This Is 40

Welcome to the 40th edition of Football Circus. No shortage of shenanigans this week with reports on a frankly ludicrous Barcelona shirt deal, crowd trouble in Brazil, Greenpeace crashing a Real Madrid press conference and Juventus' exit from the Champions League.

Intel Barca Sponsorship An Inside Job

Barcelona have agreed a $25 million shirt sponsorship deal with Intel this week. The Intel logo won't appear on the outside of the jersey though, rather it will be on the inside of it, meaning the shirt needs to be slightly lifted to display the logo.

The shirt deal will run for five years and we can only assume we will see a significant increase in goal celebrations involving shirt lifting. While the idea may seem original and innovative, it's difficult to forget the Getafe jersey of a few years ago which featured the Burger King 'King'...

Crowd Trouble in Brazil

If the crowd control measures taken before last Sunday's Vasco de Gama and Ateltico Paranaense match are a barometer ahead of next summer's World Cup, Brazil has a lot of work to do to avoid international embarrassment.

Television footage showed a mass brawl between hooligan fans of the two teams. Kicks and punches were exchanged while other fans were even trampled on, before police began to fire rubber bullets in an attempt to diffuse the situation. The trouble got so out of hand that a helicopter had to land on the pitch in order to transport injured fans to a local hospital. Some of the fans are now said to be in critical condition.

The game was marred by the ugly scenes after just fifteen minutes of play. Brazil has had large number of hooligan-related incident this year and, in addition to fears over the safety of some of the country's stadiums, will not fill FIFA officials with confidence.

Vasco coach Adilson Batista said afterwards:

"This is deplorable. It's sad to see images like these just before the World Cup in our country. I'm shocked, this is not sport".

The match was stopped for half an hour before play could be resumed. Atletico ran out 5-1 winners.

Greenpeace Crash Real Madrid Press Conference

Real Madrid saw their pre-Champions League press conference gatecrashed by Greenpeace as the environmental activists surprised Carlo Ancelotti and Pepe on Monday. As Ancelotti and Pepe sat being interviewed by the media, a banner descended behind them.

The banner in question was a protest against Gazprom, the Russian gas company who are one of the main Champions League sponsors. It read:

"Save the Arctic: Show Gazprom the red card".

Ancelotti and Pepe, for their part, laughed off the stunt.

Exactly how Greenpeace managed to sneak the banner into the press conference is a mystery, but it certainly got people talking.

New York City FC to build $400 Million Stadium in The Bronx

New York City FC, the new MLF franchise owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees, are close to agreeing a deal with GAL Manufacturing to buy land just south of Yankee Stadium according to the New York Post.

Current mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg has approved the deal, although mayor electorate Bill de Blasio will also have to give his go ahead in order for the deal to be finalised.

The stadium would be a 28,000 seater and would be paid for over 35 years. The club would "guarantee bondholders revenues from suite sales, naming rights and the like", the newspaper claims.

With the club due to start to playing in 2015, expect a lot of hype during the coming year. The move to the Bronx-based stadium, if approved, would likely happen around 2018 or 2019.

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

Kicking ass, that's what. Balo scored twice in Milan's 2-2 draw with Livorno at the weekend. What's more, Milan had been 2-1 down until the 85th minute when Balotelli hit a superb free kick to salvage a point for his side.

His Champions League outing later in the week against Ajax was less impressive. Milan drew and Mario did nothing more than pick up a booking for himself.

What was maybe the most noteworthy part of Balotelli's week however, was his defence against a zombie attack last Saturday. Yes, defence against a zombie attack. Whilst collecting an award at Milan's training facility, the striker found himself having to fend off a zombie who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The zombie was in fact part of a television campaign which Balotelli is taking part in, so Balo lives to see another Football Circus feature.

And Frimpong?

Frimpong has been clowning around not only on Instagram this week, but also on Twitter. Following the World Cup draw, Frimpong jokingly tweeted that he would injure Arsenal teammates Mezut Ozil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker before the competition got underway.

Frimpong was then found to be upto his usual antics, posting a photoshopped picture onto Instagram, poking fun at Man United star Marouane Fellaini's perceived lack of pace.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Snow Joke - Juve Crash Out of Champions League after Gala Defeat

Juventus' Champions League tie away to Galatasary on Tuesday was abandoned after just 31 minutes due to heavy snow. The Old Lady may have been weary after the trip to Turkey coupled with having already played half an hour of football the evening prior, but on Wednesday the match went ahead and Juve were knocked out of the Champions League by former Inter Milan star Wesley Sneijder and his Gala teammates.

