On a weekend where Castilla graduates who have found their way to the Premier League gave a good account of themselves (Granero for QPR and Javi Garcia for Man City) – the ‘mothership' crashed and burned in Seville. It was as abject a performance as I can remember from a Real Madrid squad – let alone a Jose Mourinho one.
Sunday's Liverpool-Arsenal match at Anfield is the marquee matchup of the weekend, but there
are a bunch of games worth checking in on if you're looking for something to watch. Â Especially if
any of the transfer activity shows up on the pitch.
Here are our picks a few games each from the Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A (plus one from
the Eredivisie):
Saturday, Sept 1
10:00am Tottenham Hotspur vs Norwich City Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes
12:30pm Manchester City vs Queens Park Rangers Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes
2:45pm Bologna vs Milan beIN Sport 1 USA, RAI Interna.
Loftus Road phones and faxes have been plenty busy this transfer deadline as Esteban Granero
becomes another victim of Real Madrid's proud cantera system, a homegrown lifeline replenishing the
club with talent before they went Galactico.
It's TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY! Deals can get done until 11pmBST tonight (= 6pmET), and no doubt
there will be plenty of last minute wheeling and dealing. Follow along via the Guardian's liveblog
if you're so inclined.
Amid all that is some actual action on the field. The European super cup is today the UEFA
Champions League winner vs the Europa League winner, so Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid.
Standing on a stage next to the two most prolific goal scorers in the world, Andres Iniesta
finally received his due.
Iniesta was chosen as the 2011-12 UEFA Best Player in Europe, beating out Barcelona teammate
Lionel Messi and Real Madrid nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo to take home the individual honors that were
voted on by a panel of 53 European journalists at the UEFA Champions League draw in Monaco on
Thursday.
QPR show extreme ambition with transer window activity - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
QPR escaped Premier League relegation by the skin of their teeth last season, securing their
top-flight status on the last day of the campaign despite losing 3-2 to Manchester City. The club's
owner Tony Fernandes is obviously keen to avoid such a nail-biting finale to 2012-13, with a very
busy transfer window heralding a number of new players for the Loftus Road outfit.
Queens Park Rangers are on the verge of landing midfielder Esteban Granero after agreeing a
transfer fee with Real Madrid earlier today.
Granero, 25, still needs to agree personal terms and pass a medical at Loftus Road before
completing the switch but given the limited opportunities the Spaniard has had in Madrid, the move
is very likely to be completed before the transfer window shuts.
A Full Bernabeu beholds a Ronaldo Goal - What a Magnificent Sight!
3 Points down, 3 Points to go: for our 32nd La Liga Title. After Ronaldo's fabulous opener and
Benzema's brace last night, we needed a Barca loss to Rayo to get our hands on the Trophy. Last
night however, Barca made Rayo ‘pay for the broken plates': thus, we are now left with the
arduous task of winning the title at one of Spain's Football Temples, Athletic Bilbao's San Mames
– current home of Pep Guardiola's mentor (Marcelo Bielsa) this Wednesday.
Euphoria / Relief / Self-Belief: EVERYONE in the team knew what Ronaldo did last Saturday - he
scored THE critical goal for us once again Well, we didn't exactly wipe the floor with Sporting
Gijon as I wished. We beat them nonetheless in an unglamorous remontada of sorts: the kind
of remontada one dislikes watching because we went down 0-1 not really because Sporting sucker
punched us or put our backs to the wall – but because we shot ourselves in the foot.
Between them they have scored an amazing 74 goals. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo
Higuain have established themselves as La Liga's ultimate strike trio after they led their side to
another impressive display against Osasuna last night.
Both Higuain and Ronaldo scored twice to ensure a comfortable 5- win for Los Blancos who prepare
to face APOEL in a return leg Champions League quarter final fixture on Wednesday.
Ahead of their Champions League tie against APOEL, Real Madrid's midfielder, Sami Khedira spoke
about his team's chances especially with the absent of important midfielder, Xabi Alonso, who is
suspended for the first leg.
Although admitting that Alonso's presence is huge for Los Blancos, Khedira believes that his
team have an adequate replacement for the Spanish international, adding his confident in getting a
positive result in Cyprus.
Real Madrid are clear favorites in their Champions League quarter final clash with Cyprus
representative, APOEL, but their coach, Jose Mourinho, refused to call it a walk in the park
especially for the first leg match at Nicosia, Cyprus.
Mourinho warned his players that playing against a team that shrugged off the challenge of FC
Porto, Shaktar Donetsk and Olympique Lyon are not to be taken lightly at all, stating that it will
be a difficult away match indeed.
