It was great to be in full match action again this week when I played in Villa's 1-0 Worthington Cup victory over Reading as we edged one step closer to the Millennium Stadium.

The Worthington Cup is a competition which holds a special place in my heart as we won the trophy when I was at Tottenham in 1999. I know what is feels like to go all the way in a prestigious cup final and I'll be encouraging the lads in the hope that we might go all the way.

The other bonus of course in winning such a competition is that it would put us back in Europe, which is the place to be. In an ideal world, Villa will be playing Champions League football next season. To do that we need to finish in the top four, and we are certainly going well in the Premiership right now.

Our latest test comes against last season's first division champions, Fulham, who are managed by a man I know well, Jean Tigana. He has worked wonders at Craven Cottage.

Jean was in the French team when I was first called up for international honours and he was a midfielder who I admired greatly. His football values have always been good ones, and I think that has shown in the way he has got his Fulham team playing.

A final word of congratulations goes to England who qualified so dramatically for next year's World Cup Finals thanks to David Beckham's stunning free kick against Greece.

Enjoy the weekend as much as is possible in this time of world crisis.

Big congratulations to the following competition winners:

Marc Jovanovic, Redditch - who wins an autographed football
Angela Garbutt, Baildon - who wins a signed copy of Le Magnifique Val Brown, Kent - who wins a signed copy of Le Magnifique
Jon Jackson, Birmingham - who wins a signed copy of Le Magnifique

The Carte Noire competition is still open to entrants.

A bientôt,

David Ginola.

Please note that this news section is updated every Friday afternoon

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