From the least surprising news ever department comes the revelation that Cristiano Ronaldo would like to vote for himself in this year's Ballon d'Or race. Realizing that he will need every vote he can get to once again beat Lionel Messi to the award after losing out to him the last three years in a row and shaking his fist at the rule that prevents him from voting the way he wants, Ronaldo once again demonstrates his enjoyable level of honesty.
Antonio Valencia has given his reaction to being given the #7 shirt for next season, following
on in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona and George Best.
"I take the shirt with pride, but also with humility," said Valencia. "The number 7
is very special. In recent years, few players have worn it.
Back in town on international duty over the weekend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was honoured by his
first professional club with a slab on Malmo's 'Walk of Fame' outside the Swedish side's Swedbank
Stadion and accepted the nod with typical humility:
"It is a great honor, it means that I have done something during my career.
Back in town on international duty over the weekend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was honoured by his
first professional club with a slab on Malmo's 'Walk of Fame' outside the Swedish side's Swedbank
Stadion and accepted the nod with typical humility:
"It is a great honor, it means that I have done something during my career.
Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol and manager Pep Guardiola have hailed the strength and physical
superiority of AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the Spanish champions prepare to host the
Italian champions at Camp Nou tonight.
The mouth-watering Champions League quarterfinal clash between the two sides started with a
goalless draw in the first leg played at the San Siro last week, with Milan widely praised for
their ability to stop the Barca goal-scoring machine from appearing on the score-sheet.
Abou Diaby has opened up about the extent of his sadness during a long spell on the sidelines
last season, conceding that there were moments when he was depressed to be out of action.
Diaby, 26, made a total of five appearances across all competitions for Arsenal last season and
despite making a successful return to start off the current campaign, the Frenchman has not
forgotten his frustrating journey to regaining full fitness.
Manchester United forward Robin van Persie believes that the introduction of Paul Scholes and
not his hat-trick was the main reason why the Red Devils came from behind to beat Southampton 3-2
yesterday.
Van Persie scored United's first equalizer minutes following Rickie Lambert's early opening goal
and even after Morgan Schneiderlin restored the Saints' advantage, the Dutchman added two late
goals to secure all three points for Sir Alex Ferguson's men.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that humility and a disciplined work ethic has been the key
to his side's perfect defensive start to the campaign, with the Gunners keeping three consecutive
clean sheets despite missing their first-choice goalkeeper in the last two outings.
Wojciech Szczesny was absent and 24-year old third-choice stopper Vito Mannone had to deputize
in the goal as Arsenal made tricky trips to Stoke and Liverpool.
The dust is very gradually settling on an almost entirely successful London Olympic Games. And
the BBC aren't about to let us forget how good they were, as they had as successful a Games as
anybody – even "Square Eyes", the TV critic in satirical magazine Private Eye, gave the BBC's
Games coverage a great review, and (s)he never gives great reviews.
I was reading the online version of my hometown newspaper yesterday when I noticed a breaking
news article referring to QPR bad boy Joey Barton possibly training over the next few months with
League Two newcomers Fleetwood Town. I found it strange that they would want to embark on such a
publicity roller-coaster but having read about Fleetwood owner Andy Pilley's tremendous ambitions
for his club, it really should come as no surprise to any of us.
I was reading the online version of my hometown newspaper yesterday when I noticed a breaking
news article referring to QPR bad boy Joey Barton possibly training over the next few months with
League Two newcomers Fleetwood Town. I found it strange that they would want to embark on such a
publicity roller-coaster but having read about Fleetwood owner Andy Pilley's tremendous ambitions
for his club, it really should come as no surprise to any of us.
Happy Friday to you. 13th a number lucky to some and not so much to others. We find today a
story on a young centre back at Arsenal who might be going out on loan to a Championship club.
Ignasi Miquel is supposedly on the radar of Brighton who are riding on the wave of their success in
recent seasons.
Liverpool's Joe Cole insists that despite the club's Premier League struggles in recent years,
they are ready to turn their fortunes around under new boss Brendan Rodgers next season.
Rodgers has placed his faith in Cole following the midfielder's disappointing 2010-11 campaign,
which led to last season's loan spell at Lille.
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny is very disappointed to see club and country teammate Bacary
Sagna miss Euro 2012 through injury but looks forward to seeing the right-back on the football
pitch again.
Sagna endured an injury-plagued 2011-12 club campagin, suffering heart-break against Tottenham
at White Hart Lane in October last year before re-injuring himself in the 3-3 draw against Norwich
a month ago.
Saturday's El Clasico defeat to Real Madrid put Barcelona on the verge of losing their domestic
crown and after watching Chelsea also knock them off their Champions League throne last night,
manager Pep Guardiola feels that luck evaded the Catalans this season.
Guardiola, typically known for showing humility in his post-match press conferences, lost his
cool earlier this week as the Spanish media sought explanation for his usage of youngster Cristian
Tello during such a decisive stretch of matches.
Here's something: The Two Unfortunates has a piece on Wycombe Wanderers managers, and of course
this little group contains one Lawrie Sanchez:
"Part-Mafioso, part Churchillian leader, Lawrie's astonishing assuredness throughout the run was
hugely inspiring to players and fans – he never for a second seemed in doubt that we could win
the whole damned thing"
A lot of Fulham fans didn't like the cut of Sanchez's jib.
