La Liga Thread

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Ancelotti will sign a 3 year deal with Real Madrid.

[Jase 43,479]

38 minutes ago, Blues Forever said:

 

WTF!? That has really come out of nowhere!

[Vesper 27,435]

Barcelona in a worse financial position than expected - Joan Laporta

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona-espbarcelona/story/4414990/barcelona-in-a-worse-financial-position-than-expected-joan-laporta

Joan Laporta has said Barcelona are in an even worse position than he imagined when he was elected as president in March.

Laporta, who was previously the Barca president between 2003 and 2010, is having an audit carried out on the club's accounts and has been surprised by some of the findings.

Barca's gross debt is close to €1.2 billion, with the club urgently needing to reduce the wage bill, with a €100m bank loan needed in May to help pay salaries to the playing squad.

There are also anomalies related to the "Barcagate" scandal, with payments made by the previous board to third-party companies who are part of a police investigation.

"The club's in a worse state than I expected -- and I knew I was coming into a difficult situation," Laporta told La Vanguardia.

"There are contracts which condition how much we can do. There are things that must be explained [by the previous board] and I don't rule out taking some sort of action. We will explain everything because if not, we will be complicit.

"We've encountered a squad with old-fashioned contracts and we will have to work out what to do. The existing contracts can be changed or restructured. After that, there are more drastic measures that we hope we don't have to adopt.

"But nothing's ruled out if it's for the good of the club. Between salaries and amortisations, it's about €650m [annually], which is more than the club's revenue. These salaries are out-of-step with the current market."

To help reduce the wage bill, sources have told ESPN that Barcelona are open to offers for several players, including Neto, Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Philippe Coutinho and Martin Braithwaite.

Despite having to reduce costs, Barca remain optimistic they can convince Lionel Messi, whose four-year contract is worth over €500m, to sign an extension to his terms at Camp Nou.

Messi's deal expires on June 30 and Laporta urged him to make a decision on his future to help Barca plan for the future.

[Vesper 27,435]

KUBALA – THE MAN WHO BUILT BARCELONA

https://readtheleague.com/the-big-feature/kubala-the-man-who-built-barcelona

IN 1999, Barcelona’s centenary year, a vote was held to decide the club’s greatest-ever player. Given the exploits since then of Lionel Messi it is entirely possible that were the poll conducted today there might be a different winner

But the fact that followers of a club who had seen Johan Cruyff at his best among many other superstars through the years chose László Kubala says much about just how great he was.

To watch Kubala play, to see his languid approach and ability to send defenders lurching in the wrong direction with a body swerve, is to see the style that the team from the Catalan capital have embodied. It’s football with a swagger, an arrogance that says ‘it isn’t just if you win, it’s how you win’. But alongside this he also had a toughness that enabled him to deal with defenders in the same way he dealt with the many setbacks he suffered in life, shrugging them off and getting on with things.

Kubala was born in Budapest in 1927 and spent his formative years playing against age-groups 3-4 years older. He first joined local Third Division team Ganz TE but was soon performing at a higher level, joining top flight Ferencváros before his 18th birthday.

The forward impressed in his only season he spent with the club winning the Western half of the Hungarian championship although they fell some way short of Újpest in their national championship quest.

In 1946 he left Hungary for Czechoslovakia, allegedly to avoid military service and signed for Slovan Bratislava linking up for the first time with coach Ferdinand Daucik, who would also become his brother-in-law when Kubala married Daucik’s sister Anna Viola.

Daucik became coach of Czechoslovakia and picked Kubala six times – he scored four goals – before the player returned to Hungary, signing for Vasas and playing three times for the national team.

After a single season back in his country of birth he left again in 1949, this time fleeing in the back of a truck as political and public turmoil raged. The bus dropped him in the U.S. occupied zone of Austria and from there he made his way to Italy, signing for Pro Patria. It is said that his wife and young child eventually met him in Italy when Anna fled the troubles by swimming across the Danube with their baby, Branko, inside a tyre.

Whilst playing in Italy he was asked by Torino to appear as a guest player in a prestigious testimonial match against Benfica in Lisbon to honour the Portuguese club’s captain Francisco Ferreira. After initially taking up the invite he withdrew as Branko was ill. On the way back the plane carrying the team crashed into the Superga hills, killing all 31 on board.

