Spanish Football | Soccer

FC BARCELONA COMFORTABLY WINS FIORENTINA 1-3 IN FRIENDLY 2008

The first real opponent to test how FC BARCELONA is developing
& the vibrations are good. Yesterday they played Italian Club
FIORENTINA in a friendly pre-season game with the return of
their Euro 2008 stars: Xavi, Iniesta & Xavi. The result an easy
win 1-3 that puts them in high spirits for their Mexican Tour.

See the video of the highlights & below a match summary with some
details:

Match details:

1 - Fiorentina: Frey (Storari, min. 71), Zauri, Gamberini
(Da Costa, min. 66), Kroldrup, Pasqual, Melo, Donadel
(Jovetic, min. 56) Santana, Kuzmanovic, Gilardino (Gobbi, min 55)
& Mutu (Giobetich, min. 55).

3 – FC Barcelona: Valdés, Alves (Víctor Sánchez, min. 76 ),
Piqué, Puyol (Cáceres, min. 45), Abidal (Sylvinho, min. 45),
Touré (Víctor Vázquez, min. 62), Xavi (Sergi Busquets, min. 45),
Keita (Gudjohnsen, min. 62), Iniesta (Jeffren, min. 35, Marc
Crosas, min. 76), Pedro (Bojan, min. 45) & Messi (Hleb, min. 69).

Goals: 0-1, min. 29: Puyol. 0-2, min. 47: Jeffren. 1-2,
min: 70 Pazzini. 1-3, min. 72: Bojan.

Bad news for FC BARCELONA in its "fight" to retain its star
forward LIONEL MESSI for its important upcoming pre-

qualifying Champions League home & away game.

The World Football ruling authority FIFA has ruled in favour of
Argentina & Messi, & this will oblige FC Barcelona to release the
player for the upcoming Peking 2008 Olympic Games.

The main arguement, amongst others, is that under 23 year old

players are "protected" from Clubs holding them back, specially

when its a once & a lifetime opportunity for younger players to
participate in an Olympic Game.

This should put back the smile on Messi face as he was deseperate to
join the Argentine national squad & participate at Peking. Bad news

for Barça who lose their most inform & best player for about a

month

ATHLETIC DE BILBAO APPROVE PUBLICITY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS HISTORY

The market dominates & crushes through tradition. Spanish
Club ATHLETIC DE BILBAO "surprised" many & angered the
veterans when they revealed publicity on their team shirts for
the first time in its 110 years of history in front of 8000 fans today
in the teams presentation. Below we can see how President of the
Club Macua (left) holds the shirt to media.

The Club is experiencing economic difficulties & has had to
resort to publicity to help out the finances. The deal is a 3 year
contract & 7M€. Modernity meets tradition, a clash that has given
the victory to the former: progress over the past.

KOREA vs IVORY COAST: KOREAN GOALKEEPER SCORES GOAL

This has nothing to do with Spanish Football & Sports. However, the
ocassion calls for a post, & a mention at least, as what happened
does´nt occur often & when it does it always calls for our attention.

Korean Goalkeeper scores a goal in a pre-Olympic match against
the Ivory Coast.

REAL MADRID NEWS 2008: PESSIMISM SETS IN WITH RONALDO & SOLDADO GOES TO GETAFE

REAL MADRID see their dream of signing CRISTIANO RONALDO
get more complicated as the days move forward. Real Madrid officials
are more pessimistic as they are not able to speak with Manchester
United officials & the actual player in question does not make a public
move to express his desires. In fact, Real wish that Ronaldo make public
his rebel attitude before next Monday, date he is expected to meet
Ferguson & his teammates at Manchester.

The pessimism is so extended that Real Madrid Football Director
Mijatovic has said to Coach Schuster to count on Robinho, & Schuster
calls for the immediate signning of Dutchman RAFAEL VAN DER
HAART. This could happen next Saturday at London when Real &
Hamburg meet for the Emirates Cup comp.. Real initially offered 7M€,
for Vaart but believe that if they lift the offer to 12M€ the deal could
be shut.