Last night, Real Madrid were given the most glorious opportunity to go to bed with a 13-point lead
over Barcelona. It was an opportunity that was as clear as day: against a bottom team who were on a
freefall (Racing Santander), at home and on the back of what has largely been a sweet Valentine's
Month for Real Madrid.
COUNT 'EM UP! Messi and Pique counting the number of points we have over Barca. Say 'Cheese'
Guys.
Last week it was 7up. This week, we're all out of names of fizzy drinks to describe our lead: it's
now TEN points. 10. Beautiful.. Sid Lowe had some great feel-good reading material re: Real Madrid
too (read the full article here):
It's been 7 days since the beginning of the Dragon Year – and here we are 7 points ahead of Barca
in the league table. Our 3-1 over Zaragoza and Barca's 0-0 (their first scoreless game in 15
matches) made sure of that. In a league where the margins of error between a league title or a
bridesmaid finish is a hairline, 7 points is gold – it gives us that all-important precious
margin for error: to account for that somewhat inevitable match that will see us drop points
against a Levante, Sporting or.
The fallout from last week's El Clasico loss was astounding. The fallout from the coming El Clasico
– should we lose (which is a likely event) will perhaps be equally astounding. . The players are
shit – we need to buy 6 new players. We need a new defense We need a new midfield, We need better
strikers.
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.
Real Madrid will allow Esteban Granero to leave the Santiago Bernabeu on loan this month, with the
midfielder a reported target for Liverpool.
The 25-year-old has made only five appearances for Real this season and is desperate for more
regular first-team action.
According to SER Deportivos, Los Blancos are now offering Granero to potential suitors, with a view
to a loan agreement for the remainder of the season.
Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we bring you the wacky and pinky side of football. Today, read
about Irina Shayk turning down 'Playboy', Neymar's Singing Antics, Podolski's Future and Granero's
Miami Escapade.
The world's most favourite footballer to hate, Cristiano Ronaldo, recently
visited Dubai with his namorada, Irina Shayk.
SPANISH FOOTBALL action with four matches played tonight of the 2 º leg of the SPANISH CUP last 32
Clubs. Below is a brief & rapid run through events, final results & scorers. Varane REAL MADRID
defeated comfortably PONFERRADINA 5 - 1 ( 7 - 1 agg ) with a team full of "reserves" ( Altintop,
Callejon, Sahin, Joselu, Varane, Casado, Granero.
The Daily Mirror is reporting that Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero is 'desperate' to join
the Gunners in January. This coming after Arsene Wenger insisted that he is happy with the squad at
hand and is unlikely to sign anyone this coming transfer window. "At the moment, in the transfer we
are just interested in [.
According to the Mirror, Arsène Wenger has ruled himself out of a possible move for Real Madrid
midfielder Esteban Granero. If this is true, it seems like a sudden end to his apparent interest
that has been ongoing since the summer. Being linked with a player from the likes of Real Madrid
may sound promising [.
Interesting news piece from Spanish Sports paper "Marca" that has been revealed in todays edition.
Apparently earlier in the week ARSENAL representatives travelled to Madrid to have discussions with
REAL MADRID Football Director Miguel Pardeza. The topic of conversation was midfielder ESTEBAN
GRANERO with a personal message from Arsene Wenger of his interest in having the player over to
London in
There was Benze-cat, and now there's Cris Charming. Yuck. .
"He's NOT handsome!" was my wife's instant reply when I read Cristiano's post-game comments to her.
I can only suppose that this is what happens when you read out comments that epitomize the
arrogance of an ex-Manchester United Player to a Liverpool fan.
.At 12 midnight, after watching Liverpool go down 0-1 to Stoke, I decided to take a nap prior to
Real Madrid's match which would be at 2am Singapore time: deciding to give Real Sociedad- Barcelona
a miss. Before dozing off though, Barca was already 2-0 up with just over 15 minutes into the game.
The Real Madrid fans are in a barracking mood, just like the fans giving stick to Arsene Wenger.
The Barca game blew up in their face because Mou decided to stick 11 men behind the ball and with
the exception of an 11th minute of enterprise, played like he was afraid to lose which is exactly
what happened.
Jose Mourinho's intentions were perfectly telegraphed as he consigned Mesut Oezil and Esteban
Granero to anonymity. He started three holding midfielders with Lassana Diarra, Xabi Alonso, and
Pepe in a deliberate park the bus tactics. The last mentioned was relocated to midfield from his
usual centre back position with Sergio Ramos partnering Ricardo Carvalho.
