This week there were new European champions crowned, England played Ireland for the first time since 1995 and Neymar finally moved to Barcelona. But here at Football Circus we know you want more hard-hitting football news. Football news that will shake you to your core. News about rainbow coloured smoke bombs, riots, stadiums falling apart and managers threatening to beat people up. 

So for more strange football news than you can shake a stick at, have a read...

Djurgarden Set off Colourful Smoke Bombs...Then Riot

Swedish side Djurgarden's fans displayed an amazing array of smoke bombs prior to the kickoff of the Swedish Cup Final against IFK Goteburg. The multi-coloured display was accompanyed by the message 'The Gold is at the End of the Rainbow'. Aw...

Then the match kicked off.

Djurgarden fought a hard battle and the game finished a 1-1 draw. Penalties followed and Djurgarden lost out 4-2. Goteborg fans stormed the pitch after the last penalty was taken, running towards the Djurgarden fans. Police managed to contain the Djurgarden crowd who remained in their own section. However seats were ripped out and hurled towards the police and stewards alike, many of whom suffered minor injuries.

Any fans convicted of the violence could face a three year match ban.

Angry Stoichkov threatens to Beat Up Bulgarian FA Official

Former Bulgaria and Barcelona striker Hristo Stoichkov is in hot water after threatening to beat up the president of the BFU (Bulgarian FA), Borislav Mihaylov.

Stoichkov is now manager of Bulgarian league side Litex Lovech. Following his team's 2-1 defeat to Lokomotiv Sofia last week, he unleashed an angry tirade against all in sundry...First in the firing line was referee Georgi Yordanov, whom Stoichkov claimed "made fun" of his team. He believed the referee had failed to award his side a penalty which he felt was deserved and been over-zealous in booking the Litex players.

Next on the receiving end was Borislav Mihaylov. Not only is Mihaylov president of the BFU, but he is a former teammate of Stoichkov's, having played in goal for the national side at World Cup '94. Said Stoichkov of Mihaylov: "I'll catch him somewhere and I'll beat him up. This will happen."

Stoichkov was duly fined 7,000 levs for his comments, but this apparently was water off a duck's back for a man who is revered in Bulgaria: "I just don't care about the fines."

Roof Collapses in Salvador's Fonte Nova Stadium

The Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador, Brazil suffered some serious damage this week as part of the roof collapsed. Heavy rain resulted in one of the 36 panels that cover the stadium, to fall through. 

Under its former guise of 'Estadio Octavio Mangebeira', the stadium fell victim to a disaster in 2007 as part of the upper terraces collapsed, an incident which tragically cost seven people their lives and resulted in injuries to many more. 

After the 2007 tragedy, the stadium was partially demolished and Arena Fonte Nova was built in its place. The construction of the new stadium concluded in April. Rebuilding costs came to a massive $345 million dollars. With a capacity of 60,000 the stadium is to be used during Brazil's hosting of the 2014 World Cup. More pressingly, the stadium is also to be used during June's Confederations Cup for three matches. 

In an effort to alleviate the fears of fans travelling to the stadium next month, the management company for the stadium stated: "Following heavy downpours on Salvador early Monday morning, water accumulated in the 36 panels of the roof’s plastic membrane located in the eastern sector, triggering its collapse. Repair work has already started and will be concluded in time for the Confederations Cup. It's an isolated incident." 

Ah sure that's fine then!

The Magic 8 Ball Transfer Rumour Oracle

Only week 3 of this segment and the Magic 8 Ball already has egg on its fa..self...or something. Last week the 8 Ball brashly dismissed the possibility of Neymar moving to Barcelona, with an “OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD”. Days later it was announced that Neymar was moving to Barcelona.

Time to turn things around then this week. The Magic 8 Ball's shot at redemption comes in the form of the following rumour:

HULK TO MONACO

(As reported here http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/05/29/monaco-weighing-up-bid-for-brazilian-striker-hulk/)

Magic 8 Ball Says...

"LOOKING GOOD"

Italian Football Story of the Week 

 - Juve Star Pogba Spills the Beans on United Exit

Juventus midfielder has given a candid interview about his exit from Manchester United which let him to join the Turin giants. He certainly didn't use the opportunity to pay his respects to the now retired Sir Alex Ferguson.

In an interview with France Football, Pogba had the following comments to make about the debacle:

"He shouted. He told me: 'Where are you going? You're going to Juve in Italy, is that it? There's a lot of racism'. I told him: 'It's not a problem, there's racism. He told me: 'The supporters aren't like in England'. I told him: 'I want to play, and it's not for the fans, it's because I want to play to improve and gain experience'. He told me 'okay', and after that, I was never included in the squad."