Another player being spoken of is Valencia CF forward DAVID
VILLA.

Independently, Real Madrid will make a last grand effort to get
Cristiano Ronaldo over to Madrid. But after that & if it fails the
Club intends to move on & secure some signings

Young Real Madrid forward ROBERTO SOLDADO (pictured)

has signed for 4 years & for a price of 6M€ with Madrid Club
GETAFE

MANCHESTER UNITED THINK ABOUT HENRY

According to "Sport", MANCHESTER UNITED Coach Ferguson
has put up the option of 31 year old French International & FC
BARCELONA forward THIERRY HENRY as the alternative to
Tottenham Hotspurs striker Berbetov, after the signning of the
latter gets more complicate.

Henry has demostrated that his best Football was in England
& he could well be a valuable asset. FC Barcelona count with the
Frenchmen for the new season, however an estimated 22-25M€
offer maybe so tempting that Barça may seriously consider. This
idea is now possible after Barça President Laporta announced that
they may well NOT SELL Samuel Eto´o after all.

SFS feels this story is just that, a speculative story. Imagine the
uproar at Arsenal if their idol goes to Man Utd!

HUMOUR: CRISTIANO RONALDO A REAL MADRID OBSESSION

Here is some humour from Barcelona for its old rival Real Madrid.
In todays cartoon section in Sports daily "Mundo Deportivo"-
"Pelotazos" by KAP - they give us this piece on Real Madrid´s
( our its President Calderon) obsession in signning Cristiano Ronaldo.

Coach Schuster say to his President:"...Is´nt this a bit too far?"

REAL MADRID START THE SEASON WITH A 2-3 WIN IN AUSTRIA (SEE VIDEO)

REAL MADRID has started its pre-season series of games today
with a 2-3 victory over Austrian side LASK DE LINZ. Entertaining
game so early in the season with an outstanding ROBBEN, who if
avoids injuries will be a real asset this season.

Baptista, Saviola & Raul all got onto the scoresheet (see details
below)

Game summary:

Lask Linz 2: Cavlina; Gansterer, Baur, Kablar, Wisio; Panis;
Klein, Salmutter, Saurer, Freudenthaler; & Mayrleb. Also
played: Zaglmair, Pichler, Budimir, Mijatovic, Hamdemir,
Rasswalder, Wemmer, Poyraz & Ivos.

Real Madrid 3: Dudek; Salgado, Javi García, Heinze, Torres;
Diarra, Guti, Baptista; Robben, Higuaín y Raúl. Also palyed:
Sneijder, Saviola, Van Nistelrooy, Parejo, Callejón & Antón.

Goals: 1-0, m.14: Saurer. 1-1, m.21: Baptista. 1-2, m.45: Raúl. 1-3,
m.84: Saviola. 2-3, m.90: Mijatovic - penalty.

See video of the highlights:

TENNIS: NADAL WINS TORONTO MASTERS & GETS CLOSER TO Nº1

Spaniard & World Nº2 RAFAEL NADAL defeated German Kiefer
6-3, 6-2 to take the Toronto Masters. Spanish Sport is in a Golden
moment & Nadal has added to the magic as he now goes into the
next tournament with the chance to take the World Nº1 spot from
Swiss Roger Federer.

We will have to wait until the Cincinnati Masters.

CYCLING : SPANIARD CARLOS SASTRE WINS TOUR DE FRANCE 2008

Spanish rider CARLOS SASTRE made his dream come true at the
age of 33, to win the Worlds most prized cycling race, the TOUR DE
FRANCE 2008. Sastre become the 7th Spaniard to win the race &
gives the Tour a "Spanish Flavour" for the 3ºrd consecutive year.
Behind him finished Australian Evans in 2º place & Kohlin the the
3ºposition.