With the conflict engulfing Eastern Europe, Kubala refused to return home to play for the national team resulting in the Hungarian F.A. complaining to FIFA. This led to a one-year ban for the player.

Kubala and Daucik then decided to form their own team, Hungária, made up of refugees from Hungary, Russia, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia fleeing the east and in the summer of 1950 the team toured Spain.

Hungária played a series of matches, against a Madrid XI, a Spain XI and RCD Espanyol, and after these, both Real Madrid and Barcelona were keen on signing Kubala. It was Barcelona, and their chief scout and former star, Josep Samitier who won the day. The dealbreaker was the Catalan club’s agreement to employ not only Kubala but also Daucik who became the team’s new coach.

Because of the international ban Kubala, despite signing in June 1950, did not feature for the ‘Blaugrana’ until April 1951. By then La Liga was out of reach (the team finished 4th, five points behind Atletico Madrid) but the lifting of the suspension gave him time to feature in the closing stages of the General’s Cup where he helped his team to victory in the semi-final over Sevilla and in the final against Real Sociedad. He finished the season having made seven starts and scored six goals.

The ban served, Kubala was the difference-maker in the 1951-52 season when Barcelona were far and away the outstanding team in Spain. They proved themselves on all levels winning an unprecedented five major trophies. With players such as goalkeeper Antoni Ramallets, captain Joan Segarra, Nicolae Simotoc, Cesar and, of course, Kubala, Barca took La Liga, the General’s Cup, the Copa Eva Duarte, the Latin Cup and the Copa Martini Rossi.

During that wildly successful campaign Kubala set a new record when scoring seven times in a 9-0 win over Sporting Gijón.

The following season was almost as successful with the only blemish coming in the ‘Small World Cup’ tournament played in Venezuela where they finished 3rd behind Corinthians and Roma in a four-team tournament. But domestically they again had no peer, comfortably winning La Liga and doubling up with the Generals Cup, even though they played much of the season without Kubala who had been struck down with tuberculosis and only returned in time to inspire the team for a final push.

All of these trophies were brought back to the Camp de Les Corts, which had been Barcelona’s home stadium since 1922. But the club, with Kubala leading the way, had by now outgrown it. Capacity had risen from 20,000 to around 50,000 but in the 1950s it was decided that even more space was needed as fans clamoured to see the team and in particular their star man. Thus inspired work to begin on the Camp Nou which would open in 1957.

By 1953 Kubala had successfully applied for Spanish citizenship and he made his debut for his third country for whom he would go on to make 19 appearances, scoring 11 goals.

So it was as a Spaniard that Kubala took the field for the 1953 match between England and the Rest of the World at Wembley, a game played to celebrate the Football Association’s 90th anniversary. He scored twice, once from the penalty spot, in a 4-4 draw.

In fact, for those of you who believe in the Catalonian cause it is possible to make out a case for Kubala having played for a quartet of countries as he made four appearances for a Catalan XI to go along with those for Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Spain.

Kubala continued starring  throughout the 1950s, despite suffering a number of injuries which often limited his playing time. With new stars alongside him such as Luis Suarez and a pair of Hungarians he helped to recruit in Sandor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor, Kubala helped restore Barcelona to the pinnacle of Spanish football with  a pair of titles in 1959 and 1960, and also put them on the European map.

He played a key role in Barcelona’s double success in the first two Inter Cities Fairs Cups. First off they beat a combined London team 8-2 on aggregate. The first match was held at Stamford Bridge and finished in a 2-2 draw with the return taking place in front of 70,000 fans at the now-opened Camp Nou and resulting in a 6-0 win for the home team.

Although he missed both legs of the final through injury,  Kubala scored in the first round against Copenhagen and twice in the semi-final win over Birmingham City.

In the second tournament Barcelona came up against Birmingham again, this time in the final. After a goalless draw at St Andrews, another crowd of 70,000 packed the Camp Nou for the return and home fans were rewarded with a 4-1 victory.

Whilst competing in that tournament for a third time Barcelona, having won La Liga, were also playing in the European Cup for a second time. They had reached the semi-final in 1960 but were hammered 6-2 on aggregate by Real Madrid, a result which saw coach Helenio Herrera, who had fallen out with Kubala and dropped him, fired.

