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5. Wayne Rooney’ transfer request –
Wayne Rooney’s perturbations at Manchester United have been no secret to anyone around the world. The forward wanted to play in his preferred striking role alongside Dutchman Robin van Persie, but he was forced to play behind him as an attacking midfielder.
Although it remains his best position according to experts and fans, the mercurial forward claims that he still has many goals to offer and would like to play a more important role upfront.
The claim made sense though. Wayne Rooney is Manchester United’s second highest goal-scorer of all-time, 50 goals behind the legendary Sir Bobby Charlton. There are good chances of him taking over the former World Cup winning captain within few years, if played in the right position.
The story goes that the 28-year-old asked for a transfer from Sir Alex Ferguson before latter’s last game at Old Trafford as a manager. Sir Alex did not grant him his wish and new manager David Moyes was given the responsibility. People lambasted him for changing his Twitter bio from ‘Manchester United player’ to ‘Nike UK athlete’, but the man himself came out to clear the case.
Despite two desperate bids from Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, David Moyes managed to convince Rooney to stay. He is playing his best football these days.
4. The Ronaldo-Ibrahimovic spat –
Where there’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there’s controversy. The Swedish international may be one of the best players in the world, but he’s worst at commenting about fellow football professionals.
The FIFA World Cup qualifiers saw Sweden and Portugal take on each other in the final round. World Cup was going to miss out on either Cristiano Ronaldo or PSG talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But as you would expect, ‘Ibracadabra’ had something to say before the tie. According to the former Barcelona man, the World Cup needed “Zlatan more than Ronaldo.”
The first leg of the tie took place in Portugal. The hosts won 1-0 through their captain Ronaldo’s goal. It was the second leg though that brought the tie to life. The game ended 3-2 in Portugal’s favour. Ronaldo scored Portugal’s 3, Ibrahimovic scored Sweden’s 2; but it was the former Manchester United man who came out on top.
After Ronaldo scored his third, Ibrahimovic was seen applauding the former, which impressed many fans and journalists. But that was soon to erase, when Ibrahimovic cleared out that it was not Ronaldo, but his teammates who he was clapping for. When asked about Ronaldo’s performance, he cheekily replied – “Is he the best? I can only say he scored one more than I did.”
3. Luis Suarez bites Branislav Ivanovic –
When Chelsea visited Liverpool at Anfield last season, people anticipated the game for the quality of football it served, but as it turned out, they remember it due to something completely unusual.
Luis Suarez was banned for 10-matches after an incident with Chelsea and Serbia defender Branislav Ivanovic. Mid-way through the second-half of the game, Liverpool were attacking at Chelsea’s end when Suarez took a plunge over the Serbian international and bit him ferociously on the arm. The officials couldn’t spot the incident and hence didn’t send the forward off.
This caused referee Kevin Friend to add 7 minutes of added time later in the game, which saw the Uruguayan scoring in the dying minutes of the game and salvaging a point for the Merseysiders in a 2-2 draw.
Suarez did go on to apologize to his ‘victim’, but why does he do all this in the first place? You are bound to wonder.
2. Referee ruins Manchester United’s European campaign –
Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford was perhaps one of the biggest talking points of the year 2013, but not many expected it to end so bitterly.
After playing an exceptional 90-odd minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu, United were walking on the Old Trafford pitch with an away-goal advantage. As the game progressed, the English side impressed upon their Spanish counterparts. They thoroughly dominated the game and earned their lead through a Sergio Ramos own goal.
But then in the in 56th minute, the game turned on its head for all the wrong reasons. Luis Nani and Alvaro Arbeloa apparently collided in the air chasing the ball. Arbeloa started rolling on the ground, but the Portuguese didn’t appear to make any contact. Referee Cuneyt Cakir without sparing a second thought showed the Man United man the red card.
Eventually, Real Madrid capitalized on the advantage and won the game 2-1. Though Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t make himself available for the post-match press conference, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho summed up referee’s catastrophic decision-making by quoting – “the best team lost”.
1. Sepp Blatter publicly insults Ronaldo –
FIFA President Sepp Blatter is the most powerful person of football’s governing body, but sadly, he lacks the morals to suffice his role.
In an interview at the Oxford Union, Blatter was asked who does he like more – Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo; a question to which a simple ‘I cannot answer that’ would’ve done justice. But weird as he is, Sepp Blatter started describing both footballers. After having praised Messi calling him a ‘good boy’, he went on to imitate Ronaldo. Here’s what he said –
“The other one (Ronaldo) is something else. He is like a commander on the field of play. (Blatter then mock marches around the stage and receives a round of applause). This is the other side of football and it’s good to have commanders on the field.
They don’t have the same attitude and that gives life to football. One has more expenses for the hairdresser than the other but that doesn’t matter.
I can’t say who is the best – there will be a contest again this year at the Ballon d’Or. I like both of them, but I prefer Messi.”
This was followed by two tweets by the Real Madrid star which portrayed his discontent over Blatter’s comments –
Blatter didn’t take much time and promptly replied to Ronaldo’s tweets –
With Ballon d’Or gala approaching us thick and fast, there’s no hiding for the FIFA President; Ronaldo has quite simply been the better player. With the former Manchester United man thinking of boycotting the ceremony, Sepp Blatter could be in for some serious embarrassment.
