SPANISH FOOTBALL. LIVERPOOL SIGNS YOUNG TALENT ALVARO ARBELOA

Premier League club LIVERPOOL have signned young
promise ALVARO ARBELOA, the 24 year old central
defender from Spanish 1º Division club DEPORTIVO
DE CORUÑA

Arbeloa started as a youngster with REAL MADRID´s
junior teams & lifted himself to the 1º team, were
his trayectory was halted due to the range of existing
defenders already there. Real Madrid sold the young
promise to Deportivo & the player has been showing his
true class. In this situation, no one better than Liverpool´s

coach Rafa Benitez , to see an excellent opportunity

to grab young talent & strenghten his side. SFS wishes
lots of luck for Arbeloa on his new English adventure.

Tweet

Share

SPANISH CUP Q/FINALES 1ºLEG GAMES KICK OFF

Tomorrow 3 games of "la Copa del Rey" , otherwise know as
the SPANISH CUP, kick off with the 1º leg of the quarter- finales.
The final match & 4th game gets played on Thursday to shut the
1º leg action.




Fixture:
Deportivo de Coruña - Valladolid
Getafe - Osasuna
FC Barcelona - Real Zaragoza
Seville FC - Real Betis ( Thursday)

2º leg matches - 28th of Feb.

Some excellent games lined up & top action assured.
SFS will give the details at the end of the games. Tweet

Share

HANDBALL. SPAIN LOSES TO GERMANY IN WORLD CHAMP Q/FINALS

The current World Champions SPAIN were beaten this
afternoon by GERMANY in the Quarter Finals of the WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS currently being held in Germany.















Spain had come into this match with 2 defeats, one of which
was at the hands of the powerful Croatian team. The home
ground advanatge gave the Germans the crowd inspiration
needed to defeat the Spanairds 27 - 25 & this takes them onto
the semi-finals. SFS wishes the Germans lots of luck, as they are
a fine team. Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL TRANSFERS, NEWS & GOSSIP

Quick tour around todays Sports daily´s gives us plenty of
news & speculations , however, SFS picks 3 that maybe
of interest for our global readers.

1. The RONALDO transfer deal is "stuck" with 1 M€
separating the handshke between REAL MADRID &
AC MILAN. Apart from this, Real wishes to introduce the
Cassano - Ricardo Oliveira swap loan option. Negotiations
continue today.

NEWS FLASH - 17.00 - Real Madrid & AC Milan have an
agreement on Ronaldo´s transfer. Ricardo Oliveira will be
loaned to Real Madrid although better to wait for an official
statement & not just follow the Italian press. Stay tuned!

2. News from Barcelona & its Sports daily "Mundo Deportivo"
flashes the news ( or pure speculation) all over their front
cover: FC BARCELONA wishes to make 3 "strategic" signnings
for next season 2007/08 : Gabi Milito ( currently at Zaragoza),
Cristian Ronaldo ( Man .Utd) & Frank Lampard ( Chelsea)

Also currently on the table is SAVIOLA´s renewal, & speculaton

exists on Ronaldinho & Rijkaard future. Stay tuned!




















3. Lastly, prestigious magazine "Sports Illustrated" has

published an article on Atletico de Madrid young forward
SERGIO AGUERO. They are betting that he will be the "next
Maradona" , over others like Messi & Tevez. Big words indeed,
SFS thinks its a premature statement & they risk heavily.
However, Aguero is a real talent waiting to explode & a real diamond
to watch out. But Maradona is Maradona, simply unique &
magical.

Whats your thoughts on todays speculations & Sports Illustarted
comments?

Tweet

Share

BARÇA & SEVILLE FC VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

FC BARCELONA & SEVILLE FC are fighting for the top spot
of the ladder; here are the VIDEO highlights of their respective
matches yesterday...plenty of goals!



Tweet

Share

RICARDO OLIVEIRA MAY ENTER INTO THE "RONALDO OPERATION"

Milan´s Galliani visits Madrid
today to shut the Ronaldo
deal.

Press sources comment that
1 M€ separates both parties
from the final agreement.

