By Alan Duffy
Now this is rather lovely. Iconic Dutch lcub Ajax have produced a touching video where fans of the club are reunited with their heroes.
Three Ajax legends, Romanian defender Cristian Chivu (1999-2003), Dutch midfielder Richard Witschge (1996-2003) and Swedish striker Stefan Pettersson (1988-1994) surprise the fans who adored them as kids withsome rather sweet results.
By Alan Duffy
While Louis Van Gaal's summer spending spree looks set to continue, with Morgan Schneiderlin likely to join up with new-boys Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian and Bastian Schweinsteiger, ex-Red Devil Robin Van Persie is starting a new chapter in his career.
The Dutch striker touched down in Istanbul ahead of his move to Turkish giants Fenerbahce and was greeted by a rather excited (and big) crowd.
By Alan Duffy
Ahead of Xavi'smove to Qatar this summer, Barcelona produced this rather lovely video for the legendary midfielder during a star-studdedlive TV tribute on Wednesday.
The Spanish Scott Parkerstill has this weekend's Champions League final to look forward, albeit courtesy of a place on the subs' bench.
By Alan Duffy
The fans of Saudi league side Al-Hilal are no strangers to magnificent tifos. And again, in the second leg of the AFC Champions League second leg clash with Persepolis, the home fans produced a superb Mortal Kombat-inspired display.
Starting with "Sub-Zero" from the famous video game, the display at the King Fahd International Stadium turned to a great big "Finish 'em".
By Alan Duffy
Scottish Championship leaders Hearts tore second-from-bottom Cowdenbeath apart at Tynecastle, with their 10 goals inflicting on the Miners their joint-heaviest defeat in the club's history.
It took until the 26th minute for the first goal, which came courtesy of a spot-kick, while the sending off of Lewis Toshney, with the score already 2-0, sealed the visitors' fate.
By Alan Duffy
View image | gettyimages.com
Ahead of Bordeaux's 1-0 Ligue 1 home win against fellow Euro-hopefuls St. Etienne, the fans at one end of theStade Jacques Chaban-Delmasproduced a fabulous moment of colour right before the kick-off.
Dressed in see-through waterproof ponchos, the fans of Les Girondins let off a whole load of pastel-coloured dust to produce a quite beautiful sight behind the goal.
By Alan Duffy
The forward-planning and preparation demonstrated by this Turkish football fan warrants a round of applause. Entering the stadium with what looks like a custom-made beer-carrying sleeveless jacket full of bottles of booze, over which he wore a rather suspicious-looking black coat, the chap did look at bit nervous as he tried to out-fox the local security.
By Alan Duffy
On Sunday, Roberto Mancini's Inter side suffered a damaging 3-1 defeat away at Sassuolo, a result which sees the Nerazzurri drop to 13th in the Serie A table, eight points off a European berth.
After the game, Inter's Mauro Icardi and Fredy Guarin threw their shirts into the away fans' end, only for the rather unimpressed supporters to throw them back.
By Alan Duffy
Returning to his boyhood club after a number of years of underperforming, 'El Nino' Fernando Torres was put through his paces by the Atletico Madrid coaching staff on Tuesday.
The former Liverpool, Chelsea and AC Milan hitman looked sharp, although his failure to direct all but one of his headers onto the tiny goal shows he still needs to work on his aerial prowess!
By Alan Duffy
Arguably the greatest player ever to wear the green shirt of Ireland, Liam Brady has made a name for himself as a straight-talking TV pundit who pulls no punches. And during RTE's coverage ahead of the Republic's 7-0 mauling of Gibraltar at the weekend, the former Arsenal and Juventus legend gave his views on Keane's 'warts and all' autobiography.
By Alan Duffy
If there's one still that sums up this whole charade, it's got to be this one...
(Video: Balls.ie)
By Alan Duffy
In which Barcelona new boy Thomas Vermaelen suffers a few teething problems while trying to navigate his big, chunkyAudi through the tight entrance at Barca's training ground.
Thankfully for the Belgian defender, there was a large crowd of people present to cackle at him while he attempted a ten-point turn to rectify the situation.
By Alan Duffy
The great Zlatan finally secured the all-time goal-scoring record for Sweden on Thursday night, bagging a brace in a friendly against Estonia.
There were question marks over whether his first of the night (his 49th for Sweden) actually crossed the line at all but his second was, unsurprisingly, a snazzy effort with the big man back-heeling the back into the Estonian net.
