Barcelona defender Adriano admitted Real Betis deserved their 3-1 Copa del Rey win after a brilliant attacking display on Wednesday.
A 5-0 win at home in the first leg means Barcelona still progress to the cup semi-finals 6-3 on aggregate, but the Brazilian said all the credit went to Betis’ finishing, which saw them score all three goals in the opening 45 minutes in the second leg.
“I think that they were very focused. It’s been a while since a team went on the attack against Barcelona, and the manager said that he would use everything that we had in Seville. Betis are a very good team. They showed that (Wednesday),” Adriano said.
The 26-year-old added that the three points in Barcelona’s home fixture against Racing Santander in La Liga on Saturday would be the perfect tonic to recover from their first loss in 29 games in all competitions.
“Everyone is focusing on our loss and, as of tomorrow, we will go back to focusing on the game against Racing. We can’t wait for Saturday,” he said.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“Four points is an advantage that we want (over the second-placed Real Madrid), but it isn’t definitive. There is a long way to go -the whole of the second half- and in football there have been teams with greater advantages who haven’t gone on to win the title. Anything is possible.”
Theo Walcott and Michael Dawson are keen to put England frustrations behind them and seize their latest international chances.
Both Walcott and Dawson, speaking ahead of England’s friendly match with Denmark at Parken on Wednesday, have revealed that recent disappointments with the national team have motivated them to come back even stronger than ever.
Walcott was left out of England’s World Cup squad last year but manager Fabio Capello has since admitted that he made a mistake in omitting the Arsenal winger.
Now Walcott says such an admission has boosted his self-confidence.
“It’s a nice quote and that’s helped me out so much this season, it’s shown that the manager’s taken responsibility for what he did,” Walcott said.
“I had a good pre-season and started the season brightly. it’s always nice when the manager’s got faith in you – even though I didn’t go to the World Cup.”
“I’ve had ups and downs in my career so far and I felt I needed that mental break from it all so it might have done me a favour.”
“It was his decision to make and I respected it. It’s helped me out so much this season, having that break and those quotes from the manager as well.”
“I wanted to know why I didn’t go and I had a conversation with him. He’s a manager you can approach,” added Walcott.
“It’s got my mind at ease, I can build on the manager’s belief in me and I think I need to start believing in myself – which I have, my performances have been better this season.”
“It’s going to put a smile on your face if the manager’s thinking (it’s) a mistake he made, it’s great for a player. I want to help him and prove he was wrong, I want to play well for England and hopefully make his job easier.”
Walcott feels he needs to score for the national side again soon, having failed to find the net since his famous hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Croatia in September 2008.
“My shooting boots have been on for Arsenal and hopefully on Wednesday night I can grab a goal or an assist or something and get some more confidence.”
Meanwhile, Dawson admitted that his frustrations stem from an injury in the European Championships qualifier against Bulgaria in September.
The Tottenham Hotspur centre-back was involved in the wins over Hungary and Bulgaria in Capello’s new-look England side following the disappointments at the World Cup.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I come back and had the chance to play against Hungary and get my full cap which was fantastic and then we had Bulgaria in the qualifier and it was a bad time to get my injury,” he said.
“It’s great to be back part of the England squad and hopefully I’ll get my chance on Wednesday.”
Dawson was unsure as to whether he would start the match in Copenhagen: “You’ll have to ask the manager that, there’s obviously JT (John Terry), Gary Cahill and Joleon Lescott so whoever the manager picks will want to do well.”
“JT’s been around this for years and years and his experience makes him a top-class player.”
Shakhtar Donetsk will be looking to continue their record-breaking run in the Champions League when they take on Roma in the last 16.
This season marks the first time that Donetsk have made it to the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition, just 18 months after they won the 2009 UEFA Cup.
Former Inter Milan manager Mircea Lucescu has transformed the club since taking over in 2004, and now he intends to send a message by guiding Shakhtar into the quarter-finals for the first time.
