…The men met as fraternity brothers at the University of Alabama, but the image of innate Southerness they convey is shattered the instant the immense television glows with the home screen of EA Sports FIFA 2012 video game. With a flurry of dexterous controller-clicking, the two men assemble their teams with the cold, calculated eyes […]
Archive | La Liga RSS feed for this archive
The £205m Messi bid
An unidentified Russian club triggered the Argentinian wizard’s automatic release clause and would pay him £24m a year after tax, according to a Spanish report. The astronomical offer, which would have more than doubled the current world record transfer fee, triggered Messi’s automatic release clause – meaning Barca were contractually obliged to accept it. However, […]
Málaga teach Real Madrid a lesson but cannot fathom Uefa’s punishment
There is disbelief at the decision to ban the club from Europe next season because of ‘significant overdue budget balances’ Manuel Pellegrini told his players he would see them back in work on 2 January, wished them a Happy Christmas and left the Rosaleda carrying a suit and wheeling his case behind him. It wasn’t […]
Christmas Crackers – the View from Spain
So the apocalypse failed to show on cue. It has a habit of doing that. It was also supposed to take place on December 12 (12.12.12 and all that), but it finally made an appearance on the evening of December 22, when the backside of Saint Iker Casillas was announced by Chendo, an ex-player and […]
The 100 Best Footballers in the World
The Guardian’s 11-strong international panel of experts set about ranking the best footballers in the world, and end up with their top 100. #99 Diego Forlan Age: 33 Nationality: Uruguayan Team: Internacional The striker became the most capped Uruguayan of all time at the 2011 Copa América and is also the country’s record scorer. That seemed implausible when […]
Michu Promised Spain Call-up
The Swans’ summer signing is set to be rewarded with international recognition following a prolific start to the Premier League season with Michael Laudrup’s side Spain coach Vicente del Bosque plans to hand an international call-up to Swansea forward Michu. The 26-year-old has scored an impressive 13 goals in 18 league games since moving to the Liberty Stadium from Real Vallecano […]
End of the road for Mourinho?
They sit a massive 16 points behind league leaders Barcelona going in to the winter break. Following the disappointing 3-2 loss at Malaga, speculation is rife that Mourinho might be heading for his Real Madrid exit sooner rather then later. Given that they’ve just been drawn against Manchester United in the Champions League, Marcus Christenson […]
Continuity amid Vilanova adversity could push Barcelona to greater heights
The coach will undergo an operation on Thursday, but the Catalans’ philosophy will remain intact thanks to a capable stand-in and a group of players familiar with pulling through Life without Tito Vilanova begins away to Valladolid in the Primera Division on Saturday, but the road to recovery starts at home for both coach and […]
Blurring the lines between defenders and midfielders
A recent tactical trend is to field midfielders at centre-back, an approach favoured by Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova, who have refused to buy a “traditional” central defender despite needing back-up for Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique. Instead, they’ve converted Javier Mascherano, Alex Song and Sergio Busquets into defenders, with varying levels of regularity […]
Champions League Draw Results
TKTG brings all the best reports on the Champions League draw for the Knockout phase. The draws are: Galatasaray vs FC Schalke Celtic vs Juventus Arsenal vs Bayern Munich AC Milan vs Barcelona Real Madrid vs Manchester United Valencia vs Paris St Germain FC Porto vs Malaga Shakthar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund ESPNFC: Ronaldo Returns […]
TOKNOWTHEGAME.COM 