The falling-out between the two came about when Herrera, a strict disciplinarian, attempted to curb Kubala’s heavy-drinking ways. He placed a curfew, which the superstar, a known lover of the Barcelona nightlife, steadfastly refused to adhere to.

By the 1960-61 season the power struggle between the two was over. Enrique Orizaola replaced Herrera at the helm and restored Kubala to the line-up. Although they were eliminated in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup at the Quarter-Final stage they overcame Real Madrid in the second round of the European Cup, becoming the first team to beat their domestic rivals and winners of the trophy for five years in succession, and made it it all the way to the final.

In the 1961 European Cup final, played at Berne’s Wankdorf Stadium, Barcelona came up against Portuguese champions Benfica. Kubala gave his team an early lead but Benfica then scored three unanswered goals before Zoltán Czibor’s late strike which proved a mere consolation. So Kubala missed out on the chance to capture the one major club honour that had eluded him and promptly retired.

He ended his time on the pitch at Barcelona and immediately took up a job working with youngsters. By November 1961 he was coaching the first team after taking over from Luis Miró who had lasted just five months in the job. But his time at the helm was trophyless and in January 1963 he left the club and returned to playing with cross-town rivals Espanyol doubling up as manager.

Kubala stayed at Espanyol, where he worked alongside another legend in Alfredo Di Stefano, for two years (giving a professional debut to son Branko) and then had spells in Switzerland with Zürich (playing against eventual winners Celtic in the 1967 European Cup) and Canada with Toronto Falcons both of whom he player-managed before finally hanging up his boots for good in 1967 aged 40.

Kubala then returned to Spain taking charge of Córdoba before an 11-year spell as head coach of the Spanish national team which lasted until 1980. A brief return to Barcelona was not successful and he then coached Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal for three years.

Returning to Spain in 1986 he coached at Murcia, Malaga and Elche before working as an assistant with a Spanish team  including Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique that won Gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

He made one final playing appearance. In 1993, the newly-refurbished Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, which had been remodelled for the previous year’s Olympics, played host to a testimonial match in honour of Kubala. The match was between a Catalan XI and a team made up of foreigners playing in La Liga. Kubala played the first ten minutes for the Catalan team in a match that finished 4-4.

A brief spell coaching the Paraguay national team interrupted his retirement in Barcelona, where he was still a regular, both at the Nou Camp and at the club’s training ground.

His attributes as a player were many but were built around awesome power, a love of teamwork and a cannonball shot. He also revolutionised free-kick taking with the ability to bend the ball around a wall at free-kicks.

Whilst he might not be held in the same esteem as some of the greats of football’s past, there is no doubt that Laszlo Kubala deserves his place among the game’s true legends. And to Barcelona fans he was, and still is, alongside the mighty Messi, the true great.

That he also played a major part in the club’s decision to build their new stadium earns him a position as the man who, perhaps more than any other, ‘built’ Barcelona and went a long way toward making them the force they are in the game today.

 

 

THE GREAT REFUGEE: HOW LÁSZLÓ KUBALA BECAME A BARCELONA LEGEND

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/02/02/the-great-refugee-how-laszlo-kubala-became-a-barcelona-legend/

CLUTCHING FALSE PAPERS and disguised as Russian soldiers while sheltering from the bitter winter on the back of a truck, a group of Hungarian men passed through the Alps in search of Austria, which was partially occupied by the US and represented a safe haven. Forced to ditch the vehicle close to the border, the cluster of refugees walked the remaining few kilometres through the snow and the ice and the sub-zero temperatures. It was January 1949 and much of Eastern Europe was blanketed beyond the Iron Curtain.

Upon arriving in Innsbruck, some guards recognised one of the group as they sorted through visas and documents. He was a young, muscular man with blond hair. They were football fans and he a footballer; despite being born in Budapest the young man had played and scored for the Czechoslovakian national side and was relatively well-known. It was the promising forward László Kubala.

By his early-20s, Kubala was already a prolific goalscorer, having played for Budapest sides Ganz TE and Ferencvárosi and also briefly for the Hungarian national team before moving to Czechoslovakia to play for ŠK Slovan Bratislava in 1946. A year later he had featured for his adopted nation at international level under coach Ferdinand Daučík – and subsequently married his trainer’s sister, Anna.

