Settled Anelka making the difference for Chelsea

November 26, 2009


Nicolas Anelka’s arrival at Chelsea in January last year hardly had the fans buzzing amid all the big-money signings since Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich transformed the fortunes of the west London club.

The peripatetic France striker seemed like a stop-gap and few expected him to be part of Chelsea’s long-term future.

He had just spent 18 months at Bolton Wanderers after spells at Fenerbahce, Manchester City, Liverpool, Paris St Germain and, following the best piece of business in Arsenal’s history, Real
Madrid who he joined for 23 million pounds.

At none of those clubs, however, did he really settle and deliver the regular match-winning performances that made him such a deadly proposition under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

His first half-season at Chelsea produced just two goals and, although he was far more prolific last term with 25 and some excellent displays, there was always the feeling he was second fiddle to Didier Drogba.

This season, however, Anelka seems to have stepped up a gear and gives the impression that not only is he enjoying his football, a rarity for a man nicknamed ‘the incredible sulk’, but he is increasingly the focal point of Chelsea’s attack.

He headed the only goal on Tuesday in the Champions League win at Porto that secured top spot in Group D to maintain his record of vital goals this season having been the sole scorer in the home win over Porto and 1-0 victory at APOEL Nicosia.

He was also outstanding for France in the 1-1 playoff draw with Ireland that secured a World Cup berth, holding the ball up repeatedly with a sure touch and keeping possession despite some tough Irish tackling that previously might have seen him wilt.

“Not only in the Champions League but in all competitions Anelka is having a very good season,” Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti said after Tuesday’s win.

“He is a very important player, sometimes playing as a striker close to Drogba, sometimes helping the midfield. His position is very important for our play.”

On Sunday Chelsea face London rivals Arsenal, where Anelka made his name as a teenage tyro after being nabbed from PSG for a bargain 500,000 pounds by Wenger.

He scored there in last season’s impressive 4-1 triumph and any sort of repeat would be a huge help in Chelsea’s title push.

“It is a very good time for us and we have to keep this going because the players are in good condition, have a good mentality and want to maintain this momentum,” Ancelotti said.

“We know very well that Sunday will be a very difficult match but we know that now is a very good time to play Arsenal,” he added, with their opponents hit by a string of injuries.

Chelsea could be further boosted by an early return for Frank Lampard after a thigh strain. Ancelotti said the England midfielder was in full training and may be fit for Sunday.

PHOTO: Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka (R) is challenged by Liverpool’s Daniel Agger during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London October 26, 2008. REUTERS/Stephen Hird

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Forlan scores as Atletico net Champions League spot

May 30, 2009


MADRID (AFP) – Atletico Madrid secured the final Champions League spot and the millions of euros that accompany it with a 3-0 home win over Almeria on Saturday in the 1,000th game at the Vicente Calderon.

Atletico needed just a draw to clinch fourth but they cruised to a 3-0 victory to qualify for the Champions League for the second successive season.

Argentine Sergio “Kun” Aguero and Raul Garcia put Atletico 2-0 up before Diego Forlan scored for the eighth successive match to take his season’s tally to 32 and wrap up the ‘pichichi’ crown for the league’s top-scorer.

Atletico join champions Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla as Spain’s Champions League representatives and coach Abel Resino, originally seen as a stop-gap, has staked his claim to continue in the job next season.

Forlan’s old club Villarreal, runners-up last season, won 3-2 at Real Mallorca but Atletico’s win meant they had to settle for fifth and a Europa league place.

Villarreal must now concentrate on trying to hang onto their highly-rated Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, 55, who has emerged as a strong candidate for the Real Madrid job.

Valencia clinched the final European spot with a 2-0 home win over defeated Kings Cup finalists Athletic Bilbao.

David Villa scored both goals to take his season’s tally to 28 in what could be his final game for the club.

Villa and fellow Spanish international David Silva will be hot property in the summer with the big clubs set to come calling with their chequebooks and Valencia may be unable to resist having missed out on the Champions League.

Valencia’s win meant Deportivo La Coruna, who drew 1-1 with Barcelona, missed out on Europe.

Barca were given the guard of honour at the Riazor Stadium to salute their historical league, Kings Cup and Champions League treble that no Spanish side had ever achieved.

Coach Pep Guardiola started with five of the starting XI that beat Manchester United 2-0 in Wednesday’s Champions League final and Samuel Eto’o, who scored the opening goal in Rome, netted a late equaliser with his 30th goal of the season.

Eto’o has led the scoring charts for most of the season but Forlan’s hot streak has taken him two goals clear of the Cameroon striker to steal the pichich crown.

The relegation battle takes centre stage on Sunday with five teams fighting for their lives on what will be a tense final day of the season.

Osasuna, third from bottom, host dethroned champions Real Madrid and need to win to be certain of survival.

“Real are not coming here to roll over and die,” warned Osasuna coach Jose Antonio Camacho. “They have some of the best players in the world and they will come here to play.”

Four other teams are fighting the drop and two meet each other with Valladolid travelling to Real Betis.

