Kaka: “A nice, emotional evening”

November 4, 2009


Kaka returned to the San Siro on Tuesday night to play with his new club Real Madrid against his former, beloved club AC Milan. The match ended in a draw: 1-1. The Brazilian midfielder was impressed by the way the Milan fans welcomed him.

“It was beautiful, just like I hoped it would be,” Kaka explained to Sky Sports Italia. “I’ve experienced so many beautiful moments in the San Siro and this was, again, an emotional night. I want to thank all the fans for their appreciation.”

“It wasn’t easy to deal with the emotions but I was prepared for it and I knew it was going to be tough,” said the attacking midfielder.

“I went to their locker room before the match and it was great to meet my old teammates again.”

Paul Haring

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Adebayor: I won’t change

September 25, 2009


Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor will continue to show “emotion” when he celebrates goals despite facing an FA charge for improper conduct.

The Togo striker has until Wednesday to appeal the charge which was levelled at him for celebrating in front of fans of former club Arsenal after scoring for City as they won 4-2 at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Adebayor ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans who he claimed had abused him during the game.

“I am not afraid and I will still celebrate with emotion,” Adebayor told ShortList magazine.

“When you start to take emotion out of football you are going to have a very big problem. For the fans and the players it is a very emotional game, and when you take out emotion you have to question if people still care about the game.

“It is just one of those things that happens in football when emotions are high. When you are being abused for the whole game it affects you. People are saying 10 seconds like it is a long time, but it isn’t.

“The whole of that 10 seconds I was running and I was running on pure emotion. I was not thinking like I would normally do.”

Adebayor claims he did nothing to provoke the abuse from the Arsenal fans.

“I was disappointed because I very much enjoyed my time at Arsenal. An offer came in for me and the club decided to accept it, I did not make any trouble and I did not say anything in the papers to try and get myself a move.”

He does not believe the Arsenal fans will cause trouble during the return match at Emirates Stadium on April 24.

“I have already said I am ready for the return game. I don’t think there will be trouble, it is a long time away and people have a lot of time to calm down.”

Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Blatter defends record Ronaldo move

June 13, 2009


JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday defended Real Madrid’s world record 80 million pound swoop for Manchester United’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Blatter, speaking in the build-up to the Confederations Cup which gets underway on Sunday, said the huge fee proved that football was still an attractive business despite the global financial turndown.

“If we have a good market in football, it means we have a good product. But it is not only a product to sell or to buy, it gives people what they want; and that is emotions and entertainment,” said Blatter.

“At the same time as Ronaldo’s transfer ten years ago, there was a Picasso painting sold at Sotherby’s in London for over 100 million pounds and what happened to it?

“They put it somewhere where no-one could see it or on display at a museum for a short period, but with a football player, you can see him once or twice a week.

“I heard yesterday that you could buy millions of pieces of bread to give to the people for that amount, but entertainment is also food for the people.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

No regrets as Hiddink prepares for final curtain

May 17, 2009


LONDON (AFP) – Guus Hiddink won’t shed any tears when he walks away from Stamford Bridge for the last time after Sunday’s match against Blackburn because the Chelsea interim boss can reflect on a job well done.

Hiddink takes charge of his last home match this weekend before turning his attention to one final Premier League clash at Sunderland and then the FA Cup final against Everton on May 30.

The Dutch coach has made a big impact during his brief four-month reign. Since replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari in February, Hiddink has delivered on Blues owner Roman Abramovich’s desire to see Chelsea qualify for the Champions League and challenge in the cup competitions.

But he returns to his full-time role as Russia coach at the end of May and insists he won’t have any regrets about cutting short his adventure in west London.

“When I started in February, I was fully committed to do my job. But having had the response of everyone – the players, the staff, the public – it gives me a lot of satisfaction,” Hiddink said.

“It’s not easy to say goodbye. But let’s not be too dramatic. Unofficially, I will keep my connection with the club. By supporting them, by coming to visit every now and then.

“Sadness is not the right word. I’m not going to cry. I don’t know my emotions. I have enjoyed very much working at this club, with these players.

“To be honest, when I started, I thought I’d have to fight a lot with the status of players. I though there was a pre-set mind that they would be untouchable, but we touched each other.

“I’m proud of that. Now we split, so there’s a feeling of respect. Not regret, but respect.”

