Bleakley and Poole arrive in South Africa to cheer their partners

Christine Bleakley and Toni Poole couldn't have looked more excited as they flew out to South Africa today.

The pair had huge grins on their faces as they left London to fly to Cape Town to support their respective partners Frank Lampard and John Terry ahead of England's World Cup match against Germany on Sunday.

Bleakley had previously said she wouldn't be going to South Africa, but it seems she has changed her mind now England have reached the knockout stages of the tournament.

She said recently: 'I'm not going to South Africa, sadly. So of course I'll miss Frank, but he's got a job to do.

'I'll be watching all the matches and supporting him from home though.'

The broad smile on the 31-year-old's face today could also be down to her new job, after she finally decided to leave the BBC and join former One Show co-host Adrian Chiles at ITV.

She said: 'I am looking forward to a brand new experience at ITV albeit with an old friend. I have had the most wonderful three years at the BBC and The One Show.

'It has consumed my life in that time and I would not have had it any other way.'

Meanwhile, Poole left for South Africa with twins Georgie John and Summer Rose and she is not the only WAG to have made the difficult decision to take her children to South Africa.

Carly Cole is currently in Sun City with husband Joe and their three-month daughter Ruby, making the most of her time in the warm weather ahead of the match.

Alex Curran, wife of Steven Gerrard, has made the decision to stay in England until England reach the semis.

Lionel Messi to Real Madrid..ridiculous!!

Real Madrid are planning another record breaking transfer deal this summer with a £120million offer for Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

It is a deal which is designed to send shock waves through world football as Real Madrid plan to upset their fiercest rivals by going for their best player.

Real Madrid paid a world record £80m to Manchester United last summer for Cristiano Ronaldo but have struggled to topple Barcelona in La Liga.

The original plan was to make the £120million  offer - which is the buy-out figure written into Messi's contract - during the week of the Champions League final to detract from Barcelona playing in the Bernabeu.

But Barcelona's semi final exit has now meant they will not have to do it in that timescale but president Florentino Perez still intends to make a shock offer to show that Real Madrid mean business again this summer.

Last summer, Real Madrid spent in excess of £220million  on Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol.

But it has failed to deliver the Champions League to Real Madrid and now they plan to steal Barcelona's thunder by making a bid for Messi.

Real Madrid do not expect that Barcelona will agree to the sale and the bid will ultimately fail but it shows that they can still outgun when it comes to spending power.

Alan Shearer's view on England defence, Capello and Heskey!!

Shearer on...England defence

Alan Shearer says he would love to take on the current England defence – and has serious worries about how they will perform in South Africa.

He said: “England, at the moment, haven’t got a good defence.

“Ashley Cole would play but he’s not fully match fit. John Terry would play but he’s not having a good time. Rio Ferdinand’s not playing.

“Glen Johnson, who would play at right-back, has hardly played. There are questions that are going to be asked.

“And goalkeeper, for me, isn’t a strong point.

“So, would I love to have been up against a defence like that, going into a World Cup? Well, at the moment I wouldn’t mind.”

Shearer on..Ledley King

Geordie legend Shearer, who will be working as a BBC pundit during the tournament, wants Fabio Capello to put Ledley King on the plane.

“I am a big fan of Ledley King,” said Shearer. “On his day, I don’t think there are many better.

“But he can only play once a week. By his own admission, he can’t play two games in four, five days. That might have to happen with England.

“But if Capello is true to his word, and he picks players that are in form, then Michael Dawson for the last two or three months has been magnificent.

“Bearing in mind that at the beginning of the season, he probably wouldn’t have been in the team if Jonathan Woodgate and King were playing week-in, week-out.

“So he deserves tremendous credit for that.

“But I am a fan of Ledley King.”

Shearer on..Fabio Capello

“Capello’s been very successful so far with his methods and he’s not going to change, is he?” said Shearer

“His way has been very, very successful – so why would he?”

“There has been talk that he treats the players like schoolkids and they will be bored out in South Africa.

“But you are away with 23 of your mates. If you are getting results, it’s a lot easier.

“And the sooner they get the first game, they start playing, then it becomes a little bit easier.

“Then you are focused on the games. I don’t think that will be a problem at all.

“You are not in a bad hotel, are you? You are in a nice hotel, with a swimming pool and everything else.”

Capello has drawn up an initial list of 40 players, to be whittled down to 30 when the squad head to Austria for a pre-tournament training camp.

Shearer on...Walcott and Heskey

Shearer added: “I would take Theo Walcott because I think he brings something different. And I would play Emile Heskey.

“You have to forget about his goalscoring. He’s not a goalscorer.

“The team scores goals when Heskey plays - that is the most important thing.”

Joe Cole proudly cuddles his newborn daughter

The Chelsea footballer's delight was apparent as he carefully held his baby girl Ruby Tatiana close to him after a family day out. The 28-year-old midfielder beamed down at his one-month-old as he arrived back from a trip to the park with wife Carly today.

He even proudly showed her off to a couple of neighbours as he stood outside his west London home. Ruby Tatiana, who was born on March 18 at London's private Portland hospital, and weighed 6lb 3oz, is the couple's first child.

Title-chasing Joe and Carly, 25, wrapped her up snug as they took her for a walk round the park. And despite only giving birth a month ago, Carly looked in terrific shape in leggings, knee-high boots and fitted shirt.