By Alan Duffy
View image | gettyimages.com
Chris Coleman's in-form Welsh side have made it into the Top 10 of the FIFa rankings for the first time in the country's history.Their current ranking bests their previous high of 22nd while they were outside the top 100 as recently as August 2011.
By Alan Duffy
So, after the obligatory hoo-haa in Moscow, the powers-that-be in FIFA revealed the emblem for the 2018 World Cup, and very, very red it is too. Indeed, to me it looks like a very shy duck, but it's still quite cool!
And while we're at it, here's a look back at the all the previous World Cup emblems which is quite nice!
By Alan Duffy
"What's your galaxy called then, Gareth, eh?" Not that his ego needed boosting, but twinkled-toed, perma-groomed superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has had a galaxy named after him. The 'CR7′ galaxy which is, er, somewhere out in space, has existed for 13 billion years, according to Dr David Sobral of the University of London, who named the galaxy.
By Alan Duffy
Champions of Europe Real Madrid became champions of the world on Saturday night after the Spanish giants defeatedArgentina's South American champions San Lorenzo courtesy of a 2-0 scoreline in the Club World Cup final in Morocco.
The goals came from Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale as Madrid bagged their fourth trophy of 2014, coming after the La Liga title, the Copa Del Rey and the European Super Cup.
By Alan Duffy
On an exciting day in the Championship, Watford secured their place in next season's Premier League thanks to 2-0 way away at Brighton.
The goals came courtesy of Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra, firing the Hornets to a win while fellow promotion-chasers Middlesbrough lost 4-3 at Fulham and Norwich could only draw 1-1 away at Rotherham.
By Alan Duffy
What a superb bit of business this is by Premier League new-boys. Signing a player of Esteban Cambiasso's calibre is quite the coup with the 34-year-old joining the Foxes on a free in a one-year-deal.
From Independiente to River Plate and Real Madrid to Internazionale, Cambiasso proved to be one of the best midfielders of his generation, with his mix of tough-tackling and sublime technique winning him the Champions League in 2010 with Jose Mourinho's Inter side as well as a whole host of other trophies.
By Alan Duffy
View image | gettyimages.com
I have no idea what Edin Dzeko is doing here. Whilst warming the bench during Manchester City's 1-0 defeat at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night, the Bosnian striker had a 'moment'. Was he sneezing? Or doing a mime of a drunk donkey trying to put on lipstick?
By Alan Duffy
View image | gettyimages.com
An impressive 3-0 win in the Ruhr derby against Schalke saw Borussia Dortmund move to within eight points of a Champions League berth as their resurgence continues.
For long periods of the game it looked as thoughBVB's profligacy in front of goal would cost them dear, but late on a goal burst from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,Henrikh Mkhitaryan and finallyMarco Reus, secured a vital three points for Jurgen Klopp's men.
By Alan Duffy
View image | gettyimages.com
Rejuvenated striker Andy Carroll netted another fine goal on Saturday, as the Hammers beat Leicester 2-0. However, the big targetman was lucky not to do himself some serious damage when he seemed to suffer a malfunction during the game.
By Alan Duffy
#458687670 / gettyimages.com
Juventus battered a dismal Parma side on Sunday afternoon, putting seven past the Serie A strugglers. The Old Lady's three strikers, Carlos Tevez, Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Morata all bagged a brace each while wing-back Stephan Lichsteiner also scored.
By Alan Duffy
Oh dear, poor old Spain suffered their first defeat in a qualifying game in eight years on Thursday night, going down 2-1 away to Slovakia.
Glovesman Iker Casillas has seen his form wobble more than Bruce Grobelaar's legs in the past 12 months and the Real Madrid 'keeper was at fault for Slovakia's opener, failing miserably to judge the flight ofJuraj Kucka's pretty straight long-range free-kick.
By Alan Duffy
I doubt Newcastle fans will have found much to laugh about during their 1-0 defeat away at Stoke on Monday night. However, this footage of Paul Dummett rather losing his bearingstickled us here at Pies!
(Vine: James Williams)
By Alan Duffy
The mighty Zlatan never fails to give us memorable moments, be they acts of great skill or acts of greater..... self-confidence. Here, during Sweden's 1-1 draw away in Austria, the great man doesn't take too kindly to being (very very lightly) manhandled by sub Rubin Okotie.
By Alan Duffy
I've always found Jamie Carragher to be a witty chap and on the arrival of Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson to the wild world of Twitter, Carragher had a few words of advice for the youngster...
Can't really argue with any of that, can you?!