"I'm impatient. Even if I was quite patient, Alex Ferguson told me: 'You're a whisker away from playing... You're a youngster from the Academy, you're not ready yet. You must be patient. Scholes was, Giggs was'. I'm not Giggs, I'm not Scholes. I really wanted to play".

"I said: 'OK, no problem'. If I'm not ready, perhaps I'll be ready elsewhere. I at least felt ready to have more playing time. He didn't show me enough that he wanted me in his squad. Even if he said some nice things about me, about my potential, if you don't show it, it's all just hot air".

"It all depends on what you have in your head. If you want to play at Manchester just to be able to say 'I play at United', even though you're on the bench, are you happy? I came on a few times, I played in the cups, but I wanted to have more playing time. If I could have played in China, I would have gone to China."

Pogba did not need to go China however. Last summer he joined Juventus and has not looked back. Last season saw him turn out 27 times for the Bianconeri, earning a Serie A winner's medal along the way. He also made his debut for the French national side.

It may not all be a bed of roses for Pogba and Juventus though. Pogba was last month linked with a move to Real Madrid and his agent Mino Raiola did little to pour cold water on the rumours, "To date there is no contract that can shield a champion. Neither (Pogba nor AC Milan striker Niang who was also linked with Real) can be shielded 100% when it is appreciated by everyone". 

Pogba may yet feature in The Magic 8 Ball Transfer Oracle segment this summer. Watch this space...

Football Recommendation

Some pixelated football brilliance...

http://8bit-football.com/

Non-football Recommendation

Pulp - After You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEuq347maIE

Do you like football? Do you like the circus? If you have answered yes to either of these questions, then the eleventh Football Circus is for you (maybe)! If you have answered no to both of these questions then bloody read it anyway. We promise it will enrich your life or your money back.

Flying Dentures and a Controversy-Stricken Chairman in Argentina

Over the years, we as football fans have seen many objects thrown onto football pitches. Coins. Pigs' heads. Paul McShane. But this week in Argentina we saw something perhaps even more unusual flung (or spit) in anger. As relegation-threatened Argentine side Argentinos Juniors hosted Belgrano, a 3-1 deficit saw their fans react angrily, resulting in  a set of dentures being thrown at coach Ricardo Caruso Lombardi.

Argentinos will struggle to now maintain their status as a top flight side in Argentina and conspiracy theories suggest that president of the club Luis Segura, had in fact done a deal with the Argentine FA for his club to be relegated in order to save Independiente from the drop. Up until this week, Segura was vice-president of the AFA (Argentine FA). Independiente have never been relegated and prior to AFA  president Julio Grondona taking up his current role, he presided over Independiente themselves.

The suggestions horrified Segura and have led him to resign from his position. "I'm not going to put up with being insulted and attacked. I presented my resignation as vice president of AFA and I think that answers those who doubted about a pact with Grondona,"  said Segura.

No word on weather the now toothless denture-throwing fan was identified however, though given the likely high cost of his dentist bill, he may not be not seen at any remaining fixtures this season.

Eboue Turns the Tables on Interviewer

Emmanuel Eboue has never been the most orthodox of footballers, neither on the pitch nor off it. So his post-match antics following Galatasary's recent league winning celebrations came as no surprise, although they were entertaining nonetheless.

As GSTV (Galatasary TV) reporter Murat Borlu attempted to get a few words from the Ivorian, Eboue decided to conduct an interview of his own, picking up Borlu, placing him on the ground and spooning him. Borlu then made a weak attempt to ask Eboue questions in Turkish, despite no longer holding the microphone, only for Eboue to insist on speaking English and asking Borlu some questions of his own 

Eboue has previous for such shenanigans. Footage can be found of Borlu conducting interviews as Galatasary players participate in a training session, only for Eboue to arrange an impromptu kick-the-ball-at-the-reporter game. In another interview, Eboue gives Borlu a wet willy. At World Cup 2010, the defender was caught on camera listening in to a touchline conversation between the North Korea coach and one of his players, with Eboue nodding and pretending to take heed of the instructions being dished out by the opposition.

Eboue's latest playacting can be seen at the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd1kwwqle5s

Psychic Animals at Odds over Champions League Final Outcome

If you thought our new 'Magic 8 Ball Transfer Rumour Oracle' was a surefire way to make a small profit in the bookies, you may be of a mind to believe in ability of animals to correctly pick the outcome of football matches. You may therefore be torn ahead of this weekend's Champions League Final when you find out that a 'psychic' elephant and a 'psychic' polar bear have chosen different winners.