But the "party" continues, with another Spaniard winning the Green
jersey - Regularity - with OSCAR FREIRE, 3 time World Champion
taking it home.

Great stuff from all the Spaniards, congratulations guys!

FC BARCELONA SCOTTISH TOUR 2008: WINS DUNDEE UTD 1-5 (SEE VIDEO)

The Messi Show - 3 goals

OLYMPIQUE LYON THINK ABOUT SAMUEL ETO´O

Local dailys like "Marca, As & Sport"give the news that French
Champions OLYMPIQUE LYON are thinking about FC
BARCELONA forward SAMUEL ETO´O.

It´s published that Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas will make an offer
if his Coach Claude Puel asks for the player. The only doubt is Eto´o´s
high salary, which may unbalance the dressing room equilibruim.

However, Barcelona based paper "Sport" goes further & asks:
What about BENZEMA then?

The paper speculates that a "swap" could be on the cards between
both Clubs. SFS feels that this is too much speculation. Samuel
Eto´o maybe a controversial figure, but his not stupid. He knows he
has a contract with FC Barcelona & has no need to rush. The player
will study all offers & when the time is right & it suits him he may
decide to leave. If not, he is the sort of player that can sit on the Barça
bench for months, as he ( & you) know, the season is long & injuries
do come in time & Barça may need to eat humble pie & ask the player
to lead the forward line.

Plus, imagine this scenario. FC Barcelona has a terrible start to the
season & are not scoring goals, the fans will shout in uproar & demand
the Eto´o play. The club may even sack coach Guardiola if the results
don´t come, & we all know, that in Football what prevails are the results.

REAL MADRID & CRISTIANO RONALDO - THE EUROPEAN DOMINO EFFECT

Spanish Sports daily "AS" has put together an interesting theory that
stipulates that European Football is stalled & awaiting a conclusion
to the REAL MADRID - CRISTIANO RONALDO "Operation".
The daily comments that if Ronaldo goes to Madrid, the effect will
unleash a "chain reaction" ( dominio effect) of transfers throughout
European Football.

Here is the "AS" theory:

If Cristiano Ronaldo signs for Real Madrid, Manchester United
will need a forward.

The forward that Manchester United desires & is alraedy tempting

is Tottenham forward BERBATOV

This move will leave a gap in the Tottenham forward line &
SAMUEL ETO´O is the chosen player. However, the Real
Madrid option stays alive, even though its doubtful.

FC Barcelona would then have room for a forward & Chelsea FC
Striker DIDIER DROGBA is in the front running.

Chelsea FC would then move for either KAKA or ROBINHO

Assuming it´s Kaka, AC Milan will need a forward & the player may
well be ADEBAYOR

Arsenal with a place for a forward would go all out for Lyon &
French International forward BENZEMA

How´s that for a theory, & it all begins with Cristiano Ronaldo.
What a summer we have left. Stay tuned!

REAL MADRID 2008: DAVID VILLA = PLAN B = 40,000,000€

REAL MADRID is seeing how its aim to sign Manchester United
player Cristiano Ronaldo is slowing & getting even more difficult.
This has prompted the Club to elaborate a PLAN B , according to
"Marca".

That Plan B is VALENCIA CF palyer DAVID VILLA, & his Club
has put a price: 40M€. That´s the price that Valencia will at least sit
down & listen.

The advantage that Real Madrid has is that Valencia is in need
of cash & this may facilitate that they accept the Real offer if it
is high enough. Meanwhile, while Real Madrid buen all the bridges
for Cristiano Ronaldo, Villa will stay at Valencia.

FC BARCELONA started "officially" its pre-season match schedule

against Scottish Club HIBERNIAN tonight with a 0-6 victory.
The Scottish side - with all due respects - was a "sparring" partner
for the powerful Barça team.

