Milan, Juve and Inter well represented at ‘worst player’ ceremony

Serie A’s least coveted award has revealed its ten player shortlist.The Bidone d’Oro (Golden Bin) award annually recognises the terrible efforts of some of Italy’s worst performers. Past winners include Christian Vieri, Adriano and Rivaldo.

Most of the 2009 list will read like a who’s who of dodged bullets for Premier League clubs.

Last year’s winner, Inter Milan and Chelsea reject Ricardo Quaresma, is back in contention, along with Arsenal’s summer target Felipe Melo. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who Spurs are currently eying up, continues to have the worst year of his life and there’s a customary appearance from the world’s biggest disappointment, Ronaldinho.

See the full shortlist after the jump…

Our attempt to turn a £10 note into ten £10 notes

The Spoiler has a bit of a soft spot for Chris Hughton but he let us down badly last night by leaving the Hare well and truly malnourished at Bramall Lane - using him in only the last six minutes to render yesterday’s bet null and void.

Today, we’re taking no chances, pursuing an accumulator so that nothing besides the weather and floodlight failure can rule the bet pointless. We’re looking to turn £10 into £104.70 by backing Juventus, Porto, Wolfsburg and Manchester United to win tonight. Here’s why:

Maccabi Haifa v Juventus - The Israelis have lost all three of their matches so far without scoring.

APOEL v Porto - Porto won their first group meeting and over the past three seasons, whenever they do that they go on to complete a double.

Besiktas v Wolfsburg - A big ask, although Besiktas have lost four of their last ten home games and have scored just once this season in Europe.

Manchester United v CSKA Moscow - United are unbeaten in 23 Champions League matches at Old Trafford, of which they have won 18.

Combine these four together using the Betfair Coupon and you stand to win over ten times your initial stake!

Click here to claim a free £25 bet when opening a Betfair account 

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Stats boffins give Madrid something else to boast about

Lord only knows why it took them nine years to compile it, but today the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) released their list of the top 200 European clubs of the twentieth century.

By awarding a varying scale of points for victories and draws in the Champions League, UEFA Cup and all other European competitions that operated from 1901-2000, the winners were determined to be Real Madrid. They finished ahead of second-placed Juventus by nearly one hundred points, while the most successful English team were Liverpool down in eighth place.

Here’s the top twenty, according to the IFFHS:

1. Real Madrid
2. Juventus
3. FC Barcelona
4. AC Milan
5. Bayern Munich
6. Inter Milan
7. Ajax
8. Liverpool
9. Benfica

Romanian still struggling to pay ridiculous £14.6m fine

Adrian Mutu was sacked by Chelsea in 2004 on account of his cocaine abuse, and was given a seven month ban and a £20,000 fine by the FA. When he signed for Juventus (via Livorno) as a free agent during this mandatory exile period, the Blues demanded £9.6m from the player to compensate for the initial transfer fee.

Mutu soon regretted hiring a lawyer he saw running down the street after an ambulance, as the fine was increased to £14.6m after two appeals to the very same Court of Arbitration for Sport who recently banned Chelsea from transfer activity.

Some might say that the transfer ban helped to restore karmic balance following Chelsea’s lack of compassion towards the Romanian, but the point remains that £14.6m is a penalty that only a handful of footballers could realistically afford to pay. In his latest bid to avoid the angry Russian debt collectors, Mutu has written an open letter to FIFA and his former employers. Sky Sport Italia printed the highlights, which Goal.com roughly translated:

“To Chelsea, the FIFA disciplinary committee and FIFA president Josep Blatter

“I write this letter

Legendary Italian fluffs Peace Cup Final winner

Despite sort of devaluing the idea of a ‘Peace’ Cup by contriving to have both a player and manager sent off during the tournament, Aston Villa beat Juventus on penalties to lift the trophy yesterday.

In a shootout played out in front of literally tens of people, both teams put in some suitably pre-season-esque shanks and mishits before Alessandro Del Piero stepped up for Juve’s match winning spotkick (forward to 5:40)

Channelling the spirit of Dimitar Berbatov’s limp-dicked penner against Everton in last year’s FA Cup Semis, the mercurial Italian playmaker took a menacing stuttered run-up before gently stroking the ball into Brad Guzan’s waiting arms. Clearly beyond caring by this point, the Bianconeri went on to lose after a rubbish fifth penalty from Nicola Legrottaglie.

To his credit, after the match Del Piero admirably tried to make out like he actually cared about losing football’s most girly pre-season cup, saying: “It is a sour loss. However, we have to use it in order to grow stronger.”

The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies

Christian Poulsen to Fulham
The Times report that the West London outfit have been given the opportunity to sign the Juventus midfielder, who has turned down a £6m move to Fenerbahçe.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: The Dane may be holding out for a move to the Premier League, but he won’t get the hero’s welcome he could have expected in Turkey.

Andriy Voronin to Hull
After losing out on Michael Owen, Phil Brown could make a move for Liverpool’s pony-tailed Ukrainian, according to the Mirror. Much like the arrangement that saw him return to the Bundesliga

UEFA president bigs himself up

In an interview with Italian left-wing magazine L’Espresso, Michel Platini made his views on Real Madrid’s spending spree clear. “Madrid have ruined the market,” said the UEFA President before explaining that the rise in inflation caused by Florentino Perez’s actions will have a negative impact on the rest of Europe.

After making such damning comments, how odd that the Frenchman should joke about his own value:

“If Cristiano cost 92m, when I was 23 I would have cost 93m.”

After realising the Ronaldo-esque arrogance of his quip, the Frenchman quickly added that he was referring to 93m old French Francs. Priceless stuff.

Although the comments appear to be made in jest, The Spoiler detects a hint of bitterness in his words. Platini was regarded as one of the best players of his era, and in 1982, at the age of 25, he moved to Juventus, the richest club of the time. The Italians paid a ‘nominal fee’ for the French captain, so he was denied the record-breaking transfer fee that would have asserted his status as one of the greatest names in the game.

[Source: Marca]