A night of mixed fortunes for the English in Europe
Fiorentina 2/ Liverpool 0
“I have never seen us struggle so badly as in the first half - it was a poor performance.” A damning indictment of Liverpool’s performance in Tuscany last night from Rafa, as Stevan Jovetic - dubbed “The Montenegrin Messi” - bagged a brace. Liverpool now have some catching up to do in Group E.
Arsenal 2/ Olympiakos 0
Despite total dominance over the Greeks, the Gunners left it late to claim three points: RVP struck on 78 minutes, while Andrei Arshavin sealed it with a suspiciously offside effort on 86. Olympiakos boss Zico didn’t accuse the officials of being biased, but did note that three of them were French.
It’s FC Bunyodkor’s Gene Hackman look-alike Luiz Felipe Scolari!
Since arriving in Italy, Jose Mourinho’s €11m salary has cemented his status as the best paid manager in the world. This morning, however, it has been revealed that The Special One’s huge remuneration package has been eclipsed by that of another Chelsea alumnus. After signing an eighteen-month contract with Uzbekistani side FC Bunyodkor, Big Phil Scolari will now take home an annual pay packet of €13m.
Bunyodkur - who recently changed their name from PFC Kuruvchi to “reflect their success” - first came to international prominence last summer, when they claimed to have secured the services of Samuel Eto’o. Despite the Cameroonian’s passionate love for clubs who are willing to pay him more money than he is worth, the deal never went through.
Since the Eto’o spectacle, Bunyodkur have introduced several Brazilians to their side,
World Cup winning manager joins the prestigious Uzbek League
Last summer, an Uzbek side named PFC Kuruvchi tried to make us believe they had signed Samuel Eto’o, and then raised a few eyebrows when they invited Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol to train with them.
Since then, PFC have changed their name to FC Bunyodkor (to reflect their professionalism on the pitch, apparently), and acquired the services of 37-year-old World Cup cheat Rivaldo (for a ridiculous £80,000 a week) and manager Zico.
Zico departed for CKSA Moscow in January, leaving the head coach’s position wide open. According to the Brazilian press, Luiz Felipe Scolari has stepped up and signed an 18-month contract with the club.
Loading ...