Would you get this in the Premier League?

More heartwarming tales of football’s most stand-up guys. Former Brazilian international midfielder Amaral recently published this thank you note in ALPHA, an Australian sports magazine. It came in response to A-League team Perth Glory offering him a second crack at playing professional football, after his original spell at the club was scuppered through injury.

[Soccerlens via The Offside]

English sides secure victories in Europe

Chelsea 1/ Porto 0
The Blues didn’t exactly carry themselves with the confidence that has allowed them to steamroll through Premiership opposition so far this season, but they claimed a vital three points against their Portuguese visitors thanks to an impressive finish from Nicolas Anelka. Porto’s Hulk tried his best to beat Petr Cech, but the tabloid headline writers were ultimately denied a hilarious pun.

Besiktas 0/ Manchester Utd 1
There were frayed tempers on and off the pitch over in Turkey: Wayne Rooney threw his boots down in fury when he was pulled off for a Fit & Healthy striker just after the hour mark, and appeared to share a few choice words with vitriolic home fans who had to be restrained by stewards. It probably won’t go down as a classic, but Paul Scholes did enough to secure an important away victory.

Spoiler bonus: Cristiano Ronaldo was firing on all cylinders in Zurich, bagging a confidence-boosting brace of free kicks. Check it out after the jump…

Bent post ‘illusion’ isn’t fooling anyone

As a result of the current economic situation, it appears Turkish energy bar manufacturer Metro have had to close their special effects department.

Either that, or the Turks are happy to believe that Besiktas’ Yusuf Şimşek can bend a post with his relatively weak shots, despite being presented with absolutely no evidence of the moment of impact. It’s about as believable as a Stephen Ireland sicknote.

[Off The Post]

The best sports programming on the telecube this evening

Don’t worry if you didn’t manage to get a fake bib for the Liverpool game tonight, it’s also being broadcast on television. And if you don’t fancy seeing Rafa’s final hours at all, then check out the