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They say a moment of brilliance can decide close games, but so can some horrific blunders, moments of madness that tend to change the game for the worse.
Along with its collection of heroes, the game throws up its fair share of villains who did their best to help their team in a losing cause or at worst leave a bad taste in the mouth with their actions.
Here are this week’s candidates:
Sunderland
Sunderland’s English midfielder Lee Cattermole (C) is sent off for a tackle on Hull City’s Egyptian midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady (2nd L) during the English Premier League football match between Hull City and Sunderland at The KC Stadium in Hull on November 2, 2013
Fresh from a confidence and morale boosting victory in an intense, passionate Tyne-Wear derby last week, Sunderland conspired to put in an awful performance on the road against Steve Bruce’s Hull City Tigers.
Sunderland were not just bad, they were poor. They were a little too over-aggressive for comfort and ended up making too many silly errors when in possession.
To rub extra salt into some gaping wounds, the goal that they conceded, which ultimately decided the game was an own goal that came off Carlos Cuellar.
Lee Cattermole then decided to help the team’s cause further by adding +1 to his CV of rash tackles and getting sent off after a second yellow. Not to be left behind, team-mate Andrea Dossena decided to not even wait for two yellows and proceed to a straight red by dishing out a horror tackle that deserved an early bath.
Gus Poyet would have surely hoped for better things after that derby win.
Sascha Riether
Fulham’s Swiss right-back towards the final embers of their 1-3 loss to Manchester United decided to change the sport from football to UFC. First, he aimed a full-blooded kick to young United winger Adnan Januzaj’s back-side. Seeing that no bodily harm had come from it, he then opted to stamp on the prone youngster’s leg with his full body weight heaped down on him.
Luckily, United’s Belgian enforcer and Januzaj’s big brother Marouane Fellaini soon got into the act and stopped Riether before any further damage could be done.
Riether’s act was borne out of frustration and filled to the brim with malice and intent. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was punished in retrospect.
Real Madrid’s ‘mean’ defence
Carlo Ancelotti left the game against Rayo Vallecano a disgruntled man. For his team had yet again, flirted with danger, and almost dropped vital points in the title race. His star man Cristiano Ronaldo did his thing with aplomb, scoring a brace, and putting Real in the best possible position to win, ably assisted by Gareth Bale.
Madrid’s defence though has been a shambles and has been costing them games all year and undoing all of the good work done by their forwards. It is something that needs to be fixed if Real are to get their title challenge on track as they cannot be putting games at peril with their calamitous defending.
AC Milan
(L-R) Riccardo Montolivo, Kaka and Mario Balotelli of AC Milan look dejcted during the Serie A match between AC Milan and ACF Fiorentina at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 2, 2013 in Milan, Italy.
The Rossoneri are in trouble. They currently lie in 11th position after their latest 0-2 reverse at home against Fiorentina. Massimiliano Allegri finds himself under the pump yet again, just like he was at the beginning of last season.
The team walked off to a disapproving round of boos, whistles and taunts from the crowd assembled inside the San Siro and a section of fans even held up a banner criticising the club’s transfer policy.
Milan looked nervy all night as they conceded a whole glut of fouls especially in and around their own penalty area.
Allegri and Milan managed to rebound from their early season trouble last year with the help of a special rescue package in January in the form of Mario Balotelli whose goals kept Milan in shape and helped them climb up the table.
So far this season, Balotelli has failed to repeat that form and has cut a frustrated and dejected figure. Whether that has to do with his form, or his unhappiness with the Italian media who seem intent on making his personal life a less than private one, no one knows.
To go with that, fellow Italian team-mates Giampaolo Pazzini and Stephan El Sharaawy have been sidelined with long-term injuries and rendered unable to help the side out in its current situation.
There are even reports emerging in Italy that suggest Allegri could face the sack if they fail to win when they travel to bottom-placed Chievo the coming weekend.
The fans of Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade
Saturday night saw the Eternal Derby – a full-blown affair in what is one of the fiercest rivalries in club football between the two Belgrade teams Red Star and Partizan.
Red Star, the home team, won the encounter 1-0, but it was before and after the game that the real action lay.
The fans of the home side had set off loud fireworks and lit dozens of flares before the start of the game. The away fans in a bid to outdo their opponents turned the stadium into a fatality zone as they set off a fire that soared high into the sky and soon turned into a monstrous flame that engulfed much of the concrete section and its ferocity was such that the referee had to halt the game for about 10 minutes as the fire crew got into the act.
The fire generated so much smoke that it threatened to nearly choke the spectators assembled inside.