Local daily "As" make the extra
comment that Real Madrid will
ask Milan to loan its Brazilian
striker RICARDO OLIVEIRA
for the rest of the season.

It was obvious in last Saturday´s
loss agianst Villareal that Real
is going through a goal drought
& wishes to secure a replacement/
complementary forward for its forward
Van Nistelrooy.

The monetary difference maybe solved with the loan of Oliveira.
Stay tuned! Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL - "LA LIGA" ROUND 20 RESULTS

After the 2 games played last night of Round 20 were we witnessed
a boring Atletico de Madrid & Racing, not to mention a poor
Real Madrid lossing to Villareal, tonights games had more action,
better entertainment & importantly, plenty of great goals.


















One of the games with plenty of goals ( 6 in total ) was the
LEVANTE vs SEVILLE FC match were the latter won 2 - 4.
Seville´s new signning KERZHAKOV (pictured above) got
onto the goal scoring sheet with a nice piece of play.

DANI GUIZA ( pictured ) was also with the goal spirit scoring
the 2 goals for GETAFE against OSASUNA.

ZARAGOZA drew against DEPORTIVO, but DIEGO MILITO
(above) scored & remains 2º on the leading goal scorers table.

The GINMASTIC vs ESPANYOL clash gave us the surprise result.
Keeping in line with the goal festival , Gimnastic defeated Espanyol
4-0, as they are seen above , celebrating one of their goals.

REAL SOCIEDAD played ATHLETICO DE BILBAO in the Basque
"derby", traditionally a tough match & finishing in draws. That changed

with 2 goals from Bilbao´s IRAOLA giving his team the prized victory.

Speaking of Football´s ultimate prize, "The Goal", SAVIOLA

continues on his scoring streak, notching up another & beginning with

the 3 goals that FC BARCELONA put in against CELTA OF VIGO

RONALDINHO got back onto the scoring sheet with his teams

2º ( via a disputed penalty) & GUILY finished with the 3º. But don´t
let the scoreline fool us, Barça passed through lots of rough patches &
the disputed penalty in Barça´s favour swayed the result. This
victory puts Barça on top of the league ladder ahead of Seville FC.














Lastly, REAL BETIS defeated VALENCIA CF 2-1 & dampen
ex Betis player Joaquin & now Valencia, return to his former
club. DAVID VILLA scored early for Valencia , but ROBERT
scored twice & gave Betis the victory & take them out of the
relegation zone.

RESULTS & SCORERS - Round 20:
At.Madrid 1 (Pablo) - Racing 1 ( Zegic) - played Saturday
Villareal 1 (Marcos) - Real Madrid 0 - played Saturday
Levante 2 (Dehu;Reggi) - Seville FC 4 ( Kanoute;Kerzhakov;
Tomassi;Alfaro)
Mallorca 2 (Ballesteros; Nunes) - Recreativo 1 (Juanma)
Getafe 2 (Guiza) - Osasuna 0
Gimnastic 4 ( Portillo; Campano;Pinilla;C.Navas) - Espanyol 0
R.Sociedad 0 - At.Bilbao 2 ( Iraota)
Real Zaragoza 1 ( D.Milito) - Deportivo 1 ( Taborda)
FC Barcelona 3 (Saviola;Ronaldinho;Guily) - Celta 1 (Nene)
Real Betis 2 (Robert 2) - Valencia CF 1 ( D.Villa)

See the classification ladder on the right-hand of SFS as a
new "widget" , thanks to a great site called Resultados-Futbol.com

Tweet

Share

SPANISH BASKETBALL. ACB CLASSIFICATION - ROUND 19.

SFS gets plenty of requests to inform on how things are
going on the Spanish Basket front. In order to
satisfy all the requests, here is the classification table
after Round 19. The brief is that REAL MADRID regains
the lead on itself after TAU lost to Murcia. You can get
all the results in greater detail from any of the Spanish
Sports dailys, if you wish a more in-depth analysis.
