As Tuesday's Champions League fixtures got underway, the snow in the Galatasary-Juventus game became progressively worse - So much so that after 31 minutes, all involved decided that match could not be continued in such conditions. This meant that the match would have to be replayed and given the hectic schedules of both sides, a decision was made for the match to start from scratch at the rather odd time of Wednesday afternoon.

Whether the Turk Telecom Arena's pitch was fit to be deemed playable even on Wednesday is debateable. Commentator John Bradley tweeted the following photo of it prior to kickoff.

Nonetheless, the game went ahead, with Juve needing just a point to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Despite missing Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo, neutrals would still have favoured the Turin giants to progress.

Alas, it was not to be however, as Wesley Sneijder popped up with what proved to be the only goal of the game after 85 minutes, sending the Roberto Mancini-managed Galatasary into the last sixteen. Juventus will now partake in the Europa League and will surely consider this one of their worst Champions League campaigns to date.

Football Recommendation

- Keane & Vieira Best of Enemies - This ITV4 documentary certainly went down a treat with most who watched it this week. If you missed it, it's well worth keeping an eye out for a replay or catching it online

.

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/article/2013-12-03/keane-vieira-best-of-enemies-on-itv4-at-10pm-tuesday-10th-december-2013/

Non Football Recommendation

- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/Season_9

Song of the Week

- I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (Bing Crosby) - We had a few contenders for song of the week this week but we're going with this as a tribute to the Gala-Juve Champions League fixture(s).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYVvcf1QqXc

Make sure to read the rest of our blogs this December as we feature: 

- The 'Golden Clown Shoe' award, where we crown the biggest clown of 2013 in world football. We will count down the fifteen biggest clowns featured on Football Circus to date.

- Recommendations Special - A rundown of all the Football and Non Football recommendations we have given this year.
- The introduction of our 'Artist's Impression' segment, where we will recreate some of best stories we feature

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352

You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com

Bite Bite Bang Bang

Your first Football Circus of the festive season is here. Plenty of nonsense to report this week including a South American encounter where a 'shot' was not just an attempt on goal, a hungry goalkeeper and disappearing footballers.

Ronaldo VS Blatter Rages On

A number of weeks back we reported on the tit for tat feud that Cristiano Ronaldo and FIFA president Sepp Blatter had embarked on. It began with a poor impression of Ronaldo by Blatter accompanied by a sly dig at the Madrid star's hairdresser costs. Blatter also confirmed that he preferred Lionel Messi as a player to the Portuguese forward. Ronaldo did not take kindly to Blatter's comments, prompting a Twitter apology from the Swiss 77 year old.

Ronaldo has been loath to accept Blatter's apology, condemning Blatter's previous comments on Facebook. He then responded sarcastically on Twitter with the following retort:

"I wish Mr.Blatter health and a long life, with the certainty that he'll continue to witness the successes of his favourite teams and players".

Ronaldo has this week upheld his sarcastic approach to the saga, rejecting rumours of an attempted phonecall by Blatter which would have made the apology a little more personal.

When asked about such a phonecall, CR7 responded:

"I don't have a telephone. My secretary forgot to tell me about it".

Chilean Match Ends with a Bang

When it comes to violence in football in the 21st century, nobody seems to do it like the South Americans. Take the encounter in Chile last week between Magallanes and Basilio Munoz.

With ten minutes remaining in the match, Magallanes led 2-0. Following a foul by Magallanes defender Alvaro Godoy, Basilio player Peter Delgado loses his head and swings for Godoy. Now under normal circumstances, Delgado would get a straight red, there might be a little disgruntlement from the crowd and the match would then continue. If that had happened though, it's unlikely the story would have made Football Circus this week.

Instead, players from both teams got embroiled. Not long afterwards, fans of both sides invaded the pitch. Armed with fire extinguishers and knives, the fans cause total chaos. One of the coaching staff of Magallanes then decided against the sensible option of trying to get his players off the pitch and pulled out a gun, firing off shots as the situation escalated.

Three arrests have been made with more likely to follow

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQ5L_8kmJI

Eritrean Players on the Missing List

Two Eritrean national team players have been declared missing by the East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA). The two players went missing during the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup in Kenya and it is thought they are currently seeking asylum in the country.

The players identities have not yet been confirmed. They left their fellow teammates on Saturday on the premise of going to view another match, but failed to return to their team hotel.

Secretary general of CECAFA, Nicholas Musonye, said of the matter:

"This is an unfortunate incident happening again and it is causing a lot of concern to the East and Central Africa football officials".

Police have intensified their efforts to find the missing pair. In last year's tournament a number of Eritrean players also disappeared, while in 2009 when the competition was last held in Kenya, 12 of the 25 man Eritrean squad went missing.

