Fútbolita

So there was no need to scratch our heads to decide this week’s Sunday Señor! After scoring a hat-trick, surely Antonella‘s man, The Messiah, deserves high praise! She must have done something during the holidays to help her novia find his form again for Barca. And no, it can’t be the churrascaria.

Anyway, David Maravilla must also be smiling, because it’s his first major tournament for Los Cules, and he walked away with a shiny new medal! Un buen comienzo de la temporada, for sure.

And here’s a bonus of Pique the Pout doing what he does best (besides enjoying the DJ lifestyle – no kidding)… showering booze! You know that they’ve got loads of champagne bottles stocked up in the dressing room, so he’s not worried that they’ll run out of it anytime soon. If they do, Bojan can always make a quick run for the supermart near his home.

Desde luego… it had to be Diegooool Milito! No one else was going to capitalize on this stellar opportunity to cap what was a fantastic season off with two goals in a Champions League final. The Nerazzurri will be undoubtedly chanting his name for the rest of the year perhaps, but it is a great moment that deserves to be celebrated. Milito has worked incredibly hard throughout the season, and it’s no secret that he is an equally modest tio.

Next on the agenda for our Sunday Senor is the World Cup with Argentina. Granted, it will be difficult to fight with the attackers The Dona tends to favour, but who knows what he’s capable of then? And so we wait…!

Yes, it’s Falcao’s day today! And no, we’re not referring to Uncle Falcão, the man who played in the 1982′ and 86′ World Cup for the selecao). Instead, it was Hulk’s best friend in Porto who scored two goals last night against União de Leria. The Colombian was a former River Plate graduate and also an extremely religious man (and according to the Mirror, runs two youth groups in church called Locos por Jesús” and “Campeones para Cristo”)

With that, we bid goodbye to the Portuguese liga season, which is Benfica’s for the taking tonight!

Photo via abola

Chicas and amigos will probably laugh when they read this, but the fact still remains it’s been eight years and Ricky here still remains Jugador más querido for us! It’s also his birthday weekend, and we’ve watched him grow from the awkward 18 year old boy (in tio Scolari’s anti-Romario 2002 World Cup squad) to the genius of a man he is today. He is honestly an inspiration to us all and best of all, Carol is the sweetest bella ever (yes, we’ve been in touch.. more on that comin’ up!) and together with baby Luca, they make one big happy y gawwwwjus family!

Tipo also scored the winner against Real Zaragoza last night, which caps off his birthday celebrations with the Madridistas. And as he always says .. “Um grande abraço!”

via AP, Reuters

No one particularly stood out in Spain or Italy last night (and in England, we presume everyone from Louis Walsh to Tevez’s milkman is talking about this kiss… Oh sálvame, mío Dios!) So we decided to turn our attention to Germany because Cacau from Stuttgart scored twice in their 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Clearly, he’s Die Roten’s hero!

Well, mano knows there’s a chance Dopey watches the Bundesliga when he’s not busy trawling the beach. But the Brazilian talent pool is too complicated to even breach which is why Cacau is now playing for Germany!

So este domingo effectively belongs to a man from Espanyol named Pablo Osvaldo! He helped himself to a nice two goal rout of Sevilla last night. Fabulousoooo is still recovering from his injury while Kanoute didn’t put on such a spirited performance, so this meant Espanyol got all three points and basically snapped their fingers at our faces. Ok, ok.. Buen trabajo, muchachos! Also, parabens to Señor Osvaldo, who also receives a limited-edition sash for doing so well in the presence of a sleepy looking Dona below.

via Gettyimages

It takes a real man to stand up in the face of pressure and for Rafael van der Vaart, the lucky stars were on his side last night! Tipo scored Madrid’s decisive (and winning goal) against Sevilla in the 90th minute. He received a yellow card moments later for removing his shirt but the way he celebrated his goal speaks volumes about his desire to contribute to the Madridistas! Tanta pasión, ¿no? Chances haven’t been on Rafael’s side as of late, but could this be divine intervention for our Sunday Señor?

Also, Sylvie had better laid a nice steak for him on the table….

via Reuters & Catenaccio.nl

So the only name you should be chanting today is Cacau! (and Senor Pep, of course). Cacau is a Brazilian-born German national team player (ah, a concorrência!) who  scored four goals in Stuttgart’s 5-1 win last night against Cologne. This man is on a roll… so surely, he deserves the Sunday Señor title of the week!

via AP

It’s the little things that count most these days for Juventus and in yesterday’s encounter against Livorno, they needed defender Nicola Legrottagli to save their ASSinis! And look, our Sunday Señor this week even pulled up a holier-than-thou shirt after scoring which translates to “Jesus is the Truth”. No surprise here… Nicola is known to be one of the more religious Italian footballers who is anti-homosexuality (like Cannavaro) and whose favourite book is the Holy Bible. Could Nicola be the Kaka of the Serie A? Quick, Francesco Coco asked for a rehabilitation slot!

Here’s a bonus of Nicola looking bored at a DSquared Fashion show in Milan. The models don’t wear anything at those shows so it’s safe to say that he’s in disagreement!

via Reuters

Parabens to Alvaro Negredo who has had a great, great week with Sevilla! And thanks to his solitary goal against Almeria last night, he helped Los palanganas climb out of a run of 4-match defeats. Now now, it was an easy goal but don’t forget that he also scored against Deportivo in the midweek Copa del Ray clash.