“We wanted to get to the knockout stage for the first time and, after missing out before, we finally managed it this season – and deservedly so,” Lucescu said.
The Ukrainians finished on top of Group H with five wins from their six games, including a 2-1 victory over English Premier League side Arsenal.
Last time the two sides met in 2006, Shakhtar was on the end of a 4-0 drubbing, but Lucescu is convinced his side will give a better account of themselves when they go head to head on Wednesday.
“The fans (in Rome) create a certain pressure on opponents, but also on their own team,” Lucescu said.
“Certainly, what we learned from that last game will help us this time. I am convinced about that.”
“Also the difference in class between football in eastern and western Europe is narrowing. Many talented players have come to the east.”
“The UEFA Cup wins by Galatasaray, CSKA Moskva, Zenit and Shakhtar mean these countries have greater hope for Champions League success.”
Roma qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind Bayern Munich in Group E.
But their form on the domestic front has been less impressive, with Claudio Ranieri’s side slipping to eighth in the Serie A after taking just two wins from their last six matches.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Ranieri has been under pressure to keep his job with rumours Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was in line to make a shock move to the club.
A run to the Champions League final, which they achieved for the first and only time in 1984, would certainly help Ranieri’s prospects, but he admitted getting past Shakhtar would be tough.
“Lucescu’s teams always play very good football,” Ranieri said. “Shakhtar are a quality team and they have some very strong players. On top of that, Lucescu knows Italian football very well. This is going to be a good tie to watch.”
Sir Alex Ferguson believes the real business of winning the Champions League begins with Manchester United’s trip to Marseille.English Premier League leaders United visit the Stade Velodrome on Wednesday in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie against the Ligue 1 champions. With the group stages safely negotiated and the elimination rounds now beginning, Ferguson is conscious that every match from this point onwards is vital if United are to capture their fourth European crown. “We’re in the part of the competition that really means something now,” Ferguson said.”Away goals come into it for the first time because in the group stage you have six games to qualify and we’ve always maintained that if you get the 10 points you’re safe.””So the real competition really does start tomorrow I feel.”Ferguson sees much to admire in his team’s French opponents – a side who happen to share United’s lengthy list of injuries to key players. “I think they’re a very powerful team – they’re very athletic and have strong defenders. They, like us have had a few injuries recently. (Mathieu) Valbuena had an injury but he’s back training now and he could be involved tomorrow,” he said.United are without defender and captain Rio Ferdinand, and midfielders Anderson, Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia to name just a few. Marseille are likely to be missing key midfielder Valbuena, with first-choice striker Andre-Pierre Gignac also sidelined. Ferguson, no stranger to coping with injuries, attributes the large number of absentees to the demands placed upon players’ bodies at a busy stage of the campaign. “At this time of the season everybody gets them. You’re working through a really difficult month in December in terms of number of games. And then through January we’ve had a few games in that month too,” he said.”It’s just the strain of it all – it catches up with some players and we don’t play friendly games of course – they’re all difficult games we have.”
After agreeing a move to become Bundesliga outfit Hamburg’s Director of Sport at the end of the season, when Frank Arnesen eventually departs Chelsea, what will ultimately be his legacy?
He was brought to Stamford Bridge under a cloud in 2005 when he was poached from city rivals Spurs via an illegal approach (a trend with Arnesen it has to be said) – and he ended up costing the current Premier League champions £8m. He was tasked with heading up youth development, with particular emphasis on blooding youth team players into the first-team.
It has to be said that Arnesen hasn’t enjoyed great success in bringing through young talent into the first-team since he joined the club in 2005. Not a single member of an ever-costly youth-team structure has been able to crack the starting eleven consistently and the club even incurred, an albeit short-lived, UEFA ban after their pursuit and eventual singing of young French winger Gael Kakuta was found to break UEFA guidelines – but it has since been overturned after an appeal.