We've heard of players going missing during matches, but this takes it to another level.

Move Over Suarez - It's Goalkeeper Gullotta's Turn to Bite Back

Luis Suarez, it would seem, is not the only South American footballer with a taste for cannibalism. Jose Martinez Gullotta of Argentine Primera B side Boca Unidos, has this week been caught on camera sinking his gnashers into an opponent.

The bald shotstopper was captured on camera on the ground alongside Diego Jara of opposition side Union Santa Fe. As Jara watched to see where the ball had gone, Gullotta is shown biting his back before walking back toward his goal. Jara immediately rises to his feet to appeal to the referee.

The match ended 4-4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLOCfqdi6IY

Barca Stars Cash In On Their Celeb Status

Barcelona frontmen Lionel Messi and Neymar both feature in adverts which have may headlines for different reasons this week. 

Messi fronts Turkish Airlines new ad campaign alongside basketball superstar Kobe Bryant. It sees the sporting duo taking 'selfies' in different locations which the airline fly to.

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

Neymar's ad campagin for 'Claro Fixo' has caused more of a stir. It sees Brazilian legend Ronaldo prank calling the Barcelona summer signing and leaving voice messages, including one where Ronaldo pretends to be Neymar's girlfriend. The advert has been banned by the Brazilian advertising authority however as it apparently gives children a bad impression. We're quite miffed about this one...

www.youtube.com/embed/s_cd-vkcyPE?rel=0

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

Being racially abused, he alleges. Balotelli played in Milan's 3-1 win on Sunday against Catania, with Balo getting on the scoresheet for the second time in a week following his Champions League goal against Celtic. Certainly on the form front, things would seem to be picking up for the striker. What he is not happy about though, is a confrontation he had with Catania's Argentine defender Nicolas Spolli.

Balotelli had to be held back by teammates after he heard, what he believed to be, a racial slur from Spolli which was aimed at him. Balotelli appeared to lose his cool as teammates rushed to hold him back from doing something he may regret. Kaka, who was one of the aforementioned teammates, said:

"I didn't hear what he said because I arrived afterwards and saw how wound up Mario was, so I told him to calm down because he's important for the side. He scored a goal once again and he's happier now, things are starting to go his way again".

Balotelli was later taken off the pitch by manager Massimiliano Allegri, who said of the situation:

"There was a moment in which Balotelli clashed with Spolli, but he did well then to score with a free-kick.

"I don't know if there were any insults. There was a lot of tension on the field and so I preferred to protect him from it. Maybe we were all a bit tired".

Lipreading experts have reportedly been unable to decipher exactly what was said by Spolli.

On Tuesday he then tweeted about an interview he had done, followed by a rather cryptic or just plain odd tweet which read "Hahaha luckily there is justice in this country".

And Frimpong?

Following teammate Wojciech Szczesny's attempts to wind up Spurs fans on Twitter last week, Frimpong has followed suit by taunting Man United on his Instagram account, following United's defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Schoolboy Error: Juventus Fined Over Abusive Children

Juventus have been fined €5,000 by a Serie A disciplinary panel. The Biaconeri assigned seats for Sunday's fixture against Udinese, usually reserved for ultras who had been banned for discrimination, to school children. The move proved to be ill-thought out however, as the children's behaviour proved almost as bad as their adult counterparts.

12,200 children were given tickets and they sat either end of the stadium behind the goals. Each time the Udinese goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic took a goal-kick, the children would hound him with abuse.

The disciplinary panel stated:

"Juventus were fined after their (very, very young) supporters repeatedly aimed an insulting chant at a player from the opposing team".

Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin also chipped in with his two cents:

"I wanted to say something right after the game because it bothered me but I didn't want to put any oil on the fire and I decided to stay quiet.

"For a club such as Juventus where everything is beautiful, in particular where the stadium gives you the idea that you are not in Italy, it is really troublesome to hear those words every time the goalkeeper puts the ball into play".

From the mouths of babes, eh?

Football Recommendation

- Sky Sports News Radio. Free to use and a decent alternative to the likes of BBC Radio 5 and TalkSport

http://www.skysports.com/radio

Non Football Recommendation

- Duo Lingo. Handy app with which you can learn a new language.

http://www.duolingo.com/

Make sure to read the rest of our blogs this December as we feature: 
- The 'Golden Clown Shoe' award, where we crown the biggest clown of 2013 in world football. We will count down the fifteen biggest clowns featured on Football Circus to date.
- Recommendations Special - A rundown of all the Football and Non Football recommendations we have given this year.
- The introduction of our 'Artist's Impression' segment, where we will recreate some of best stories we feature

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352
You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com

Social Media Whores

We like to think we're relatively cultured here at Football Circus. So this week we bring you news of crowd trouble in France, a Dane's arrest and match-fixing in Brazil. If that's not enough we also feature a certain Spanish manager's efforts to rid his German club of a mole and of course the Italian Football Story of the Week and our now regular Mario Balotelli segment. To begin though, we're going to look at the usage of social media networks by a select few footballers this weekend...

