Diego Simeone staying put at Athletico Madrid

 Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Champions league, La Liga, Manchester City, Real Madrid  No Responses »
Jun 042016
 

 

 

Athletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has rejected approaches from French club Paris Saint Germain. According to Sky Italia the Argentine is keen on remaining at the Vicente Calderon even after his second European defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Real Madrid.

Diego Simeone has earned the respect and admiration of many for turning the Spanish side into serious European contenders even though they dont spend big in the transfer market. He seems to know what to do to get the players ticking for him. Athletico has come up to challenge the dominance of both city rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona at the helm of the La Liga. Paris Saint Germain in particular are keen on bringing the Argentine coach to Paris in the coming months.

PSG’s owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi  revealed his disappointment at the current state of the club in European competitions although they came close this time but were knocked out in the semi-finals and that raises suggestions that current coach Laurent Blanc would be replaced this summer.

Diego Simeone has called on Athletico’s board to support their rise with more funds to spend in the transfer market. It is unlikely that PSG would let him go without a tough battle but we would see to that in the coming days.

Cristiano Ronaldo is such a giver

 Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Champions league, Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, Premier league  No Responses »
Jun 022016
 

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Real Madrid superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo has surprised his fans by how he chose to ‘spend’ his Champions League bonus of nearly £500,000.

According to reports from Spain, the Portuguese footballer NEVER touched the money. Instead, he asked agent Jorge Mendes to give the huge haul to ‘the needy’.

Spanish journalist, Pipi Estrada revealed that, before last week’s final, the Real Madrid superstar “had spoken with (agent) Jorge Mendes and asked him to take charge of distributing the money to the needy”.

Three-time world player of the year Ronaldo sparked doubts over his fitness with a muted display in the showpiece against Atletico Madrid in Milan, although he fired the penalty shootout winner.

But any short-term criticism he receives might be overshadowed by the long-term good his donation of 600,000 Euros (£463,000) will do.

The Sun UK reports that “Last year Ronaldo, 31, was third on the Forbes rich list of sporting competitors, reportedly earning £34million from pay and bonuses PLUS £17m from endorsements.

“That total of £51m pipped the £47.5m reputedly accrued by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

“But even their combined earnings were eclipsed by two boxing legends, Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao picking up £103m and American Floyd Mayweather £193m.”

Ronaldo has however insisted that none of that matters to him. He won three Premier League titles and the Champions League with United, before taking the Spanish crown and twice more Europe’s top domestic competition with Real.

Messi is my best player says Brazilian legend

 Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Champions league, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Real Madrid  No Responses »
May 262016
 

Brazilian legend Pele has named Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi as his best player of all time. This is ahead of the Argentine fellow country man Diego Maradona who is sometime painted as the best all time best. Pele made this declaration while also admitting that Brazil’s World Cup defeat to Germany two years ago brought his to tears. Pele was in Milan to promote a movie about his life and he spoke to Italian La Gazzetta della Sport about his favorite players at every point with the Barcelona Lionel Messi topping the list.

The legend is quoted as saying that; “It’s very difficult because there have always been players who have been compared with me [as the best player ever].First there was [Alfredo] Di Stefano, then [Johan] Cruyff, [Franz] Beckenbauer, Bobby Charlton, Maradona and now there is Messi. Leo is the one I like the most — he’s the most complete. Messi is my favourite player, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar are also good. They have different styles in a football which has changed.” Pele also mentioned that calling Italian legend Francesco Totti the Italian Pele was correct.

The 75 years old said watching his country beaten by Germany in the World Cup was humiliating, also stating that his son would have seen him cry that day. It is OK to lose but to concede seven goals in the World Cup at that stage is nothing less than humiliating. He said football is a hard game and predicting who would win is a difficult thing. Ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final Pele said he would prefer Madrid wins it ahead of Atletico because of their style of play also adding that the game of football is diminishing because winning is now more important than the beauty of the game.

 

 

 

Tuesday Champions League Round-Up

 Atletico Madrid, Champions league, Juventus, La Liga, Manchester City, Manchester United, Premier league, PSG, Real Madrid  No Responses »
Nov 032015
 

champions leagueTuesday night was the first night of match day 4 in the UEFA Champions League. The night started out with Astana hosting Spanish La Liga club Atletico Madrid. After thrashing them an astounding 4-0 in Madrid two weeks back, Diego Simeone’s men just couldn’t cracking down a rather spirit Astana side and that saw the match end in goalless draw. Manchester City displayed a first class first half performance to qualify for the knock out stages of the competition with a 3-1 victory over Sevilla. The Premier League club had to wait till the dying minutes to grab a winner the last time the two met but the case was different this time as the tie was decided in the first half with goals from Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Wilfred Bony was enough to give them a deserved win.

Wayne Rooney ended what could have been a third straight goalless draw for the red devils with a header in the 79 minute at Old Trafford. The coach’s trust in his captain finally paid off when the England international nodded in from close range to give Manchester United a 1-0 victory over a rather defensive CSKA Moscow. The game between Real Madrid and French champions PSG was also decided in the first half. The only goal came from the substitute Nacho Fernández who had come on to replace Marcelo as the later could not seem to shake off the injury he picked up. PSG playmaker Marco Veratti was also taken off in the early minutes of the game due to an injury.

The biggest winners of the night were Shaktar Donetsk who thrashed Malton an astounding 4-0. The first came in the first half with the remaining three coming in the second half. Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw against Borrusia M’Gladbach while PSV pulled a surprised 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg. Benfica also got a 2-1 victory over Galatasaray on the night. The events of match day 4 continues tomorrow and some of the teams would join City and Madrid in qualifying for the next round.