ACB TOP 8 LADDER after Round 19
1. Real Madrid 17 2
2. TAU Ceramica 16 3
3. Akasvaya Girona 14 4 *currently playing
4. DVK Joventut 12 7
5. Fc Barcelona 11 8
6. Unicaja 10 9
7. Gran Canarias 10 9
8. Caja San Fernando 10 9 Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL - RESULTS OF THE 2 GAMES PLAYED OF ROUND 20 OF "LA LIGA"

Two matches played tonight of Round 20 in "La Liga",
one boring which resulted in a draw & the other boring
as well but with a winner.

First game played was between ATLETICO DE MADRID
& RACING DE SANTANDER, a match which was in SFS
opinion very average & in line with the home teams performance
all season.

ZIGIC scored for Racing with a pass from Munitis & Racing
looked set to take it home.

However 3 mins later PABLO drew with a header & set the

scene for the rest of the match, conservatisim at its best.
Result : 1-1
























The other match was VILLAREAL vs REAL MADRID, a
Real side "unknown" without Roberto Carlos, Salgado, Raul,
Guti, Beckham, Ronaldo...etc etc. However a youngster called
TORRES for Real ( left back) was outstanding & is a real
promise.
The other youngster - pictured above - MATIAS FERNANDEZ -

set the pass that gave MARCOS the chance to score the winning
goal. Villareal won 1-0 & leaves Madrid with various questions
that need answers as soon as possible. Overall a boring game

except for the brillance mentioned above.
By the way , GAGO injured himself adding more questions for
Real.

RESULTS & SCORERS:
At.Madrid 1 (Pablo) - Racing 1 (Zigic)
Villareal 1 (Marcos) - Real Madrid 0

Surf into SFS tomorrow night around 23.00hrs (Sp time) for the
details & the results of the rest of Round 20 matches.

Tweet

Share

RONALDO. AN ALTERNATIVE INSIGHT TO THE TRUTH

The cover of "Sport" , a Barcelona based sports daily with a "certain"
biased for the home grown, has given us this hitting cover, full of
historical truths that tell us a bit about the professional football
player called RONALDO.

Lets attempt briefly to escaped the various "smoke screens" &
marketing exercises & understand a possible motive of the transfer
from Real Madrid to AC Milan.
As "Sports" puts - "Mercenary",
although SFS does´nt wish to go
that far: in Cataluña they still
have´nt forgotten he left Barça
& played for Madrid.

History tells us 5 European
teams: PSV Eindoveen, Fc
Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real
Madrid & now AC Milan
( will sign next Monday),
all with a short duration &
all with problems that
generated his exit or entry.
Here is the key, there always
was a problem: lack of
discipline, overweight, individualism, late night partying, lack
of love from fans & coaches (his words), left on the bench,
misunderstood, late arrive to training...on & on. What about
his coaches? Two great trainers like Hector Cuper ( Inter) &
Capello ( R.Madrid) are villans that explains Ronaldo´s
departure? That´s what his image & marketing team wish us
to believe folks.

Heres SFS humble & honest opinion. Let´s not get fooled! Ronaldo
is a good player, but has never been & will never be a great player.
His a player that goes through life thinking that being a star justifies
everything. He failed at Inter & failed in Real Madrid ( the biggest
club in the world - & I´m not a Real fan!) & AC Milan is a step down
- dont wish to offend my Milan friends, please, the team is struggling
on the mid table.

Ronaldo has always escaped the hard work, run away from the
character building goals, has never been a true "team player",
always the individual above the collective & a coward. When
the going gets tough Ronaldo hides, blames others & escapes to
clean his darkened image. His not an example of what a true
professional football player should be.

SFS wishes Ronaldo luck , but you have´nt fooled us mate &
"Sport" & its cover, they may have it right after all.

Open to comments readers! Tweet

Share

BOJAN KRKIC. ANOTHER YOUNG FOOTBALL TREASURE AT FC BARCELONA

SFS has been reading & keeping an eye out on a young 16
year old football player called BOJAN KRKIC. His
"footballing" father came to Spain & played in MOLLERUSA
(88), previously he played for OFK BELGRADE & RED
STAR OF BELGRADE, so the kid has football gens!

