if he lifts his hands he’s asking for trouble.”What mystifies Allardyce are the opposites that dwell in Diouf. “He’s bubbly, a great character, whoever he bumps into inside or outside the club says he is unbelievably nice. But he has that flashpoint and in the end it’s whether you are ready to deal with it.”While Allardyce was pondering that, Wenger was insisting Cole is staying at Highbury.