Club legend Kevin Keegan has questioned Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish's performance in the premier league transfer market. Over the last year, Dalglish has spent over 110m on new player, but despite that outlay, the former England manager insists that Liverpool are still lacking in the real quality in some areas of the team.

Germany's DFB Women's Indoor Cup took place over the weekend and as to be expected, FFC Frankfurt's enthusiastic squad picked up the trophy from the hands of the sad Bayern Munich girls. Next time, chicas!

But there's a reason behind all of this, of course.

Since it's negative gazillion degrees in Norway 'round this time of year, they need to get creative with their football. And while going inside would be, and often is, the simpler explanation, it's a lot less fun than becoming human plastic bubbles.

And judging by the way red cards are being tossed around these days, this might be the way football is heading anyway.

Pep'll make a Mess of your hand An El Clasico just isn't an El Clasico without Pepe proving that he's a nasty bar steward. During last night's Copa Del Rey clash, the Real Madrid man stayed true to form. The Portugal international stamped on Lionel Messi's hand after the Barcelona star has the temerity to [.

Barca beat Real Betis as midfield maestro Xavi making his 400th appearance for the Catalunyans scored the opening goal. Leo Messi fresh of his third Ballon D'Or scored two. Betis made it a game but Barca's victory means they are within five points of league leaders Real Madrid. Keeping fingers crossed.

Having celebrated Leo Messi's third consecutive Ballon d'Or Player of the Year award with short film, Adidas have now commissioned a stunning pair of Gold/White/Black F50 adiZero MiCoach football boots to mark the occasion.

El lugar de Lionel Messi en la cima del mundo futbolístico fue confirmado el pasado lunes al obtener su tercer Ballon d'Or de manera consecutiva. Pero él no lo logró solo. Para celebrar su victoria, Leo agradeció a todos aquellos que lo han apoyado en su carrera, desde sus compañeros de equipo y familia hasta los aficionados que ayudan a hacer del futbol el deporte mas bello de todos.

By Chris Wright

It's competition time here again on Pies folks, and this prize is going to take some beating!

As you'll be aware, Lionel Messi nabbed his third-straight Ballon d'Or gong earlier this week, and to celebrate Adidas have produced a very special pair of boots for him to wear during Barcelona's La Liga tie against Real Betis on Sunday.

Leo Messi's place at the pinnacle of world football was confirmed by his third consecutive Ballon d'Or, but he didn't do it alone. To celebrate his win, Leo has thanked everyone who has supported him in his career, from his ...
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Lionel Messi won his third Ballon D'Or this week. To celebrate he will be donning a very special pair of boots for Barcelona's match against Real Betis this weekend. The customised adizero F50 boots have been produced in a celebratory gold colourway and feature the flag of Argentina, the years of Leo's Ballon d'Or successes [.

MOC MOC! It's Friday and that could only mean one thing our weekly Comedy Club on the famous Catalan football sketch show....Crackovia! This week, Zlatan Ibrahimovic excitedly discovers new information to add to his 'GuardioLeaks' directory [WATCH HERE] and Mourinho gets annoyed with his players for gaining weight during the Christmas holidays.

Meet Francisco Cruz, the winner of the FIFA Interactive World Cup of 2011. He won an invite to the Ballon d'Or on Monday and like a real pro, he gave one of his favourite players - Wayne Rooney - a battering on the FIFA 12! In an imagined encounter between his native Portugal and Rooney's England, the scoreline ended 3-0 in Francisco's favour and he later received a diploma for his win.

Wayne Rooney was left out of the squad for our 3-2 defeat to Blackburn. Had we won that game we would now be on the same points as City at the top of the table.

Reports quickly emerged claiming that Rooney had been dropped from the squad after being deemed unfit to train following an evening out with some team mates and their wives and girlfriends.

So as Messi basks in the glory of winning a third straight FIFA world player of the year title, attention continues to be centred on the players who missed out.

One such Player is Neymar. According to Brazilian legend Ronaldo, Neymar not only has the potential to win the Ballon d'Or, but he can become better than Messi.

Eigentlich ist diese Veranstaltung richtig langweilig geworden, denn das Ergebnis steht ja sowieso schon immer im Vorfeld fest und überrascht auch schon lange niemanden mehr. Es gibt ja anscheinend auch nur noch einen guten Fussballer auf der Welt, der zwar mit seiner Nationalmannschaft einfach nichts auf die Reihe kriegt, dafür aber im Klubfussball schon so [.

The hips don't lie, but he does Not happy with simply annoying almost everyone in football with his views from the dark agaes on racism and women's football, Sepp Blatter did his best to make everyone wretch at the Ballon d'or awards on Monday night. As he entered the stage with Shakira, Blatter wiggled his [.

• Kop That: How to save the FA Cup: Sportsmail's verdict http://t.co/ptU9B2m9 23:43:55, 2012-01-09
• Kop That: FA want call for Liverpool and Manchester United peace talks http://t.co/2FrVBmnh 23:28:11, 2012-01-09
• Kop That: What are the odds Phil Jones ISN'T in England's Euro 2012 squad?