Promoted Sporting Gijon, level on points with Osasuna, face already relegated Recreativo Huelva while Getafe, a point above the drop, have a tough trip to Racing Santander.

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Perez promises beautiful game at Real

May 29, 2009


MADRID (AFP) – Former Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, set automatically to take charge of the club again on June 1, has promised to deliver fans the beautiful game as they try to move beyond Barcelona’s year of hegemony.

Barca won the Champions League, the Spanish title and the Spanish Cup in a superb season under debutant coach Pep Guardiola and Real were left looking ordinary by comparison.

Perez said the team he would help to build would be world beaters.

“We will build a spectacular team with top notch players,” Perez told a gathering of Real stakeholders and reporters Thursday.

“We have set up a strong and stable sporting project which will be able to call upon footballers who will turn each Real Madrid match into a fascinating rendez-vous,” vowed Perez, the architect of the multimillion-dollar era of ‘galacticos’, global stars such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham.

The recipe worked for a while and a ninth European Cup duly arrived in 2002 but, aside from a 2007 league title for Beckham’s only trophy and a Liga repeat last year Real have seen the pendulum swing spectacularly towards Barcelona this season.

And in the past seven seasons which have elapsed since Zidane’s brilliant winner in the 2002 final, the club have performed woefully in the Champions League ever since.

Perez did not mention any names regarding new top signings but the usually well-informed Cadena Ser radio said Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, currently at Villarreal, would become coach in place of stop-gap Juande Ramos, who replaced the sacked Bernd Schuster mid-season.

And reports Thursday said that the club would also land AC Milan’s Brazilian playmaker Kaka.

Media reports constantly speculate that Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool’s Spanish star Xabi Alonso and Bayern Munich’s French star Franck Ribery will don the all-white strip next term.

Pulling strings as top advisors will be Argentine Jorge Valdano, long ensconced in the club’s corridors of power, as well as Zidane.

Perez is set to return as chairman as the only other candidate still in the race for the job will not qualify to run, sports daily AS reported on Tuesday.

Little-known Eduardo Garcia will be unable to lodge a bank guarantee of 57.4 million euros with the club which is needed to be able to run for president by a May 31 deadline, the newspaper said.

The only other candidate who had announced his intention to run, former Real vice-president Juan Onieva, withdrew his candidadacy over the weekend.

According to the club’s rules, if there is only one candidate for president, Perez will be appointed to the post on Monday, otherwise a vote will be held on June 14.

While the club normally holds elections every four years, it faces the prospect of holding a ballot a year early due to the resignation of former president Ramon Calderon in January.

That folowed allegations he rigged voting at the club’s last general assembly in December, which approved its financial accounts.

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Real’s problems begin in the boardroom

March 12, 2009

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The Spanish press have one question on their minds following Real Madrid’s Champions League humiliation at the hands of Liverpool.

Why has the club that dominated Europe from 1998 to 2002 failed to make it past the last 16 of the Champions League in five years, despite spending (wasting?) tens of millions of euros in the transfer market?

Amid pictures of a tearful-looking Iker Casillas and a jubilant Fernando Torres (the former Atletico icon’s success is a bitter pill for the Real faithful to swallow), the consensus seemed to be that the club’s institutional problems were a big factor.

In Vicente Boluda, Real currently have a stop-gap president following the resignation of Ramon Calderon in a vote-rigging scandal.

Calderon took over from Florentino “Galacticos” Perez in 2006 but was unable to replicate his predecessor’s European triumphs.

The revolving door to the coach’s office has added to the lack of coherence and questions have been asked about the power wielded by some of the club’s longest-serving players, especially Raul, Guti and Michel Salgado.

A comparison with Liverpool is telling: Since Rafael Benitez (a former Real reserve team coach) was appointed in 2004, Real have had eight coaches, culminating in current boss Juande Ramos.

Writing in Wednesday’s El Pais, Jose Samano said elections must be held sooner rather than later so a new president can breathe life into the club.

“Madrid have hit rock bottom,” he wrote. “They have been there for a while on the institutional side and now they have fallen off a cliff in the sporting arena.”

“Objective: win the league” was the message on Real’s website after the Liverpool defeat but even if they manage to haul in leaders Barcelona it will hardly be enough to placate their hugely demanding fans.

Time for Florentino to make a comeback?

PHOTO: Real Madrid players walk off the pitch after their Champions League defeat at Liverpool, March 10, 2009. REUTERS/Max Rossi

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Atletico out to jump-start new era against Porto

February 24, 2009

MADRID (AFP) – Atletico Madrid, struggling to emerge from a decades-long shadow cast by illustrious neighbours Real, bid to get a new era under coach Abel Resino off to a winning start Tuesday against two-times European champions Porto.

A former Atletico goalkeeper, Resino, known simply as Abel, took charge three weeks ago after the club fired Mexican Javier Aguirre following a string of poor results which saw hpoes of playing a role in the Liga title chase evaporate.

Abel, 49, is only expected to be a stop-gap appointment until season’s end but he will have to conjure something out of the hat against a Porto side who are unbeaten in a dozen league outings following last Friday’s 2-0 win at Pacos de Ferreira, Hulk and Bruno Alves on target.