The Barça starting lineup had 4 Barça-B players, plus new comers

Pique & Dani Alves, as seen in the below picture:

(Valdés; Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Córcoles; Víctor Vázquez, Busquets,
Pedrito; Messi, Henry & Gudjohnsen)

The first half was an exhibition for Barça with 4 goals:
GUDJOHNSEN ( 2); MESSI & PEDRITO. The highlight was

the Dani Alves & Messi understanding with the latter driving

crazy his Scottish opponents.

The second half saw Barça coach Guardiola give a run to his bench
players:Crosas, Keita, Bojan, Abraham, Jeffren, Pinto, Toure, Eto´o
& Hleb. In this half only 2 goals were scored by Barca via BOJAN &
later by TOURE.

In conclusion, excellent session for Barça with good play from Messi &
Alves that stood out from the rest. Next game against Dundee United.

See the highlights:

*thanks to "Mundo Deportivo" for the club header

ATLETICO DE MADRID MEXICAN TOUR 2008: ANOTHER DRAW

ATLETICO DE MADRID finished their 4 match tour yesterday
with a 1-1 draw against TOLUCA DE MEXICO.

The Mexicans turned out to be a competitive & very aggresive side,
with an excellent defensive line that made things for the Spaniards
difficult throughtout the whole game. In fact Toluca scored first in the
58th min via PONCE, but LUIS GARCIA headed in the equalizer for
Atletico in the 65th min to at least save some pride.

In conclusion , a tough Mexican Tour for Atletico, with altitude, heat,
new squad members & less than desired physical form. Two loses &
two draws that is acceptable given the circumstances, that should help
fine tune the team which showed glimpses & moments of great football.

Match summary:

Toluca 1: Hernán Cristante; Paulo da Silva, Manuel de la Torre
(m.77, Galeana), Edgar Dueñas, Sergio Ponce; Martín Romagnoli,
Carlos Morales (m.60, Velasco), Diego de la Torre (m.65, Calderón),
Mario Méndez; Carlos Esquivel & Héctor Mancilla (m.73, Fernández)

Atlético de Madrid 1: Gregory Coupet; Antonio López,
Paulo Assuncao, John Heitinga, Luis Perea; Raúl García
(m.67, Cléber), Maximiliano Rodríguez (m.67, De las Cuevas),
Simao Sabrosa (m.67, Reyes), Tomas Ujfalusi; Diego Forlán &
Sinama Pongolle (m.78, Costa)..

Goals: 1-0, m.58: Sergio Ponce. 1-1, m.65: Luis García.

FOOTBALL (SOCCER) : IT´S UNIVERSAL

This clip has´nt nothing to do with Spanish Football, but its has to do
with something much wider & important, the global reach of the sport
called Football (Soccer). Found this video on "Dailymotion" & was
gladly surprised to see none other than the Reggae King - Bob Marley
- showing his Football skills. Impressive indeed & indicative of how
this sport crosses borders, cultures, languages & all social lines.

That in itself deserves a post on Spanish Football & Sports.

SAMUEL ETO´O TO REAL MADRID?

So much hype weeks back with Tottenham, AC Milan, Inter Milan,
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia... to see now how FC
BARCELONA forward SAMUEL ETO´O has no real firm offers.
The forward is doing pre-season with Barça at Scotland because his
team cannot find him a Club to go to that satisfies them or the player.

Sources say that the high tranfer price tag of 50M€ scared off Clubs,
added with his high salary that limits options.

However, Sports paper " Mundo Deportivo" ( with front cover
included) inform that REAL MADRID has discussed "internally"
the possiblity of signning Samuel Eto ´o. Real Madrid coach
Schuster wants a class forward & Eto´o suits the profile & senior
players ( Casillas, Guti, Raul ...all ex teammates) see the option as
good.

The only person who doubts is President Calderon:
1. Fears the fan base reaction
2. The player is controversial & has a "big mouth"
3. Does not wish to break his good relations with Barça President
Laporta.

