Tap For Menu  
Single word yields best result

Football News: Roma Midfielder Instructed On How To Hide Future Racial Abuse, While Neville Remains Positive Plus More

Roma Midfielder Instructed On How To Hide Future Racial Abuse, While Neville Remains Positive Plus More
Image from: zimbio.com

1. Transfer round up
Mikel Arruabarrena, SD Eibar to SD Huesca, on loan
Esteban Saveljich, Racing Club to UD Almeria, on loan
Itay Shachter, Maccabi Haifa to Beitar Jerusalem, undisclosed fee
Marijan Antolovic, Zeljeznicar Sarajevo to Hapoel Haifa, free
Martin Milec, Standard Liege to RodaJC, on loan
Trent Sainsbury, PEC Zwolle to Jiangsu Suning, £700,000
Takayuki Seto, Osmanlispor to Astra Giurgiu, on loan
Deivydas Matulevicius, Tobol Kostanay to FC Botosani, free
Victor Valdes, Manchester United to Standard Liege, on loan
Simone Iocolano, Bassano to Alessandria, undisclosed fee
Lukas Tesak, Arsenal Tula to Kairat Almaty, free
David Barral, Al-Dhafra SCC to Granada, free
Andrija Kaludjerovic, Al-Shahaniya to Rad, undisclosed fee
Sergio Vittor, CA Banfield to Racing Club, £973,000
Carlos Gruezo, VfB Stuttgart to FC Dallas, £1.05m
Roman Shirokov, released by Spartak Moscow
Ananias, released by Cruzeiro
Chumbinho, Qarabag Agdam to Atromitos Athen, free
Nigel Reo-Coker, released by Montreal Impact
Narciso Mina, Atlante to San Martin, undisclosed fee
Ibrahima Niasse, unattached to Chiajna
Emil Larsen, Odense BK to Columbus Crew, undisclosed fee
Samuel, Fluminese to Ferroviaria, on loan
Gil, Coritiba to Chapecoense, free
Giuseppe Rossi, Fiorentina to Levante, on loan
Filip Djuricic, Benfica to RSC Anderlecht, on loan
Michael Thwaite, Perth Glory to Liaoning FC, undisclosed fee
Ryota Morioka, Vissel Kobe to Slask Wroclaw, free
Dario Gandin, unattached to Ben Hur
Ignacio Canuto, unattached to CA Tucuman

2. Juventus versus Roma had some controversial moments
This is one, as Juve grabbed their 11th straight win, Mario Mandzukic showed Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini has taught him well. How to disguise an elbow:

 

3. Neville reassures Valencia fans
With Gary Neville still in desperate search of his first La Liga victory as Valencia head coach, he has reassured fans that wins will come. Whether they will have to wait until after he is replaced or not is a different matter. "I can't ask for more from the players in terms of effort and desire," Neville told Valencia's official website. "I've spoken with them and, whilst we aren't going to celebrate what happened today, you can play badly and make bad passes but if this team spirit continues, we have come back four of five times in the final minutes. That is one of the most difficult things to achieve in football and I am proud that they continue fighting. I would have been very disappointed if we hadn't taken a point today. If we manage to have more patience, we will score more of those goals. I am not happy with today's result; a draw can never please a manager of Valencia. What I am is proud of the fact that we fought until the end. The wins will come," Neville assured. "The fans want victories and I am desperate to give them to them. The least they demand is that the players fight to the end. Now we go to Las Palmas and we have to make the most of the spirit that led to today's last-minute goal."

4. Another flick from inside the 6 yard box
This time Fernando Fernanez of Tigres adds a little spin flourish to make it a bit more showy as he notches an equaliser against Chivas.