Looking at Alvaro, he looks like he should be in a telenovela playing the role of a suave boyfriend, but Gracias a Dios we have him in football! And if he keeps this up, Uncle Del Bosque will have many reasons to stop playing FIFA 10 and finally get down to that list (no, not the grocery list- it’s the crucial striker list!). Anyway, here’s a cute photo of the Negrado brothers smiling for the cameras. Is that Jason Mraz in the middle?

Who is Racing Santander’s Sergio Canales? And why should you care about him? Because he scored two goals against Sevilla, is one of Spanish football’s hot prospects…. and is only 18. Before you scream jail bait and Bobojan, we urge you to watch tipo’s double against the Palanganas below. His phone must be ringing non-stop with calls from shady agents today (“Salve, Sergio! We are from Berlusconi’s office – would you like to come to AC Milan?”) But of course… he is our Sunday Señor after all!

Here’s Sergio with Racing fans looking pretty amable!

Photos via via Racinguistas & Reuters

You could argue that the World Club Cup stage belonged to the Messiah after that fitting extra-time goal last night, but futbolitas, without that moment of brilliance from Pedro, Barca could’ve well handed victory on a plate to Estudiantes. If anyone deserves to be lauded for showcasing Barca’s ability to turn a game around, it’s Senor Rodríguez. He anticipated that ball superbly – and that amount of initiative can only be described as IMPRESIONANTE! Deberíamos enviar a nuestros hijos a La Masia (haah!)

By the way, Pedro is the only player in history to score in six different club competitions during a single season. He has now scored in the La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, European Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. What else can you say but ¡bien hecho!

via AP and AFP

So Werder Bremen thrashed Freiburg 6-0 last night in the Bundesliga (See, they don’t even need Diego aka Survivor Contestant No. 91255 these days). As for Hugo Almeida, we’ve not heard from him for a while so it was finally nice to see the Portuguese striker helping himself to a double.

Also, did you know that Almeida is lovely family man who he doesn’t travel anywhere without a photo of his two daughters, Marianna and Matilde? His wife, Andreia added that he doesn’t go anywhere without his “mobile phone, computer and PSP” either. Ah, isso é muito típico ... She added that the ‘most difficult time’ for the family was when Hugo had to go play at the Euro 2008.

“Once, he forgot his phone in Viseu and I had to go all the way there to collect it for him,” Andreia recalled. Now now, isn’t that what a mulher is for? We’re off to find a broom now….

And it’s L for Laura Guimarães! Nilmar scored a beauty of a header in Brazil’s 1-0 victory over England yesterday (let’s not talk about that Fabulouso penalty shall we, the sky fell down when that happened!) and aptly dedicated the goal to his wife! Awww … Que romântico… trazer para fora as velas! (bring out the candles).

via Gettyimages/AP

Yes, the photo explains it all! Mauro Camoranesi scored a molto veloce double in Juve’s 5-2 thumping of Atalanta last night. Say what you will about his hair, but this dude still has it. Inviamo i fiori (we send flowers) to this Senor!

Belleza! Napoli’s Marek Hamsik and The Pied Piper of Higuain both netted in unexpected braces to steer their teams to a neat victory last night. Both of them deserve our Sunday Senor cap for this week… especially Hamsik who scored the decisive winner against Juventus. Maaaaaravilloso!

On second thought, Grandpa Sepp should introduce those drinking straws they have for the Formula 1 drivers. It will help in emergency ManPile Goal Celebrations, where suffocation is dangerously possible.

Images via Getty and AP

Ah, it’s been a while since we last heard from zio-hermano. Yeah, Amauri’s just one of those who prefers to let his feet do the talking (maybe not for Dunga) so it was nice to see him score in the bianconeri’s 1-1 draw against Fiorentina, yesterday. Well, it would’ve been nice to see Felipe Meloooo getting on the score sheet too but alas, he just recovered from an injury and wanted to give his former side a break. For now, enjoy Iaquinta’s well-timed assist that led to Senor Amauri’s goal. Robinhood twins!

Photo via Reuters

The Pied Piper of Higuain may have opened the scoring for Los Albicelestes but it was Martin Palermo’s close-range effort that secured a crucial win 2-1 win over Peru last night. The Dona actually dived into the wet grass – on his stomach – in celebration. Lighten up, uncle. You don’t want the empanados to be flattened. He’s lucky that the Rain Gods approved of Palermo – except that the Boca man’s goal was ten years into the making.

“The victory gives us new life,” said The Dona.  “It was a very dramatic finish. Now we go to Uruguay to play for a place in the World Cup.” And because ya’ll are in love with him, here you go…

Sorry folks, no Sunday Senor today because none of them made quite an impact as the Santos female squad last night. And with Marta and Cristiane in the same team, uma vitória é garantida! Our favorite mulher in futbol, Cristiane, struck twice in Santos’ Copa Libertadores opening game to earn a 3-1 win over White Star for her side. The goals effectively killed off their opponents, who were unable to put any pressure on them and had to resort to defending instead. [Watch here!]

Photos via UOL

Ah, Maxi! Nothing like a solid last-minute goal from Jose Manuel Jurado’s cross to rescue your team from a loss to Valencia … Atletico’s coach Abel Resino has been under tremendous pressure lately and a loss would have dealt a blow to the Rojiblancos. So it was great to have good ol’ Maxi stepping up to the plate and capitalizing on Jose Manuel Jurado’s cross from close range to make it 2-2. A sizzler from the Sunday Senor, indeed! Meanwhile, just cos’ Coti is awesome, watch his music video featuring cameos from Maxi and Diego Forlan HERE.