His father decided to stay & live in Spain, where young Bojan
was born. His father is currently a talent scout for FC BARCELONA
& young Bojan now plays in BARÇA´s junior team & SPAIN´S
U/17 SQUAD.

Check the lad on this video I finally found on the web, so you can
see what all the hype is about in Barça Camp.



The experts say his on his way to be a great player, in
the same lines as MESSI, ETO´O or even CRUYFF. Another
treasure at FC Barcelona , who have an excellent reputation
in "breeding" & pumping out young talented football players -
for example, CESC who know plays at ARSENAL.

So keep an eye out on this young man: BOJAN KRKIC Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL. ROUND 20 FIXTURE OF "LA LIGA"

Another great weekend of
matches in Round 20 of
"La Liga". Special mention for
the "Basque" derby between
Real Sociedad & At.Bilbao, which
traditionally are very tough & have
the characteristic of being end to end games.
FIXTURE - Round 20:
At.Madrid - Racing ( Saturday)
Villareal - Real Madrid (Saturday)
Zaragoza - Deportivo
Mallorca - Recreativo
Levante - Seville FC
Real Sociedad - At.Bilbao
Getafe - Osasuna
Nastic - Espanyol
Fc Barcelona - Celta de Vigo
Betis - Valencia CF Tweet

Share

GOODBYE RONALDO

NEWS FLASH - 20.00Hrs Ronaldo is in Milan (see the below
picture) with Milan´s Galliani to watch the Milan-Ac Roma
game. Ronaldo will be medically examined tomorrow morning,
& if all well, will become officially an AC MILAN player.















Its all over the Spanish media the news that AC MILAN
& REAL MADRID have come to an agreement to transfer
Brazilian forward RONALDO pending medical examination,
which could take place this afternoon in Milan - with
permission of Madrid.

The terms are said to be a 1 & a half year contract with
option of renewal depending on objectives reached. On
the transfer price front, it seems the real winner is Milan
who may finally take the player for only 7.5M€, when last
summer they offered Madrid 18M€.

A reason for this difference could be political instead of
economical. The departure of Ronaldo will monopolize all
the front pages & TV screen time, leaving no space for the
fact that Real are pending today legal resolutions & questions
that could force out the actual President (Ramon Calderon)
& his whole management team, or lead to new elections.

As a wise man said."behind every action there´s a reason"

SFS question : " Will Ronaldo return to the elite & be a better
player thanks to leaving Real Madrid"?

Tweet

Share

ATLETICO DE MADRID & VALENCIA TRANSFER NEWS & GOSSIP

The player market is certainly lively & clubs like
ATLETICO DE MADRID & VALENCIA CF are
thinking long term.


At.Madrid has signned Brazilian
promise DIEGO DA SILVA
COSTA belonging to Braga de
Sporting from Portugal.
The player is currently working
on loan with 2º Division Portugues
side Peñafiel.

The 18 year old forward will
incorporate himself with his
new side next season.

Today another player
FABIANO ELLER will be
presented to Spanish media
as a new player for Atletico.



The other wanted signning, AKALE is getting
complicated as his team AUXERRE is resisting
to let him go. Stay tuned on this front!

Lastly, Argentine & Fc Barcelona player JAVIER
SAVIOLA is back in fashion after his goals scored
in the last matches with his team.

















So much so, the VALENCIA CF coach Sanchez Flores
as asked Directives to "go after" the player for next
season. Saviola´s contract with Barça finishes on the 30
of June & will be free to sign with the team of his choice.
Other teams that have been/are flirting with the idea are
Espanyol, At.Madrid, Villareal & Juventus. Tweet

Share

SPANISH LEAGUE . BETIS - FC BARCELONA RESULT & TRANSFER NEWS

REAL BETIS & FC BARCELONA have finished playing the game
lost due to Barça´s trip to Japan for the World Clubs Championships
with a 1-1 draw.

