So imagine you are a soccer player who takes his place on the bench for a game, in full uniform, only to find out you weren't selected to even be in uniform for that match.
That awkward situation happened to Real Madrid's Fabio Coentrao before their recent match against Espanyol. He turned up on the Real Madrid bench only to be told by Iker Casillas that he didn't belong there.
Fabio Coentrao was not selected for the Real Madrid squad that faced Espanyol on Saturday, yet he still took a seat on the bench anyway. When his teammates who were supposed to be there caught on to his mistake, they had Iker Casillas inform him. Coentrao gave him a blank stare before laughing at his error.
While Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was offering his congratulations to Borussia Dortmund counterpart Jurgen Klopp after last night's Champions League semi-final, Fabio Coentrao appeared to call upon the services of fourth official Stephen Child to give his oral hygiene the once over.
Liverpool and Chelsea are to rival each other for Real Madrid left-back Fabio Coentrao. The Portuguese defender has been on Chelsea's radar for a while and could be a long-term successor to Ashley Cole. The Reds on the other hand are looking to dip their toes in the market, with manager Brendan Rodgers expected to be handed a £20m transfer kitty.
Liverpool and Chelsea will struggle to land Fabio Coentrao in the summer amid reports Real Madrid are ready to use him as a makeweight in their bid to sign Edinson Cavani, reports talkSPORT. The 25-year-old full-back cost Los Blancos £26.4million when he arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu from Benfica in 2011, but has fallen out of favour under Jose Mourinho, starting less than half of the club's Primera Division matches in 2012/13.
Paulo Bento has named his squad for the upcoming qualifiers for World Cup 2014, Portugal plays on the 12th inRussia and then receiveNorthern Irelandat home on the 16th. Portugal roster: Rui Patricio (Sporting) Beto (Braga) Eduardo (Istanbul BB) Miguel Lopes (FC Porto) Pepe (Real Madrid) Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid) Bruno Alves (Zenit) Luis Neto(Siena) Sereno(Valladolid) Joao Pereira
Champions League Matchday 2 Ajax Amsterdam vs Real Madrid Borussia Dortmund vs Manchester City
Who is this photographer who has been capturing what can best be described as 'Moments of Gold' from the Champions League?
After Manuel Neuer's show of unabashed Bromance at the Bayern Munich press conference yesterday, Real Madrid teammates Fabio Coentrao and Pepe have followed it up with this gem of a photo ahead of their meeting with Ajax Amsterdam.
Real Madrid and Portuguese national Fabio Coentrao has joined his teammates Mesut Ozil and
Cristiano Ronaldo, by adding a Ferrari California 4.3 (for the geeks, this model runs at 4,300CC
with speeds of up to 193 MPH!) to his car collection. With Coentrao's four-match ban coming into
effect soon, the defender will have plenty of time to drive around Madrid!
Paulo Bento has named his squad for the upcoming qualifiers for World Cup 2014, Portugal plays on
the 7th in Luxembourg and then receive Azerbaijan at home on the 11th. Portugal roster: Rui
Patricio (Sporting) Beto (Braga) Eduardo (Istanbul BB) Miguel Lopes (FC Porto) Pepe (Real Madrid)
Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid) Bruno Alves (Zenit) Nuno Coelho (Braga) Ricardo Costa (Valencia) Joao
FC Barcelona and Getafe both won while Sevilla and Valencia had to settle for draws in the
Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) on August 26, 2012.
Osasuna 1-2 FC Barcelona
Barcelona trailed at halftime but rallied with a brace from Lionel Messi. Osasuna defeated
Barcelona last season and looked ready for a repeat as Joseba Llorente scored in the 17th
minute.
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 in the first leg of the Supercopa de Espana. As expected, the
match was filled with heavy challenges and delicate dives, but one of the most graceful and odd
examples of Clasico physicality came early on when Leo Messi and Fabio Coentrao tangled.