What a Bunch of Twits

The modern day footballer's propensity to use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as a means of communication rarely fails to entertain us here at Football Circus. They use social media networks as weapons against rivals, poke fun at themselves and in many circumstances, make clowns of themselves. Following last weekend's Premier League fixtures, we were treated to a deluge of tweets, Facebook comments and Instagram photos of all natures from players.

First up with a social media post of note was Southampton's goalkeeper Artur Boruc. Boruc was at fault for gifting Arsenal the lead against his Southampton team on Saturday. His blunder led to Olivier Giroud's opening goal for the Gunners. Boruc was able to see the funny side of his error though, posting a photo of his awkward foot control along side a photo of Johann Cruyff.

Next up to the social media plate was another Polish goalkeeper involved in that same match, Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny. Szczesny however was not reflecting on a match he had been involved in himself. Rather, he took to Twitter to mock Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham, who on Sunday had suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat away to Man City. The gloating Pole had the following to say on Facebook:

"Wonderful scenes at the Ethiad...".

Before the weekend came to an end Wayne Rooney wanted a piece of the social media pie and unleashed a barrage of tweets regarding Sky's analysis of his performance against Cardiff on Sunday, clearly unhappy with two individuals in particular.

Meanwhile away from the Premier League, AC Milan's Kevin Constant is one footballer you're unlikely to see tweeting any time soon. Milan's fans displayed a banner at the weekend which read:

"Constant, instead of clowning around and being arrogant, respect those who watch your embarrassing performances".

Constant clearly has not impressed the Rossoneri supporters this season and after the match was met with numerous tweets berating his performances for the side. This led the midfielder to delete his Twitter account.

Bendtner Hits, no Kicks, the Gym

Nicklas Bendtner was last week dreaming of a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid. This week he has been brought back down to earth with a bang, getting arrested after allegations were made that he and a group of friends had kicked in the doors of the gym at his apartment complex. 

The Arsenal benchwarmer moved swiftly to clarify exactly what had happened, with an essay-like explaination on his Instagram account. He wrote:

"On Saturday night after our win against Southamption I went out with my family and friends for dinner. After our dinner we all wanted a night swim in my gym so we changed to shorts and brought towels down.

"As we arrived at the gym my key fob changed the colour from red (locked) to green (open) but the door remained closed.

"We thought the door was stuck so we tried to open it and it caused some damage.

"I apologise for any inconvenience for my neighbours and I have paid in full. We had no mpart in damaging anything else in the building.

"The matter is closed with the police, and my focus is on tonight's match".

Match-Fixing Allegations in Brazil

Vasco da Gama's 2-1 victory over Cruzeiro last weekend is being investigated for match-fixing, it has been reported. Vasco are currently embroiled in a relegation battle and were in dire need of the win as they lie one point off safety. Paulo Schmitt of STJD (Brazil's superior sports tribunal) has confirmed that the game will be investigated.

Television footage is refuted to have shown former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Roma midfielder Julio Baptista, now of Cruzeiro, advising opposition player Cris to "hurry up and score another goal". Baptista denies the claims.

Schmitt told Sportv:

"What we have is a claim that something abnormal could have taken place.

"Other clubs involved in the relegation battle can rest assured that we are going to act, at least opening an investigation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xrgVxyxPc

Pep Wants to Whack-A-Mole

Bayern Munich may be flying high under Pep Guardiola in the Bundesliga this season, but their Spanish manager is not a happy as rumours grow that he has a 'mole' in his camp who is leaking team tactics to the German media.

The mole's antics have done little to hamper Bayern's progress, with their 3-0 win over title rivals Borussia Dortmund last weekend highlighting their dominance. Nonetheless, Guardiola was incensed at the thought that one of his players maybe acting to sabotage his good work and after Bayern's win stated:

"It does not matter who it is, heads will roll. I will throw him out. He will not play under me again".

Ironically, Guardiola's comments were given to newspaper 'Bild', who themselves had published the team's tactics prior to the Dortmund match.

Bayern chariman Karl Heinz Rummenigge told Sky TV in Germany:

"We will obviously not bring in the NSA to find out who it is.