The Dane is revered around the world for being one of the first scouts to have travelled from Europe in the late 80s to Brazil and unearth young talent. He is credited with discovering Ronaldo, Romario, Robin Van Persie, Jaap Stam and Arjen Robben, among others and he arrived at Stamford Bridge with a fantastic record in unearthing prodigious talent. But at Chelsea, despite significant investment in the youth team structure and the academy, upwards of £70m since Arnesen joined the club, Abramovich has seen little return on his investment so far.
The controversial signings of Leeds youth team duo Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods in 2005 eventually cost the club around £5m, after Leeds obtained evidence of Chelsea’s illegal approaches for the pair as well as current Spurs player Danny Rose. Taiwo and Woods have both since departed the club on free transfers without troubling the first-team.
Arnesen’s recruitment policy is indeed questionable in it’s ethics and his failure to fully blood a Chelsea first-team member has shown Arnesen’s time at Chelsea to be at worst, a complete and utter failure; at best, an unfulfilled opportunity.
[ad_pod id=’fox-mpu’ align=’right’]
Chelsea, prior to the recent January transfer window, have been particularly frugal over the past few seasons as Chairman Roman Abramovich began to tighten the purse strings in an attempt to shift away from the free-spending days from when he first took over the club to a more sustainable long-term model; and this included focusing on the youth team set-up.
Carlo Ancelotti saw the likes of experienced campaigners Deco, Michael Ballack, Ricardo Carvalho, Joe Cole and Juliano Belletti depart in the summer, with only Yossi Benayoun and Ramires coming in the other direction. The club’s failure to replace the aforementioned big names was seen as a show of faith in the club’s current crop of highly-regarded youngsters, which includes the likes of Fabio Borini, Patrick Van-Aanholt, Gael Kakuta, Jeffrey Bruma and Josh McEachran.
But as Chelsea have faltered on four fronts this season, it’s become clear that while talented, none of the players mentioned above are capable of providing the necessary squad depth for a club looking to sustain a title challenge, let alone put pressure on any of the club’s more established stars for their first-team place. In short, after six years, little has changed around Chelsea and Abramovich is still being forced to dig deep into his pockets to keep the club challenging for top honours. There has been little or no contribution whatsoever from the youth-team and that’s a mjor blot against Arensen’s record at Chelsea.
Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck stated upon hearing of Arnesen’s proposed move to Hamburg at the end of the season: “I am hoping his legacy will be four or five players into the first-team but he has also left us with a very good academy structure which I think will last forever.” It’s a sad indictment of Arnesen’s time at Chelsea that he was tasked with almost the exact same mission statement upon his appointment six years ago and it appears as if Buck is grasping at straws in an attempt to put a positive spin of the Dane‘s time at the club. For the time, money and effort ploughed into the youth structure, there should be a little more to show for the fruits of Arnesen’s labour than ‘hope’.
It is of course difficult to predict the future of the current crop of youngsters that Chelsea have at their disposal, but they are certainly the most revered since Arnesen’s spell in West London. There were few that expected an immediate return on their investment after the appointment of Arnesen. There is no simple solution to producing young players – yet the paucity of talent troubling the first-team over the course of six years has been shocking for a top club such as Chelsea. This is undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the club’s recent struggles and they are now faced with an unevenly aged squad that looks as if it requires a radical overhaul in the summer.
Admittedly it hasn’t helped that Arnesen has had to adapt to four new managers since signing for the club. The constant chopping and changing of the management structure must have impacted on his own recruitment policy at times and rather understandably, it’s hard to govern with any authority or indeed consistency without the necessary stability within the higher echelons of the club.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Arnesen’s time at Chelsea has been one that’s courted controversy on numerous occasions and with little end product to speak of as yet. The radical overhaul and investment of the youth structure would have taken place at Chelsea regardless of who was placed in charge.
