Tuesday  provides a mouth watering friendly clash between two of the games biggest football nations- Argentina v Spain.  Spain has dominated world football these past two years. La Furia Roja are not only European champions but also just recently added the biggest title of them all-the FIFA World Champions tag. One man has however been quick to instruct his side not to let their achievements get to their head.

Current coach Vicente Del Bosque has issued a warning to his side as they prepare to face Argentina in a friendly in Buenos Aires today. Del Bosque is undoubtedly one of the best coaches around and is mainly remembered for stint as Real Madrid boss.

The Spaniard was largely responsible for fashioning a dream team during the club’s galacticos era. Los Blancos went on to win a number of titles including two Champions League trophies and the La Liga title.

Now coach of Spain, Del Bosque is taking nothing lightly as he prepares his team to face the South American giants.

“The worst that can happen to this group is to believe that we are the kings of the world. After winning the World Cup, our goal is to prepare for the next tournament,”

“We’re just players and a coach except that we are the world champions. We have a great responsibility to move forward.

“I think our success is due to a solid base rather than a good generation. We have not changed at all since the World Cup. We won the World Cup from technical and human effort.”

Argentina on any day is not a team to be underestimated and even though they may be struggling to find that winning formula that won them two world cups, La Albicelestes go into the match as favourites.

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One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how players often hate on their former clubs soon after transferring. It is a trend i see with most players. They normally go on and on about how switching clubs is the best thing that ever happened to their careers and that they are ready for a fresh start when in reality, we know its all a load of rubbish!

The bulk of them are in fact bitter to have been shown the door. Former Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest player to criticise his former club claiming their manager runs away from his problems.

Prior to his move to Milan, Ibra claimed that he had not spoken with Guardiola for 6 months! I don’t know if that was an exaggeration, however, it definitely strained their relationship even more.

“I said nothing, but I can’t afford to stay in the stands and watch the weather. Nobody at Barcelona wanted to sell me, but the problems began in March. I sought an explanation, but he didn’t answer me.”

“A great coach solves the problems with his players. A little one runs away from his problems. At first we had a good dialogue, then suddenly, I don’t know what happened. I can’t afford to spend a year or three in the stands, I saw what happened last season with Thierry Henry.”

Ibrahimovic has point. What happened to Henry anyway? Didn’t he not have a stellar debut season with Barca? 35 goals in 80 appearances is a very good record. That’s averaging about a goal every two games. Guardiola’s treatment of the Frenchman was not the least bit warranted.

Henry has found a new home in the MLS with the New York Red Bulls where another of his team mates at Barcelona recently joined him-Rafael Marquez. Ibra also did not have to bad a season with the Blaugrana.The Swede managed to score 16 goals in 29 appearances.

Speaking about Milan’s new striking force, this is what he had to say.

“Robinho is a magician. We have the strongest attack in Europe, if I were the coach of Milan then I would be very happy.”

All Milan fans can only hope is that Ibra matches his talk with walk and deliver success that has eluded the club in the past seasons.

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I know you must have come across the name Mino Raiola many times this summer and you might be asking yourself who this person is. It seems like every transfer dealing with  some of Europe’s biggest clubs involve this man. To be honest, i am just as curious as you are to know who he is. That’s why i decided to dig up a little background information on this super agent.

Mino Raiola is an Italian born naturalised Dutch. Raiola migrated to Haarlem Netherlands with his Parents soon after his birth. It was while in holland that he developed his passion for football joining local club Haarlem.

His love for the game however ended when he was 18. In1986, he became the youth team coach for Haarlem. 7 years later, Raiola successfully negotiated Dennis Bergkamp’s transfer to Italian giants Inter Milan. This was to be the beginning of a career that has led him to become one of the game’s most respected sports agents

Raiola is currently an attorney for world governing body FIFA as well as being highly respected sports attorney. Raiola represents a number of world class stars including: Ibrahimovic, Balotelli, Grygera, Kerlon (an emerging Brazilian star), Maxwell and Mattioni. He also represents Dutch coaching legend Martin Jol.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Raiola or any sports agent for that matter money. To say Raiola has made decent amounts of money would be an understatement. In the past year alone, Raiola has closed deals worth over 100 million Euros from just a handful of players. It does not take a genius to figure out that Raiola is worth millions of dollars.

