Portuguese star “can’t afford” the Manchester band
Yesterday, Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldorevealed that he is a huge Oasis fan, and even went as far as saying the Manchester City-supporting rockers were even better than the Beatles.
Ronny would like to see the band play in concert, but is evidently not too keen on sharing an arena with people who are not fabulously wealthy, famous or prostitutes. Hence, he offered the band tickets to El Clásico in exchange for a ‘private concert’.
At last night’s iTunes Festival gig at the Roundhouse, Oasis head honcho Noel Gallagher was delighted to hear that C-Ron’s iPod contains more than Phil Collins and Sade:
Portuguese star loves Manchester City’s most famous fans
Much like Cristiano Ronaldo, Noel and Liam Gallagher aren’t famed for their modesty. Yet the swaggering Oasis stars would happily admit that their band is immensely inferior to their biggest influence and primary source of material, The Beatles.
The Real Madrid winger and pop aficionado, however, believes the Manchester band are actually better than the Fab Four:
“Liverpool have The Beatles and Manchester have Oasis. I think we (Manchester) have the better band.
“I have all the Oasis albums [Even Standing on the Shoulder of Giants? Seriously? - Ed.] but my favourite track by far is Champagne Supernova. It’s an absolute classic.
“One thing I will miss about Manchester is Oasis.
“I will be honest, I didn’t even know who they were when I first arrived in Manchester, but you can’t live there long without knowing who they are.
“The lads in the dressing room loved them, especially the English boys.
“When I came to England I was into my techno, but I think Oasis are one of my favourite bands now.”
The Spoiler is a big Oasis fan, but to suggest they are better than The Beatles is a bit like saying a light bulb is better than the sun, or that an MK Dons supporter is better than a fan of a proper team that wasn’t unlawfully pillaged from elsewhere. Perhaps the tricky winger - who has already proved his exceptional taste in music - is merely trying to wind up Merseyside.
Such is his love of the Brit rockers, Ronaldo even proposed
Barcelona 2/ Real Madrid 0
Former Tottenham gaffer Juande Ramos worked his magic in La Liga this weekend, losing his first league game back in Spain to current table toppers Barcelona. The champions now sit in sixth position, a whopping twelve points off the pace set by Lionel Messi and co.
See Los Blancos drink Barca’s milkshake right here
What’s more humiliating than having to give your fiercest rivals the guard of honour as they walk onto the pitch? How about losing 4-1 to them straight afterwards. That’s what happened to the wayward Catalonians last night, who were thoroughly humbled by the new La Liga champs. Let’s hope you all followed chickendinner’s astute advice and made good from Barca’s demise.
Should you be wandering past a giant television set playing tonight’s Barcelona game, be sure to give it a quick glance and a nod, because chances are you won’t be seeing this group of players so spectacularly failing together again. It should never have been like this.
Taking their cue from the film Escape to Victory (Pele, Ardiles, Bobby Moore, Sly Stallone) or the Real Madrid “Galacticos” (Figo, Zidanne, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Ronaldo, Raul), the Catalan side made big steps in building a superstar team, only to come hugely unstuck - realising that big names don’t always gel (Abramovich take note). Henry, Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o would be the star players at practically any other club in Europe, but Messi has seriously messed with their chi, and stolen their thunder… by being utterly brilliant. Hence, over the summer months expect to see them disbanding, all harrumphing off to different corners of Europe (mainly London) to be soaked in the kind of glory they demand.
Of the smaller names, defender Eric Abidal is rumoured to be Liverpool bound, Iniesta has been approached by Real Madrid – with gigantic figures like 60 million Euros being hurled around - and Zambrotta has failed to light up Spain regardless of his impressively sculpted mini-beard, and could be heading back to Italy where they love fashionably assembled stubble.
After graciously falling out of this year’s Champions League, Ronaldinho-less Barca must now concentrate their energies on taking second place in La Liga from Villarreal. Tonight, they are 9/4 underdogs in their visit to runaway title contenders Real Madrid - but in the past five seasons, El clásico has been won by the away side four times, and there’s been a shedload of goals too.
Indian Premier League Cricket
Mumbai Indians/ Rajasthan Royals (Setanta Sports 1, 3.30pm)
La Liga
Recreativo/ Villarreal (Sky Sports 1, 7pm)
Real Madrid/ Barcelona (Sky Sports 1, 9pm)
Scottish Premier League
Rangers/ Motherwell (Setanta Sports 1, 7.45pm)
French Cup Semi-final
Lyon/ Sedan (Setanta Sports 2, 8pm)