This is not the first time an animal (or sea creature) has been tasked  with attempting to predict major football matches. What seems to be a distinctly German tradition began, as far as we can tell, in 2008 during Euro 2008. Many will remember Paul the Octopus who was broadcast from the Sealife Centre in Oberhausen. Paul would be presented with two containers of food, each marked with the flag of a competing team. The container which Paul would open first was judged to be his predicted winner of the game. During Euro 2008 he correctly predicted four of Germany's six matches. He came to prominence again during World Cup 2010 where he correctly predicted all seven of Germany's matches and then correctly predicted that Spain would defeat the Netherlands in the final. 

Ahead of this year's Champions League final the Germans are it again. Nelly the elephant from the Serengeti wildlife park has chosen the Bavarians to be the new champions of Europe, while Antonia the pygmy polar bear in Gelsenkirchen has plumped for Dortmund. 

Not ones to miss out on a trend, we have asked our Magic 8 Ball “Will Bayern beat Dortmund on Saturday?”. The answer? “Looking good”.

The Magic 8 Ball Transfer Rumour Oracle

For our second edition of this segment we're going to take a look at transfer rumour that has been doing the rounds for a number of years at this stage, a rumour that has certainly picked up steam over the past few weeks...

NEYMAR TO BARCELONA

(As reported here http://www.ibtimes.com/neymar-transfer-news-barcelona-verge-deal-real-madrid-chelsea-manchester-city-target-1275125)

Magic 8 Ball Says...

“OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD”

Italian Football Story of the Week

 - Milan into Champions League Spot thanks to Controversial Penalty

AC Milan this week secured the coveted third place in Serie A, thus gaining a place in the Champions League qualifying stage. With Juventus already crowned as champions and Napoli having second place wrapped up, Milan and Fiorentina went into the final round of this season's Serie A fixtures both vying for third spot. 

Milan were in third position going into the final day, two points ahead of the Florence side. Milan traveled to Siena while Fiorentina were away to Pescara. Both ties were to some degree seen as formalities prior to kickoff, but the big question was whether the pressure would get to either the Rossoneri or the Viola.

Fiorentina ended up winning their match comfortably, running out 1-5 victors on the day. Milan were under pressure. They were 1-0 down at half time and on 69 minutes, captain Massimo Ambrosini was shown red. Disaster loomed. With just eight minutes of normal time remaining however, Balotelli went down easily in the box and Milan were awarded a rather dubious penalty. Balotelli stepped up, 1-1. Minutes later Mexes scored to make it 2-1 and that was all she wrote, third place was secured.

The outcome, specifically the penalty, sparked another furore in the Italian media with claims of "Scandal!" to be seen across the front and back pages. Were it not Silvio Berlusconi's team who had taken the spoils, the press may have put it down to poor refereeing. But Berlusconi's team did take the spoils and for that reason, we may not have heard the last of this story...

Football Recommendation

An interactive guide to every Alex Ferguson-managed Manchster United during his reign from the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/interactive/2013/may/22/alex-ferguson-manchester-united-match-stats-interactive

Non-football Recommendation

Don Jon – Joseph Gordon Levitt's directorial debut. Not in cinemas until October but the trailer alone is worth a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6615kYTpOSU  

Football Circus finally reaches double figures with this, the tenth edition. With many domestic seasons drawing to a close at this stage, we'll still manage to squeeze every ounce of weirdness out of the football world that we possibly can. This week also sees the introduction of a new feature - The Magic 8 Ball Transfer Rumour Oracle.

Man Dies Dribbling Football from US to Brazil ahead of World Cup 2014

A sad story to begin this week. 42 year old Richard Swanson from Seattle two weeks ago set upon a journey that would eventually lead him 10,000 miles to Sao Paulo in time for the 2014 World Cup. He had planned to venture through eleven countries en route  whilst dribbling a football the whole way. His aim was to raise cash for oneworldfutbol.com, a charitable organisation who provide footballs for children in under-developed countries. 

Swanson tragically died however after being hit by a pickup truck near Lincoln City, Oregon. He was survived by two sons. A friend of Swason's Kristi Schwesinger, said of Swanson and his project:

"He was at a point in his life where he had raised his kids. Both his boys had graduated from high school. He had no mortgage. He had sold his condo recently and was between jobs.