The incident really sums up the whole dynamic at play in a Clasico -- Barcelona try to fly over
Real Madrid, but Real counter by rolling over on top of Barca and sticking their face in their
butts.
The second leg of the Spanish Super Cup between Real Madrid and Barcelona has been brought
forward a day as 11 of the potential participants are up for Europe's player of the year award on
August 30.
"UEFA have asked the Spanish federation (RFEF) to change the date for the second leg of the
Spanish Super Cup, from Aug 30th to the 29th.
Czech Republic vs Portugal
Quarter Final 1
Warsaw National Stadium | 20:45
You've definitely hit the jackpot of all Ballboy Jackpots if you're a
15-year-old Polish ball-boy assigned to Portugal's training session. Just ask these guys in
Opalenica, Poland, who lined up to get their kits signed by Real Madrid's favourite smoker,
Fabio Coentrao yesterday.
As Greece's upset victory in EURO 2004 proved, defense wins championships. A structured defense
will always guide a team towards success and helps contribute to a disciplined brand of soccer.
Here are the ten best defenders you will see in this summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine:
The Portuguese team set off on a bizarre "parade" all around Lisbon yesterday to mark their
final training session before official preparations for the tournament begin. However, in the
spotlight again is on our old friend, Cristiano Ronaldo, who apparently snubbed a
group of waiting fans outside a restaurant after dinner on Wednesday.
The Euro 2012 tournament continues to inch closer and Paulo Bento has named his 23 man squad with a
few surprises as the 2004 finalists look to get out of the Group of Death. Portugal's 23 man squad
Goalies: Rui Patricio (Sporting) Eduardo (Benfica) Beto (CFR Cluj) Defenders: Pepe (Real Madrid)
Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid) Bruno Alves (Zenit) Joao Pereira (Sporting) Ricardo Costa (
Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club! You know how things are here during this
time of the week a little loco - and the Crackovia folks have constantly
kept to their mantra by producing the craziest football sketches! This week, watch as Jose
Mourinho, Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrao break into a musical in the
middle of a classy restaurant.
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.
En el 2008 Austria y Suiza el mejor jugador fue Xavi Hernandez, en este 2012 su compañero Andres
Iniesta el Oliver Atom de carne y hueso para Marca es el jugador mas valioso.
Andrés Iniesta, centrocampista del FC Barcelona, ha sido declarado mejor jugador de la
Eurocopa de Polonia/Ucrania 2012, según informa hoy la UEFA en un comunicado.
The Euro 2012 tournament is now complete and Spain have been crowned the title holders once again,
in what was an entertaining tournament we now select our 23 man roster from the star performances
of the 2012 tournament.GoalkeepersIker Casillas (Spain), Gianluiga Buffon (Italy), Manuel Neuer
(Germany)DefendersPEPE (PORTUGAL), FABIO COENTRAO (PORTUGAL), Gerard Pique (Spain), Jorge Alba (
Spain backup goalkeeper Pepe Reina didn't do a whole lot during his side's repeat success at
Euro 2012 (aside from annoying Fabio Coentrao). So on the 2:45 a.m. flight home, Reina made himself
useful and helped the flight attendants out by performing the safety instructions.
Gerard Pique posted the video above on his Facebook page and aside from a couple of slip-ups,
all those years of flying to away matches seems to have had an influence on Reina because he has
the routine down.
UEFA announced its top 23 man squad and there are some eyebrow raisers with Steve Gerrard and
Daniele De Rossi included.
If we had to select an Englishman, then John Terry should have been a top
choice and he finds a place in Soccerblog's XI. As centre back, Terry was brilliant against Italy
and Ukraine.
Portugal defender Fabio Coentrao apparently did not appreciate whatever Spain backup goalkeeper
Pepe Reina was shouting from the bench because shortly before halftime in their Euro 2012 semifinal
match, Coentrao pointed to Reina and grabbed his crotch. This earned him one of the match's nine
yellow cards and didn't seem to make Reina anymore friendly.