"I advise the person concerned to put an immediate stop to his activities, otherwise he will have a serious problem, not only with Pep Guardiola but with the whole club".

It would not be the first time Bayern have had to deal with such problems. Legends Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthaus and Rudi Voller have all been rumoured to be 'moles' for Bild in the past.

St. Etienne Fans Not So Nice

The days of Hillsborough and Heysel scale crowd tragedies are thankfully behind us but sadly, injuries are still sustained by supporters in a handful of fixtures every year. Last weekend, Nice hosted St. Etienne at the Allianz Riviera Stadium, where the away fans threw seats at the home fans. The riotous St. Etienne fans injured nine of the travelling Nice crowd.

Ministries in France offered the following statement about the incident:

"Manuel Valls, the ministry of Interior, and Valerie Fourneyron, the sports ministry, condemn with severity the serious incidents that occurred before the Nice v St Etienne Ligue 1 game kickoff and during which nine were injured".

French League president Frederic Thiriez also warned that a "systematic ban" on away supporters may have to be enforced should a resolution to such supporter behaviour not be found.

What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?

A penalty miss against Genoa was Mr. Balotelli's first headline maker this week. The match finished 1-1, though had the penalty been converted, Milan would have gone 2-1 up. The miss certainly did not go unnoticed and AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani had the following to say about it: "Balotelli's missed penalty was the key. If he had scored we would have won".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pq4c2o93g4

Sunday evening saw Balo tweet 'this is the end :-)', a tweet which caused fans to go into overdrive in their attempts to deciphere its meaning. A Milan exit? Hours later though he follwed that up with another tweet, this one reading: 'Go on Milan, no matter how and forever'. Perhaps Balotelli had jumped the gun with the first tweet and had a change of heart. Whatever the meaning of the tweets, if rumours are to be believed, all is not so rosey for Mario at Milan and the media have linked him with a move to either Chelsea or Monaco in the January transfer window.

Galliani however moved quickly to quash the rumours of Balo's Milan exit on Monday, along with talk that the striker had been turning up late for training. Galliani told the press:

"I don't know anything about it. Training was at 11.30, he got there before 11. I don't know what time they were supposed to meet up, you'll have to ask the coach. Is Balotelli unhappy? He will stay, I'm 100% certain about that. He's our centre forward, it's just one of those moments".

Next on the menu for Mario was an appearance on an Italian cooking show, Buon Appetito. While on camera, Balotelli said:

"I have never cooked before in my life because my mother is so good at cooking that there was never any need for me to cook. Milan have given us a diet plan, but it is not all the players that are following it".

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

And Mario Balotelli wasn't the only one making Mario Balotelli related headlines this week. Lazio's seventeen year old winger Mamadou Tounkara has disappointed his team's fans with his new haircut - A pretty outrageous mo-hawk style barnet with the number 45 shaved into the side of his head in tribute to none other than Balotelli.

Balo went on to face Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday and netted the final goal in his team's 3-0 victory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PVmJ50hi4

And Frimpong?

Hardly a surprise to regular readers of the blog, Emmanuel Frimpong has played very little football this season and seems to spend the majority of his time posting Instagram pictures. This week, he uploaded a photoshopped movie poster, entitled 'Denchfellas' (the midfielder has a clothing brand called 'Dench').

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Ancelotti Names All Time Eleven

Carlo Ancelotti seems to be in reflective mood in recent months. As we reported not so long ago, he released a book wherein he discussed the Christmas tree formation that his teams so often adopt. Now, in an interview with the Times, he has named his dream team of players that have played under him.

The Italian is currently Real Madrid manager but refrained from naming any of his current crop of stars in the dream team, most likely to ensure that he doesn't tread on any particularly sensitive toes.

Having managed Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain, Ancelotti was spoiled for choice. Only three of his fellow Italians made were named in the starting eleven, though a further three were listed as substitutes.

The team was named as follows:

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Defenders: Cafu, John Terry, Thiago Silva, Paolo Maldini
Midfielders: Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka
Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Substitutes: Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Didier Drogba, Filippo Inzaghi

Football Recommendation

- Case Rebelde - The very existance of this shop has gotten us rather exited at Football Circus. Visit their online shop or drop into them in Temple Bar if you're in Dublin. Their current shop window display, as seen below, is also a thing of em...wonder.

http://casarebelde.com/

Non Football Recommendation

- The Ugly Duckling - Great new cafe/restaurant in Dublin city centre. The pulled pork sandwich is only whopper.

https://www.facebook.com/uglyducklingdublin

Song of the Week

- Civilian (Wye Oak)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mssm8Ml5sOo

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter @footballcircus or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Football-Circus/418804204906352

You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com