Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, your weekly special on the best football
sketch show from Catalonia! This week, Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos tries to
convince his teammates to go on strike with the rest of Spain. The 29th of March
marked the country's labour strike, where factories had to be closed while people demonstrated on
the streets.
Liverpool are eyeing Valencia winger Pablo Hernandez according to Madrid-based daily Marca.
Reds boss Kenny Dalglish has kept his powder dry in the current transfer window, despite admitting
that he has money to spend if he so chooses.
But his side's recent poor performances are thought to have given the Scot pause for thought.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Barcelona will be without Eric Abidal for the rest of the season as the defender needs to
undergo liver transplant.
Abidal had liver surgery a year ago to remove a cancerous tumor but was able to recover by the
end of the season to make an emotional return.
Real Madrid's Summer 2012 Transfer Targets - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Jose Mourinho has a successful season in charge of Real Madrid. The Spanish side have become the
deserved winners of the La Liga and fell just short in the Champions League.
Despite this, the Portuguese manager will look to strengthen his squad even further going into
next season, as Madrid seek European glory.
Real Madrid beat Mallorca 4-1 in their final match of the season to become the first club in
Europe's four biggest domestic leagues to reach 100 points for a season. After reaching such an
impressive milestone, the club held a lavish title celebration on the pitch at the Bernabeu that
was a cross between the final scene in Star Wars and the closing ceremony for the space
olympics.
By Chris Wright
In which, during last night's Copa del Rey quarter-final first-leg El Clasico in Madrid, Real
Madrid's in-house butcher Pepe indulged in a spot of what he loves to do the bestest stamping on
Lionel Messi's hand as the Barca tyke sat on the turf after being barrelled over by Jose
Callejon.
Spanish giants FC Barcelona continued on their impressive form Saturday as they beat Sevilla 2-0
at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium to momentarily reduce Madrid's lead over them to 7 points.
Of course, Argentine wizard Lionel Messi was on the score sheet to edge closer to Ronaldo who
leads the top scorer's list with 32 goals, however, the night belonged to play maker Andres Iniesta
who equaled Madrid legend Butragueno's record of 50 unbeaten league matches.
Have you ever dreamed of a place where the warm sun dries Iker Casillas tears before they reach
his cheek, the Persian Gulf breeze blows through Xabi Alonso's beard and Pepe is stomping someone
to death on the beach? Then welcome to Real Madrid Resort Island -- the planned holiday resort in
the United Arab Emirates scheduled to open in January 2015.
Real Madrid have lodged an official complaint with Uefa after six pairs of boots were stolen from
their dressing room before last night's Champions League semi-final match against Bayern Munich.
Three pairs of boots belonging to Cristiano Ronaldo were nicked, along with footwear belonging to
Karim Benzema and Mesut Ozil.
On the eve of one of the more important matches of the season for Real Madrid, manager Jose
Mourinho is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons.
According to reports out of Spain, Mourinho is letting it be known that he wants out of Madrid
at the end of this season, which would be two years into his four-year contract with the club.
A couple of big-name matchups in 2nd legs of domestic cup competitions coming up later
today:
Carling Cup semifinal Manchester City vs Liverpool 8:45pm CET / 2:45pmET /
7:45pm GMT (USA TV: FSC): We didn't see the 1st leg of this semifinal tie earlier this month,
which somewhat surprisingly went 1-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.
Mano Menezes appears to be under a lot of pressure these days surely it isn't
because he's only the national coach of Brazil, a country with 194 million other
talking heads? Earlier this week, Menezes met up with the U-17 'selecao feminina' (you can call
them Brasil's futbolitas!
Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, amigos! If you still haven't
heard about the best football sketch show from Catalonia (what?!!), click
here. In this week's episode, Florentino Perez builds a statue of Jose
Mourinho outside the Bernabeu to convince him to stay at Real Madrid.
Every football fanatic would love to get their hands on one of these youth player cards
especially that belonging to a player/legend. While clubs usually authorize these
official cards to be placed in their own museums (Real Madrid, for example, has a fascinating range
of cards belonging to their present and former 'greats' at the Bernabeu), Lionel
Messi's own had never been revealed.