Don¨t dismiss this rumour & speculation so quickly however:

1. Samuel Eto´o started at Real Madrid, his "unsaid dream" is to play
with them. All his outbursts towards Real are due to his frustration of
not staying at Madrid. He is a Real Madrid lover, even if he does not admit
it.
2. A "pissed off" Eto´o towards Barça would give the drive & motivation
for him to put in a great season.
3. As a forward, he fits the profile that Real Madrid looks for.

Stay tuned!

FC BARCELONA 2008: THIERRY HENRY "PUMPED" FOR 2008/2009

From Scotland (St.Andrews) FC BARCELONA French International
forward THIERRY HENRY has spoken to the media to give his
opinions about the upcoming new season. The Frenchmen took some
time out of his pre-season training to lift the hopes of Barça fans &
Football lovers Worldwide.

The most notable statement from Henry was the following:
"Playing badly, I scored 19 goals last season".

If you think about it, his right, for any other player thoses
figures would constitute a great season. For this new 2008/
2009 Football calendar, Thierry has his mind on one thing:
the goal!

SFS is convienced that after a year of adaptation at Barça &
Spanish Football, Henry will be back to his best. That is great
news for everyone!

According to news from Portugues paper "O Jogo", Portugues
International & JUVENTUS midfielder THIAGO is back on
the ATLETICO DE MADRID agenda. The paper cites that only
1M€ seperates both Clubs from shutting the deal ( Juventus
asks for 12M€ & Atletico wishes to pay 11M€). Stay tuned!

News from local Sports daily "AS" says that VALENCIA CF maybe
about to make an offer to ATLETICO DE MADRID for its Argentine
goalkeeper LEO FRANCO. The player was earlier linked to River
Plate, as the keeper has only 1ºyear left of contract & renewal has not
jumped out in discussions between Atletico & Franco. Added to this,
Franco faces stiff competition from newly signned French International
keeper Coupet.

SFS hopes that Leo Franco stays, SFS thinks he is a great keeper if
injuries stay away.

CARTOON HUMOUR: REAL MADRID & ROBINHO

Nothing like some "sarcastic" humour from Barcelona to stick the
finger into the old arch rival REAL MADRID. From the Catalan
Sports daily "Sport" & its cartoon section, "Futbolitis" come this piece
dedicated to Madrid player ROBINHO & his daily flirts with Chelsea
FC & his "loyalty" to Madrid.

Translated literally:

1º image : " I wish to leave Madrid"
2º image : " I expect to stay at Madrid for a long time"
...& repeated again...etc

REAL MADRID: CANNAVARO WILL LEAVE AT THE END OF THE 2008/2009 SEASON

According to an interview given by Gaetano Fedele, representative
of Italian International & REAL MADRID defender FABIO
CANNAVARO, to Italian radio "Kiss Kiss", this will be the last
season that his player will play for Madrid.

Cannavaro will finish his 3 year contract with Real Madrid this
season & his dream is to return & end his Football carreer at the
Club where he started it all, NAPOLES.

Real Madrid already has his substitute in young Argentine Ezequiel
Garay who will be on loan this season to Racing of Santander,
before returning next year for the 2009/2010 season to take the place
of the Italian defender. There is no doubt that all this will stimulate
Cannavaro to put in his best season in order to go out on a high
note.

SEVILLA FC 2008: FERNANDO NAVARRO PRESENTED AS NEW PLAYER

SEVILLA FC has finally presented its new defender & substitute
for the departed Dani Alves, FERNANDO NAVARRO that comes
from REAL MALLORCA.

The Spanish International defender signs for the next 5 years &
promises to fill the gap left open by the departure of the Brazilian
to FC Barcelona. Fernando Navarro costs the club 5M€ which is
considered economical , by SFS standards at least, as he is considered
one of Spains most brilliant young defenders with a fabulous future
ahead of him. Good signning for Sevilla Fc , fans should be happy.

