European Football

[Joe King]

Real Madrid lead 1-0. Raul.

[Joe King]

Inter return back to the top of the table with a scrappy win. Snooze.

[Joe King]

Midweek Serie A games:

David Beckham has scored from a free kick against Genoa. Milan 1-0 Genoa.

The other scores so far:
AS Roma 2 - 1 Palermo
Atalanta 0 - 0 Bologna
Cagliari 1 - 0 Siena
Catania 0 - 1 Inter Milan
Chievo 0 - 0 Lecce
Fiorentina 1 - 0 Napoli
Sampdoria 3 - 1 Lazio
Torino 0 - 0 Reggina
Udinese 1 - 0 Juventus

[Joe King]

Olympiakos have announced that they have signed Matt Derbyshire on a six month loan.

[lickedlollipop]

Udinese - Juve 2:1

[MrsB]

Midweek Serie A games:
David Beckham has scored from a free kick against Genoa. Milan 1-0 Genoa.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2021939/

Nice goal.

[dww]

Beckham named in Milan's Uefa Cup squad
• Former England captain required for Bremen game
• Makes two goals in Rossoneri's 3‑0 win at Lazio

* guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 February 2009 09.39 GMT
* Article history

Milan have confirmed David Beckham has been included on their updated Uefa Cup player list. The England midfielder has been in impressive form since joining the Italian club last month and it has been widely reported he will stay beyond 9 March, when he is due back at parent club the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Milan's coach Carlo Ancelotti said after last night's 3–0 win at Lazio: "We have included Beckham in the Uefa Cup list because he is doing very well. We want to take advantage of his form for the two games against Werder Bremen [18 and 26 February]."

The win saw Milan leapfrog Juventus into second place in Serie A and narrow the gap on Internazionale to six points.

"It's a good moment for us," said Ancelotti. "We are showing more confidence. We showed no fear and we look to the future with optimism. However, we are still behind Inter and although we still believe we can win the Scudetto, Inter still have the upper hand."

Beckham had been a doubt before the game with a leg-muscle problem but started and provided goals for Alexandre Pato and Massimo Ambrosini either side of half-time. Kaka killed the game off with seven minutes remaining.

[Joe King]

Javier Aguirre has left his job as Atletico Madrid manager.

[Neil Young]

Javier Aguirre has left his job as Atletico Madrid manager.

I blame the wrath of God.

[Pablo]

I blame the wrath of God.

Robbie Fowler had nothing to do with this.

[Joe King]

The Guide: what we are looking forward to from this weekend's football

Scott Murray Friday 6 February 2009 13.18 GMT [Guardian]

Can Hertha Berlin keep on Hoffenheim's tail?

There's a very modern fairytale unfolding in Germany at the moment, with little Hoffenheim topping the Bundesliga. Little Hoffenheim have, of course, been bankrolled up the leagues Gretna-style, but if you stick your fingers in your ears and hum loudly enough, you can pretend it's got nothing to do with money whatsoever. In fairness, Hoffenheim's team is pretty much the one which won promotion last year, and anything's got to be better than Bayern Munich running away with it yet again, but rather than joining the Hoffwagen, we quite like the cut of Hertha Berlin's jib instead.

Hertha can go top this weekend should results go their way. That would require Hoffenheim to lose at bottom side Borussia Monchengladbach, which is unlikely, though the leaders' recent form isn't great: before the winter break they lost at Bayern then scrambled a draw with mid-table Schalke, and they failed to impress against struggling Energie Cottbus on the league's resumption last weekend. Meanwhile Hertha are the form side in the division, winning six of their last seven. They'll be without injured striker Marko Pantelic, but Arminia Bielefeld away shouldn't prove too much of a hurdle. "We want to get used to being top," their manager Dieter Hoeness says. "At the end of the season we definitely want to be among the top five or six," he added, deliberately talking down his club's chances of a first national title since 1931. Hoffenheim are not Germany's only underdogs.

Lyon: le fin?