If Real Madrid and Chelsea are to end Champions League heartbreak this season, getting off to a
good start in difficult environments is crucial.
Real Madrid travel east to face off with CSKA Moscow in freezing temperatures. Jose Mourinho's
men have been dominant in the Champions League this season but the weather combined with Moscow's
infamous plastic pitch and a few key injuries makes the result far from predetermined.
Is Barcelona's dominance of La Liga about to end? is a post from: Just Football
What's wrong with Barcelona these days? Jake Meador has a few ideas:
In his tribute to Dutch soccer, Brilliant Orange, journalist David Winter writes of how
the Dutch brand of attractive, free-flowing beautiful soccer always seemed to be overcome by a more
utilitarian, pragmatic (German) approach.
Spanish giants FC Barcelona continued on their impressive form Saturday as they beat Sevilla 2-0
at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium to momentarily reduce Madrid's lead over them to 7 points.
Of course, Argentine wizard Lionel Messi was on the score sheet to edge closer to Ronaldo who
leads the top scorer's list with 32 goals, however, the night belonged to play maker Andres Iniesta
who equaled Madrid legend Butragueno's record of 50 unbeaten league matches.
Lightning Strikes Twice in the space place in 3 days. This had Madridisimo collectively
groaning: "Oh Shit - Not Again!" .
Just a week after we started to fancy our Champions League odds by drawing APOEL Nicosia last
Friday while enjoying our 10 point lead in La Liga, we have all of a sudden decided to expose our
soft underbelly.
Quite the 24 hours for Real Madrid. After the utterly calamitous ending to their match with
Villarreal, including three dismissals one handed to Jose Mourinho, who then did what he does and
an equalizing Marcos Senna free kick in the last 10 minutes. Plus Marco Robben netted two yellows
with no red.
RealMadridandBarcelonamoved a step closer towards the very first "El Clasico" Champions League
Final this week by comfortably winning their Quarter Final ties against APOEL and AC Milan
respectively. RealMadridovercame their Cypriot opponents 8-2 on aggregate, winning away 3-0 before
ending APOEL's fairytale jounrey 5-2 at the Bernabeu, while defending champions,Barcelona, who were
held to a goalless draw inMilanlast week finished offMilanat Nou Camp, winning 3-1.
By Chris Wright
Spotted after Real Madrid's mauling of APOEL at the Bernabeu on Tuesdaywednesdaywhenever,
Cristiano Ronaldo being temporarily put out by a particularly unflattering caricature of him held
aloft by an autograph-hunting fan...
To be fair, it's not nearly the most harrowing depiction of Ronaldo we've ever seen, with that
title firmly belonging to a float at the 2009 Portugal Carnaval.
UEFA Champions League Semi-Final (First Leg)
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid : 20.45CET
Nothing screams "BLOCKBUSTER" more than the Champions League
semi-final showdown between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. There
have been a handful of Bayern-Real playoffs in the last decade, but tonight's
edition will be exceptionally gripping because both sides are simply
desperate for the win.
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lisbon
There's no denying that the two best teams on the planet are about to go head to head in another
exhilaratingly exciting El Clásico, managed by revolutionary men, armed with an elite
selection of Spanish world champions, sponsored by the two leading sports brands featuring two
electrifying forwards, the two best players in the world.
2 giants, 1 objective
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich - A classic. 90 minutes remains in Mourinho's
quest to ignite Madrid's everlasting dream of winning a 10th Champions League title. A trophy which
Heynckes conquered for Los Blancos in 1998, ending a 32 year wait.
As Bayern and Madrid fight through the morass of aching leg muscles in extra time at the Bernabeu,
I bring you an MLS play in two parts. The Dichotomy of Goalmouth Tragicomedy, I call it. - Will
Parchman
We thought when we woke up this morning, this photo would turn out to have been a figment of our
inebriated fevered imaginations. They normally are. Image: Andreas Gebert/dpa/Corbis. Thank you,
Ruby.
Since Tuesday night's drunken tweeting went down so well, we felt almost obliged to sneak out of
the office early and do it all again.
They couldn't do it at the Bernabeu, but they did it
anyway! Real Madrid finally picked up their 32nd Spanish
League title after their 3-0 win over Bilbao at the San Mames last night.
