Zinedine Zidane has made no secret of his admiration for Steven Gerrard (”Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he might be”), so it is fitting that an animated likeness of the Frenchman goes off in search of the Liverpool captain in a new advertising campaign for a stripey German sportswear company.
We really like this clip but have noticed one obvious error - shouldn’t the backpack on young Stevie G’s back have an Everton crest on it?
Fit & Healthy striker knew he was second best from the outset
Until now, The Spoiler had assumed that Michael Owen fell off his horse/ out of his helicopter in paralysed shock when he first learned that Manchester Utd were interested in his signature.
The tiny striker, however, has now revealed details of the phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson, in which the red-faced Scot made it perfectly clear that in an ideal world he would be phoning a young Frenchman instead:
“The manager’s voice is pretty distinctive, so I knew it wasn’t a wind-up. He said, ‘We are looking for a striker. I’m going to be up front, we went for Benzema and once that was a no-go we looked around for players who are going to score goals. Obviously the big question is if you are fit, but if you are and we can get plenty of games, then words to the effect that it’s a no-brainer. Anyway, there’s no point in talking on the phone, we’ll chat about it tomorrow if you are free and fancy coming round.’
Italian PM forgets about all the teams that are better than his
Currently sitting in the bottom half of Serie A with two league wins to their name, AC Milan are struggling to find form under Leonardo. Well aware of this fact, owner Silvio Berlusconi yesterday described the start to the season as “a disaster” while visiting the earthquake-hit region of Abruzzo. However, when he realised a reporter from La Gazzetta dello Sport heard his comment, he changed his mind quicker than a former Tottenham defender at a League Two club:
“Ah, you work for Gazzetta?”"Well, when I said ‘disaster’ I was just saying it for the sake of it.
“It is a difficult moment, but that’s football. It will pass. We’ll see where things stand in the end.”
The Italian ladies’ man - who has suspiciously black hair and perfect teeth for a man who turned 73 yesterday - continued
As anyone who has ever divorced will testify, sometimes it is necessary to call time on a big commitment. Footballers who sign big money contracts are no strangers to this maxim, but some jump ship a little earlier than expected. With this in mind, Spoiler correspondent Ben Baker has compiled a top ten list of the shortest spells in football club history. And guess who tops the list…
Sol Campbell
After a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance at Meadow Lane and a quick team photo, the man whom Spurs fans lovingly refer to as ‘Judas’ picked up his boots and walked out on his £40,000-a-week contract. If he manages to stay fit and win his war with his own metabolism, perhaps a fleeting appearance in the MLS lies ahead for football’s least decisive man..
Ali Dia
A favourite story among football fans who are less than supportive of Graeme Souness (and let’s be honest, there are a fair few): after allegedly receiving a call from former World Footballer of the Year George Weah ‘bigging up’ his ‘cousin’, Souness signed him up without reservation. He even had the audacity to replace Sir Tiss with him. Dia was so dreadful that he was hauled off, lasting about 20 minutes. Oh well, Southampton’s loss was Gateshead’s gain…kind of.
Dietmar Hamann
After it appeared that Hamann was surplus to
Manchester Utd striker failed to cope with being blacklisted
Thanks to three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a Champions League, Dwight Yorke undoubtedly enjoyed the best days of his career at Manchester Utd. The Trinidad and Tobago striker, however, has revealed that he also endured some of his darkest days at the club.
After a high profile relationship with vacuous publicity whore glamour model Jordan put him in the media spotlight for the wrong reasons, Yorke fell out with Ferguson, who attempted to ship him off to Middlesbrough.
The striker felt encouraged when Sir Alex announced his intention to retire, but when he subsequently retracted that intention, Yorke turned to the bottle. He claims he spent his final three months at Old Trafford getting tanked while watching his colleagues on the TV:
“I started to drink again. I wasn’t an alcoholic. But it helped to ease the loneliness. I was like a zombie.
Those who thought only David Bentley was annoying enough to be attacked while eating in a restaurant will be rocked by news from German paper Bild, which claims that Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller was beaten up in an eating establishment last night.
The 29-year-old was enjoying a salad and coverage of the Champions League in an Italian restaurant in Dortmund’s city centre when five men burst in, directing punches at the shot stopper. Weidenfeller said:
“They fought like savages at us. I was able to escape thanks to my good reflexes.”
A night of mixed fortunes for the English in Europe
Fiorentina 2/ Liverpool 0
“I have never seen us struggle so badly as in the first half - it was a poor performance.” A damning indictment of Liverpool’s performance in Tuscany last night from Rafa, as Stevan Jovetic - dubbed “The Montenegrin Messi” - bagged a brace. Liverpool now have some catching up to do in Group E.
Arsenal 2/ Olympiakos 0
Despite total dominance over the Greeks, the Gunners left it late to claim three points: RVP struck on 78 minutes, while Andrei Arshavin sealed it with a suspiciously offside effort on 86. Olympiakos boss Zico didn’t accuse the officials of being biased, but did note that three of them were French.
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