While there may be those that credit Arnesen with laying the foundations for Chelsea’s future academy success (which included winning the 2010 FA Youth Cup), his time at the club has been largely under whelming and hardly worthy of the fee, the trouble or the attention. A lot rests on the young shoulders of Chelsea’s latest crop and it will be difficult to fully judge Arnesen until they establish themselves fully; if they fail to do so at all, Arnesen’s time at Chelsea can be regarded as little more than a failure.
Championship leaders Queens Park Rangers could be deducted points after they were charged for seven breaches of Football Association rules.The Loftus Road club were charged with breaching FA third-party ownership and agent rules relating to the transfer of Argentine midfielder Alejandro Faurlin, who was signed from Institute FC in July 2009.It is alleged that as part of Faurlin’s 3.5 million pound move, an unnamed third-party kept a stake in his economic rights and the FA were not notified.The charges also included making payments to an unauthorised agent and providing false information and documents to the FA.Faurlin’s contract extension, signed in October 2010 is also under investigation.If QPR are found guilty, the club could suffer serious ramifications with a points deduction a very real possibility.Neil Warnock’s side currently top the Championship by seven points and any deduction could prove crucial in the end-of-season promotion race.But QPR are confident they have not done anything wrong and released a short statement on Wednesday.”Having co-operated fully with the FA’s investigation, QPR and Mr Paladini shall be denying all of the charges and requesting a formal FA hearing to determine them,” the statement read.”QPR and Mr Paladini are confident that there has been no deliberate wrongdoing involved.”
Rennes defender Romain Danze is the most recognisable player in Ligue 1 this season. Danze, 24, has not missed a single minute all season, racking up 2,520 consecutive minutes.
He will again be on hand to try to revive Stade Rennes’s title hopes at home to lowly Auxerre on Saturday
Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti says Danze typifies the no-nonsense approach at the club this season, which he says has pushed the unfashionable team up the table.
“All the faith we put in Danze at the start of the season has been confirmed,” Antonetti told the club website.
“He never drops his performance level. He is a player you can rely on.”
Rennes, ninth last term, won five games in a row to surge to second but a 2-0 home defeat by champions Olympique Marseille and a 1-1 draw at fellow title challengers Olympique Lyon last time out meant they have slipped to third.
Surprise leaders Lille are five points above Rennes who will be wary of Auxerre after they pulled off a 2-0 win over Sochaux before the international break to move three points clear of third from bottom Monaco.
Auxerre, a fertile breeding ground in the past for top talent such as Eric Cantona, finished third last term but following a Champions League group exit their season has gone from bad to worse.
Lille continue to confound the doubters who felt they were not sufficiently equipped to stay ahead of the pack and Saturday’s home match with mid-table Caen is the perfect chance to tighten their grip on top spot.
Marseille, in second, are four points adrift and travel to Racing Lens on Sunday without suspended centre back Souleymane Diawara and striker Brandao, who has joined Brazilians Cruzeiro on loan after being investigated over an alleged rape in France.
In other Saturday games, cellar dweller Avignon are at home to third-bottom Monaco who are 17 points above them but still in relegation danger while Nancy host Bordeaux and Sochaux are at home to Brest.
Sunday’s games feature Nice at home to Lyon and Saint Etienne host Valenciennes.
Why do footballers think that they can take something that has been ridiculed or classed as hideous in the fashion world for generations and make it work? No matter how many goal line clearances or goals you have scored, nothing warrants you sporting a wacky haircut or an uncoordinated suit that gives meaning to the phrase ‘getting dressed in the dark’.
The real scary thought is that footballers somehow believe they have a divine right to be able to pursue other careers after football; Vinnie Jones had a lukewarm acting career for example, and it is only a matter of time before we see the release of Andy Reid’s mini skirts.
I thought my Dad dressed bad; scanning through the internet I found some real gems from off and on the pitch that were either cringe worthy, comical or even some that resulted in sending offs. It wouldn’t be the beautiful game without a few fashion faux pas.
