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HORSEPLAY

Enjoy the Grand National with a free Paddy Power punt!

Shakalakaboomboom is The Spoiler’s 2012 fancy

As half of Merseyside spill down to London for a Wembley derby more eagerly anticipated than Kenny Dalglish’s post-defeat interviews with Geoff Shreeves, plenty will trek in the opposite direction for the Grand National.

The Atletico Madrid of horse races, complete with illustrious history, big crowds, high expectations, chaos at every turn and very few [...]

Apr

13

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3:53 PM

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LAME PUN OF THE DAY: PAT-ASTROPHE

Alex Pato: more muscle injuries than Inter have had 2011-12 wins

Luckless AC Milan star out for the 14th time in little over two years

What was the least surprising incident in the Champions League this week? All three away-leg winners triumphing at home? Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice? Chelsea fans waving their super naff flags?

Nope, forget all that, the event that trumped all others in the so-damn-disappointingly-inevitable stakes was AC Milan forward Alex Pato hobbling off [...]

Apr

5

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2:21 PM

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EASY TARGETS

Kenny Dalglish is still on course to make history at Liverpool

Alas in a similar way to how Derby broke records under Paul Jewell

Rafael Benitez’s reply to being linked with the Chelsea job was to preach of his greatness, however a far subtler approach could see him back at Liverpool within months, where his work looks more miraculous with each passing day.

Things have turned so sour under second successor Kenny Dalglish that the Reds are now priced [...]

Apr

3

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12:33 PM

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MESSI V NESTA

Will it be Nesta’s night again in his personal duel with Messi?

Legendary defender’s performance will determine who progresses

Much of what is written about tonight’s Carles Puyol-tagged game of the season between Barcelona and AC Milan will be about Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but the piece’s true protagonist is Alessandro Nesta.

Yes, the 36-year-old defender who ITV started their first-leg coverage practically mocking, armed with the assumption that old age guaranteed a [...]

Apr

3

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11:58 AM

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CA$H£D UP COACH€$

Dalglish paid as much as Sir Alex, Hughes outearns Allegri & Klopp

List of the world’s 30 best-paid managers is a huge eyebrow-raiser

Everyone assumes that the reluctance of UK managers to go abroad relates to the silly belief that British is always best, but a recently published list (yes, we’re a bit late) of the planet’s 30 highest earners reveals the real reason.

Premier League clubs, no matter how mediocre, are willing to spend barmy amounts to [...]

Mar

20

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2:26 PM

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FREE INSIGHT

Read the world’s best informed sports and betting mag for free!

Close Up magazine is now available on the iTunes news-stand

Plenty of comment scrawlers ask what the Spoiler team get up to when not sporadically showcasing a questionable outlook on the occasionally beautiful game on these pages. Well now there’s a chance to see for yourselves.

The Spoiler’s publishers also produce Close Up magazine, a sports quarterly which is distributed to Ladbrokes’ top 20,000 customers, [...]

Mar

19

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5:14 PM

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FOREIGN STUFF

Europe’s next top manager: Little Airplane set to scale great heights

Catania boss destined for greatness, if he ignores Inter and Chelsea

The similarities between catwalk and dugout are vast: the posturing, the ability to silently convey a message interpretable only by the profession’s elite (ie Tyra Banks, John Terry), the bitchiness and above all else the fashion accessories.

When it comes to cutthroat-itude, to invent a term that should exist, though a dugout is an even [...]

Mar

19

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1:07 PM

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BIG WEEK

Champions League possibilities and Cheltenham Festival free bets

Five for Messi, four for Gomez, three for Torres?

Another dramatic night in the Champions League saw Mario Gomez come within a goal of firing five in a home knockout game and presumably prompting the press to laud him as the best player in the history of football.

Elsewhere, Inter won but lost the pitiful drunken fistfight between surely the two most out-of-form sides [...]