Due to military obligations, the nomad and his wife returned to Hungary in 1948, although Kubala had barely signed for Vasas SC when he would leave her and Branko, his new-born son, to venture across the Alps. It was understood that he and his wife would meet in Italy; he would travel through Austria and she would later swim across the Danube, near Bratislava, with the baby inside a tyre.

While awaiting his family’s arrival in Italy, Kubala played, again briefly, for then-Serie A side Pro Patria. Later in his life he told the following story of his time there: “When I arrived I saw they were going to start with fitness exercises, so I pretended I wasn’t ready until they had set off on a jog and then began juggling the ball on my own.  The club president saw me and said, joking, ‘If you can do 400 without the ball dropping to the floor, I’ll give you my watch!’ He thought it was impossible, but I didn’t need asking twice. Right, left, right, left, thigh, a sequence of headers now and again … 398, 399, 400, no problem. Just for good measure, I then did a lap round the field while keeping the ball up. He was amazed. So was I – it was a really nice watch!”

As he played and scored for his new club, whispers of his presence swept around Italy leading to him being invited to play a testimonial match in the colours of Torino against Benfica in Portugal. Transportation would be provided by the club, and they would be travelling by air.

Of course, this was May 1949 and this was not just any Torino side. It was Il Grande Torino, one of the greatest football teams there has ever been. Naturally, Kubala accepted, but upon the brink of departure his exhausted wife arrived in Italy clutching a seriously ill Branko. His decision to stay in Italy and tend to his son proved the most significant of his life; during their return flight, the plane carrying Il Grande Torino crashed into the hill of Superga during their foggy return flight. The wreckage burst into flames. All 31 people on board were tragically killed.

At this point Kubala was banned for a year by FIFA. The Hungarians had demanded some form of punishment for various charges, including evading mandatory military service, as a consequence of his fleeing the country. He subsequently headed for Cinecitta, an area of Italy also occupied by the US, which was the home of film production in the country outside of Rome. Almost penniless, here he helped found the team Hungaria along with numerous Hungarians, Czechs, Russians and Croatians, all of whom were political refugees escaping the East. The coach was his brother-in-law, Daučík. A film rntitled Kubala: Stars in Search of Peace was created. In 1950 Hungaria toured Spain, playing Madrid, Espanyol and the national side.

Santiago Bernabéu watched the nomad play and was keen to bring him to Real Madrid, but Kubala insisted that the club also had to recruit Daučík as coach – although he was still banned by FIFA. There was also another interested party and they were equally, if not more, determined to recruit the forward.

Multiple tales exist that tell of how Kubala’s signature ended up on the dotted line of official FC Barcelona documents. In one version, the forward was so drunk that he was tricked into signing; in another, he received the contract Madrid were prepared to offer him yet did not sign it, presenting it to Blaugrana representatives and demanding they matched it. Ultimately, it does not matter how Kubala signed for Barcelona. What matters is that he did. That there is a statue of the adopted Spaniard now standing in the grounds of the Camp Nou is a reminder of quite how significant his time spent there was.

In 1999, during Barcelona’s centenary year (albeit prior to the magical career of Lionel Messi, but still ahead of Johan Cruyff at least), Kubala was voted the greatest ever player to wear the maroon and blue. His time there became truly legendary and, most significantly, responsible for the Barcelona we know and admire today – for because of Kubala, Barcelona had to build the Camp Nou.

Kubala and Daučík signed for the Catalan club in June 1950 but the player did not feature in a competitive match for almost a year. When his ban was lifted in late April 1951, the league season had concluded and Barcelona had finished fourth, although there was still the Copa del Generalísimo to play for and the forward had an immediate impact against Sevilla. Barça won the first leg 2-1 and Kubala scored in the reverse fixture, which was won 3-0. Daučík’s side went on to win the trophy, outclassing Real Sociedad 3-0 in the final.

The nomadic Hungarian had played seven games, scored six times and won a trophy. It set the tone for his career as a Blaugrana player. Kubala brought not only a great number of trophies to Les Corts, the club’s home at the time, but people too. The Catalan people wanted to watch Kuksi in action. ‘Kubalamania’ had gripped the Catalan capital. He had become a superstar and Les Corts was too small to cope with the demand.

