English clubs get the bitter taste of defeat in Europe…

Roma 2/ Fulham 1
Fulham lead the game for 50 mins after being put 1-0 up through a Diomansy Kamara penalty. John Arne Riise arrowed in a shot (deflected off of his younger brother, Bjorn Helge) to restore parity before Stefano Okaka Chuka completed the reversal 15 minutes from time. Fulham need to win both their remaining games (CSKA Sofia at home, FC Basel away) to stand a chance of getting through the knockout rounds.

Everton 0/ Benfica 2

The Toffees were once again well and truly served by Benfica, two weeks after their 5-0 humping in Portugal. Former massively-disappointing-Argentine Javier Saviola and the free scoring Oscar Cardozo racked up a goal a piece, leaving Everton second in Group I, three points behind the leaders. A win against AEK Athens next month will see Moyes’ men through comfortably.

Who do we turn to in our hour of need? Steve McClaren!

It’s been a horrible few days. Firstly, Man United flopped when all the long shots in our Champions League accumulator delivered and then Lyon once again mugged Liverpool in injury time yesterday.

When your luck is down, you probably don’t want to be relying on a Goodison Park goalfest, Spanish strugglers finding form and Steve McClaren. The Spoiler loves a long shot though…

Over 2.5 goals in Everton/Benfica
Six of Everton’s last seven European games have produced three goals or more. Benfica are the most prolific team in Portugal by miles and thumped five

The boyhood teams of some the game’s biggest names

Generally speaking, Premier League footballers are well advised to be discreet about the team they truly support. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of David Bentley, a supposed lifelong Arsenal fan who suddenly professed to be a boyhood Spurs fan upon switching to the north London side. With this imprudent declaration in mind, Spoiler correspondent Ben Baker has rounded up ten footballers whose loyalties don’t necessarily lay with their employers…

Andrei Arshavin
Despite only recently joining the Gunners, fan favourite Arshavin has never hidden the fact that Barcelona are and always have been his team of choice. He has said he was devastated when a move to the Catalan giants never fully materialised when he was at Zenit and has even stated that he would love to play for Barca since he has been at Arsenal. Now if that isn’t a ploy to gain a bigger contract…

John Terry
Mr. Chelsea didn’t make it to Manchester City in the end this summer. Many Chelsea fans will like to think that it is because he is Blue through and through. However, Terry was actually a Manchester Utd fan growing up. Could this be why he couldn’t bring himself to join the Citizens?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The baby faced assassin made a name for himself at Manchester Utd,

The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies

Samuel Eto’o to Manchester City, Tottenham or Chelsea
Less than a week after the Cameroonian was reported to have turned down City’s advances, Spanish sources claim they will be offered his services for around £30m. The Daily Mail claim Barcelona president Joan Laporta is currently in London seeking a buyer, suggesting Tottenham and Chelsea are also chasing.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: With just a year left on his contract, it seems clear that Barcelona will shift the striker, and the Premiership appears to be his next port of call.

Afonso Alves to Benfica
Regardless of whether Middlesbrough manage to beat the drop,

Pedro Alves has a bad day at the office

Benfica and Sporting Club locked horns in the Portuguese Carlsberg Cup Final over the weekend, and the former clinched a controversial win 3-2 on penalties. Sporting right-back Pedro Alves was so incensed by his side’s loss, that he refused to be presented with the runners-up medal, choosing to hurl it across the pitch.

On the surface, Alves’ petulant act looks a tad disrespectful. However, the nature of Sporting’s loss makes his toys-out-of-the-pram reaction a little more understandable.

The Lisbon side took the lead after five minutes, but the referee suffered from an acute case of Stuart Attwell-itis when he awarded a penalty against Alves for handball. As you can see in the video above at [0.40], the ball clearly strikes his chest. To make matters worse, Alves then received a second yellow and was forced to hit the showers.

Alves said:

“Why did I throw my loser’s medal away? Because why should I keep it? I tell you if that was a penalty I’m willing for my son to die!”

[101GG]

Southgate backs Alves, Alves talks about moving clubs

When Middlesbrough decided to make Afonso Alves the most expensive signing in their history by splashing out over £12 million on him, they were probably expecting more than four league goals in his first full season.

But rather than blaming the misfiring Brazilian for the fact they are stuck in the relegation zone, Gareth Southgate decided to publicly support the 28-year-old:

“I still believe he can score goals between now and the end of the season.”

Alves’ response was not to knuckle down and strive to repay his manager’s faith. Instead, he decided that it was the perfect time to talk up his interest in jumping ship this summer:

“Benfica is a great club. It’s a kind of club that any player would want to play for.”

Mourinho isn’t Portugal’s only Special One

We’ve been bringing you the world’s finest WAGs for over a year now, and somehow we’ve never crossed paths with Portuguese TV presenter and model Marisa Cruz.

Former Benfica and Sporting striker João Vieira Pinto was once happily married to a lovely lady named Carla, but things turned sour and an incredibly dragged out divorce process ensued (lots of arguing about a Mercedes and an Algarve villa, apparently). The split may have had something to do with Miss Cruz, with whom he now has a child, and perhaps a new Mercedes.

Brilliant long range strike spotted in the Portuguese Liga

Vitória de Setúbal earned a draw against Portuguese giants Benfica on Monday night with the help of Anderson’s spectacular injury time equaliser.

It’s a fantastic goal, but we don’t think it’s as impressive as Trevor Sinclair’s 1997 effort.

[The Offside]