For one special moment in Donetsk today, the Spanish national team forgot all about their rabid
political and cultural backgrounds to embrace and soak in what could only be called
Europhoria. That defining moment arrived when after 130 minutes of
praiseworthy efforts from Portugal, in particular Cesc Fabregas scored the
defining penalty kick to send Spain through to their fourth European Championship
final.
The Czech Republic managed just two shots (neither on target) in their 1-0 Euro 2012
quarterfinal loss to Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, had eight all by himself, including
the header that scored the match's only goal.
After a frustrating first half in which Ronaldo played brilliantly but just couldn't hit
anything but the post, his persistence finally payed off when Joao Moutinho delivered an excellent
cross to set up his equally excellent header in the 79th minute.
Petr Cech Rui Patricio Theodor Gebre Selassie Joao Pereira Tomas Sivok Pepe Michal Kadlec Bruno
Alves David Limbersky Fabio Coentrao 86′ Tomas Hübschman Miguel Veloso Jaroslav Plasil 88′
Raul Meireles Petr Jiracek Joao Moutinho 61′ Vladimir Darida 84′ Nani Vaclav Pilar
40′ Hélder Postiga Milan Baros Cristiano Ronaldo
In the first of 4 Quarter Finals set to take place over the next few days Portugal find
themselves facing a Czech Republic side who are probably still grateful to have progressed past the
group stage after some hairy moments involving Poland, Russia and Greece. The Czech side have
leaked some pretty awful goals at times, with the normally ever-reliable and occasionally
unbeatable Petr Cech looking a different keeper when compared to his brilliant performances in a
Chelsea shirt last season.
France vs Sweden
Matchday 3 Group D
Olympic Stadium | 21:45
Philippe Mexes, along with Adil Rami and Ben
Arfa, enjoyed a leisurely stroll during France's training session in Kiev yesterday.
Technically, Laurent Blanc's squad are allowed to have a little bit of a laugh
about the Swedes including Ikea's infamous meatballs and terrible furniture- but there's just too
much to play for tonight!
Formation [ 4-3-3 ] [ 4-2-3-1 ] Rui Patricio Maarten Stekelenburg Joao Pereira Gregory van der
Wiel Bruno Alves Ron Vlaar Pepe Joris Mathijsen Fabio Coentrao Jetro Willems Raul Meireles Nigel de
Jong Miguel Veloso Rafael van der Vaart Joao Moutinho Arjen Robben Nani Robin van Persie Hélder
Postiga Wesley Sneijder Cristiano Ronaldo Klaas Jan [.
The Portuguese 'Seleccao' paid an official visit to President Anibal Cavaco
Silva at the Belem Presidential Palace yesterday ahead of their trip to Ukraine today.
Naturally, their national icon- whether they like it or not (here's looking at you, Bruno
Alves!
Denmark Lineup (4-2-3-1): Stephan Andersen; Simon Poulsen, Daniel Agger, Simon Kjaer, Lars
Jacobsen; Niki Zimling, William Kvist; Michael Krohn-Delhi, Christian Eriksen, Dennis Rommedahl;
Nicklas Bendtner
Portugal Lineup (4-3-3): Rui Patricio; Fabio Coentrao, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Joao Pereira; Miguel
Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles; Cristiano Ronaldo, Helder Postiga, Nani
Television Broadcast Information: Wednesday, June 13th, 12 p.
Tottenham have alerted the football world that the North London club may be on the prowl for a left-back this summer as Andre Villas-Boas recently indicated that current defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto does not appear to be in his long-term plans.
The 29-year-old has struggled this season both with injury and limited minutes with the excellent play from Kyle Naughton and Jan Vertonghen.
In Liverpool's previous two matches, Brendan Rodgers has used a peculiar 'flipped' left side of the pitch, with nominal left-back Jose Enrique on the left of midfield, and left-winger Stewart Downing at left-back.
It's had mixed results: Enrique has rediscovered his form, but Downing doesn't look any more confident at left-back.