It was a chance for Barça to jump away from its immediate
rivals Seville FC & Real Madrid ,with this draw they only
manage to escape by a point. Missed opportunity which may hurt
later on in the season when the race gets hots & tight.














Final Score:
Betis 1 ( Robert ) - Fc Barcelona 1 ( R.Marquez)

To end, news in is that STTUTGART player JOHN DAHL
TOMMASSEN has been given on loan until the end of the season
to VILLAREAL to cover the loss of Nihat injured.















Tommasen a 31yr old striker started at Feyenoord & has
passed through Newcastle, AC Milan & Sttugart. Welcome
to Spanish Football & lots of luck!

Tweet

Share

TENNIS. RAFAEL NADAL SAYS GOODBYE.

RAFAEL NADAL said goodbye to this years
AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tennis tournament.

He was knocked out in todays Q/final by Chilean
FERNANDO GONZALEZ 6-2 , 6-4, 6-3 . Surprising
result seeing that Nadal was looking very good coming
into this match. However, cannot take away the great game
from Gonzalez who moves onto the next round.

The "Aussie" Open is a tournament that is resisting Nadal
who is currently Nº2 ranked in the World & soon returns to
more familiar surfaces such as clay. Surely he´ll do better &

win some tournaments.

Tweet

Share

CRISTIANO RONALDO. REAL MADRID ATTACKS AGAIN

Manchester United young Portugues striker CRISTIANO
RONALDO is seen as the natural successor to Luis Figo, &
the winger that REAL MADRID needs for its renewed
future proyect.

So much so that Pedja Mijatovic - Real´s Football Director -
has the boy on his list of priority signnings ( along with
Kaka) for next season.

The on - off relationship between Ronaldo & Real Madrid

has been ongoing for sometime. Back in July 2006 Ronaldo

verbally gave his word to Villar Mir ( Real Madrid President
candidate) that if Mir won the elections he would leave Manchester.
Ronaldo also went public & said his dream is to play at Madrid.

Meanwhile Manchester´s 2 º coach Queiroz has said that his player
"IS NOT FOR SALE". Stay tuned!

Anyone has a thought on this ?

Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL . "LA LIGA" LEADING GOAL SCORER AFTER 19 ROUNDS

One of the most received emails at SFS are readers asking
to know more about the leading goal scorer, locally known
as "El Pichichi" of the Spanish 1º Division. After 19 Rounds
played of "La Liga" here are the Top 5 goalscorers:

1. KANOUTE (SEVILLE FC)
15 GOALS

2. RONALDINHO ( FC BARCELONA)

12 GOALS


3. DIEGO MILITO ( REAL ZARAGOZA)

12 GOALS

4. VAN NISTELROOY (REAL MADRID CF)

10 GOALS

5. DAVID VILLA

9 GOALS

Tweet

Share

ATLETICO DE MADRID - SIGNNING NEWS

Spanish sports daily "AS" has announced news that
ATLETICO DE MADRID will sign 2 new players this
week to reinforce the side.

The 1º of these players is hours away from signning.
He is FABIANO ELLER a 29 year old Brazilian defender
playing at PORTO ALEGRE who actually belongs to
TRABZONSPOR.

















Eller is pictured above in red.

The 2º player is KANGA AKALE the AUXERRE winger
- pictured below - who will give speed up front. Sources
say that the deal maybe shut by the end of the week.

Tweet

Share

VIDEOS OF GOALS - REAL ( REYES) & ATLETICO DE MADRID (ZE CASTRO)

Reyes free kick goal v Real Mallorca



Jornada 19. Atlético Madrid - Osasuna


See all the details of Round 19 on the below post Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL - "LA LIGA" - ROUND 19 RESULTS

Low number of goals in Round 19 of "LA LIGA" this weekend
with up to 4 nil all draws. The highlight was Barça victory that
takes them back on top & gives them the testimonial title of
"Winter Champs" ( half way season mark), Valencia´s win which
keeps them on their winning run, Atletico´s "revenge" victory
& Real Madrid´s win, amongst others.