Hoffenheim aren't the only leaders under pressure in Europe this weekend. Lyon – that's Seven Championnats In A Row Lyon – are on a terrible run at present, having only won two of their last eight matches. There's a real sense of fin de siècle surrounding the champions: Juninho's influence is on the waneand the team are now overly-dependent on the goals of Karim Benzema. He's managed 10 from 16 matches, a decent return, but the team's overall record of 27 goals in 22 games tells its own story.

Bordeaux, meanwhile, are only a point off the lead and have the season's star turn to date, Yoann Gourcuff, pulling their strings. Will a symbolic changing of the guard occur this weekend? On the face of it that's unlikely. Lyon travel to Nice – OK, a difficult enough fixture at an intimidating venue – but Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux would have to win at fourth-placed Marseille for any chance of going top. Which is a tall order, even if Marseille are gloriously unpredictable. Having said that, Bordeaux did win 3-0 at third-placed Paris St Germain in midweek (in the cup) so a win at the Velodrome isn't beyond them – and it would be a serious statement of intent.

[Joe King]

Serie A:
Lecce 0-3 Inter FT
Ibrahimovic, Figo and Stankovic.

Milan 0-1 Reggina (46')
De Gennaro

Primera Liga
Real Madrid 1-0 Racing (78')
Higuain

[Joe King]

De Rossi leads Roma's show of force as Genoa reduced to rubble

Paolo Bandini Monday 9 February 2009 16.30 GMT [Guardian]

On Saturday the champions put on a show of force. On Sunday last year's runners-up put on one of their own. Roma may have long since surrendered any hopes of catching Internazionale at the top of Serie A this season, but after their 3–0 demolition of Genoa yesterday they are more than just closing in rapidly on a top-four finish that once looked beyond them. They are playing the best football of any team in the division.

"We dominated the game for 90 minutes playing our football. When we're in form there's nothing anybody can do about it," glowed the Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi afterwards and while such an analysis may have been unfair on a Genoa team who, despite the scoreline, were competitive throughout, it was certainly understandable. In the space of little over a fortnight Roma have played two opponents with serious Champions League ambitions – Genoa and Napoli – and demolished both by the same scoreline.

Between those two wins came a 2–2 draw away to lowly Reggina, but while that result cannot be dismissed altogether, there were certainly mitigating factors. With just about every attack-minded player in his squad absent that day through injury or illness, the manager, Luciano Spalletti, was forced to start Stefano Okaka, whom he would loan to Brescia a day later, up front. Even then his side looked to have tied up all three points before Simone Loria gifted Reggina's Ciccio Cozza the ball on the edge of the six-yard box with his first touch after coming on as a late substitute.

In all Roma have dropped just seven points since 8 November, one fewer than they had earned in 10 games to that point. Only Inter can match that figure and they had one game fewer to play. Although the Nerazzurri themselves won 3–0 away to Lecce this weekend, they have won just three of six since the beginning of January.

Indeed, the one team who might have challenged Roma's status as Serie A's form team before this weekend was Genoa. Coming into Sunday's match the Grifone were fourth, two points clear of Roma and hadn't lost since a 4–1 drubbing at the hands of Juventus on 13 November. Despite that result they had also proved more than once that they were capable of mixing it with the bigger sides, beating Roma and Milan on their own turf, as well as drawing away to Milan and Inter.

But Cicinho opened the scoring for Roma after 26 minutes, slotting the ball home from six yards out to cap a wonderful, sweeping, team move which he had started moments earlier in midfield. Not long after he was carried off with a knee injury, but Marco Motta, the Italy Under-21 captain who arrived from Udinese on 1 February, filled in more than capably.

Genoa continued to work tirelessly and at times controlled possession more than Roma would have liked but, despite boasting one of Serie A's most prolific strikers in Diego Milito, rarely looked like scoring. Roma, by contrast, may line up in a different formation these days, but look more and more like the rapid counter-attacking sides Spalletti has produced in recent years. Mirko Vucinic extended their lead early in the second half with a stunning first-time volley on his weaker left foot, and, after each team had a man sent off, Julio Baptista added gloss to the scoreline deep in second-half stoppage time.

The return of Francesco Totti hasn't hurt, of course, but he was far from the most effective player on display, showing his class only in the occasional neat touch or precise pass. De Rossi, by contrast was relentless and it was his angled ball forward that Vucinic dispatched for the second. His presence in the starting line-up is at least as crucial these days as that of his captain.

