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
It’s time to check in on Deportivo’s Filipe Luis who is suffering from a fracture in his right leg. He was recently discharged from the hospital and almost everyone – especially Pepe - sent flying kisses and wishes. Que doce! “Unfortunately, I could not fight for a place in the seleção, but the Brazilian team is in my heart and I certainly have hope for the group. When I was there (at bootcamp), I was always treated very well and those and were great moments of my life. I have many friends in the seleção and will be here rooting for everyone,” he said.
Cue the Forrest Gump music now… those are pretty sad words, my friend. Also, Filipe bears an uncanny resemblance to Maxi Lopez but there’s no sign of a blooming Argie-Brazilian Bromance yet because The Dona would be crossed.
Just pretend that you can spot Geri The Pout Piqué from here because the man is standing at attention! Even Puyolita couldn’t be arsed to pose for the group photo…he was too happy smiling away. Anyway, Barca played a friendly against a lower-tier side, Reus Deportiu over the week in aid of the Haiti earthquake victims. You can’t go wrong with something like this. Such a warmhearted gesture from Los Cules!!
Mama Palermo!! Are our eyes playing tricks again… why does Argentina’s away kit look so much like Japan’s? But well, to be honest these electric blue tones are a lot more feroshaaaaa then the light-blue of their home kit. It brings out the colour of their hair, no? And Veron, this does not apply to you. Sin embargo, te ves mejor calvo…. Speaking of which, Martin Palermo really did score against Jamaica in a friendly last night while Ignacio Canuto netted in the other. Yes, yes, competition is heating up.
Look, it’s Sevilla’s Renato Dirnei (who last won the Confederations Cup with Brazil in 2005!) celebrating Sevilla’s entry into the King’s Cup final. Well, they lost to Getafe 0-1 but no matter… they’re all going to meet the Spanish King!! You know Fabulouso’s preparing his speech RIGHT NOW. “Sua Alteza, o rei…” (Your highness..). Sevilla’s opponents will be the winners of the Atletico-Racing clash tonight.
What a dramatic turn of events for Alvaro Negredo! Stellar performances from the past two weeks and a Sunday Señor title (don’t you know you get a tub of Ben & Jerry’s for that?!) wasn’t enough to tide Alvaro over for another week. Tipo scored an own goal and got himself sent off last night in Sevilla’s 2-1 loss to Zaragoza. Se destacó, hombre?
Elsewhere, Geri The Pout Piqué also got himself sent off within 24 minutes of Barca’s encounter against Getafe. Immediately, all the Catalan dance clubs extended their operating hours to 7AM and changed their music genres from House to Rock. Because you know… there’s no party unless DJ Pique turns up!
Anyway, even with nine men down, Barca obviously emerged unscathed and won the game thanks to goals from The Messiah and Xavi. They then proceeded to the club and were approached like this…. (ok, ok we’re really kidding here).
Anyway here are some of our favorite photos from the La Liga weekend. Madrid’s The Pied Piper of Higuain looks to be in fine shape (in every possible way, yes yes) for the World Cup! The Dona better draft him into his Argentinean squad pronto and quit trying to figure out what the fuss about the Superbowl is about.
Ooooh, our Sunday Senor from last week has done it again for Sevilla! Aplausos para Álvaro Negredo and his TWO GOLS against Valencia last night, please! His transformation from being part of Real Madrid’s B squad to a Sevilla hero is truly an achievement. Now Fabulouso better get excited because he has a new striking partner. It’s impossible to bench this man now, Manolo Jimenez. Everyone’s busy APPRECIATING. Tal vez, llorando también.. ha-ha.
Here are the goals and the obligatory random photo of Alvaro.
via AP
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?
Fabulouso is injured, but he’s not letting all that pessimism get to him! Cara over here is supposed to be prepping himself for the Copa del Mundo, but in true Brazilian style, he’s totally laid back and ready to sip your aunt’s piña coladas.