Kubala’s first full season in Barcelona resulted in five trophies. Over the course of the 1951-52 campaign he scored 26 goals in the 19 games he played, including seven in a 9-0 victory over Sporting Gijón. Daučík’s side would win not only the league title but the Copa del Generalísimo, Copa Eva Duarte, Latin Cup and the Copa Martini Rossi.

Dramatically, the following year, tuberculosis struck and Kuksi missed the majority of the 1952-53 campaign, however his astounding return late in the day inspired Barça to the league title and another Copa del Generalísimo. By now both he and Daučík had impressive resumes.

The Slovak coach departed Barcelona in 1954 after a trophyless season. He was hired by Athletic Bilbao and won successive Copa del Generalísimos in 1955 and ’56, in addition to the league title in ’56. Like Kubala he was a nomad, a traveller with no real homeland, and he would go on to coach a host of different clubs, including Atlético Madrid, Porto, Betis, Sevilla and Espanyol. In 1977 his coaching career drew to an end at CDC Moscardó in Madrid. A decade earlier, in 1967, he and his brother-in-law would join forces for one final time – at Toronto Falcons. It was the end of the road for Kubala on the field of play and the beginning of the twilight of Daučík’s career, yet it was the brief resurrection of a relationship that is one of the game’s finest and most decorated, standing not only the test of time but politics and geography too.

Kubala, despite the departure of his friend, father figure and coach in 1954, remained in Barcelona. He was the hero of Les Corts and would go on to become its king. Spectators came in their thousands to watch the dynamic playmaker, for his game was quite so diverse and inspiring. Physically he was bullish, aggressive and muscular. He had trained as a boxer in his younger years and his body reflected that. Sid Lowe, in his book Fear and Loathing in La Liga describes him as “Hulk-like” with “rippling muscles”.

In one instance, Lowe describes how his shirt was ripped from his body by defenders from Brazilian side Botafogo physically unable to stop him. He played on, and scored, bare-chested. Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano described him as a “strong man” and that you “couldn’t knock him over with a cannonball”. But he was also agile, able to beat most defenders for speed, and could strike the ball fiercely with his thick, strong thighs. He was not a complete bully, however; he had a care for aesthetics and the beautiful side of the game. His athleticism was complimented by trickery and intelligence and he was famous for something that now seems obvious but in the ’50s it was truly ground-breaking.

Kubala was the first free-kick taker to curl the ball over the wall.

Luis Suárez, the playmaker in Helenio Herrera’s famous Internazionale side from the early to mid-1950s, and later a player for Barcelona, said that “no one had seen anyone curl a ball over a wall before … he was an extraordinary player who brought to Spain a series of innovative improvements and perfections. He united physical power and exceptional technique.” He supposedly only ever missed one penalty, too.

Perhaps most importantly, Kuksi was a team-player. He was not selfish or egotistical. He was a leader and generated such confidence in his team-mates that they felt they could not lose when he played. He knew he was the best and he was treated, and paid, as such.

Kubalamania continued to grow and in 1957, as a result of the popularity generated by the icon and the football he inspired, Barcelona moved to their new stadium. The following year, a figure who would prove very significant in Kubala’s career was hired by the club as coach, replacing the Spaniard Domènec ‘Domingo’ Balmanya.

Helenio Herrera was an authoritarian. As coach of Atlético Madrid, a decade before his Internazionale side would begin writing themselves into the history books, he had won back-to-back Liga titles and arrived at Barcelona in 1958 in order to break Real Madrid’s firm grasp on the championship. With their legendary team of Ferenc Puskás, Di Stéfano and Paco Gento, they had claimed the title in ’54, ’55, ’57 and ’58. In order to reach the level necessary to compete with Madrid, Herrera demanded that his players follow strict conditions, including no drinking and smoking. One person in particular, however, stood in his way of imposing that upon the whole squad. Of course, that was none other than Barcelona’s king of that era: the heavy-drinking, womanising superstar, László Kubala.

Kubala’s nights out in the Catalan capital were supposedly legendary, involving a great deal of whisky and flamenco dancers. Incredibly, prior to Herrera’s arrival, the club’s directors and local journalists were known to join the Hungarian and his team-mates on such raucous ventures. His typical hangover cure consisted of a shower, a nap and a coffee with aspirin. Yet it was all considered to be in good nature – the consensus was that this was a form of team bonding and that Kubala always looked after his team-mates.