After successfully completing Ibrahimovic’s transfer from Catalan giants Barcelona to AC Milan , Raiola has been called to finalise a deal that would see another star move to the San Siro.

Robinho is said to be close to signing for the Serie A giants and Raiola’s midas touch is needed to complete the deal. Raiola is not even Robinho’s official agent but such is his confidence and success he has achieved that Milan decided to bring him to the negotiating table.

If you remember right, Robinho signed for City on the last day of the summer transfer window back in 2008. The Italian side are now hoping that they can sign Robinho before the deadline expires tonight at midnight.

Reports suggest that Milan are close to signing Robinho and that he will be announced today as a Milan player. The only issue is the fee. Both clubs are yet to agree on a transfer fee that would satisfy them. With only hours to go to the deadline, anxiety over Robinho’s fate has reached fever pitch.

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Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo injured his ankle in his team’s opening Spanish league match and will be out for three weeks. Madrid said Monday on its web site that the Portugal international was hurt in the 0-0 draw with Mallorca on Sunday.

The injury means that Ronaldo will miss Portugal’s upcoming 2012 European Championship qualifiers against Cyprus and Norway. He will also be out for Madrid’s next league match against Osasuna and will be a major doubt for Madrid’s first Champions League game against Ajax on 15 September.

photo credit: Life of Sport

This weekend the Spanish and Italian leagues commenced with more excitement than has been witnessed in the last few seasons. There were some very big surprises from the respective league giants as well as enthralling matches that inspired hope for numerous fans across the two countries.

In Spain, the most shocking result was Real Madrid‘s barren draw at Mallorca. Jose Mourinho’s first match as coach of Los Blancos will be one he wishes to forget as quickly as possible. Of course its only the first match of the season, however, that result should give Madrid‘s critics something to talk about.

Real was one of the highest spending club’s this summer acquiring a total of 5 top  players who mostly impressed during the summer World Cup. Oezil, Khedira, Cannales, Pedro Leon and Angel di Maria were snapped up by the Spanish giants to be part of their renaissance this season.

Mourinho picked the positives from the match pointing out that defense wise, Los Blancos were solid.

“One positive is that from a defensive point of view we didn’t have any problems,” Mourinho said. “Another positive is the enormous number of chances we created in the second half. The negative is obviously the result. It is important to defend well and score when you are not at your best and we are far from our best. We didn’t play well but we did enough to win. We had five or six chances but didn’t take any of them and I am disappointed about that. We were solid defensively and if we had scored we would have taken the three points.”

Meanwhile fierce rivals Barcelona opened up the La Liga account with a convincing 3-0 demolition of  Racing Santander . Messi, Iniesta and Villa were the goal scorers as the Catalan opened up a two point lead over their fierce rivals after match day 1.

In other fixtures, Valencia were 3-1 winners over Malaga, while Espanyol defeated Getafe by 3 goals to 1. The weekend’s biggest winners were Sevilla who thumped Levante 4-1.

Villarreal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad adding to the number of results that were not expected. Atletico Madrid play Sporting Gijon later today in a match that dictate their campaign this season.

In Italy, things were not too different as traditional powerhouses Juventus and AS Roma collected negative results from their opening fixtures. Juventus however, came out worse as they slumped to a 1-0 loss away to Bari.

A lot was expected from the Bianconeri especially considering how much they spent to acquire some top class talent. After guiding Juve through to the Europa League despite the tough opposition , Luigi Del Neri expected a much easier task when they faced Bari yesterday.

That was not to be as Bari provided one of the shocks of the day to deny the 28 time Serie A champions victory under their new coach. Meanwhile in Rome, the Giallorosso were on Saturday held to a barren draw by new comers Cesena at the Stadio Olimpico.

Last season’s runners up failed to utilise their home advantage and as a result earned a point from a match that they should have won hands down. However, it was not all gloom as AC Milan recorded the biggest win of the weekend beating Lecce 4-0 at the San Siro.

Brazilian star Pato was on target twice to help the Rossoneri to one of their finest starts to a Serie A season in a long time. Thigo Silva and Inzaghi also scored goals on the night.

