Beckenbauer and Lehmann fail to see eye to eye over dissent issue
After seeing yellow for protesting over an opponent’s feigned injury in a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend, Stuttgart keeper and perennial complainer Jens Lehmann said the standard of refereeing is so bad he may retire from the Bundesliga:
“There was a situation in which a Frankfurt player feigned an injury so we could not launch a counter-attack.”
“The referee said he had to stop play for the injury and then the man stands up and doesn’t even leave the field to be treated. I told the referee, ‘Look! There he goes!’ and he shows me a yellow card - incredible.
“That was so bad that I may as well not bother playing in future. I did not even say anything nasty to the referee.
“Surely there are better ones. I am sorry, but things cannot go on like this. This is sad for the whole of the Bundesliga.”
Jens is clearly outraged for receiving his third yellow card of the season for dissent, but if Franz Beckenbauer had his way, those cards would have been a different colour. The German legend has toldBild that the Bundesliga
For those of you having trouble balancing your love of God with your heavy metal sensibilities, there is hope.
Harsh punishment alert! Werder Bremen midfielder Carlos Alberto has been awarded an eight match ban in Brazil simply for giving an opponent a tap on the behind
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Is Jurgen finally having to settle his karmic debt for a career of outrageous dives?
From the never less than excellent The Week
“Jurgen Klinsmann’s reputation as one of the greatest figures in German sporting history is under threat, says Ian Hawkey in the Sunday Times. The former Spurs striker has courted ridicule ever since he took over as manager of Bayern Munich, bringing with him some “new-age gimmicks”, from California. Within days of taking over the club, Klinsmann erected four Buddha statues on the roof of Bayern’s training headquarters - including a “mysterious addition” from Burma called Shakyamuni.
Klinsmann, who coached Germany to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, claimed they would “spread positive energy”, although the “porcelain deities” have had a decidedly negative impact on results.
Possibly the biggest Serbian pop-folk act of all time. Possibly.
Not a big fan of the Serbian pop-folk scene? Then you probably haven’t heard of Jelena Karleusa, eight studio albums that have been big hits in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria.
Jelena, 30, also known as ‘JK’ and ‘Rainbow Killer’, married Serbian Werder Bremen striker DuÅ¡ko ToÅ¡ić earlier this year, and Bild have informed us, albeit in German, that she just gave birth to their first daughter, Atina.
The good officials of the Champions League gathered around the trough in Monaco this afternoon, pausing briefly to pompously remove some plastic footballs from mixing bowls in one of their favourite little rituals.
As per, various pundits and sundry authorities were on hand to discuss the mouth-watering nature of the dance card, while those associated with the managerial side of things vowed not to underestimate anybody, as decreed by UEFA’s guidelines on how to talk to the press at times such as this.
Of the English teams, Liverpool probably feel the men in blazers could have looked harder to find them a couple of soft sides, but at least
Something about Paul McCartney taking his Beatle’s stage show to Anfield suggests that people all over Europe might be standing back and hailing Liverpool as the European Capital of Culture around thirty or forty years too late. That said, anyone who doesn’t erupt into tears at the thought of drunk Liverpudlians weeping Yesterday in their thousands should be seriously investigated. In other moving news…
Mark Hughes to Manchester City
Suddenly everyone wants Mark Hughes to take care of their boys - first Abramovich, now these guys. His white hair demands respect, but could a man destined to manage United really do a job at City?
The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Surely not.
Michael Essien to Inter Milan
Of course, everyone has been bigging up the chances of Lampsie, Drog-drog and Carvalho heading East to spend quality time with his special highness, but now it seems young Essien has bounced to the front of the queue brandishing a big red apple.