SPANISH FOOTBALL NEWS 2008: ROBINHO & LUIS FABIANO RENEW CONTRACTS

Spanish daily "Marca" advance that REAL MADRID Brazilian
forward ROBINHO will renew his contract with the Club another
5 years which will double his salary to 3M€/season. This is a reaction
from Madrid to the calls of English Club Chelsea FC & their offers
to sign the player.

However, there is a catch as said here at SFS, Robinho´s future is
tied directly with Cristiano Ronaldo. If Real Madrid manage to sign
the Portugues star, Robinho will be sold to Chelsea to finance the
operation. If it is impossible to get Ronaldo to Madrid, the Spanish
Club would have secured the Brazilian with this renovation.

Brazilian International forward & SEVILLA FC player LUIS
FABIANO has renewed his contract with his Club until 2011.

The 27 year old scored 23 goals last season & has become a vital
part of the Sevilla team. This should also halt rumours of his
departure to another Club.

ATLETICO DE MADRID MEXICAN TOUR 2008: FIRST GOALS AGAINST TIGRES (SEE VIDEOS)

ATLETICO DE MADRID continue with their Mexican Tour &
played their third game against the TIGERS. A game that brought
the Spaniards their first goals via JOHN HEITINGA with a header
in the 58th min & via DIEGO FORLAN in the 62th min to put them
0-2 ahead.

However, the tiredness & the constant changes in the team lineup gave
the Mexicans the opportunities to get back & draw the match thanks to
PEREZ in the75th min & VINIEGRA in the 79th min.

Disappointing for the Spaniards to let their opponents fight back & draw,
but good signs of improvements as the team are playing much better.

Match summary:

Tigres 2: Óscar Pérez; Diego Martínez, Hugo Sánchez (m.46, Cerda),
Erik Martínez (m.52, Jiménez), Jonathán de León (m.69, Viniegra);
Guillermo Marino, Lucas Ayala, José Rivas, Julio Aguilar (m.46, Benítez),
Francisco Fonseca & Blás Pérez.

Atlético de Madrid 2: Gregory Coupet; Mariano Pernía,
Luis Amaranto Perea, Juan Valera (m.60, Seiteridis), John Heitinga;
Paulo Assuncao, Maxi Rodríguez (m.55, De las Cuevas),
Simao (m.55, Reyes), Cléber Santana (m.66, Raúl García);
Sinama Pongolle (m.64, Ramos) & Diego Forlán.

Goals: 0-1, m.58: John Heitinga; 0-2, m.62: Diego Forlán; 1-2,
m.75: Blás Pérez; 2-2, m.79: Manuel Viniegra.

Video highlights:

Last Monday in the Portugues city of Sintra (close to Lisbon)
MANCHESTER UNITED Coach Ferguson met his Portugues
star CRISTIANO RONALDO to convience him to stay &
forget about the REAL MADRID sirens.

According to "AS" & other similiar sources, Ronaldo made it

clear that his desire was to leave the Club & play for Real
Madrid. The response from the Scotsman was that he would

accept a transfer to any other club, except Real Madrid. This
obviously did´nt help calm the players nerves as he insists that he

will not return to Manchester.

Lastest news from Spanish TV -"TVE News" - was that there may

have been a compromise thrown at Ronaldo: leave in December.
This is not a solution that Ronaldo is comfortable with as neither is

Real Madrid. The Cristiano story continues...

Barcelona based Sports paper "Mundo Deportivo" publish that
the days of REAL MADRID Brazilian International JULIO BAPTISTA
in Madrid maybe counted. So much so, that the daily goes as far to say

that a transfer deal maybe shut in hours or even days with AC ROMA.

Real Madrid wishes to generate liquidity & the transfer of Baptista to
AC Roma for about 10M€ with be well greeted.