But the defence, too, should be commended. This was their fourth clean sheet in six games, no mean feat for a side who shipped 18 goals in their first 10 matches, and will have represented a particularly satisfactory end to the week for Philippe Mexès, who had started it with a lash to the face from the belt of a Lazio fan outside the Rome nightclub Gilda.

"It was a fair old whack, but it could've gone worse, as he hit me right near the eye," Mexès had acknowledged earlier in the week, reliving an incident which took place shortly after 4am on Monday morning. "I was waiting outside for my friends to bring the car round and I heard someone congratulate me. He was a Roma fan. Others were Lazio supporters and they were saying things that weren't quite so nice. Then someone showed a lack of respect in the middle of the street and I reacted. I know I was wrong to do so, but I couldn't take it any more. There were a few shoves but no consequences, apart from these two little marks on my face."

Mexès, who had been out with team-mates Okaka and Jeremy Menez, was also quick to make clear he had done nothing wrong by staying out so late, as there was no training the next day, and he "had permission" from his wife. As long as he and Roma keep playing as well as they are, nobody else involved with the club should mind too much either.
Round 23 talking points

• Despite leapfrogging Genoa, Roma remain outside the top four after Fiorentina beat Lazio 1–0 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Adrian Mutu's parried shot in the 89th minute was powered home by his team-mate Alberto Gilardino for the winner, but this win owed far more to the goalkeeper, Sébastien Frey, who made a string of stunning saves to keep his side in the game. As a result the Viola remain one point clear of Roma in fourth, but it is hard to envisage them staying there until they start performing more consistently.

• Milan are expected to make an improved offer to LA Galaxy for David Beckham in the next few days after an initial offer, variously cited as anything from £4.3m to £6.75m was rejected. What fee they will settle on is anyone's guess, but it is plain that Milan not only value him, but may have to rely on him heavily during next week's Milan derby after Kaka was ruled out for a minimum of two weeks with a foot injury suffered during Saturday's 1–1 draw with Reggina. Now eight points behind Inter, Milan were far too profligate this weekend and need to take advantage of Becks's increasingly consistent crosses from the right.

• Jose Mourinho was less than impressed with the refereeing once again during his side's win over Lecce, taking umbrage in particular at Paolo Tagliavento's decision to book Zlatan Ibrahimovic for diving in the area when replays showed he had clearly been caught by Guglielmo Stendardo. "A few weeks ago I was sent off for asking a referee if he was 'afraid'," said Mourinho on Sky Italia afterwards. "So this time I will just use the word 'strange'. It is strange that Ibra is brought down like that when the scoreline is still 1–0 at a delicate point in the match and the referee goes for the yellow card. It is strange that, when leading at San Siro against Torino, the referee does not see a penalty in our favour. All of this is strange and what is even stranger is that throughout the week nobody in the media talked about this incident. There's nothing I can do about it. I just have to continue my work."

• Juventus are second once again after Christian Poulsen came off the bench to snatch an injury-time winner against Catania, and Claudio Ranieri was quick to share his own thoughts on Mourinho's recent complaints. "After a game each manager gives his own spin on what happened, compiling their own list of refereeing mistakes," noted Ranieri. "I don't, but is that to my credit? At times I feel like a mug for not doing so. Among my colleagues I seem to be the only one. But do we really want to throw fuel on the fire?"

• Atalanta put an end to Cagliari's run of four wins on the trot with a 1–0 win at the Stadio Sant'Elia. They were helped by both a sending-off for Diego López and a hefty deflection that took Luca Cigarini's somewhat speculative effort past Federico Marchetti, but after a run of just one win in 14 away games, were happy to take this win however they could get it. "We deserved more luck in our last two away games, so it evened out here," said the manager, Gigi Del Neri.