"And he loved the game of soccer. He stumbled on this great organization, One World Futbol, and decided this would be his passion the next year."

"It was all by word of mouth, Facebook, media contacts, friends and family who put the word out. The hardest thing is he was so young. Just today we were planning his surprise birthday party for Sunday. He was so young, so full of life, so excited by the journey he was on.

"To be taken from us so soon is really heartbreaking."

Boateng Upsets Ri-BEER-y

Footage of Bayern Munich's post trophy-lifting celebrations from last weekend have been doing the rounds on Youtube this week, in particular this clip where Franck Ribery can be seen running the length of the pitch just to avoid having beer poured over him by his teammates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNYCgEVkjYM

Ribery was more than aggrieved at their actions as he converted to Islam in 2008 in order to marry his childhood sweetheart. Alcohol is forbidden by the Frenchman's religion and he had forewarned his teammates to keep the alcohol to themselves. They soaked him with beer regardless and Ribery seemed to attribute the blame on defender Jerome Boateng and stated "I'm not going to talk to Boateng again. He knows that I’m Muslim. I’m pi**ed off."

What short-tempered Ribery failed to notice however, was that the beer was in actual fact non-alcoholic (the 'Non-Alcoholic' inscription on the huge glasses the players drank from may have given it away). 

Boateng later took to his Twitter account to clarify that peace had been made between the pair "Me and my bro Ribéry everything is Fine it was nonalcohol Beer so all Good". The tweet included a photo of the Bayern duo arm in arm. Ribery could not have stayed angry with a man who wears such ridiculous hipster glasses.

Joey Barton Retires from International Football!

Joey Barton has had another busy week on Twitter. He began on Tuesday evening while Wigan played away to Arsenal in a season deciding tie at the Emirates (Wigan eventually lost the fixture 4-1 and were relegated from the Premier League). Barton commented:

“How did this team beat Man City in the Cup final. No wonder Mancini got the bullet. Some awful players on show here”. 

Former Wigan man Victor Moses, now at Chelsea, took the bait and responded to Barton immediately:

“@Joey7Barton and every single one of them has won more then you, you fucking parasite”.

Barton's Twitter-trolling did not end there though. The following morning Rio Ferdinand announced his somewhat expected retirement from international football. Not to be outdone, Barton broke some news of his own:

"Decided to announce my international retirement as well. I was honoured to represent my country for such a long, illustrious time. #sadtimes"

"Decided to focus on being fit at club level. Hope everyone understands."

Barton was capped once for England in 2007 and ended the sarcastic rant with the following photo and caption:

My favourite picture from my long, illustrious international career...

Italian Football Story of the Week

 - Mario Kart

We may as well rename this segment of Football Circus the 'Mario Balotelli Story of the Week', at this point, because he has once again made the headlines over the past week. 

Last week we reported how Balotelli had split from his latest flame, Fanny Neguesha. To cheer himself up, Balo splashed the cash on a €230,000 Ferrari 450. Mario also however, fancied a bit of go-karting, perhaps to take out his frustrations on the racetrack. Unfortunately for Mario, his A.C. Milan contract forbids him to drive a go-kart as it carries too much of an injury risk.

But our Mario is a smart lad and where there's a will there's a way. So exposing a loophole in his Milan contract, he drove the new Ferrari to the Pala K go-kart track in Milan and drove it around the 600 metre track for  an hour as friends watched on from the stands.

Balotelli is a diehard go-karter and even had a small go-kart track built in his garden when playing for Manchester City. Milan have not commented on his racing escapades, however he went on to score two goals for the team in their next league game against Pescara so they may turn a blind eye.

We have also discovered that Super Mario has today joined Twitter after countless fake accounts proclaiming to be the real deal, @finallymario for those interested.

The Magic 8 Ball Transfer Rumour Oracle

Any football fan worth their salt knows that every summer produces rumour after rumour, regardless of how well founded the rumour may be. Football journalists need something lie write about afterall. So when the football season finishes up, the back pages are filled with headlines of 'Player to Club for X Amount', 'Player Wants Out', 'Sensational Swap Deal between...', etc. Interestingly, footballtransferleague.co.uk show statistics of UK-based newspapers' transfer rumours reported and how many of the rumoured transfers actually materialise. The highest ranking newspaper currently has a rumour accuracy rating of 34.2%, whilst the lowest ranking newspaper a mere 11.3%. So in summary, it's a mug's game really. Whether any of these rumours holds even a smidgen of truth is something the common fan can only speculate upon. Bearing that in mind, Football Circus has decided to undertake a project over the summer - A transfer rumour a week with a magic 8 ball predicting whether or not anything will come of it. At the end of the transfer window, we'll see how the magic 8 ball has fared overall in comparison to the newspapers.