“I feel a little better about my injury. I’m undergoing treatment and it’s going well, because your ankle does not hurt much. I look forward to returning to training (for Sevilla) again, but I have to be tranquil (about it). I can’t give you a return date because I will not lie,” he declared.
Anyway, after all your Samba d’Or votes, our friends at Sambafoot tell us that Fabulouso has indeed won the title of the Best Brazilian Player in Europe of 2009. Bem merecido, Fabulouso! Now it’s time to get a new suitcase…
Diego Perotti didn’t know what he was in for when he decided to join Kanoute and Fabulousooo in their celebratory group hug! Anyway, Los palanganas fought hard in their 3-2 victory over Villarreal last night and Manolo Jimenez thinks it’s all down to the fans. Gotta give credit where it’s due, senor!
“The most important player today has been the fans, because the team lacked rhythm and there was also an accumulation of fatigue. Today we won thanks to the support of the fans,” he said.
Fabulousooo netted in twice and Kanoute added in the third goal to cancel out goals from Robert Pires and David Fuster. This is why he keeps getting called up to Bootcamp, bebês!
Well, it looks like Greaseano was badly missed in Madrid’s first 2-1 defeat of the season to Sevilla. We like it that they’re finally losing because Potter Perez needs to know that he cannot assemble a perfect squad with his moneda. Still, you know he’s at the golf course with Jorge Valdano now, enjoying a club sandwich on a lovely summer day!
Anyway, Jesus Navas and Renato both scored for Sevilla and Fabulousoooo is muito feliz. “We played really well and are on a roll at the moment,” he enthused. “If we continue playing like that we can compete with Real and Barca at the top.” Meanwhile, Madrid committed mistakes in their set pieces and were paid to pay for it in the 66th minute. Kaka acknowledged the loss and said, “We knew we would lose at some stage. We were beaten by a good team and we need to improve some things.”
Well, ya’ll know that Sevilla should not be messed with and it’ll be nice to see them emerge as La Liga’s surprise package this season. They’ve been underperforming in the last few seasons and perhaps, all this could change... correcta?
They made him a gold-hopping grasshopper at one point – and now, the creatives at Nike have decided to market Luis Fabulouso as a bad ass “employer” whom you must pay attention to. Yes, it’s called O Emprego Mais Difícil do Mundo and it depicts the “life” of Fabulouso in a very interesting way. The whole avant-garde treatment is pretty cool but everything else is a big Question Mark. How does it make you feel? Você gosta?
via AP
Poor Luis Fabulouso! The Brazilian striker is depressed that the Milan move never materialized. He’s also pessimistic about Sevilla’s chances against Barca and Real in Spain.
“I expected the deal to go through, but it was a sad ending. Milan’s leaders came to my manager’s house, called me and spoke to me about an ‘easy life’ and that it would be all right… in the end, they did not do what we had imagined. It was very disappointing. I thought it was time to leave. I already spent five years at Sevilla – a good time. It’s just not working. They are a part of my past. There is so much at stake this year. I must turn my focus to the club that I have a contract with and do my best,” he said.
“I knew that negotiations with Sevilla were going to be complicated as they made it very difficult. I spoke several times with Leonardo – he’s a nice guy. But I never got to feel how it was like to become a Milan player, I kept quiet.”
Instead, we have Uncle Fester and friends bringing Huntelaar to the club when Fabulouso would’ve been their coup of the season….! Perhaps tipo over here should’ve learnt from Robinho, the Let’s-Call-A-Press-Conference-Because-I’m-Unhappy king!
Photo by Antonio Scorza
Luis Fabulouso to Milan next season? It could happen! Apparently, Sevilla have opened talks with the Italian side but so far, they’re not satisfied with Milan’s 16 million price. Instead, they’re looking to offload the striker for “somewhere between 20 and 22 million” according to Correire dello Sport. In addition, Leonardo expressed an interest to see Fabulouso strutting his stuff in black and white red next season so a deal looks highly possible.