Results: Cagliari 0–1 Atalanta, Catania 1–2 Juventus, Fiorentina 1–0 Lazio, Lecce 0–3 Inter, Milan 1–1 Reggina, Palermo 2–1 Napoli, Roma 3–0 Genoa, Sampdoria 2–2 Siena, Torino 1–1 Chievo, Udinese 1–0 Bologna

[Joe King]

By Iain Rogers
MADRID, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A clinical finish by Gonzalo Higuain gave Real Madrid a 1-0 home win over Racing Santander on Saturday and a seventh successive Primera Liga victory that trimmed Barcelona's lead at the top to nine points.
Third-placed Sevilla lost further ground on Real after goals from Sergio Garcia and new signing Ricardo Oliveira gave Real Betis a 2-1 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan and condemned their city rivals to a third consecutive league defeat.
Champions Real have 47 points from 22 matches behind Barca who host Sporting Gijon on Sunday (1800 GMT). Sevilla are third on 38 while Betis move up to 13th with 25, easing the pressure on under-fire coach Paco Chaparro, and Racing stay 10th with 28.
Argentine forward Higuain grabbed the only goal at the Bernabeu when he raced on to Raul's headed pass, turned inside a sliding challenge from Cesar Navas and clipped the ball over Racing goalkeeper Tono into the far corner.
The lively Jonathan Pereira had a chance to level with 15 minutes left but Real keeper Iker Casillas raced out to block the forward's shot and Fabio Cannavaro cleared.
Raul equalled Alfredo di Stefano's club scoring record of 307 goals last weekend and almost grabbed the honour for himself in the first half with a near-post shot blocked by Tono.
"The team put in a big effort tonight," Higuain told reporters. "I am always happy to score and if I do it at home even better."
CLEAN SHEETS
Real coach Juande Ramos gave new signing Julien Faubert his first action since he joined from West Ham United last month. The French midfielder replaced in-form Dutch winger Arjen Robben with half an hour left but had few chances to make an impact.
Ramos said his side's failure to find a second goal had made the players nervous but added he was pleased with another clean sheet -- their sixth in seven games.
"We managed to grab another win and that gives the team confidence," he told reporters. "We are not conceding goals and got another three points and that's the important thing."
Sevilla had most of the best chances in a game littered with fouls but their night was ruined when midfielder Aldo Duscher was dismissed for a second yellow card with about 20 minutes left and Garcia scored immediately after.
Defender Melli fired a speculative ball forward and Garcia found space between the defenders to volley into the ground and over stranded Sevilla keeper Andres Palop.
Oliveira scored a second late on when he fired the ball under Palop. The Brazilian striker, Betis's top scorer with 22 goals in the 2004/05 season, was playing his first match since his return to the club from second-division Real Zaragoza.
Mali striker Frederic Kanoute snatched a consolation goal for Sevilla in added time with a precise header.

[Joe King]

Barcelona defy convention to head for a record-breaking season

Gabriele Marcotti, European Football Correspondent,
February 9, 2009 [Times]

Strip football down to its barest, most primal essence and it’s about scoring goals. When we were kids and first were introduced to the magic that a ball, a foot and a target can conjure up — before we learnt to appreciate a tackle, a dummy, a trap, let alone tactics and movement — that’s what attracted us. And, in many ways, that has remained with us: even the dullest, most skill-deprived team in the world can look exciting when the TV gods put together a three-minute goals package.

With that in mind, something amazing is going on in Barcelona. Josep Guardiola’s crew are scoring goals at a rate not seen in a big (or even small) European league in years. On Saturday, they had 65 in 21 league matches: roughly 3.1 a game. Contrast this with the rest of Europe’s league leaders: Hoffenheim, 45 in 19 matches (2.37) in Germany, Inter Milan in Italy and Manchester United, both 40 in 23 (1.74), and Lyons, a paltry 27 in 22 (1.23) in France.

How about some historical context? If Barcelona continue at this rate, they will finish with 118 league goals, shattering the previous record held by the 1989-90 Real Madrid side, the one with Hugo Sánchez scoring 38 in La Liga. Their rate of 3.1 per game will be higher than the all-time single-season record goalscorers in England (Aston Villa in 1930-31, who had 128 in 42), and Germany (Bayern in 1971-72, who had 101 in 34) and equal to that in France (Paris in 1959-60, with 118 in 38). If they keep it up, the only leading side in history to outperform them will be the 1947-48 Torino side, the one who, a year later, were tragically wiped out in the Superga air crash. That team, led by the legendary Valentino Mazzola, managed 125 goals in 40 league matches, a rate of 3.13 a game.