Homare Sawa and Lionel Messi won the Women's and Men's Player of the Year awards last night

FIFA's annual awards ceremony took place in Zurich last night and there weren't too many surprises as to who would come top of the main awards of the evening.

It was obvious to all of the world and his dog that Lionel Messi would come to win the Player of the Year award in 2011 following yet another truly successful twelve months with his club FC Barcelona.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter got into the groove at the Ballon d'Or awards on Monday by performing a funky hip dance with 'Hips Don't Lie' pop sensation Shakira. Emerging from the back to present an award, Blatter instantly became the envy of the room when he rather salaciously performed a hip dance alongside Shakira.

By Chris Wright

Being their lead clothes horse as he is, Adidas have produced a snazzy little viral video to commemorate Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or turkey.

Indeed, they also manage to pay homage to their man without so much as mentioning Barcelona once, which is rather odd considering Messi probably wouldn't be on many shortlists if it was only his international form that was being taken into account.

Sawa potentially begins her Ballon d'Or reign as Messi continues his own, picking up his third in as many years.

If history is anything to go by, expect 2011 Women's World Cup winner Homare Sawa to be collecting her second Ballon d'Or prize this time next year. Marta had won five years running as the top female player in the world, but no more.

By Chris Wright

Given that it was pretty much a forgone conclusion, FIFA took their sweet time in surprising precisely nobody and bestowing Lionel Messi with their World Player of the Year award for the third time on the spin in Switzerland yesterday.

Messi beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca teammate Xavi (with whom he vowed to share the award) to the Ballon d'Or and he also went all Noël Coward on our backsides on the night, sporting a rather fetching purple velvet smoking jacket for the occassion just because, y'know, he can.

Wayne Rooney has against reiterated his respect for Sir Alex Ferguson after the manager was presented with FIFA's Presidential Award at the Ballon d'Or ceremony last night.

Following Rooney's Boxing Day meal out, the press have been reporting of a big rift between the player and manager.

Either Rooney and Ferguson are better actors than we thought or the newspapers have been blowing the situation out of proportion this week.

At the Ballon d'Or ceremony last night, Sir Alex Ferguson was presented with the FIFA presidential award for services to football.

Ferguson claimed he was lucky to have managed so many great players who have helped him achieve the success he's had.

"It is an honour for me in the twilight of my life and very, very much appreciated," said Ferguson.

Lionel Messi has been named by FIFA as the best player of 2011 for the third straight year. Messi equals Platini, Cruyff and Van Basten, the only players to ever win three Ballon d'Or titles.

Messi took almost 48% of the vote, with Ronaldo second with less than 22% and Xavi was a distant third with just over 9%.

Lionel Messi has been named by FIFA as the best player of 2011 for the third straight year. Messi equals Platini, Cruyff and Van Basten, the only players to ever win three Ballon d'Or titles.

Messi took almost 48% of the vote, with Ronaldo second with less than 22% and Xavi was a distant third with just over 9%.

After Platini, Messi is the only other player to win the Ballon d'Or 3 times in a row. This is fully deserved because:

• Messi is both a fuoriclasse dribbler and plays for his teammates.
• Messi is decisive in the games that count.
• A unique style made of robustness, speed, technique.

Surprising nobody, Argentina and Barcelona midfielder Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or on Monday, world soccer's highest honor. This is Messi's third Ballon d'Or. "It's a huge pleasure to win the third time, a big honour," Messi said. "I want to thank the teammates, players and coaches that voted for me.

Mirror: Messi completes Ballon d'Or hat-trick

Barcelona ace named world player of year for third time running

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2012-01-09 19:02:38 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

::: FistedAway welcomes a guest post from Elliott,
editor of the rather lovely Futfanatico :::

As the year comes to an end, awards circulate. Everybody speculates as to who will win the Ballon d'Or. Some say Messi. Others say Xavi. A few say Ronaldo. However, the most shocking award involves none other than Ricardo Kaka.

Bienvenidaaaaa! We know it's Monday and you're probably still nursing that hangover from last Saturday but Gracias a Dios for football because Villarreal held Valencia to a 2-2 draw last night and we know the town folks are celebrating!

Former Argentine international Hugo Gatti has launched a scathing attack on Barcelona's Lionel Messi by stating that he would be a 'bench-warmer' in the days of Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Speaking to Radio La Red Gatti who made 18 international appearances for Argentina between 1967 and 1977 sought to bring Lionel Messi [.

Clearly, Juan Mata enjoys being a London tourist! If you happen to be a next door neighbour at Cresswell Gardens, you can now send over that plate of Arròs negre or at the very least, a paella! What? You never knew a Chelsea striker was staying down the road from you?

Barcelona face Santos in the Club World Cup final on Sunday in a match which pits South American superstars Lionel Messi and Neymar face-to-face for the first time ever at club level. The two clubs are the apotheosis in terms of quality in both their respected continents with Santos having won their third Copa Libertadores [.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.