Ronaldinho gonged again

Barcelona striker and world player of the year Ronaldinho has received another accolade, being voted into UEFA's team of the year.

He joins Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Luis Garcia and Andriy Schevchenko, Cafu and Paolo Maldini from AC Milan in the team, while Chelsea's Jose Mourinho was voted as coach.

The Blues' Petr Cech and John Terry also made the squad, along with Ronaldinho's teammates Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto'o and Pavel Nedved from Juventus.

The team was voted for by 1.5 million users of uefa.com.

"The voting recognised both the two best teams in Europe last season ... Liverpool and Milan, as well as the two clubs that have shone in their domestic leagues in the past 12 months, Chelsea and Barcelona," David Farrelly, editor-in-chief on UEFA's website, told Reuters.

It is the third successive year Mourinho has been named as coach, while it is also the third time Nedved has been included.

Team
Petr Cech (Chelsea), Cafu (AC Milan), John Terry (Chelsea), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Luis Garcia (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Pavel Nedved (Juventus), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

Coach: Jose Mourinho (Chelsea)

Ronaldinho Airs Samba Warning

Brazil magician Ronaldinho has reminded his teammates that they are not unbeatable and should ignore all the observers ready to anoint them as World Cup 2006 champions in January.

"We don't have to pay attention to everything that is being said about us," said the Barcelona ace. "We don't have to listen to all the people that are saying that we are the candidates for winning the cup."

"If we believe in all that is being said, we could have the problem of not having a good performance and all our plans could get broken."

Brazil begin World Cup play in Group F with Australia, Crotia and Japan, with a potential land mine round of 16 match-up against the second place team from Group E (Czech Republic, Ghana, Italy, United States).