Redknapp sets sights on high profile wing wizard.

Spurs and Portsmouth both want to sign Marseille's Hatem Ben Arfa who has fallen out with Didier Deschamps and his shiny black leather jacket. Ben Arfa has accused Deschamps of "breaking his balls". Deschamps says he didn't break his balls, they were already broken and actually he was only trying to fix them and he may have slightly chipped one while he was doing it but it's not his fault if his balls are actually quite badly made and frankly quite cheap in the first place.

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November 8, 2009
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3:00 EST (21:00CET, 20:00GMT)

Sunday evening it's back to work. But hopefully, it's not one of those usual Monday morning, sloping, sluggish, I need a liter of coffee to get through the day, back to works, because aside from the heart wrenching matches against Cesspool in the CL, Lyon have been afflicted with a general malaise probably since week eight in the PSG match, and need this victory to put some pep back in their step.

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One of the players playing extremely well at the moment is Genoa fantasista Raffaele Palladino. Palladino has always been a player that could do things with the ball that others could only dream of doing, but he never had the consistency to show that talent at a high level.

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France doesn't have a lot of local rivalries like England for example, since Lyon-Saint Etienne and Lille-Lens do not really portray all the elements of the derby. However, this country has a derby between Olympique Marseille and Paris Saint Germain, a fierce rivalry that doesn't go such a long way.

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Didier Deschamps Marseille side eased past Nancy in imperious fashion.

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The World Cup qualifiers handed two wins to France and a ticket to the playoffs in November. The feat was celebrated like a resounding success despite the overall weakness ofGroup 7. France will find out on Monday if they play Ukraine, Ireland, Slovakia or Bosnia Herzegovina...it could be 1993 all over again. Click to continue reading...

1998
Zdenek Zemen accuses Juventus of supplying players with illegal performance enhancing drugs.
1998
Inquiry into doping at Juventus begins.
2001
Edgar Davids failed a drugs test in 2001 while playing for Juventus. He was banned for 16 months.
2001
Juventus club records reveal particularly high haematocrit levels in the blood of several players. Click to continue reading...

Apparently Zidane and Marco Materazzi have become the new Israel and Palestine since the Headbutt Heard Round The World at the 2006 World Cup final. The two have never kissed and made up, despite numerous attempts to bring peace between the two by surprisingly important people who must not have anything better to do with their lives.

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Vive la Foot!

A belated Vive le Foot this week since I found myself flying to the land of Ligue 1 overnight...sadly enough I will not be able to attend the PSG -Nancy tie in Paris...but my SF correspondent will be at the Emirates scouting some Frenchies vs. Blackburn...

Boulogne lost the match of the promoted last weekend and will face a Lille side that destroyed Slavia Prague 5 - 1 in the last 15 minutes of their Europa League tie.

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• Fabulouso and his teammates Konko, Adriano and Kanouté all netted in goals that enabled Sevilla to down Rangers 4-1 last night. Yes, Gattuso would be cheesed off, but they did it in Glasgow... so there are no excuses.
• The Messiah and Pedro Rodriguez both scored for Barca in their 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.

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Real Madrid spent plenty of money in the summer to rejuvenate their faltering team. After falling way short of eventual Spanish and European Champions Barcelona last season Los Merengues forked out huge transfer fees on the likes of Ballon d'Or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, while Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso also completed big moves to the Spanish capital.

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After a sensational run of five league games unbeaten, newly-promoted Montpellier were finally put to the sword in a comprehensive 4-2 defeat away to a virtually full-strength Marseille side on Saturday.
And the good news for Didier Deschamps was that he finally got to see a return on the €18 million invested in Argentinean playmaker Lucho Gonzalez. Click to continue reading...

Olympique Marseille have made a big progress during the last few years and they have again become one of the strongest teams in France but the last two Champions League campaigns are the proof Marseille are not yet ready for the big stage. Didier Deschamps' team completely outplayed Milan in their opening Champions League match but still somehow managed to lose the game and this shows the team are yet to prove they've got winning mentality.

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Clima di burrasca in Italia. Le nuvole si addensano su molte città del "bel paese". Ma il "nero" non riguarda solamente le condizioni metereologiche. Infatti, se ci spostiamo in tema calcio, su Milanello e dintorni il sereno è ormai sparito. In Serie A, infatti, il Milan annaspa, e allora si prova a ritrovare linfa in Europa. Click to continue reading...

The UEFA Champions League is officially back and ready to feature the world's best teams and players in a competition that is sure to entertain us all the way to May of 2010.

Matchday One kicks off on Tuesday with eight matches and some entertaining encounters. Before we touch on all eight matches, here is a quick look at your live viewing options on Tuesday:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON TV

2pm- Setanta Sports USA- Chelsea vs.

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The UEFA Champions League is officially back and ready to feature the world's best teams and players in a competition that is sure to entertain us all the way to May of 2010.

Matchday One kicks off on Tuesday with eight matches and some entertaining encounters. Before we touch on all eight matches, here is a quick look at your live viewing options on Tuesday:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON TV

2pm- Setanta Sports USA- Chelsea vs.

Click to continue reading...

Perhaps my most powerful experience of soccer fandom, amidst years of following MLS, the English Premier League, and the World Cup, came in a college basketball arena at the University of Portland (UP) in the early winter of 2005. Along with a thousand locals, I watched a projected ESPN feed from Texas of a national championship game where my little University team (~3500 students) was playing the giants of UCLA (~38000 students).