[divider]
Click on Tevez below to see the TOP TEN footy fashion faux pas
[divider]
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Wolverhampton manager Mick McCarthy vowed his side would fight on after their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City on Tuesday.Wolves are neck-deep in a battle to retain their English Premier League status for next season and remain in the relegation zone after their loss at the Britannia Stadium, although they are just one point from safety with four games to play.
McCarthy said the performance was not befitting of a side in his control, and he hoped the Midlands club could bounce back and recover their form that saw them beat rivals Aston Villa away on March 19 – their most recent victory.
“We (need to) respond with more of a Mick McCarthy performance because that wasn’t, to be fair, from my team, which was hugely disappointing,” he said.
“Nothing of the performance (against Stoke) can lift us. It’s some of the performances throughout the season we can remember (that will inspire Wolves) and the nine wins that we’ve had and how we’ve played very well. We’ve played far better.”
“Playing for Premiership survival should be enough to motivate them. I’ve not had any performance like that this season.”
“Why we’ve come from where we were at Villa to what we’ve had in the last four games, I don’t know.”
Wolves’ survival chances suffered more than one blow on Tuesday, when Steven Fletcher limped off with a knee injury. But McCarthy said the severity of the knock was yet to be confirmed.
Stoke manager Tony Pulis said their resounding victory all but kept the club in the English top flight for the next campaign – which will be their fourth consecutive in the top flight.
“Wolves had a go the first ten minutes (of the second half) and Jermaine’s goal really killed the game, but it was a cracking performance and it was a big game for us, a massive game for us,” Pulis said.
“I think those points will most probably keep us in the Premiership for a fourth year and we are in the final of the FA Cup – it’s not bad is it, for Stoke City? “
The 53-year-old Welshman only has one concern, with winger Matthew Etherington in doubt for the FA Cup final on May 15 after he picked up a hamstring injury on Tuesday.
“The disappointing thing is Etherington with his hamstring. We are just hoping and praying that Matty will be fit in two-and-a-half weeks’ time,” Pulis said.
“We’ll have a scan tomorrow and find out how bad it is.”
“That is the major disappointment of the game tonight but the rest of it, it’s just absolutely fantastic.”
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has described the past week as his ‘most difficult week in the job’.Lennon, 39, received parcel bombs in the build-up to Sunday’s Old Firm derby against arch-rivals Rangers, in a match that could decide where the Scottish Premier League title ends up this season.
The parcels are being investigated by the Strathclyde Police and Lennon said it had been a tough week for him.
“It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but I’m totally committed to the club, the fans and the players,” Lennon said.
“It’s my most difficult week in the job. We all know why it’s happening.”
Lennon alluded to the wider problem of bigotry in Scotland, which has reared its head in recent times with Rangers being hit with a number of charges by UEFA after sectarian chants were sung by their fans throughout the home and away legs of a Europa League clash with PSV Eindhoven.
Players and coaches of both sides have also clashed heatedly in Old Firm matches this season.
Lennon, a known Catholic, believes the problem would not have happened if he was manager of a different club to Celtic.
“It wouldn’t, no,” he said.
“And it’s not because it’s my aggressive behaviour on the pitch any more. A lot was said about that when I played and I think you all know the reasons why these things are happening now.”
“It’s good that people are talking about it and we will get something done about it.”
Lennon retired from international football for Northern Ireland after he received a death threat, believed to be from loyalist paramilitaries.
Bullets were sent to the Celtic manager this season, while he also had another suspicious package addressed to him intercepted.
Lennon had a police escort for Wednesday’s win over Kilmarnock, but he will not walk away from the job at the Scottish giants.
“I think it is pretty unprecedented what has happened and I hope it is not going to get out of hand,” he said.
“It is disconcerting and uncomfortable, but I am well looked after by the people in charge and there is an ongoing investigation so I don’t want to comment too much on that.”
“I’ve had this for 10 years, but I don’t want to say you get used to it, because you never do.”