Fiorentina and Napoli drew 1-1, while Sampdoria beat Lazio 2-0. Palermo and Cagliari shared the spoils after their barren draw while Chievo were 2-1 winers over Catania.

Tonight champions Inter face Bologna in an opening fixture which they are expected to win.

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AC Milan completed the signing of Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Spanish champions Barcelona on Saturday. The 28 year old will sign a 4 year contract with the Rossoneri and will undergo a medical at the club on Monday.

Ibra is now back in Italy this time playing for a different top four side. The question is whether he is the right man for the club. Many Milan fans are bound to express their disappointment especially when you consider how much Ibrahimovic will cost the club in the long run.

Reports suggest that Milan will spend a whooping 102 million Euros on Ibra for the length of his contract. Now, if you consider that Milan could have signed Dzeko or any other top talent for considerably less, then you do know that this will be the talking point in the run up to Milan’s opening fixture against Lecce at the San Siro today.

A statement from the club official website reads:

“AC Milan would like to communicate they have signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Barcelona on a loan deal with the right to an option to buy him after the 2010/2011 season for the sum of €24m.

“He will have a medical on Monday and then sign his contract.”

Ibrahimovic will earn 8 million Euros per annum a figure that club star Ronladinho currently earns. Clearly excited with the deal, Ibrahimovic voiced his happiness.

“Milan are one of the strongest clubs in the world. We have a fantastic attack.”

“This move gives me more adrenaline. I have moved here to win the Champions League with Milan. I want to win the double.”

These latest developments will definitely add more jest to the Milan derby. Of course Ibra was an Inter idol and an integral part of many of their successes and so it will be exciting to see how Inter fans respond to the news.

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In my previous post Gourcuff Pens Five Year Deal With Lyon, i mentioned the former Bordeaux player as one of the people who would feature in my top ten list of over rated players. Well, another would be Mascherano. No disrespect to any Liverpool fans but in all honesty the Argentine is given more credit than he is worth at least in my view.

Mascherano publicly declared his interest in leaving Anfield after the departure of boss Rafa Benitez to Inter Milan. Then, reports doing the rounds were ripe with rumours suggesting that he could follow Benitez to the San Siro.

However, things seem to have changed. The midfielder is now close to signing for Spanish champions Barcelona. Liverpool have apparently agreed on a fee of 16 million Euros with the Catalan giants with the option of it rising to 22 million Euros.

Mascherano’s deal could open the door for Brazilian star Robinho to join Milan. Robinho has been involved in a long protracted  battle with his club Manchester City with a move away from Eastlands looking more and more real as the striker is yet to return to England despite his loan deal with Santos having come to an end in June.

Robinho has stated that a move toeither Spain or Italy would suite him. Now, if he were to move to Spain, then the only logical option would be to join Barcelona. However, the Catalans have more than enough firepower. In fact, they are thinking of selling some of their talent (Ibrahimovic).

I could not see Robinho moving to any other club other than Real or Barca. If he were to move to Italy then, Milan would be his end destination. Robinho has always been a fan of Ronaldinho.  In an interview before the World Cup, Robinho made remarks to the effect that playing alongside Dinho is ‘fun’.

To miss the chance of being re-united with his fellow compatriot is an opportunity he would be crazy to ignore. Galliani could very well surprise the Milan faithful by buying a player who still has a long way to go. In fact, if the rumours are true, then many expect him to be the successor to Dinho.

Photo credit: from FePe55

After stating categorically that Milan will not be spending any more on new players in this transfer window, Milan Vice President seems to have gone back on his word. The Rossoneri executive was quoted earlier this month as saying that the club will not be landing any new players unless, they offload some of their current players.

Now, for the first time, Galliani has broken his silence on the Ibrahimovic saga. Speaking to Sky Sports 24, Galliani was quoted as saying that they will try and sign Ibra, despite the obvious challenges.

“It will be very difficult to sign Ibrahimovic, but we will try.”

To be honest, Milan should rather spend that money trying land a player like Dzeko or Adebayor. Ibrahimovic is a talented player however what we don’t need in Milan is another primadonna who will cause disharmony in the club.