By Alan Duffy
What a cracking headline this is. Relating to the so-called 'Three Bears' consortium who are vying with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley over control of Scottish giants Rangers.
The 'Three Bears', made up of Douglas Park,George Letham and George Taylor have reacted to Ashley's offer of a £10m loan to Ibrox by offering their own £5million loan.
By Alan Duffy
A certain Richie O'dare, Operations Manager at football agency Yamvi Sports, which is based in both the UK and Ghana, is apparently on the lookout for two playmakers from the EU to play in the Spanish Third Division. But not any old playmakers, you see, but ones "like Xavi or Kroos".
By Alan Duffy
Respect for others and Bein Sport presenter Richard Keys go together like erm, Keys and his goon sidekick Andy Gray. They were made for each other. During Arsenal's 4-1 mauling of Newcastle on Saturday evening, the big hairy eejit showed his disapproval for Santi Cazorla's clever chipped 'Panenka' penalty which fooled young 'keeper Ben Alnwick.
By Alan Duffy
I'll say it again, Arsenal should sign Lukas Podolski up to be the next Gunnersaurus. The German is a social media king and a one-man entertainment machine. And, to be honest, he rarely actually gets a game these days anyway.
However, despite struggling to get much action in Arsenal's first 11, the cheeky-chappie German continues to stay positive.
By Alan Duffy
As comfortable with the ball at his feet as he is with it in his hands, Germany's uber-sweeper-keeper/libero Manuel Neuer showed off his heading (and flying) skill against Hertha Berlin this weeked. Here's another photo of the World Cup-winning flying German..
By Alan Duffy
Absent from Bayern Munich's domestic and European successes and having to watchGermany's World Cup win on TV, forgotten man Holger Badstuber has missed out on some major footballing moments in the last couple of years.
However, despite two cruciate ligament injuries, the 25-year-old is finally back in action, making his Bundesliga return for the Munich giants against Wolfsburg on Friday night, 629 days after his last game in the German top-tier in December 2012.
By Alan Duffy
We usually do our best to steer clear of such infantile buffoonery, well,most of the timeanyway. However, the uncovering of the magnificently-monikered Kevin Lasagna is, in our view, worthy of a mention. And to be honest, it's not so much the 'Lasagna' as the rather surprising 'Kevin' which makes this such a cracker of a name.
By Alan Duffy
Not the best of starts for Newcastle boss John Carver, who is in charge of the club until at least the end of the season. Getting off the team bus outside the KC Stadium in Hull, the 50-year-old's min was understandably on other things, as he smacked his bonce off the wing-mirror.
By Alan Duffy
Not once, but twice did the floodlights go off during Tottenham's 1-0 defeat by Besiktas in Istanbul on Thursday night. Once not long after the game had begun and once again just before the end. And in what has become a regular feature in modern football, the darkness was immediately peppered with the lights of myriad mobile phones.
By Alan Duffy
Does his punditry thing for the Beeb's FA Cup coverage of Hartlepool against Blythe Spartans on Friday night, Alan Shearer wrapped up well for the chilly night at Victoria Park. However, the furry collar on his coat added to his shaven bonce (not to mention the time of the year) reminded us of a classic Christmas number one.
By Alan Duffy
What a cracking bowtie too!
Arsenal's injured schemer Mesut Ozil picked up a "Sport For Good" prize last night at the annual Laureus awards following his decision to pay for23 Brazilian children to have life-saving surgery this summer.
The midfielder, who has somewhat struggled to find his best form with the Gunners as well as having to deal with a messy court case involving his own father this week, explained his decision to donate his World Cup-winning bonus to the seriously ill kids, saying:
"We had the idea to help 23 children, because we had 23 players in the squad.
By Alan Duffy
In an incredibly dramatic final day of action, outsiders Liverpool Ladies secured the WSL title after leapfrogging Chelsea and Birmingham to thetrophy.
Finding themselves in third place at the start of the day, behind leaders Chelsea and second-placed Birmingham, the Reds pulled off an incredible title victory by beating Bristol Academy 3-0 courtesy of goals fromNatasha Dowie, Lucy Bronze and Fara Williams (courtesy of a penalty).
By Alan Duffy
Amongst all the goals scored by the Republic of Ireland on Saturday night at the Aviva Stadium, this own-goal from Gibraltar glovesman Jordan Perez. Overall, the 'keeper actually made a few decent saves but on 51 minutes he rather lost the run of himself, with his attempt to control the ball in his own box ending up in his own goal.