- QPR's Les Allen Turned Seventy-Five Yesterday: Maybe the Club Would Like to have him as Guest
for the Chelsea Game!
- QPR REPORT on TWITTER! - QPR REPORT MESSAGEBOARD - QPR in Video
- QPR History: From the 1880s to the 21st Century: Bushman QPR Photo Archives_____________________________________________________________
- PFA's List of Players Out of Contract/Looking for Clubs -including Buzsaky, Borrowdale &
Deane
- Eleven Years Ago: Brian Melzac Consortium Seeks to Buy QPR
- Sixteen Years Ago: QPR Linked to Terry Venables and Alan Curbishly to Replace Ray
Wilkins
- The Official QPR Players and Staff (and Owners) Twitter List
Club by Club List of the 25 Squads and who Counts as Home Grown`
Queens Park Rangers - 25 squad players
Player Home Grown
1 Green, Robert Paul Yes
2 Diakite, Samba No
3 Traore, Armand Yes
4 Derry, Shaun Peter Yes
5 Ferdinand, Anton Julian Yes
6 Hill, Clinton Scott Yes
7 Park, Ji-Sung No
8 Johnson, Andrew Yes
9 Cisse, Djibril No
10 Taarabt, Adel Yes
11 Wright-Phillips, Shaun Cameron Yes
12 Mackie, James Charles Yes
13 Onuoha, Chinedum Yes
14 Mbia Etoundi, Stephane No
15 Nelsen, Ryan William No
16 Dyer, Kieron Courtney Yes
17 Pereira da Silva, Fabio Yes
18 Ephraim, Hogan Yes
19 Hoilett, David Wayne Yes
20 Murphy, Brian No
21 Zamora, Robert Lester Yes
22 Soares De Espindola, Julio Cesar No
23 Faurlin, Alejandro Damian No
24 Granero Molina, Esteban Felix No
25 Bosingwa Da Silva, Jose No
Queens Park Rangers - Under 21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Adekunle, Oluwatobi Aliu
Andrade, Bruno Miguel Carvalho
Beckles, Benjamin John
Brown, Ben
Buck, Jordan Winston Bryan
Champion, Frederick
Comley, Brandon
Daly, James Christopher
Doughty, Michael Edward
Downs, Jake Louis
Ehmer, Maximilian Andreas
Fitzpatrick, David Hugh Aborlo
Francis, Adam Royston Lawrence
Furlong, Darnell Anthony
Gibbons, Jordan Leon Chidubem
Harriman, Michael Grant
Hitchcock, Thomas Joseph
Hubble, Conor Stephen James
Hunt-Laurent, Joshua Ishaele Jacob-Heron
Koeris, Justin Vernon
Kpekawa, Cole Desmond
Lennox, Aaron Keith
Lumley, Joseph Patrick
Magri, Samuel John
Mitchell, Aaron
Nguemkam Monthe, Emmanuel Gaetan
Page, William Alexander
Parmenter, Taylor Louis
Petrasso, Michael
Sendles-White, Jamie Alexander
Shariff, Abdalla Mohamed
Skapetis, Petros
Smith, Mark David
Sutherland, Frankie Jay
Trani, Tommaso
Wise, Harly John
Young, Ryan Lee - Premiership
Ian Cooper/London 24 - QPR Q and A: Chief executive on transfers, Hughes, Green and the
future
Phil Beard answers questions on Rangers' summer of spending, and tells London24 that the focus must
now be on developing the club's own youth policy
Q: With the transfer window now closed, do you feel that QPR have done good business?
The day after Fabrice Muamba collapsed with heart related issues, a Third Division Spanish player
Sergio Granero also collapsed from a heart attack during a match.
Now less than a month later Piermario Morosini has died of a multiple heart attack playing for
Livorno.
19.02.2012 - Eran tiempos en que Argentina, "granero del mundo", estaba llamada a ser
potencia mundial. Gobernaba Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear y el PBI argentino era el sexto en
todo el globo.
Entonces (en 1926), Alfredo Fortabat (1894-1976) oriundo de OlavarrÃa, descubre piedra
caliza junto a las sierras de la estancia San Jacinto, en la localidad de Loma Negra, y
comienza con su proyecto de fabricar cemento.
It is being reported this morning that Arsene Wenger has not finished his investment in the growing
Arsenal squad, and is still looking for another top class creative midfielder, and it seems he is
now looking at another cast-off from one of Spain's giants. This time the focus is on the
out-of-favour midfielder Estaban Granero, [.