This week, Carly showed baby Ruby Tatiana off to the world in Hello! magazine.

And she revealed that she let her husband choose their daughter's name, as a reward for his support during her 16-hour labour.

In an interview to accompany a photo shoot for the glossy magazine, she said: 'I told Joe if he was good when I was in labour he could choose. Proud parents: Joe and Carly, who grabbed a coffee, take a stroll down the King's Road.

Carly said Cole was a hands-on father who changes nappies and she predicted that Ruby Tatiana will be a 'daddy's girl'. She said: 'He's more of a worrier than me and I think he'll be protective.' And she said she's already taking after her famous father, adding: She is absolutely a mini-Joe. He's already talking about what sports he wants to play - he wants her to learn to play tennis.'

Joe Cole, don't say we didn't warn you...Don't let John Terry goes near your wife..You won't know what might happen with Terry around ;p

Key Components in Lionel Messi that makes him so special!!!

Keeping a cool head

Footballing geniuses often come with a dark side, think Zidane, Maradona and even Christiano Ronaldo. But you very rarely see an explosion of temper from Messi. He seems unflappable. His cool, calm and collected approach is impressive considering how many defenders have put in strong challengers on him and that can be shown in his card count since he burst onto the scene in 2004-05 compared to his fellow genius. Ronaldo at that time.

MESSI............................................. 0 red cards, 14 Yellow cards

RONALDO..........................................5 red cards, 32 yellow cards

Watching his diet

Messi suffered from a string of knocks and short-term injuries in his early playing days at Barcelona so the club changed his diet to help combat the problem. Two years ago, they swapped his 'asado'- a salty roast beef which is an Argentinian delicacy- for more fish, fruits and vegetables, hoping that the anti-inflammatory qualities in the fruit and vege would reduce the effect of any knocks and the calcium in the fish would make his bones stronger.

Building Up Strength

Anyone who saw Messi's extraordinary second goal against Real Zaragoza last month will have been impressed by how much such a small man can be so strong. He outmuscled the Zaragoza midfielder to win the ball to prove once more that he is not afraid of the physical side of the game.

Messi has been involved in 157 tackles and challenges in this season Champions League- more than any other player. At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. For two years he underwent daily injections but when his club in Argentina, Newell's Old Boys, could no longer afford the treatment, Barca stepped in with an offer to continue paying the bill if he was willing to move to Spain.

A Sense of Balance

The trick of dribbling past so many players, so often and at such speed, is Messi's balance. Apart from when when he chooses to fall over, Messi,who is just 5ft 7in, looks effortlessly stable, no doubt helped by the low centre of gravity which also benefited Maradona (5ft 5in), Pele (5ft 8in) and Gazza (5ft 10in). 

It is no surprise then that he has made more dribbles (81) than any player in the Champions League- Porto's Hulk (79) is the only other player who comes within 25 of him.

Doing The Leg Work

Messi normally does about 50 minutes running and then an hour doing weights in the gym to keep his legs strong. As his frame is not the biggest, Barcelona wants Messi's legs to be as strong as possible so he can fight off defenders and show that electric pace over 10 yards. The other advantage of building up his legs is giving him the spring he needs to win the ball in the air- something that is very important considering his height. 

If you want to proof it works, cast your mind back to his header in last season's Champions League final.

The Shooting Boots

One thing not many people realised, Messi wears white and gold Adidas Tunit F50 boots- he is the only player in the world to wear them in that colour. The toe has extra grip on it, which helps Messi with his close control, and is made with just one layer of material, meaning it is lighter than other boots. No wonder he is the Champions League's top goalscorer this season with eight.

Walcott's pace terrified Barcelona and Premier League defenders!

Theo Walcott is the fastest footballer we have ever seen. The most terrifying thing for any full back is coming up against genuine pace.

The movement that really scares full backs is when a winger looks to go long; when they play on your shoulder and midfielders try to play the ball in behind.

Against Arsenal - with Walcott - most teams drop deep on to the edge of the box, so that negates the threat of his pace, so the ball can't as easily be slipped in behind the back four.

On Wednesday, Barcelona played higher up the pitch to try to win the ball in the home side's half. By doing that, they created space in behind for Walcott to exploit, and he did just that with his goal. The winger benefited from their approach at the Emirates and next week at the Nou Camp he may force Barca to change their game plan entirely.

Theo's an immense talent but he's very young and still learning his game. He's always relied on his raw pace and will continue to do so but as he gets older he will learn when to use it best.

The pace of Theo Walcott caused all sorts of problems for left back Maxwell but the Barcelona star's approach to defending against him was a large part of the problem. When you're defending against raw pace, it is suicidal for the left back to leave a big space between him and his centre half, as Maxwell did night.

That meant that Abou Diaby could intercept a pass from Sergio Busquets and feed the ball to Samir Nasri, who in turn passed to Nicklas Bendtner. The Dane was able to play the ball through that gap as Walcott raced around the outside of Maxwell - at a top speed of almost 23mph - to get to the ball first.

If Maxwell had closed the gap, Arsenal would have had to give Walcott the ball in front of Maxwell and he would have had to beat him to cause any damage. But what Barcelona soon realised - and this is the best way to defend against pace - is that if they stopped the ball being fed to Walcott, he couldn't hurt them.

As soon as Barcelona started closing Diaby down, he couldn't play that ball and Walcott's influence on the game waned.