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
.
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.
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.
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...
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
Non Football Recommendation
- Duo Lingo. Handy app with which you can learn a new language.
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
- 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
You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com
Another Irish Blogger like myself, my Blog is fantasypremierleaguecommunity.wordpress.com
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