It was their first La Liga since 2008 and the Los Blancos celebrated it in the most
cliché manner possible in football by singing Queen's
'We are the Champions' on their flight back to
Madrid.
They couldn't do it at the Bernabeu, but they did it
anyway! Real Madrid finally picked up their 32nd Spanish
League title after their 3-0 win over Bilbao at the San Mames last night.
It was their first La Liga since 2008 and the Los Blancos celebrated it in the most
cliché manner possible in football by singing Queen's
'We are the Champions' on their flight back to
Madrid.
Real Madrid celebrated their 32nd La Liga trophy in the grandest way
possible last night glamour, fireworks, white confetti and an
opera show! You know it isn't a Madrid party unless Placido
Domingo proudly belts out the Madrid anthem in a Los Blancos jersey and the
Three Portuguese Musketeers get onto the microphone.
338 Appearances. 157 Goals. 10 Major Trophies.
#Legend
For the better part of my adult life, I've been around football. It's an all-consuming vacuum of
sense and reality which has rewarded me with magical displays of individual and collective
brilliance. As a team sport, football generally bestows plaudits on those select few men who seem
to strike a fine balance between other-worldly talent and self-actualized ignorance.
Jose Mourinho has signed a new contract with Real Madrid that will keep him at the Bernabeu
until 2016.
A statement on the Madrid website read:
"Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho have reached an agreement to extend the coach's contract with the
club until June 30, 2016.
Liverpool target Esteban Granero is available for transfer this month and can be bought for around
£8million according to talkSPORT.
The 24-year-old Spanish midfielder has been told he is surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu by
Los Blancos boss Jose Mourinho, but is unwilling to let the former Getafe man leave the club on
loan.
We weren't going to do a ranking this week because nothing relevant to the rankings has taken place
outside of Great Britain since before Christmas. Still, there were lots of changes the week before,
particularly in Italy and France. And, plus, you deserve it.
So once we decided we that you deserved a ranking this week, we had to sober up in order to write
it up.
Spanish giants Real Madrid are expected to lose a number of key players this month as another
of their brightest talents Angel Di Maria said to have welcomed offers from both Manchester United
and Chelsea.
Along with Kaka and Esteban Granero, Di Maria is the third player who could possibly leave the
Bernabeu this month.
Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho is ready to offer Luis Suarez an escape from his Liverpool nightmare
reports the Daily Mail.
According to reports in Spain, the La Liga giants will offer £30million in a bid to bring the
Uruguayan international to the Bernabeu this month.
Mourinho is hoping to take advantage of the furore currently surrounding the Liverpool striker,
after Suarez was banned for eight games following an alleged race row with Patrice Evra.
The agent of Real Madrid's out of favour midfielder Esteban Granero has admitted that he would
relish a transfer to Liverpool.
Teofilo Lazaro has spoken out about the future of 24-year-old Granero, who has slipped down Real
boss Jose Mourinho's pecking order at the Bernabeu this season.
And, he revealed that the £8million-rated midfield man would be happy for a move away to secure
regular first-team action elsewhere, namng the Reds as a possible destination.
So with Real Madrid and Barcelona scheduled to meet tomorrow at the Bernabeu for their first
leg Copa Del Rey quarterfinal fixture, attention is already starting to get centred around the
Messi Ronaldo debate.
Truth be said, although the debate is starting to get boring, it will be interesting to see how
Ronaldo responds to his critics and the world player of the year.
Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we cover the wacky side of football! Today, read about the
Rooneys' mismatched outfits, Guti's bizarre return to Real Madrid, Mario Balotelli's ride and
Irina Shayk's "cam-whoring" tendencies. All in a day's work, it seems!
It's Wayne's World.
COPA DEL RAYReal Madrid vs Barcelona 22:00
Lo maravilloso!! The Day of Reckoning has arrived. Put away your
Vicente Del Bosque Panini stickers right NOW because the first el
clasico of the year between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be fought out at
the Bernabeu tonight.
Two of Spain's oldest rivals square off today in another Clasico in the Spanish Copa del Rey
quarterfinals at Bernabeu. FC Barcelona head coach Pep Guardiola recently crowned FIFA 2011... Read
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