So to begin, our first rumour is...(drum roll)...

CESC FABREGAS TO MANCHESTER UNITED

(As reported here http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/manchester-united-make-shock-move-for-former-arsenal-captain-cesc-fabregas-8614167.html )

Magic 8 Ball Says...

"MY SOURCES SAY NO"

Well there you have it folks, note that one down as a non-starter.

Football Recommendation

Some of Irish readers may be familiar with the 'Off The Ball' radio show on Newstalk radio. They may also be familiar with the controversial departure from that show of Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Mark Horgan, Simon Hicks and Ciaran 'Murph' Murphy. Well the lads can now be heard once a week  on a two hour podcast. For those unfamiliar with the show, while it is predominantly Irish-based, it's worth a listen at least. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/second-captains

Non-football Recommendation

Breaking Bad

http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad

This week's Football Circus takes on a slightly different complexion than past editions. Given the week that has been, we have included a few Fergie-related stories from the week, as well as our usual round up of oddballs and jesters from around the football world.

You will find countless tributes across all formats of media to Sir Alex over the next week, month, year, even decade...All thoroughly deserved by the great man. At Football Circus however, we will take a slightly different slant on his retirement.

Crerand Laughs off Fergie Retirement Rumours

To begin we will travel back in time to the morning of Wednesday May the 8th 2013, just minutes before the official announcement of Fergie's retirement, when a certain Paddy Crerand was live on the breakfast show of Irish radio station Newstalk. At this point strong rumours had been circulating from the previous evening that Fergie would in fact be stepping down and bookmakers had slashed their odds on the possibility. Former United midfielder Crerand laughed off the rumours though as he was interviewed on the matter.

Presenter Oisin Langan, put it to Crerand that there may be some truth in the rumours. Crerand reacted almost angrily and proceeded into a rant that he will surely cringe at when reminded of it. Some of the better quotes from MUTV commentator Crerand from the broadcast can be read below:

"I'm just laughing in actual fact".

"I think people must sit up at night and think 'Now,What can I do to make a sensational story? The manager of Manchester United is going in for an operation and...yeah, let's get round to that'"

"I was at Manchester United last night for three hours, maybe longer than that, four hours...I was with lots of people at Old Trafford...not a murmur about it. I think it's a load of rubbish. I can't believe it for one minute that maybe the manager's thinking about it".

"That's the bookmakers. They must be short of a few quid or there's not enough racing going on".

"That's a classic football story. 'Oh, an insider told me. A source told me. Joe Bloggs told me. Hans Christian Andersen told me. Bloody Walt Disney told me!'".

Then at 9:18AM, Manchester United confirmed that Ferguson would indeed be leaving his role as manager at the end of the season.

A backtracking Crerand commented "I'm just stunned. God help the poor fellow who's going to have to follow him because the standard he has set is incredible. I thought when Sir Alex signed Robin van Persie that he never buys players at the age of 29 and I thought maybe he bought him as he wants to go out by winning the league. It entered my head, but then I forgot about it as I thought he would want to win the European Cup."

United's Future Rooned?

Just as Ferguson's retirement was announced, rumours as to who would take over the role abounded. This afternoon saw the announcement of David Moyes' appointment as new United manager. The appointment may signal the death knell for Wayne Rooney's Old Trafford career.

Moyes was in fact Everton manager when they sold Rooney to Manchester United in 2004. Rooney later released an autobiography, wherein he claimed that Moyes had forced him out of Everton. This led Moyes to sue Rooney for libel before Rooney apologised and the matter was settled out of court.

In his book, Rooney had stated "I would have gone almost anywhere just to get away from David Moyes. If no-one had come in I would have joined Newcastle. To me he appeared overbearing; just wanting to control people. I suppose being young and playing for England at 17, I wasn't bothered about upsetting him or answering back".

Rooney's feelings for Moyes may resurface when Moyes arrives at Old Trafford. Already thought to be on the brink of leaving United with talk of interest from Bayern Munich, the Scouse striker may see a potential reunion with Moyes as the driving force behind a transfer away from the club.

Nando's use some Glazer-esque Business Savvy to Exploit Fergie Retirement

Within hours of Ferguson's retirement, chicken restaurant franchise Nando's had seized on the opportunity to turn it into a PR stunt.