Here's something: The Two Unfortunates has a piece on Wycombe Wanderers managers, and of course
this little group contains one Lawrie Sanchez:
"Part-Mafioso, part Churchillian leader, Lawrie's astonishing assuredness throughout the run was
hugely inspiring to players and fans – he never for a second seemed in doubt that we could win
the whole damned thing"
A lot of Fulham fans didn't like the cut of Sanchez's jib.
John Hackworth spoke at Wednesday's press conference about life as a the Union's new head coach.
"The days have been long, but I enjoy the work. The group of guys that we are working with and the
whole staff has been fantastic...but there is a lot of work to be done and it's the type of work
anyone in my shoes would like to do.
This article titled "Euro 2012: Paulo Bento must raise the temperature of his Portugal team" was
written by Kevin McCarra in Warsaw, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 19th June 2012 10.57 UTC
International football has a valuable role in drumming humility into some players who would
otherwise be wholly besotted with themselves.
Oleh Blokhin has reiterated that his Ukraine side is still far from qualifying for the UEFA Euro
2012 quarterfinals despite entering this evening's battle against France atop Group D.
In his pre-match press conference, Blokhin told reporters that his philosophy is not entirely
down to humility and that he truly believes that France and England his team's next two opponents
are global leaders in football.
Steven Gerrard has worn the England armband on numerous occasions, but he will head into Euro 2012
believing, for the first time, he has the authority of a captain.
I know how thrilled he was to receive the phone call from Roy Hodgson confirming he was the choice
to lead his country. I also know how desperately disappointed he felt when the caretaker manager,
Stuart Pearce, decided he would not be given the captaincy in the England friendly with Holland.
Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra has told England that France's preparations for the
Euro 2012 clash between the two nations next Monday is going strong.
Evra, who was surrounded with controversy due to temperamental behavior during France's
disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa two years ago, has seen manager Laurent Blanc revive
the fortunes of an under-achieving Les Blues side in incredible fashion.
On the day that Gary Cahill had to withdraw from England's Euro 2012 squad with the
inexperienced Liverpool defender, Martin Kelly, taking his place, the 'representative' of Rio
Ferdinand has blasted both the FA and manager Roy Hodgson for failing to pick his client.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has emphasized the importance of composure and humility
during the most successful period of his career, both with the team and individually.
Hart won his second consecutive Barclays Golden Glove award en route to City's thrilling title
win earlier this month and the young stopper continues to hear praises after linking up with his
international teammates during England's Euro 2012 training camp.
Robert Downey Junior's footballing twin (the similarities are incredibly
uncanny in this photo above!), Xavi Hernandez, has declared that he'd
like nothing better than to win another World Cup for Spain at Brazil 2014. After all that
delirium, you'd think the "La Furia" blokes would prefer to settle down and retire by the
sandy beaches of Mallorca.
Lets face it. The actor who played Aragorn is not a fan of the Real Madrid manager. He was in
Madrid to promote his new film and he took time off to say what he thought of Jose Mourinho who has
had his share of run ins with the milder mannered Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova but would never
do the same with Diego Simeone.
Will there ever be a ballplayer who doesn't want the money and the fame?
What if there was a 19 year-old talent who played with the same reckless abandon as Bryce Harper,
but gave all his money away to charity? He decides to only keep enough money for the bare
necessities.
He doesn't accept endorsement offers, give interviews to the press or provide autographs for
anyone.
After the United States women's team downed Japan 2-1 to win the gold medal at the Olympics
Women's Football Final on Thursday night, goalkeeper Hope Solo found the time to
grab a specially created cappucino today in between doing media interviews in London. The prospect
of meeting the press usually involves copious amounts of caffeine (as Mesut Ozil would tell you)
and in Hope's case, she would've probably needed it after a night of hard partying!
For the time being, this has pretty much ceased to be about Rangers. As the Scottish Football
League prepares for its General Meeting on Friday, at which we may (or may not) get a final
decision on their league placement for next season, Rangers themselves have assumed the position of
bemused onlookers.
Good morning to you, a quick Saturday round-up after what has been a turbulent week.
It'd be nice if we could get away from the RVP/Usmanov stuff but that's rather fanciful, to be
honest. There have been some whispers that Robin is somewhat taken aback by the reaction to the
statement, as if there was no expectation of a backlash, but I'm not sure how much I believe
that.
When England take to the field in Kiev this evening to play Ukraine in their final group match
at this years European Championships, the task ahead of them will be simple enough, mathematically,
at least. A draw will be enough to take the team through to the quarter-finals of the competition,
while a win may, depending on any margin of victory and what happens in this evenings other match
between France and Sweden, be enough for them to win their group.
This girl right here is a big shot. She makes all kinds of important things happen with
important people.
Don't believe us?
Botafogo's Renan Dos Santos. Does he do requests? Image via bfr.com.br
Fernanda Maia was acting as ball girl for Botafoga in the Brazilian Campeonato Carioca Final
last week, when the ball was belted into touch by a Vasco de Gama player.