Ibrahimovic reportedly earned a whooping 16 million dollars last year as a Barcelona player. With the club undergoing massive financial constraints that have seen some of their star players negotiate new terms, this is way too much to pay a player who decides to perform when he feels like.

Moreover, a majority of Milan fans do not even want him in the squad. The out of favour Ibrahimovic should have read the signs earlier. His honeymoon period with the La Liga champions is over. He will now have to fight for a starting position just like any other player.

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It was billed as the clash of the titans. This weekend provided two of the biggest matches to kick start the Bundesliga season. Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg and Hamburg v Schalke.

The Allianz Arena was the centre of attention on Friday as champions Bayern Munich got off to a rousing start beating Wolfsburg 2-1. Bayern’s goal came courtesy of  World Cup star Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Wolfsburg’s solitary goal was scored by Edin Dzeko.

I now understand why Dzeko is such a prime target for some of Europe’s best clubs. Wolfsburg’s new coach Steve Mclaren was however disappointed to see his side throw away points in the dying minutes of the game.

“That was the worst possible way to lose and of course for us it is a big disappointment,” he explained to the club’s official website after the defeat.

“We came back in the second-half by putting a lot of passion into the game. In the first-half we gave them too much respect. It’s a good lesson for us, but a painful one.”

The trend continued Saturday with Hamburg beating Schalke by the same margin. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the hero of the day as his brace gave the home side their first win of the season.

Van Nistelrooy was up against former Real Madrid team mate Raul who was making his Bundesliga debut. The game was heading for a draw until Van Nistelrooy struck the winner 7 minutes from time after some neat work from Ze Roberto.

In the day’s other matches, the most shocking result was Weder Bremen’s 4-1 humiliating loss to Hoffenheim. Of course after beating Sampdoria 3-1 in a mid week Europa League first leg tie, many thought that the post Oezil recovery was off to the right start, however, that was not the case.

Hoffenheim were not a full strength squad either as their star player Carlos Eduardo did not feature. The Brazilian international is reported to have reached an agreement with Russian side Rubin Kazan. Kazan have offered Hoffenheim 20 million Euros for the rising star.

Hoffenheim’s goals were scored by Demba Ba, Peniel Mlapa, Vedad Ibisevic and Sejad Salihovic. Tosten Frigns was Bremen’s goal scorer. other scores: Borussia Mochengladbach 1 Nurenberg 1, Hannover 2 Eintracht Franfurt 1, Koeln 1 Kaiserslauten 3 and Frieburg 1 St Pauli 3.

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Brazilian forward Robinho’s club career seems to be taking new dimensions as he is reported to have agreed to join Turkish club Besiktas. Robinho has never really looked like the player we all came to love since his move from Real Madrid 2 years ago. In fact, after an amazing debut season, Robinho’s momentum fizzled out as injuries started taking a toll on him.

Robinho was loaned out to Santos by Manchester City in the beginning of the year however his spell came to an end and City expect him back in Eastlands very soon to discuss his future.

Watching Robinho’s club squabbles play out is very hard to take especially if you consider the amount of talent he has. As a one of his fans, i hate to admit it but should he move to Turkey then it would signal the beginning of the end of his career.

Manchester City have always maintained that if any club can meet anything close to the 32 million Pounds they paid to sign him from Real then, they would consider their offer.

Besiktas are reported to be willing to pay the Citizens 16 million Pounds upfront and then 10 million later. That is a very appealing offer considering that no other clubs are willing to pay that much for the star.

Besiktas seem to be building their own version of a spectacular sporting project. The Turkish club have already signed Guti and Quaresma. Moving back to City is not an option either with Balotelli (who scored on his debut), Tevez and Adebayor all fighting for a starting position, Robinho is not guaranteed regular playing time.

What makes this debacle very ironic,  is the fact that Robinho plays brilliantly for his national team. Robinho is at a cross roads. The player who was once hand picked by the legendary Pele as his heir apparent is now just a pale shadow of the teen that took the world by storm as an 18 year old player eight years ago.

Is this the end of Robinho’s career? May be not but it will surely be very hard for him to re-establish himself as a top striker.

Photo credit: from Michael Diego