Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, your weekly dose of futbol gossip! This week, Balotelli shows off his shoe-collection, Sergio Ramos becomes a father for the first time, the WAGS turn up in style for Arsenal and Chelsea and West Ham get into selfie mode.
We start off this week’s Offbeat Wednesday column with a photo of Mario Balotelli’s amazing shoe collection… which begs the question : Do you recognize a common theme in the shoes? (bling!)
As they say, real men wear pink – and in this case – Balotelli’s colourful personality probably played a part in his quirky collection, which he photographed for his Instagram feed!
Anyway, there’s no way half of this lot will be making its way to Brazil next month – they’ll all be laughing at the sight of this on Copacabana beach! It’s time to switch to flip flops, Mario!
Real Madrid and Spain national defender, Sergio Ramos, officially became a father yesterday after his partner, Pilar Rubio, gave birth to her first child at the Sanitas La Moral hospital in Madrid.
Ramos named his son after him, Sergio, and announced that both mother and baby were in a healthy and safe condition. As confirmed by Real Madrid, the newborn baby arrived at 19.43pm on Tuesday and weighed 3.2 kilos.
It was the first pregnancy of Pilar, a Spanish TV journalist, who had a natural birth. Ramos shared the following statement with his friends and fans last night :
“Hello everyone. Together with my life, Pilar Rubio and myself, Sergio Ramos, we would like to share with you the immense joy we feel towards the birth of our first child, Sergio Ramos Rubio.
“Both the child and Pilar are in perfect condition. The arrival of our son fills us with happiness and we are very pleased that everything worked out perfectly. want to thank in advance all respect to this great news and your unconditional support . Thank you for always being with us! A big hug.”
Arsenal army of ‘WAGS‘ turned up in style on the last day of their club’s final home game to support their husbands and boyfriends.
Among them were Bacary Sagna’s wife Ludivine and Laurent Koscielny’s wife Claire, who posed in front of the Emirates tunnel as they got behind their loved ones for the final home game of Arsenal’s season.
Their partners including Jack Wilshere, Thomas Vermaelen, Lukasz Fabianski, Tomas Rosicky, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, Sagna, Olvier Giroud and Koscielny were all in attendance as the Gunners eased to a 1-0 victory against West Brom.
Following the Blues’ 0-0 draw with Norwich, a number of Chelsea ‘WAGs’ watched on from the sidelines as Chelsea players did a lap of the Stamford Bridge pitch to show the fans their appreciation for the support they’ve given this season.
Frank Lampard’s fiancee Christine Bleakley (seen carrying the orange bag above) took pictures on her mobile before the midfielder strolled over and handed her a par of his boots to hold.
Meanwhile, Liverpool held their end of the season player awards (for both the men’s and women’s squad) last night and as expected, Luis Suarez scooped up the highest honours.
Suarez, who has scored 31 goals in 35 games this term, landed the Player of the Year, Supporters’ Player of the Year and Goal of the Season awards for his impressive strike against Norwich.
Captain Steven Gerrard himself lavished praise on his teammate and said : “I don’t have to mention his talent, you can see it out there, and he is a fighter who doesn’t give up. There is some disappointment looming around but if this fella stays around for a few more years I think there will be some really big nights.”
Of course, Liverpool were left feeling a tad disappointed after their title hopes were dashed after blowing a 3-0 lead against Crystal Palace earlier in the day.
And the players were seen posing in a group photo before the awards show in Liverpool’s city centre last night.
Last but not least, West Ham and their players had time for a little ‘selfie’ at the Grovesnor House hotel in London last night. Obviously, the one to orchestrate it was the Goldilocks of the Premier League himself, Andy Caroll!
Clearly, everyone was relieved to get to next season and controversial boss Sam Allardyce even took to the stage and offered an honest assessment of the Hammers’ season.
‘We haven’t done as well this year as we did last. We have survived, but we wanted to do better. Growing the squad is what it’s all about. It has been a difficult season but some positives have come out of it.
‘We have to plan where we’re going and how we’re going to build this Club. That’s what we’ll do.’ – Sam Allardyce
