Another blow for Real Madrid
Real Madrid suffered another blow as Real Valladolid produced them the second defeat of the season in Primera Division.The match ended 1-0 for Valladolid.
Real looks like is not recovering after Champions League defeats against Juventus who beat them in both matches. Another decisive factor is Ruud van Nistelrooy’s injury who will be out for the rest of the season.
Nistelrooy’s injury left Real without too many options in attack, Raul, Higuain and Saviola. This is an unusual situation for Real who use to have 6-7 options in attack last years.
It seems that the injury of team’s goal scorer has demoralized the players.
Liverpool returns on top of the Premier League
Liverpool returned on top of the Premier League after 2-0 victory at Bolton.
With this victory Liverpool leads the standings with 32 points from 13 matches. However if Chelsea wins later tonight at WBA it will retain the first position.
The Reds suffered only one defeat in this Premier League campaign and looks like they are finally prepared to battle until the end of the season for the most expected title. It was an excellent game for Liverpool who created a lot of chances. Kuyt and Gerrard goals sealed an important win which puts some pressure on Chelsea tonight.
Liverpool was superior in all chapters and only the poor finishing made that the score was only 2-0. The match meant also the return of Fernando Torres who came in to replace an uninspired Keane. The impact was clear as Gerrard doubled the lead from his assist. Gerrard returned the favor later in the game but Torres missed the chance to score at comeback.
Liverpool had the opportunity to finish more convincing but Torres and Lucas proved to be uninspired in front of the goal.
It was a hard woking victory for Liverpool and fortunately this time the missed opportunities in front of the goal did not turn against them.
Fiorentina follows Arsenal model
As we all know Arsenal is the most successful football team with a very low average age.
Arsene Wenger continues to impress us every time as he discovers a new talent. The last performance for Arsenal was Tuesday match against Wigan when with an average age of just 19 they manage to win the game with 3-0.
Fiorentina is following the same model with Cesare Prandelli who tries to build up a new team around a few experienced players like Adrian Mutu, Alberto Gilardino and Sebastian Frey.
La Viola gave up on Liverani, Vieri and Ujfalusi and brought in young replacements like Melo, Jovetic, Vargas, Gilardino. Latest reports indicates that Fiorentina are following Veloso from Sporting and Winaldum from Feyenoord.
Fiorentina already have some young International players in the team like Montolivo, Kuzmanovic, Osvaldo, Waigo.
La Viola are having a good season being only four points behind Inter in Serie.
Anyway the lack of experience was decisive in Champions League where Fiorentina was equalized by Lyon and Bayern in the end of the games. It is a good performance for La Viola even if they won’t qualify for the second round.
Fiorentina players have to learn to destroy the game when they lead, like Chelsea, Manchester, Inter and all big teams use to do.
Fiorentina is on the right way, and if they continue improving who knows maybe someday they will fight for Champions League title.
Andrew Cole retires from football
Former Manchester United striker Andrew Cole announced his retirement from professional football after his contract at Nottingham Forest was canceled two weeks ago.
The 37 year old striker only joined the club this summer but despite making 11 appearances he didn’t manage to score.
Cole scored an impressive 187 Premiership goals during his career, only Shearer has more then him. He spent his best years at Manchester United where he formed one of the best attacking partnership from football history with Dwight Yorke. Cole won the league five times, the FA Cup two times and the European Cup with Manchester and one League Cup with Blackburn.
Cole declared himself disappointed about how thing went at Nottingham but he is optimistic about the future, and is considering to share his experience as a coach.
Cole is a now a legend in football and I’m sure that every fan will remember his goals. What a great striker it was!