FC BARCELONA RETURN TO TALKS WITH DIDIER DROGBA

Another on-off summer story that has CHELSEA FC 30 year old
forward DIDIER DROGBA at numerous clubs at the sametime.
The Ivory Coast player wishes to breathe new air & play elsewhere,
his name has be associated with Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan
& FC Barcelona & it´s with that latter that Drogba comes back to the
forefront of the news & transfer rumours.

According to Spanish sports paper "Mundo Deportivo", FC
BARCELONA is back talking with Drogba. The Spanish Club offers
a 2 year contract with 1 more year optional, however the Chelsea
player wishes a straight 3 year contract, & here are the difficulties.

FC Barcelona knows they will eventually sell Samuel Eto´o & are
covering all the options: Drogba, Berbatov, Adelbayor, Robinho...
It´s common practice & we all will have to wait & see how things
turnout. Stay tuned!

TRANSFERS 2008: FC BARCELONA ASKS FOR ROBINHO

Wagner Ribeiro, representaive of REAL MADRID Brazilian
International ROBINHO, has let known to the media that Real
Madrid has a "big" offer from Chelsea FC & that a FC
BARCELONA Directive has called him to ask for the situation of
his player.

This has exploded in the local sports papers (marca, as, mundo
deportivo...) as it concerns the "old enemy" & transfers to the
eternal rival are controversial & not well seen.

FC Barcelona is looking for a forward to replace Samuel Eto´o when
he finally leaves & Robinho wishes to know immediately his future:
will he stay or be transferred. Real Madrid has said publically that
they wish the player to stay & Coach Schuster believes he is an
important piece of the future team.

SFS still thinks that the future of Robinho is linked on how the
Cristiano Ronaldo operation finishes. If Ronaldo goes to Madrid,
Robinho will go, if not the Brazilian will stay. Stay tuned!

U/19 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008: SPAIN ELIMINATED

Two time consecutive European U/19 Champions SPAIN have
been eliminated from this years tournament after losing 0-1 to
HUNGARY. Spain needed to win their Group A match today after
losing after Germany 1-0 in the group opener.

Hungary took it´s chances after the Spanish defence made a series of
mistakes that allowed NAGY to score in the 70th min. Spain had a
chance to draw via Emilio, but he failed infront of the goalkeeper.

End of the road for Spain, they were not up to the standard of
previous Spanish squads & the needed playing level

Match details/summary:

SPAIN 0: De Gea, Azpilicueta, Castellano, Domínguez Soto,
Antón (Luque, min. 72), Camacho, Parejo, Emilio, Mérida
(Aquino, min. 65), Aarón & Bolado (Alba, min. 46).

HUNGARY 1: Gulácsi, Nagy, Korcsmár, Debreceni, Présinger,
Busai, Iszlai, Gosztonyi (András Simon, min. 88), Koman,
Nikházi (Szabó, min. 57) & Németh (Bajner, min. 90).

GOAL: 0 - 1. Min.70, Nagy

SEVILLA FC NEWS 2008: SEBASTIAN SQUILLACI SIGNS FOR 4 YEARS

Spanish Club SEVILLA FC have tthemselves a formable new
defender, it´s LYON & French International SEBASTIAN
SQUILLACI after signning for 4 years. The Frenchmen was
presented to the Spanish media today alongside Sevilla directives.

The 28 year old of Italian origin comes to strenghen the defence after
Alves went to Barça & injuries last year left the backline without a
reliable substitute to fill the gaps.

SAMUEL ETO´O & INTER MILAN TALKING?

Spanish sports daily "Mundo Deportivo" inform that FC
BARCELONA forward SAMUEL ETO´O & INTER MILAN are
in "silent" negotiations & hint that both maybe getting close to
a transfer agreement.

Inter Milan Coach Mourinho has never hidden his admiration for
the Barça forward & FC Barcelona has already said on many
occasions that they do not count with Eto´o. Saty tuned!