ATLETCO DE MADRID won 1-0 against OSASUNA who knocked
them out earlier in the week from the SPANISH CUP. It was a
hard , tough & "fighting" game with 3 RED cards for Osasuna,
as the below picture shows with some hot words between players.

VALENCIA won thanks to a goal by DAVID VILLA pictured

below. Its good to see Villa slowly gaining form & returning to
his best level.

GETAFE won 1-0 against CELTA DE VIGO with a 1º minute
goal from MANU - pictured below.

BETIS drew 1 - 1 with RACING in another tough match.

FC BARCELONA won bottom team GINMASTIC 3-0 with
goals from SAVIOLA , GUILY & INIESTA.

This win closed the half way mark of the season with Barça in top
position in the ladder. Below is Iniesta celebrating his goal.
























Lastly, a nervious & unlucky REAL MADRID managed to score
a goal, thanks to a free kick by REYES that gave them victory
against MALLORCA. Real still does´nt breathe confidence although
3 points are 3 points.




















RESULTS & SCORERS:
At.Madrid 1 (Ze Castro) - Osasuna 0
Villareal 0 - Seville FC 0
Getafe 1 (Manu) - Celta 0
Betis 1 (Xisco) - Racing 1 (Garay)
Real Sociedad 0 - Valencia CF 1 (Villa)
Levante 0 - At.Bilbao 0
Zaragoza 0 - Recreativo 0
FC Barcelona 3 (Saviola;Guily;Iniesta) - Gimnastic 0
Deportivo 0 - Espanyol 0
Mallorca 0 - Real Madrid 1 (Reyes)

LADDER after Round 19

1. Fc Barcelona 38pts *one game less
2. Seville FC 38pts
3. Real Madrid 38pts
4. Valencia CF 36pts

5. At.Madrid 35pts
6. Zaragoza 31pts

Tweet

Share

SPANISH CUP QUARTER - FINALS DRAW

Seville FC - Real Betis
Deportivo - Valladolid
Getafe - Osasuna
FC Barcelona - Zaragoza

1º leg - 31 of January
2º leg - 28 of Febuary

The Seville derby should be passionate & full of fire,
while the Barça - Zaragoza clash has all the makings
of being a great quarter - final.

See the Fixture of this weekends Spanish 1º Division matches

on the below post.

Tweet

Share

SPANISH FOOTBALL "LA LIGA" - ROUND 19 FIXTURE

SPANISH 1º DIVISION FOOTBALL
enters Round 19 this weekend with
some great matches lined -up.
Here is the full fixture of games that will
be played this Saturday & Sunday.

At.Madrid - Osasuna ( Saturday)
Villareal - Seville FC (Saturday)
Getafe - Celta
Betis - Racing de Santander
Real Sociedad - Valencia CF
Levante - At.Bilbao
Zaragoza - Recreativo
Deportivo - Espanyol
Fc Barcelona - Nastic
Mallorca - Real Madrid.

Surf into SFS - late Sunday night (23.15 approx Sp time) - for all
the news , images & results. Tweet

Share

SPANISH CUP - BETIS KNOCK OUT REAL MADRID

Not even ROBINHO who scored in the 4¨m & the great play
of GAGO & HIGUAIN help REAL MADRID tonight.
Obviously a penalty not called & 2 goals disallowed for off -side
did not help the cause either for them at all.
Real Madrid drew 1 - 1 with REAL BETIS, but were knocked out
of the next round of the SPANISH CUP due to the Betis away goal
advantage.

Robinho above celebrating his goal in the 4ºm giving Real a great
start for the night.

Higuain - pictured - played well , alone side Gago who were

the players that most stood out.





Real Betis drew with a

goal by DANI who is
pictured celebrating

with his teammate
Maldonado. This goal
put Betis in the driving
seat , due to the away
goal advantage.

An emotion match
that was a true
game of end to
end football






So here are the teams that move onto the quarter - finales of the
Spanish Cup: Betis, Fc Barcelona, Seville FC, Getafe, Zaragoza,
Deportivo , Valladolid & Osasuna.

Tweet

Share