Sacked former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu is on the verge of bankruptcy and retirement from football after the well-documented verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The disgraced darling of Romanian football, currently plying his trade at Serie A club Fiorentina, has been ordered to pay $23.

Andrey Arshavin presents us with his best poker-face at the "Poker with Arshavin" project presentation at the Royal Bar of Moscow.

Even those of us that work in the fashion and/or marketing field are stumped by Victoria Beckham's new ad for her signature line. It makes the Marc Jacob ads look sane.

It's a witch hunt I tell you! Wait...wrong one. A @#$%ing disgrace! Chelsea Football Club have been banned by FIFA - not UEFA, it's important to note - from the registeration of new players for one year for once again illegaly tapping up a player (remember Cashley?) and inducing him to break his contract.

Nope, this is not a joke!

Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu is pledging to fight against the order to pay Chelsea €17million compensation as he issues an open letter to FIFA, Sep Blatter, and the English club, according to the Italian media.

The striker was ordered to pay the mega sum following his drugs taking case which dates back to October 2004.

Russia's Mens National team made it through the international break unscathed. Now the stage is set for October 10th's battle with Germany in Moscow. On third episode of Russian Football Now's podcast, hosts Chris Riordan and Richard Farley discuss Russia's qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Wales as well as all the latest rumors surrounding the likes to Luciano Spalletti and Adrian Mutu's moves to the Premier League.

This is few days old, mind you.

Adrian Mutu, after having two appeals against his FIFA fine for breach of contract dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), is now seeking another alternative to paying the 17-plus million euro fine to his former club, Chelsea.

Now he wants to make a substantial donation to several charities, including one of Chelsea's choice.

It's funny how karma works. Chelsea took an inhumanely stern line with Adrian Mutu, and now FIFA has taken a stern line with them.

The Blues have been found guilty of "inducing" French midfielder Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens in 2007. FIFA has forbid them to participate in the next two transfer windows, barring them from signing a player until 2011.

At risk of getting any details wrong, I'll hand over to a respectable news source to explain the "Holy f**k!" news about Chelsea FC that broke a couple of hours ago. Take it away, Associated Press:
Quote: Chelsea was banned from signing any new players for a year because it encouraged a teenager to break his contract with a French team and sign with the English soccer power.

Rory Delap throws some links at you If footballers were star signs [The Sun] Liverpool join Chelsea, Manchester United, and City in poaching accusations [The Spoiler] Adrian Mutu leaves long trail of dirt [The Independent], appeals to Chelsea with open letter [Caught Offside] Chelsea choose peculiar pose for team photo [MRWF] Czech player dies after scoring own goal [Dirty Tackle] [.

Don't know about you gals, but at Kickette HQ, the past week has been excruciatingly craptastic; the one thing we were excited about was the Juventus display of machismo we were able to put together for your viewing pleasure.

Soz for the tardiness but let's rise above like Vicky B's breasts and get on with it, shall we?

Fiorentina forward Adrian Mutu has offered to make a huge donation to charity if his former employer's Chelsea are prepared to waive his 17million euro fine. Mutu was handed the huge fine by Fifa for breaching his contract at Stamford Bridge after he tested positive for cocaine in 2004.

Mutu took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but they upheld Fifa's ruling.

Brazil legend, former CSKA manager Zico faired much worse this week than the Russian National Team

In partnership with Russian Football Now, EPL Talk presents the third episode of RNF's podcast.

Russia's Mens National team made it through the international break unscathed.

Don't know about you gals, but at Kickette HQ, the past week has been excruciatingly craptastic; the one thing we were excited about was the Juventus display of machismo we were able to put together for your viewing pleasure.

Soz for the tardiness but let's rise above like Vicky B's breasts and get on with it, shall we?

Wow, writing this match preview feels like déj vu. Oh wait, it's because I wrote one exactly a year ago, involving the exact same teams and coaches. So here's hoping the outcome (which was a 2-2 last season) is at least more in our favor this time.

September 16, 2009
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2:45 PM ET (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match Background:

I was sorely tempted to copy and paste what I wrote about Fiorentina last year, simply because their squad hasn't gone through any drastic changes since then.

Adrian Mutu takes some time off cocaine to sniff out these links One less fat bastard for football. Are you watching Sepp Blatter? [Chelsea FC] The boyhood teams of some the game's biggest names [The Spoiler] Besiktas fans are no joke [The Original Winger] How Dunga finally got his team right [See The Cup] The Mirror's own version of alternative [.

Liverpool will be without midfielders Javier Mascherano and Yossi Benayoun for Tuesday's Champions League Group E clash with Fiorentina.
Mascherano is sick and Benayoun picked up a leg injury against Hull in the 6-1 thrashing of Hull on Saturday.
Mascherano's absence means winger Albert Riera is likely to start.

The over-riding reaction at seeing Fiorentina's name being drawn in Liverpool's Champions League group was something of a surprise. Perhaps it is an indication of the falling standards of the Serie A that, where once Italian teams were feared now they are met with a feeling that is somewhat akin to relief.

What more can be said about Arthur Fonzarelli's Liverpool (and Fernando Torres) on the weekend? A combination of relentless attacking football and a team clearly out of sorts at the back ("Kettle, you're black") left Liverpool three points back from the top with a Sunday trip to Stamford Bridge looming large in league.

Andrey Arshavin presents us with his best poker-face at the "Poker with Arshavin" project presentation at the Royal Bar of Moscow.

Even those of us that work in the fashion and/or marketing field are stumped by Victoria Beckham's new ad for her signature line. It makes the Marc Jacob ads look sane.

I hate that I do!

Right, it's been a while since my last rant so here goes!

Ehup, this week I call to the stand Patrick Joseph "Paddy" Kenny your honour.

After the Blades' clash with Preston in May 2009, Paddy was found to have traces of the banned substance ephedrine present.

Torres is in find form for the Reds.

This should be an interesting match. You have to think, given Liverpool's Champions League pedigree, that they should not have much of a problem with Italian side Fiorentina.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Fiorentina are an impressive fourth place in the Serie A at this point in the season and have been playing some brilliant football despite losing Melo to Juventus during the summer.