Naturally, Herrera could not allow this to go on. He could not have somebody in his team with more power than him. Kubala was soon out of favour with his coach and dropped to the bench. Rather than embracing Kuksi’s personality, this proved to be Herrera’s fatal flaw: despite breaking Los Blancos’ monopoly to win the league in ’59 and ‘60, in addition to a Copa del Generalísimo in ’59, Herrera was sacked after dropping Kubala for a crucial 1960 European Cup semi-final against Real Madrid and losing 6-2. The directors knew where their loyalty lay. Kubala had won.

Of course, while Kubala enjoyed great success throughout the 1950s, which included featuring and scoring for the Spanish national team, the most dominant international football team of that decade was that of his home nation, Hungary. The Magnificent Magyars are one of the greatest teams never to have won the World Cup, and may have been even more potent had the forward not been ostracised from his homeland. Indeed, it is possible that because of the difficulties he faced in Hungary, in addition to his treatment at the hands of the country’s FA, Kubala did not regret never featuring in that famous side.

Perhaps the 1954 World Cup final, often referred to as the ‘Miracle of Bern’, would have played out differently and Gustav Sebes’ side would have achieved the commemoration they deserved, had Kubala played alongside Puskás. Football is a game of ifs and buts, and this is one of the greatest what ifs the game has to offer. Who knows what story the history books would tell if Kubala had played alongside Puskás.

What seems like such a missed opportunity contributes considerably to how Kubala, his life and football career is perceived; there is a sense of undoubted and sheer greatness although it is not unfair to say that he is not held in the same regard as the game’s greats and his Hungarian peers of that era. His career was still extremely instrumental and significant and his exciting playing style drew in the crowds that led Barcelona to construct the Camp Nou, which is one of the greatest stadiums in the world. His quest for aesthetics led him to reinvent the wheel and take free-kicks in a way that is now common practise.

Kubala was one of football’s finest action heroes: he was inspiring, brave and exciting, an outcast and a nomad ultimately just searching for somewhere to call home. He was a rebel who did not allow politics, conflict or illness to stand in the way of his desire to succeed. He toyed with fate and, if it were not for his son’s illness, would have been killed in the Superga disaster. He held firm morals and did not waver in his beliefs, often helping the homeless with money and shelter. He was stubborn, and a heavy drinker who did not like his authority to be challenged. He was a brutish, strong player, and a heavy-handed warrior with a deep appreciation of aesthetics and the ability to carry out intricacies on the football pitch.

However, despite being one of the most colourful characters in the game’s history, his name is barely ever brought up in conversation. He does not appear on lists of ‘Football’s Greatest’, despite his momentous achievements. Sadly, and unfairly, he is overshadowed by other greats of the same era. Yet László Kubala was undeniably an artist and a man who transformed persecution and displacement, issues still very prominent today, into beautiful football. He deserves to be celebrated and remembered as such.

 

 

[Vesper 27,435]

Atletico’s Joao Felix undergoes right ankle surgery

https://theathletic.com/news/joao-felix-injury-ankle-atletico-madrid/BlSaXAfsdBxv

Joao Felix has undergone surgery on his right ankle, his club Atletico Madrid have confirmed.

Felix suffered with an ankle injury towards the end of last season, with the 21-year-old then only making one appearance for Portugal as they exited the European Championship in the round of 16.

There is no timeline as yet on his return.

What has been said?

Atletico confirmed the surgery in a short statement on Friday: “Joao Felix underwent surgery on his right ankle in Porto on Friday morning.

“The operation was carried out by Professor Niek van Dijk of the University of Amsterdam under the supervision of Atletico de Madrid’s medical services. The Portuguese international striker is pending response to treatment.”

What is Felix’s injury history?

Felix was a regular for Atletico in their impressive start to the season.

However, the Portugal international then tested positive for COVID-19 in February, and suffered an ankle injury a month later.

Although he recovered from that injury in late April, Felix did not start another La Liga match as Atletico clinched the title.

He was included in Fernando Santos’ Euro 2020 squad, but missed the first game through injury and then did not feature in the following two group matches.

His solitary appearance in the tournament was as a substitute in Portugal’s 1-0 defeat to Belgium last Sunday.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

 

The rare modern day Fergie/Wenger.