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Of all the three main contenders for this season's Ligue 1 title, only champions Bordeaux now have a 100% record after three games following Marseille's 1-1 draw with Rennes last Saturday.
Didier Deschamps had made a great start to his new career at the Stade Vélodrome following wins over Grenoble and Lille, but Rennes are never the easiest of sides to beat - in fact the equivalent tie finished 4-4 last season. Click to continue reading...

Chamakh has been linked with a host of Premier League teams

Bordeaux's Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh has made a good start to the Ligue 1 campaign, scoring 3 goals in 3 games for the club. Â This form has seen him linked with a host of Premier League clubs, but is he really good enough to be considered by Premier League teams as a solid option?

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A new dawn may have risen on Ligue 1 but there was a definite air of 'as you were' about the opening weekend of fixtures in France.
Reigning champions Bordeaux (how nice it is to say that for a change) picked up from where they left off at the end of last season with a 4-1 drubbing of Lens. Click to continue reading...

Ladies & gentlemen in an attempt to expand Mad About Futbol's reach we are going to start giving you roundups of the France's Ligue 1. France's top league of football is one of the most important in the world and deserves more attention than it currently receives. Therefore, MAF will give you a weekly roundup of Ligue 1 including the scores & standings from the most recent round. Click to continue reading...

Editors note: Due to technological problems, the first issue of Vive le Foot was delayed until today. Today's column should have run last Friday, before the season began. Not to worry, we're now caught up and our Fearless Frenchman shall return on Friday to preview the upcoming weekend's fixtures. Click to continue reading...

With Lyon finally knocked off their lofty perch by Laurent Blanc's fantastically well drilled Bordeaux side last season, there is a feeling that this season's Ligue Un title race might just be the most open in years.

With Claude Puel's side looking to regain the crown they had held in a vice-like grip for seven seasons in a row, Blanc's men will have their work cut out to retain their title, and with traditional powerhouses Marseille & Paris Saint-Germain looking to continue the excellent progress made last season under new coaches Didier Deschamps & Antoine Kombouaré respectively, not to mention the impressive underdogs of Lille & Toulouse lurking, French football has lot going for it at the moment.

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by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has become the latest superstar to want a move away from the Premiership in favor of La Liga.

On Thursday, Mascherano's brother Sebastian claimed that the Argentine midfielder desires to play with Barcelona, citing the idea of playing daily with compatriot Leo Messi is an appealing one.

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by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has become the latest superstar to want a move away from the Premiership in favor of La Liga.

On Thursday, Mascherano's brother Sebastian claimed that the Argentine midfielder desires to play with Barcelona, citing the idea of playing daily with compatriot Leo Messi is an appealing one.

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Lucho Gonzalez injured his left shoulder in a pre-season friendly against Saint-Etienne.

Lucho is expected to be out for 3 to 4 weeks.

Espn Deportes

Está en problemas

El argentino Luis González, del Marsella, fue llevado a un hospital para ser examinado tras lastimarse la clavícula izquierda en un partido amistoso frente al Saint-Etienne.

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After narrowly missing out on Ligue 1 title last season, Marseille look determined to make things right. After Lucho, Diawara, M'Bia and Edouard Cisse, OM officials have announced the signings of Fernando Morientes and Fabrice Abriel. Morientes joins the club on free transfer from Valencia, while midfielder Abriel comes from Lorient for €2.

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The Parc des Princes, November 1993. France are seconds away from securing qualification for the 1994 World Cup, albeit nervously. Tied at 1-1 with Group rivals Bulgaria, they know a point is enough to send them to America the following summer.

In possession is David Ginola, as enigmatic, stylish and confident then as he would prove to be later on in his career, when English fans got to see him up close.

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Liverpool and Wigan have been named as interested suitors of Marseille playmaker Mathieu Valbuena according to his agent Christophe Hutteau.
He told skysports.com, "Mathieu would very much be interested in playing in England as the Premier League is the best in Europe."
"Wigan are interested in Mathieu, but I think Mathieu would like to go to a big team in England. Click to continue reading...

Olympique Marseille narrowly missed out on the Ligue 1 title last season, but their performances were highly encouraging and the famous French club are determined to win the league title next season. Didier Descamps has been brought to replace Eric Gerets and he has already been given a couple of presents from the new president Jean-Claude Dassier.

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In his debut season as the club's manager Didier Deschamps is already making moves to ensure success in Ligue 1 and the UEFA Champions League.

On June 29, 2009 the first year manager made his first move in this year's summer transfer window by acquiring Argentinian Lucho (Luis) Gonzalez for a club record $25 million from the Portugeuse champions FC Porto.

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After narrowly missing out on the Ligue 1 title last season, Marseille and the new boss Didier Deschamps are determined to make things right next season. The latest reports are suggesting that they are on the verge of signing Porto playmaker Lucho Gonzalez, having agreed a €17 million fee for the Argentine player, who is thus set to become the most expensive signing in club's history.

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It's no surprise that coaching changes are typically swift. The selection for the sidelines can impact everything that happens throughout the summer - from the market to the board room to the staff individual player training on holiday. So you don't mess around. But this year's been excessively swift. Click to continue reading...

Via Chelsea's official Web site (be sure to check out the latest news and video on Ancelotti there as well) ...

"The 49-year-old moves to London after eight seasons in Milan where his major successes were two Champions League victories and one Serie A title.

A former Milan player, Ancelotti began his managerial career at Reggiana, a club close to the town of his birth in Northern Italy, where rapid promotion to Serie A for the team meant rapid promotion for his career and a job at Parma - Ancelotti's first club as player.

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Paul Scholes was not available for Manchester United's 1999 Champion's League final match after being sent off after a two footed challenge on Didier Deschamps. Darren Fletcher will be unavailable...
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