The win means Porto can go into Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg top of their domestic heap.

Atletico, only one win in ten games, will do well to heed the fact that the Portuguese, winners in 1987 at Bayern Munich’s expense and then again under Jose Mourinho in 2004, have won six away games on a roll.

The Spaniards, who have won one, drawn one and lost one to date under Resino in the league, have Colombian defender Luis Perea sidelined for a month after a collision of heads with Sevilla’s Koffi Romaric saw him knocked out cold.

Abel insists that his side will be 100 percent up for the challenge despite their poor recent form.

"We’re looking to go as far as we can in the Champions League. I don’t think right now that Atletico Madrid are inferior to Porto," says Abel, who played 243 games for the club – but never in European competition.

"I think it’s going to be a very even contest," he added, insisting that the rojiblancos (red and whites) were capacle of coping with the pressure and the slight disadvantage of playing the return away from home.

Defender Pablo Ibanez says the change of coach is bringing dividends to a side which had lost its way under former Mexico coach Aguirre.

"With Abel we have improved the psychological aspect of things, which is what was previously lacking," Ibanez told reporters.

Much may depend on the form of striker Sergio Aguero, who became a father on February 19 when his fiancee Gianina Maradona, daughter of Argentina coach Diego, gave birth to a boy, Benjamin Aguero Maradona

Atletico finished runners-up in their opening phase group behind Liverpool while Porto beat Arsenal into second place in their pool.

The Portuguese side’s Colombian midfielder Freddy Guarin will miss the match with ankle trouble while Jorge Fucile also has an ankle problem but has made the squad, Portuguese media reported Sunday.

Written by: AFP

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Atletico turn to Resino to revive Champions League hopes

February 7, 2009

MADRID (AFP) – Atletico Madrid may still be in the money-spinning Champions League, but on the domestic front they are in crisis without a win in 2009 giving them an uphill task to match last season?s top four finish.

Mexican Javier Aguirre paid the price for the club’s downturn when he was sacked as coach on Monday and former Atletico goalkeeper Abel Resino has been appointed on a six-month contract and takes charge for Sunday?s match at Recreativo Huelva.

The 49-year-old Resino, who arrives from second division side Castellon, is seen by many as a stop-gap, but if he can push Atletico into the Champions League places he could make the job his.

"We have a great squad and the logical thing is for us to be in the top four," said Resino.

"We have a lot of quality but need to believe in ourselves again. We need to restore confidence."

Atletico have slumped to seventh with two points from 15 since the turn of the year and trail fourth-placed Valencia by five points.

City neighbours Real Madrid had a similar crisis this season when they sacked Bernd Schuster, but his replacement Juande Ramos has got the champions back on the right path with six straight league wins.

Despite the impressive sequence, Real still sit 12 points behind pacesetters Barcelona and need to beat Racing Santander at home on Saturday to keep up the chase.

Ramos made his second signing before the transfer window closed and it came as a surprise with few predicting French winger Julien Faubert?s loan move from West Ham.

"I have five months to show what I can do," explained Faubert. "It?s a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Faubert, 25, joined West Ham from Bordeaux for close to nine million euros but was hindered by injuries during his time in England.

Real captain Raul will hope Faubert can supply more ammunition as he looks to set a new club goal-scoring record after equalling Alfredo di Stefano?s total of 307 goals last Saturday.

Raul, 31, looks as fit as ever but the former Spain international admits he is pondering bringing the curtain down on his career.

"I have two more years on my contract and I think I will have to start thinking about my future when the following season ends," said Raul.

"I get closer to retirement each year but I think I can still play at the level required for another two or three years."

Real may be on a roll with 18 points from their last six matches but they have not made a dent in Barcelona’s 12-point lead.

Sporting Gijon are Barcelona’s next opponents at Camp Nou on Sunday and they will hope Barcelona?s defensive crisis could give them a chance.

Centre-backs Gerard Pique and Rafael Marquez are suspended, following red cards in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Racing, while captain Carles Puyol is out injured, leaving manager Pep Guardiola trying to assemble a makeshift defence.

But Barcelona do have a fit and in-form Lionel Messi who took his season?s tally to 16 with a brace against Racing despite starting as a substitute.

"I don’t want to put pressure on Messi, but you have to say it, he is very similar to (Diego) Maradona, the best player I have ever seen," said Thierry Henry. "It is normal to depend on Messi but we are not going to die without him, even if it is better to have him on the pitch."

Elsewhere, third-placed Sevilla host a freefalling Real Betis on Saturday in a hotly-contested derby.

Fixtures

Saturday

Real Madrid v Racing Santander, Sevilla v Real Betis

Sunday

Malaga v Almeria, Valladolid v Athletic Bilbao, Recreativo Huelva v Atletico Madrid, Getafe v Espanyol, Villarreal v Numancia, Real Mallorca v Deportivo La Coruna, Barcelona v Sporting Gijon, Osasuna v Valencia

Written by: AFP

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