Their chain took to their Facebook page to announce that all of their Manchester restaurants would stay open for an additional five minutes on Wednesday evening, deeming the additional five minutes to be 'Fergie Time':

“In honour of Sir Alex Ferguson’s announcement that he is retiring we’re proud to introduce ‘Nando’s Fergie Time’ – all our Manchester Nando’s will be open 5 minutes later tonight”.

A smart move by the Portuguese company, although a paltry five minutes is unlikely to have ruffled many feathers.

Now then. With all the Fergie stories out of our system we must remember that a) He has just retired, he didn't die and b) Football will still carry on. So back to the task at hand...

From Eye of the Tiger to Eye of the Lion-el – Rocky-Style Film to be made about Messi

Variety magazine has this week reported that Epic Pictures Group is to finance and produce a Lionel Messi biopic.

25 year old Messi is already a La Liga and Champion's League winner and has won the FIFA Player of the Year award on numerous occasions, at what many believe is only the mid-way point of his career.

The release of the film is to coincide with World Cup 2014 and will have a “Rocky-style” feel about it.

Producer Patrick Ewald has suggested that the film will take a rags-to-riches type approach to Messi's story: “The goal is to make a powerful and positive film that will leave audiences feeling inspired to go after their dreams no matter how impossible they may seem”.

Messi's success with Barcelona has not quite been translated on the international stage with Argentina thus far. Whether he would see a feature film about his life ahead of the World Cup as a help or a hinderance, remains to be seen.

Violence at La Bombonera as Boca and River Fans Face Off again

Crowd violence has sadly become a commonplace at River Plate and Boca Juniors fixtures in recent years. Last weekend's match between the Argentinian superpowers, which is known as the 'Superclasico', was no different.

Riled up fans were shown to set off fireworks in the stands of the Buenos Aires stadium and threw flares at stunned players who were on the pitch below. As some of the fans ascended a steel fence used to separate the stands from the pitch, fearful riot police were forced to fire water cannons in to the crowd.

The match was twice halted, for 15 minutes in total, before order was restored. A 1-1 draw was eventually played out. Referee German Delfino claimed he was almost forced to abandon the match completely. Boca slid to 18^th in the table and their misery was further compounded after the match as their fans' behaviour prompted authorities to close two tiers of terracing at La Bombonera.

Den Haag Fans Hospitilised during Feyenoord Match after eating 'Space Cake'

16 ADO Den Haag fans were taken to hospital by ambulance during their side's 2-0 victory at home to Feyenoord last weekend. 'Not another incident of crowd trouble' we hear you say. Well, not quite.

The 16 fans fell ill and passed out in the stands while the game unfolded before them (though how much of the game and exactly what they thought they witnessed is another matter).

Tests at the local hospital showed that all 16 had marijuana in their systems and had in fact ingested 'space cake'. What came as more of a shock was that the fans had not frequented one of the Netherlands' infamous cafes pre-kickoff, but they had been served the 'space cake' in corporate boxes at ADO Den Haag's Kyocera Stadium.

Den Haag have subsequently denied responsibility for the incident, placing the blame on a catering company who were hired to serve food.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- No More Fanny for Mario

Not so long ago at Football Circus we reported on Mario Balotelli's blossoming relationship with Belgian model Fanny Neguesha and how he felt the relationship had contributed to a new sense of zen he felt in his life. His performances for club and country were impressive at that point and it seemed Super Mario may finally be settling down.

But Balotelli's life seems to play out to a soundtrack of the Sex Pistols' version of 'My Way' on loop and this week, we were heartened to hear that love's young dream alas, was no more. The wild man was spotted surrounded by girls in a nightclub after AC Milan's recent game against Catania. Shortly thereafter, there was confirmation that the relationship was over. Balotelli stated "Being with me is not easy”.

His recent boast that he would let Miss Neguesha sleep with every member of the Real Madrid team were they to overturn a 4-1 Champions League first leg deficit against Borussia Dortmund, surely can't have helped matters.

So Mario is a single man again and Football Circus awaits the Milan man's next appearance in the 'Italian Football Story of the Week' with bated breath.

Football Recommendation

The Two Escobars – A cracking documentary from ESPN's 30 for 30 series which looks into Colombia's terrifying World Cup '94 tournament and the sheer fear that took over the dressing room as their families' and their own lives were threatened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdOgxLA3lDc

Non-Football Recommendation

The Earth from Space – Some pretty sensational photos of...well...the earth from space!

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/5/9/gallery-earth-from-space