Saturday, March 31, 2012

Neymar looks up to his idols

Neymar's future has been the subject of constant speculation, as it becomes apparent that the Brazilian could move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona in due course. However, the tug-of-war between the Clasico rivals shows no signs of subsiding in the near future, with the Santos starlet admitting that he looks to both Los Blancos superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Blaugrana icon Lionel Messi for inspiration.

"I have both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as my idols. If I can take a little of each player's game and make it my own, I would be very happy," Neymar stated in a recent interview. It's clear that the talented Santos star has set himself the target of walking in the footsteps of his heroes.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Cry me a river!

Barcelona's 0-0 draw with AC Milan in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday was an entertaining spectacle, despite no goals being scored, but unsurprisingly the clash had more than a hint of controversy.

It centred around the state of the San Siro turf, which Barca coach Pep Guardiola and star duo Xavi and Javier Mascherano moaned was not suitably watered to allow them to utilise their tiki-taka passing style. The club have lodged a formal complaint to Uefa about the poor condition of the pitch, but the trio's tears would have been enough to moisten the surface ...

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Balotelli gatecrashes Stramaccioni's Inter unveiling

Mario Balotelli's off-field antics stepped up another notch on Tuesday afternoon when he barged in uninvited on new Inter boss Andrea Stramaccioni's first press conference. The Manchester City star parked his Ferrari outside the building, strode in unexpectedly, shook hands with the coach and the Inter directors, and then left just as abruptly as he came.

The incident is the latest in a long line of unpredictable shenanigans concerning the volatile 21-year-old, who has created more headlines off the pitch than on it in his short career.

Ranieri the clown is fired from the Inter circus

After a string of sub-standard results, Claudio Ranieri was sacked as Inter coach on Monday night and was replaced by Primavera trainer Andrea Stramaccioni.

The final straw came when the Nerazzurri suffered a 2-0 loss against Juventus in the Derby d'Italia at the weekend.

Ranieri leaves Inter in eighth place in Serie A, eliminated from the Champions League and 10 points away from a qualification spot for next year's tournament. 'The Tinkerman' joins a list of 17 different coaches Massimo Moratti has gone through in the 17 years since he bought the club.


Monday, March 26, 2012

Masterful Messi gobbles up roly-poly Ronaldo's record

Lionel Messi made history again on Saturday night by breaking the record for most goals scored in a single La Liga season by a Barcelona player. The Argentine's first-half strike against Mallorca took his tally for the current league campaign to 35, thus securing him outright possession of a record he had been sharing with former Blaugrana forward Ronaldo. All and sundry were delighted by Messi's latest feat. Well, except perhaps for a certain burly Brazilian watching at home who has now been written out of the history books ...

Sunday, March 25, 2012

شو المشكلة؟

Madrid and Mourinho batten down the hatches as media silence continues

Real Madrid have maintained their media silence ahead of Saturday's game against Real Sociedad. The Spanish capital club put a halt to the information flow coming out of Santiago Bernabeu in support of Jose Mourinho's decision not to hold a press conference after the 1-1 draw with Villarreal on Wednesday. The coach felt refereeing decisions of late have not been fair to the current Liga leaders, and is keeping his lips sealed for the time being.

From Galacticos to Jurassicos - Real Madrid Island awaits

On Thursday afternoon, Real Madrid announced the ambitious news that they are planning to spend around $1 billion on a luxury holiday resort and theme park in the United Arab Emirates

Real Madrid Resort Island, as the project is known, will have a host of state-of-the-art facilities including a five-star hotel, and a water park. Club president Florentino Perez looks to be creating his very own Jurassic Park ...