 

5. Mahrez just nips in to pick up Algerian Player of the Year award
Leicester City's wing wizard Riyad Mahrez has just pipped Porto's Yacine Brahimi to win the Algerian Player of the Year title. The winger has scored 13 goals and notched 7 assists in his 22 appearances as the Foxes lead the Premier League by 3 points. Mahrez was the only player nominated to turn up for the ceremony. The voting results:
Riyad Mahrez, Leicester City, 29.51%
Yacine Brahimi, FC Porto, 28.84%
Islam Slimani, Sporting, 17.38%
Faouzi Ghoulam, Napoli, 11.56%
Sofiane Feghouli, Valencia, 6.5%

6. FBI investigation into FIFA corruption now looking into 2006 World Cup
The FBI investigation into FIFA corruption has now spread its wings even further, with the 2006 World Cup under investigation over suspect payments. Added to the almost blatant way FIFA's corrupt organisation awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar in return for backhanders, allegedly, now there is a concern that it was going on long before. The German football federation (DFB) have said that the payment concerned was a 10million Swiss francs loan from then-adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus, to FIFA in 2002 to obtain a large for the World Cup organising committee, before the tournament was awarded. The payment is also under investigation by the German and Swiss authorities on suspicion of tax evasion.

 

7. Everton face injury problems
With Manchester City to face on Wednesday in the League Cup semi-final second leg, and a 2-1 lead to defend, Everton are being struck down with injuries. Muhamed Besic and Kevin Mirallas are both set to miss out, as the pair were taken off injured in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of struggling Swansea City. Besic only lasted 11 minutes before coming off with a hamstring injury, while Mirallas only managed another 17 minutes before he also had to come off, this time with a knee problem. "It's hard to tell [the seriousness of both injuries]," Martinez said after the game. "Muhamed Besic injured his left hamstring - the opposite leg to the problem he had recently. We will also assess Kevin Mirallas, who injured the tendon in his right leg around the knee. I don't expect them to be fit for Wednesday and I expect a bit of a period where they will be unavailable. It is a real shame because both players gave us a really refreshing look and reached good levels at this stage of the season."

8. De Rossi told to hide racial abuse better
The Juventus victory over AS Roma has been marred by a storm over racial abuse handed out by Daniele de Rossi to Mario Mandzukic. De Rossi was shown a yellow card after an off the ball stamp on Mandzukic's foot, television cameras caught the Italian international insulting Mandzukic, with reports claiming he said, "shut up, you shitty gypsy." Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was unhappy with de Rossi, not for his racial insult, but for the fact he did not cover his mouth with his hands, to avoid being caught on camera doing so! Spalletti said: "He (de Rossi) didn't put his hand up to his mouth, but I will tell him to do that next time. In difficult moments like that, certain manners can go amiss. But Mandzukic was taking the piss out of all the (AS Roma) players during the game."

 

9. Leicester deserve to be top says Leicester player
Leicester City strolled to a 3-0 victory over Stoke City at the weekend, well if strolled can be used to describe a team that work so hard in every minute of every game, but it was a very one-sided game which saw the Foxes go three points clear at the top of the Premier League. Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater, who opened the scoring against Stoke, insists that his side fully deserve to be top of the league. Though I am not sure who he is trying to convince, as it does seem universally accepted Leicester deserve their lead, well outside of Nottingham and Derby anyway. "After having a difficult first season in the Premier League we have turned the table around," Drinkwater told The Mirror. "We are top of the league and it is a huge achievement for this club. The points are proof we deserve to be there. If anyone doubts us still it is up to them, as long as we keep proving them wrong. It is already a big part of Leicester's history what we have done. But I think we will leave the excitement to the fans. If we can carry it on through the season there will be so much more for them."

10. Chile rule out Marcelo Bielsa
Former Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa has been ruled out as the replacement for fellow Argentine Jorge Sampaoli. With Sampaoli resigning after disagreements with Chile's football federation and 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Argentina coming up in March, it was suggested that currently out of work coach Bielsa could return to the role he fulfilled between 2007 and 2011. Chilean football president Arturo Salah has ruled him out as an option: "We rule out the Bielsa option. We are looking for more alternatives," said Salah on Sunday.

Written by Tris Burke January 25 2016 07:43:34