Much has been made about Barcelona’s style and flair, with comparisons abounding to Johan Cruyff’s Barça “Dream Team” of the early 1990s, largely because the “brains” of that outfit was Guardiola himself. In fact, compared to that side, this team are different in many ways. They share a belief in the short-passing game and individual creativity, but they are comparatively a more physical and hard-working side.

What is remarkable about Guardiola’s Barcelona is how they seem to defy so much of the conventional wisdom of modern-day football. For a start, their squad is comparatively tiny: they have used just 21 players in the league, of which just 17 have played a significant amount of minutes (more than 180 all season). Again, when you weigh it up with Europe’s other heavyweights, the difference is startling: Manchester United have used 19 players for at least 180 minutes, Liverpool 20, Real Madrid 22, Inter and Lyons 23.

Obviously, this is partly made possible by Guardiola’s reluctance to rotate his squad and partly by the way they have managed to avoid injury. Again, this is remarkable when you look at who his four strikers are. Lionel Messi may well be the best player in the world, but he is also one of the most abused by opponents. Thierry Henry turns 32 this summer and was written off as finished when he left Arsenal two years ago (15 goals thus far would suggest otherwise). Samuel Eto’o is another one who was meant to be on the scrapheap last summer. Barcelona tried to flog him to anyone who would listen and there were rumours that he had no cartilage left in his knees. All he has done is score 19 goals in 19 league starts.

That their first (indeed only) option off the bench is Bojan Krkic, who is 18 years old, smaller than Messi and has started just one league game all season tells you all you need to know about their strength in depth (or lack thereof). Were Barcelona doing poorly, we in the press would simply point out that one of their strikers is injury-prone, another is too old, another too young and the fourth gets kicked up and down the pitch. Not to mention that the last two are so small, they could comfortably fit inside a Kinder egg. Instead, they are scoring freely and playing some of the best football we have seen in a while.

It doesn’t end there. Their right back, Daniel Alves, is a winger in disguise at a time when conventional wisdom would suggest that if you employ three strikers, you need full backs who can defend. They lost the guy who was supposed to be their defensive bedrock (Gabriel Milito) and pulled Gerard Piqué (the prodigal son who came through the ranks and then unsuccessfully sought fame and fortune at Manchester United) out of the hat.

Piqué is likely to make his international debut for Spain against England on Wednesday, much like another home-grown kid, Sergio Busquets, just 20 years old, who came out of the B side to add steel to the midfield.

Can they keep it up? Guardiola suggested this week that they were slowing down a bit, that the side was “tired”. That may well be the case and they may pay a price for it down the road. For now, however, they are setting records, are a joy to watch and doing it in their own distinct way, ignoring the perceived wisdom. All this in Guardiola’s first season as a manager. Food for thought.

And another thing

Wenger may have gone for wrong Zenit star

I cannot help but wonder if Arsenal didn’t sign the wrong Zenit St Petersburg midfield player. Bayern Munich have agreed personal terms with Anatoliy Tymoschuk and, according to reports, are close to sealing a deal worth about £11 million. He is two years older than Arshavin, but is also the kind of holding midfield player who combines nifty passing with crunching tackles and plenty of workrate. A natural leader, it would seem he could have addressed Arsenal’s needs better than Arshavin.

Big names drawn to South American showcase

The South American Youth Championship is difficult to find on your TV (you are better off looking on the web) but it is definitely worthwhile. One scout I spoke to described the biennial tournament (which wrapped up yesterday) as “the single biggest showcase in the game”. No corner of the world produces more talent per head and nowhere is it as ostentatiously displayed as the South American Youth Championship: agents, scouts and club officials dominate the scene, with European clubs present waving open chequebooks.

Among the names generating the biggest buzz are Douglas Costa (a midfield player supposedly on his way to Manchester United) and Walter (a striker from Internacional). But my personal favourite has to be Alan Kardec, the Brazilian striker, if only because he takes his name from Allan Kardec, the 19th-century French philosopher who popularised spiritism. Far more interesting than the stories behind the names of Kaká and Ronaldinho.