Thu, March 6th 2008
From: The Guardian - Sid Lowe finds the Spanish media desperate to put some kind of gloss on the unthinkable - that their rivals across the Med play better football
Over here, people think Italian football is dirty, cynical, talentless and boring. Few Italians have succeeded in Spain because they are rubbish, they say, while few Spaniards have succeeded in Italy because the football is rubbish - and full of cheats.
Tue, October 31st 2006
Barcelona 2 - Chelsea 2
After Didier Drogba’s injury time equaliser you could be forgiven for thinking Mourinho’s Chelsea had beaten Barcelona, such was the the psychological blow that the Spanish club’s players seemed to receive.
Wed, June 28th 2006
Puyol, Aragones and Spain were unhappy at the free-kick awarded to Thierry Henry that led to France’s decisive second goal.
The striker [Henry] was angry at the referee for not taking action over the rough treatment he received from Puyol in May’s Champions League final in Paris, which Barcelona won 2-1.
After the match, Henry said: “Next time I’ll learn to dive maybe, but I’m not a woman.”
From: BBC
It was a stupid, unnecessary foul by Puyol, but it was hugely disappointing to see Henry go down holding his face when he clearly was not struck there.
There are beginning to be too many sour tastes being left in the mouth after games in this World Cup.
Tue, March 28th 2006
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, along with Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho, Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger are on the shortlist of manager’s wanted by Real Madrid.
Mon, March 20th 2006
The G14 are a group of successful and rich European clubs that formed in September 2004 “to find a constructive way of reforming a system in which their voice was not heard and to establish for the clubs a meaningful executive role in the management of the international game.” (The G14 website)
Fri, March 17th 2006
Fifa has reacted to the apparent inability of national football associations to deal with racism by announcing that it plans to enforce sanctions on consistently offending clubs.
Thu, March 16th 2006
Reports in the English media indicate that Barcelona claim they have reached a verbal agreement to sign Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.
The Gunners’ inspirational skipper has long been a target for the Catalan giants and his continuing reluctance to sign a new deal in North London has resulted in constant speculation over his future in The Premiership.
From: Sky Sports
Its always been suspicious that Henry has looked to put off talks with Arsenal until the end of the season considering that you would expect his priorities to then lie with France’s attempts to regain the World Cup.
Thu, March 2nd 2006
The problem of racial abuse in Spain rumbles on:
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has described the 9,000 euros fine imposed on Real Zaragoza for the racist abuse of Samuel Eto’o as “ridiculous”.
Even though the 9,000 euros fine (US$10,000) is significantly larger than the usual $700 imposed on Spanish clubs for such offences, Blatter believes the Spanish federation must do more to punish those involved in racist behaviour.
From: BBC
Blatter has called for punishements to include loss of points or even relegation. Eto’o has suggested a 1 year ground closure.
Tue, February 28th 2006
Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o threatened to leave the pitch after being subjected to racial abuse by Real Zaragoza supporters on Saturday.
From: BBC
FIFA and UEFA must now put the Spanish FA under huge pressure to sort this out. Spain’s coach Luis Aragones was fined just 3,000 euros for racism remarks about Thierry Henry and Zaragoza received a paltry 600 euros fine for a similar incident last season.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has resigned, to be replaced by vice-president Fernando Martín.
Despite big name (and money signings) of Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Figo and Robinho (amongst others), the club have not won a major trophy since 2003 and are in danger of another barren season unless they can overturn a 1-0 deficit to Arsenal in the Champions League.
One positive for Pérez has been Real recently overtaking Manchester Utd as the richest club in the world.
From: Guardian Football
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