Can you imagine Pato and Fabulouso upfront… together? (geez not in that way you dirty ninos!) One’s got speed, the other – almost everything else – but it’ll be a partnership that the tifosi will absolutely love. Maybe it’ll even help Milan to sell their ’season tickets’ which are suffering dismal sales after Kaka’s departure to Real Moneda.
Said Fabulouso’s agent, “It is true that Sevilla rejected the first proposal but it is also willing to negotiate. It is unthinkable to refer the market (situation) to Real Madrid: some prices are out of reality because the world is in the midst of an economic crisis.”
Check out Luis Fabiano’s new ad for Nike, where he hops around wearing a pretty cool-looking ensemble on the field. The headgear makes him look like a confused bee and Egyptian pharaoh in one but it looks awesome, nonetheless.
So Barcelona crushed Sevilla 4-0 last night with goals from Iniesta, Eto’o, Xavi and Titipo Henry. They’re now six points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table.
Messi and Pinto could be seen chatting at the sidelines as they were both left on the bench. Ah, let’s go on a holiday now shall we? At the rate Barca are going, other teams in Spain should book advance flights to Ibiza. Now!
“We are going for everything this season,” said Iniesta. “We played well tonight, scored good goals and got the points. We have difficult games against Valencia and Chelsea coming up so we can’t relax and have to keep on going.”
“The way Barca are playing you have to be almost perfect to beat them,” said Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez. “They are beating top teams by three or four goals and were far superior to us tonight.”
It seems that watching Real Madrid these days only leads to disappointment and a whole load of questions. Iker Casillas – though you can’t always blame the keeper – was a shadow of his normal self in last night’s 3-4 home loss to Sevilla.
Sevilla’s Adriano fired in the opening goal for his side, which was quickly levelled by a near-post header from Raul. The joys were shortlived, however, as Ndri Romaric rose above Los Merengues’ defence to score, before Frédéric Kanouté scored the third. Unperturbed, Gonzalo Higuaín fired in from distance midway through the second half (mind blowing goal, Futbolitas!) and Gago headed in his first goal for Madrid two minutes later to make it 3-3. Somewhat unecessarily, Arjen Robben was sent off at the 77th minute with Renato heading in the winner from a Kanouté cross.
As usual, the board and Spanish press are making sure they don’t waste time putting the blame, yet again, on coach Schuster. But it’s not entirely his fault, although blatant pessimism is already sinking in. The coach told reporters that Real have no chance of beating Barcelona next weekend. “The game against Barcelona worries me less than any other game. It is not possible to win because Barcelona are in devastating form and I believe that this is going to be their year,” Schuster said. “The team that (Barça) have can do well there, but I cannot say any more about that.”
The Spanish press are saying that Schuster only has the Barcelona game to prove himself – a ‘deadline’ set by Calderon’s men. Still, he’s not going to walk out. “I am not going to resign because the players are giving everything that they have. We just need a change of fortune and something going for us would be important.”
As they say, it takes a brave man to be coach of Real Madrid, and we hope the players are rallying him on because it’s clearly never always the coach’s fault.
Sevilla will meet Barcelona this weekend in what is sure to be an exciting La Liga encounter. Barcelona’s Daniel Alves (left) will be playing against former Sevilla teammate, Adriano (centre), a match up that is surely one to anticipate.
Said Adriano, “Sevilla tried to find ways and strengthen the squad to make up for (Daniel’s) absence but it is difficult to replace a player of his quality.”
Of course, it’s nothing new in football to play against your former teammate, but if that teammate is your good friend, well…
“It will be a very special game for me, to come back to Sevilla and to reunite with many friends. It’s a club where I spent almost six years, and have achieved many things with. Sevilla will always represent something special,” added Alves.
“It will be strange to play against Daniel Alves,” admitted Adriana to Globo. “I’m very used to playing on his side. He was the my translator for the first interview I ever gave. Since then, we shared a great friendship and our families are also very close. For me, it is the most important game for us, so far. Barcelona are our direct title rivals. A good result tomorrow will be our boost to all our morals.”
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