[Vesper 27,435]

Marcelo feeling "extremely lucky" as Real Madrid make decision on new club captain

The exit of Sergio Ramos - who has subsequently joined Paris Saint-Germain - created a vacancy for the Real Madrid captaincy and the experienced Brazilian was a natural choice

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/marcelo-real-madrid-captain-ramos-24507656

 

Raphaël Varane  (must be leaving for sure)
Daniel Carvajal  
Casemiro    
Toni Kroos    
Luka Modric 
Lucas Vázquez   
Karim Benzema    

[Blues Forever 1,232]

https://www.elconfidencial.com/deportes/futbol/2021-07-13/florentino-perez-raul-gonzalez-real-madrid-estafa_3181035/

Perez could be in trouble, apparently he mocked both Raul and Casillas back in 2008.

"Casillas is not a GK for Madrid, what do you want me to tell you? He's not, never been. It's been a great failure we've had. Well, one of the great scams and the second one is Raul. The two great Madrid scams.”

"Casillas, poor guy, he's really short, he can't see well, and you can tell when he's doing well with his girlfriend or not, he's like a little puppet, a little boy." 

"Remember the Clasico where we were playing the title? Casillas came late to training on Friday, because he was talking to his girlfriend. What a joke, man!" 

"Raul is bad, he believes that Madrid is his. Him and his agent. He's one of the reasons I left, he's the culprit. He's destroying Madrid, the morale of the players, everything. It's terrible what a bad kid he is.

"Players are selfish. You can't count on them for anything. I have a horrible image of footballers, horrible, horrible. I've seen lots of things in my life, but I've never see anything like footballers, man."

"Beckham is a good guy, really smart too. He gets 30m per year, Ronaldo Nazario too, Zidane gets 25m. And then there's Raul, who doesn't sell anything, man, nothing, not even a shirt, he has no media value." 

"That girl, Sara Carbonero, Casillas' girlfriend, I don't trust her one bit. You know that type of girls, they go crazy for fame and money. That girl thinks she's a movie star." 

"Iker Casillas is like a little dog that you take out for a walk. A puppet, so childish."

Edited July 13, 2021 by Blues Forever

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

https://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2021/07/14/60ee73c9268e3e72168b4582.html

Lol... Perez also mocked Ronaldo, Mourinho, and Coentrao. He also exposed Mendes and Pinto money laundering scam.

"Cristiano is crazy. This guy is an idiot, a sick man. You think this guy is normal, but he's not normal, otherwise, he wouldn't do all the things he does. The nonsense he does, that we see all the time. world world .. Why do you think he does that stupid thing? "

"Mendes doesn't command anything in him. Just as he doesn't command anything in Mourinho. Zero patatero. Even for the interviews. Nothing. No fecking case. These are guys with a terrible ego, both spoiled, the coach and him, and they don't see reality, because both of them could earn much more money if they were otherwise. These are two abnormal, because we are talking about a lot of money in the field of image rights. Also, with that face that they have, with that defiant way, that everyone dislikes them ... In reality, it is the opposite, it is the opposite! They're the two biggest morons I've ever seen ".

“Coentrao's another guy who doesn't have a head & Madrid eats those guys. Right now he's sh*tting himself & Mourinho is an imb*cile.... It's not that he doesn't want to play, he's just not normal & drives without a license.”

"That the €30m left our account and ended up in theirs, that is for sure. Now, we have to see the headquarters of their bank. With Jorge Mendes, who is the representative of the president of FC Porto (Pinto da Costa), everything is strange. They both took money from the Russian (Roman Abramovich) with Mourinho, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira. And this money ends up in Switzerland,"

Edited July 14, 2021 by Blues Forever

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[DDA 9,570]

1 hour ago, Blues Forever said:

 

Perez is a 🤡.  How does this guy have friends!? We were lucky not to have entered a Super League with that cunt in charge.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

Are these really legit? Cuz this will run for a while yet if legit....he is throwing everyone under the bus

[Vesper 27,435]

3 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

Are these really legit? Cuz this will run for a while yet if legit....he is throwing everyone under the bus

totally legit

and Casillas's GF, Sara Carbonero, whom he outrageously ripped as a starstruck gold-digger, was already famous as a journalist, became his wife, had 2 kids with him, and is now a multiple occurance ovarian cancer patient survivor who has helped raise tens of millions of euros to help fight cancer.

Perez is fucking vermin