And what if Cristiano's or Leo's fortunes are nearing € 150 mil...
They are always there to give us all we need.
An overdose in all sports events, is exactly what a fan respecting himself, is asking..No-matter what their favourite's team budgets are, the hungry fan expects the maximum.
For instance in Greece, Olympiacos fans are getting more and more crazy, as 19th of March is getting closer. Shall their team make it and achieve to defend its big advantage ( 2-0 ) from first leg, in notorious Old Trafford against Man.U ?
If they do it, my forecast is that a crowd in the range of 20.000 will await anxiously the plane carrying their heroes to land in Athens airport and then in an early morning's parade to escort them till Karaiskakis stadium, while port town of Piraeus will be in flames...
In other Champions contenders, I can clearly see only two teams making a difference : Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
The first, having since long secured Bundesliga's 1st place, are ready for a repeat in Lisbon's final. Pep's ( what an irony.. a Catalunian in Germany ) brigade looks virtually unbeaten and remains to be seen rather when than if...
The second, unexpectedly strong seems on track due to the stealthy work of coach Carlo Anzelotti, whose relations with big names of the squad ( in contrast with his predecessor's Jose Mourinho ) are excellent ! Real's offensive guys, starring Cristiano, Carim and Christian, form a goal machine. Some doubts behind, still remain the outlook though is positive.
Even in Primera, this glorious team, initially 10 points behind their big rivals Barca, are now a clear 4 points ahead.
Surprising all experts Diego Simeone's Atletico de Madrid is a mere 3 points behind. I guess a draw in the "el classico " in less than 2 weeks, can be very welcomed for them...
By the way, Brasilian native super striker Diego Costa, made his maiden appearance in Furias Rojas team in last week's friendly versus Italy !
To close my Champions estimations, PSG looks to me as an extremely strong outsider and possibly can look Germans and Spaniards..directly into the eyes.
Let's wait and see also if Atletico will complete 1st leg's 0-1 in S.Siro. Please don't rush to underestimate ( even if it runs its worst performance in decades ), historic AC Milan.
As for Chelsea F.C, Jose Mourinho is without doubt their strong card. He is back (and happy) to his favourite London, if the blogger can interpret correctly this..controversial personality.
At this point, I still recall our meeting some years ago, at Gritti Palace, Venice during breakfast..We shared then the hotel's overlooking G.Canal terrace to a enjoy a smoke, and had an interesting chat. Also what impressed me a lot from this medium sized man, was his extremely powerful handshake during our check
out...Memories !
Coming now to last week's international football games, and having followed closely a lot of them, 2 teams really caught my eye : France and Brasil !
1998 Stade de France World cup winners, are back again..
Their performance v Netherlands ( 2-0 ), looked highly convincing. New kids like Pogba,Matuidi,Varanne combined with experienced Frank Ribery and Carim Benjema under the severe guidance of coach Didier Dechamps, form a team who can easily make it till the end.
On the other hand, Brasil's easy victory in S.Africa (0-5) and above all its endless roster has impressed me that much that I can safely count on them as number 1 favourites for the trophy, especially in their homeland !
Please include in my top picks, Germany, Spain and Argentina as well.
In Spain, much awaited " el clasico " , can bring if a draw results, only good news to dressed in black ( even his tie ) D.Simeone's Atletico. The latter reminding more a camorra boss..or even a James Bond in an Argentinian version, according to many, is the coach of tomorrow, setting a full defence game which all of a sudden turns into a 5-6 men in full attack ! Really impressive.
Ex Olympiacos coach E.Valverde and his club Athletic de Bilbao, are favourites for 4th priveleged position leading directly to next year's Champions groups. Their only threat could be neighboring Basque Real Sociedad.
In Portugal, a matter of time for Benfica with Sporting Lisbon and Porto fighting for second.
In Italy's serie A, Juve can already celebrate another trophy, while Roma ( back at last ) will fight alongside with Napoli for 2d..
A big thriller appears here for 4th place, involving Fiorentina, Inter and a surprising Parma trying to persuade the others that the game isn't only prosciutto and Parmigiano cheese..
but serious calcio too !
but serious calcio too !
In France's ligue 1, PSG absolute favourite in the race, followed by Russian mogul's Ribolovlev, Monaco FC. It seemed the Monegasque club could have put some pressure to Zlatan
Ibrahimovic' Parisian team ( profiting of their extra burden of the Champions ), unfortunately Radamel Falcao's injury came at the worse moment for them..For 3d place, northeastern Lille retains a serious margin to wards Saint-Etienne and past glory Olympique Lyonnais.
Ibrahimovic' Parisian team ( profiting of their extra burden of the Champions ), unfortunately Radamel Falcao's injury came at the worse moment for them..For 3d place, northeastern Lille retains a serious margin to wards Saint-Etienne and past glory Olympique Lyonnais.
In Germany finally, everything is decided for positions 2-4 meaning Borussia D, Bayer Lev, and Schalke will join next Champions League.
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Leaving football now, we are transferred directly to Euroleague's Top 16. Executive boss Jordi Bertomeu, seems to enjoy the 3 full months, under his invented new system, leading to the
Top 8 playoffs !
Top 8 playoffs !
In group F, the real battle for 4th place ( and crossing with Barca ), is between Lokomotiv Kuban and Galatasaray.
We expect also the outcome of the big game Real M. V Cska M.
Maccabi practically cannot lose or climb further than 3d and prepares to meet 99 % organisers of the F4, EA7 Armani Milan.
In group E, unfortunately I ..have to bring bad news for the team of my heart Olympiacos..( why to hide it any more, constant followers always..suspected it , I'm a devoted fan of this glorious team, since the age of..4 !! ).
In several previous postings, my feeling was that this miraculous team was on its way for a 3pit.
Unfortunately, as we speak the team is struggling to survive..
Will it make it and secure positions 3 or 4 to meet either Real or Cska with a disadvantage or it will be eliminated after a triumphal two consecutive years of huge success, putting in the club's trophy window ( in reality at SEF's stadium roof ), 2 European and one Intercontinental cups !!
Three defeats in the row and an extremely difficult game in Barcelona on Friday will defy a lot.
Key factor : How and when the team will get used to the idea of playing without injured leader V.Spanoulis.
For the record, after the shocking victory of Laboral Cutxa in Athens Oaka stadium last week, followed by the sacking of successful ( and I mean that ) coach Pedoulakis, Armani is for sure second and look out : Four teams for a place in the sun..An absolute chaos !
Playoffs shall take place between 15 -25 of April.
Each week has tobbe followed closely and don't be surprised if all odds prove false.
So to close my massive posting ( hope at least I was of help ), expect two months of excitement in all fronts..
Correct me if I was wrong.. but I have the feeling that, THAT is what you wished for.....