ATLETICO DE MADRID MEXICAN TOUR 2008 - SECOND DEFEAT

ATLETICO DE MADRID experienced their second defeat yesterday
in their Mexican pre-season Tour. The Spanish team went down 1-0
to Mexican Club CRUZ AZUL in the 7th min when new Atletico
keeper COUPET made a mistake & allowed Edgar Andrade to score.

Atletico gave a run to all its stars & new signnings, & were unlucky to
not score. It´s early days & the team continues to get to know each
other (specially the new players), get into shape & find the rhythm
of competive games. They will continue in Mexico with more games in
the coming days.

Match details:

Cruz Azul - 1: Yosgart Gutiérrez, Joaquín Beltrán (m.79, Castro),
Julio César Domínguez, Rogelio Chávez (m.65, Lozano), Carlos
Bonet (m.62, Lugo), Gerardo Torrado, Edgar Andrade (m.62, Vela),
Christian Riveros (m.78, Velasco), Nicolás Vigneri (m.46, Ceballos),
César Villaluz & Miguel Sabah. Coach: Benjamín Galindo.

Atlético de Madrid - 0: Gregory Coupet, Antonio López (m.60, Pernía),
Pablo Ibañez (m.87, Perea), Tomas Ujfalusi,
Giorgios Seitaridis (m.60, Valera), Paulo Assuncao (m.46, Heitinga),
Raúl García (m.70, Rubén Ramos), Maxi Rodríguez (m.46, Miguel),
Simao (m.46, Luis García), Sinama Pongolle (m.60, Costa)
& Diego Forlán (m.46, Cléber). Coach: Javier Aguirre.

Goal: 1-0, m.7: Edgar Andrade.

Brazilian Ronaldinho goes to AC Milan & ALEXANDER HLEB comes

from ARSENAL, that´s how quick FC BARCELONA has operated as
it gets its new squad & proyect ready to begin pre-season & set their
sights to conquer all for 2008/2009.

Alexander Hleb (see above) flew into Barcelona today to pass the

compulsary medical checks & was presented as the new signning
of FC BARCELONA. The deal cost the Club 15M€ + 3M€ variable
= 18M€ & Hleb signs contract for the next 4 seasons.

Here is a video clip of his arrival today from "Barça TV":

*Thanks to "Mundo Deportivo" for Club header

SPANISH FOOTBALL - LA LIGA - THE 2008/2009 SEASON FIXTURE/CALENDAR

Today was the day that the draw was held to set the 2008/2009
season fixture for "La Liga". The results are the following:

Start - 30th of August 2008; here is the 1ºRound fixture:

Athletic - Almería
Osasuna - Villarreal
Deportivo - Real Madrid
Numancia - Barcelona
Racing - Sevilla
Sporting - Getafe
Betis - Recreativo
Espanyol - Valladolid
Atlético - Málaga
Valencia - Mallorca

Full details of all 38 Rounds - click on link:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/futbol/2008-2009/liga/
calendario.html

End - 31st of May 2009

Notable match dates to keep in mind are:

Real Betis - Sevilla Fc ( Derby) - 21st of September 2008
Atletico de Madrid - Real Madrid (Derby) - 19th of October 2008
FC Barcelona - Real Madrid (Derby) - 14th of December 2008

REAL ZARAGOZA TRANSFER AIMAR TO BENFICA

Ex - Valencia Cf & now Portugues Club BENFICA Spanish coach
QUIQUE SANCHEZ FLORES has managed to get the midfielder
desired over to his new team, Argentine PABLO AIMAR.

Sanchez Flores had Aimar under his orders in their Valencia days
& now reunite after REAL ZARAGOZA came to an agreement to
transfer Aimar to Benfica for a total of 7,5M€ & a 4 year contract.

Real Zaragoza has to let go some of its stars because they cannot
satisfy the high salaries of the players after being relegated to
2º Division. Other stars as Milito, Ayala, Oliveira ...etc are on the
transfer rumour mill & are expected to head elsewhere soon.

La Liga 2020-2021 Fixture & Results

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