With third place secured after last weekend’s 4-1 rout of Arsenal, Hiddink can turn his attention to taking his final bow at the Bridge. He is yet to lose a home match and has no intention of allowing his players to take their foot off the gas ahead of the Cup Final.

“We have to do the serious approach which we do with every game,” Hiddink said. “The lads like to play football and they must play good games against Blackburn and Sunderland.

“We stay on our toes regarding our concentration until the end of May. We have to play the game the way we like to play the game.

“That’s another motivation. If players see the stadium and the people there, every player who is not motivated in those circumstances is not worthy to start in the first XI.”

Chelsea, who could still catch second placed Liverpool, are likely to be without injured forward Salomon Kalou while Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti are also doubtful with flu.

Rovers need one point from their last two matches to guarantee their survival, but Sam Allardyce’s side already have enough points to be confident of another trip to Chelsea next season and could be safe by the time they kick-off if results go their way on Saturday.

Allardyce’s side have lost their last four away games however and the Rovers boss said: “We have had some satisfying results at home but away we have been extremely disappointing.

“Chelsea away on Sunday is a situation where I’m looking for a much better performance and result combined if we can.

“But going up against such a big team as Chelsea we really need to be sound defensively, everyone needs to take responsibility and do their defensive duties from the centre forward all the way through the team.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

German keeper Wiese fined for megaphone fan insult

May 16, 2009


FRANKFURT (AFP) – Werder Bremen’s international goalkeeper Tim Wiese was fined 10,000 euros on Friday after he climbed onto perimeter fencing, grabbed a megaphone and hurled abuse at Hamburg fans.

Wiese’s extraordinary outburst came after his team’s 2-0 Bundesliga win on Sunday, a victory which had come hot on the heels of Bremen’s UEFA Cup semi-final triumph over their northern rivals.

The keeper perched himself on the fencing and screamed: “S..(expletive) on Hamburg”.

Wiese apologised for his behaviour after being fined by the German football federation (DFB).

“I got carried away by the emotions of the moment,” he said.

Bremen and Hamburg have met four times in the last three weeks with Wiese’s team coming out on top in the league, German Cup and UEFA Cup.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Guardiola relishing United showdown

May 7, 2009


LONDON (AFP) – Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola is anticipating a classic Champions League final when his side take on Manchester United in Rome later this month.

Guardiola will spend the next three weeks studying videos of United’s recent performances, including last year’s semi-final victory over Barca, in an attempt to finesse his tactics for the final.

But he vowed there would be no fundamental change from the approach that has seen his side score 147 goals in all competitions this season.

“We won’t change our approach, which is take the ball, move the ball and try to create chances.

“Manchester is the reigning champion and they are unbelievable team with a coach with huge experience. But we are Barcelona.

“I think it is going to be a nice final because we are going to attack we going to score goals and they know that.”

Wednesday’s win, which followed Saturday’s 6-2 thrashing of Real Madrid, has left Guardiola on the brink of a Spanish League/Champions League double in his first season in charge at the club he served as a stylish midfielder.

“I did not expect so many good results in my first season,” Guardiola admitted. “But we are where we are and now have to try and close out the league and think ahead to three weeks time and the final in Rome.”

Guardiola was as happy for match-winner Iniesta as he was distraught for Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal, who will both miss the final as a result of the yellow and red cards they received here.

“I’m very happy for Iniesta. He is a player who represents what Barca stands. He gets a lot of stick for not scoring enough goals but hopefully that will stop now because he has scored one of the most important in the club’s history.”

Guardiola added: “Daniel and Eric are happy we went through but it is tough for them because they will miss the final.

“I spoke to Daniel before the match and told him that he had to control his emotions or he would not be in the final.

“But when he plays he puts all his emotion on the field and sometimes it is tough to control himself.”

France left-back Abidal was dismissed for what appeared to be a professional foul on Nicolas Anelka, but television replays suggested that the defender had not made contact with his compatriot.

Nevertheless, Abidal will be suspended for the final and Guardiola will be without both his first-choice fullbacks, as well as one of his regular centrebacks, Rafael Marquez.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

 



Calendar

Related Sites

Free Page Rank Tool

eXTReMe Tracker


TinyPic Image and Video Hosting

Categories

.