This week in football has had it all from managerial shake ups to wonder goals, tributes, record chasing, failure to meet
expectations, raging fans and nominations.
The UEFA Champions League returned mid week with plenty excitement. Barcelona beat Spartak Moscow
3-0 courtesy of two Lionel Messi goals, making him second alongside Ruud Van
Nistelrooy with 56 goals in the competition. Messi has also taken his goal
tally this calendar year to 80 goals only five goals behind Gerd Muller’s long
standing record of 85 goals.
Chelsea were on the wrong end of a football master class by
Juventus losing 3-0 in Turin and that turned out to be Roberto Di Matteo’s last game in charge. He was sacked on
Wednesday and the club has appointed former Liverpool and Inter Milan manager
Rafael Benitez as an interim Manager till the end of the season.
QPR owner Tony Fernandez finally lost his faith in manager
Mark Hughes as his appointment was terminated
on Friday. A poor run of results
which have left the club winless all season and bottom of the league. QPR are
in talks with Harry Redknapp to take charge of the club.
2014 World Cup hosts Brazil sacked coach Mano Menez who has
been in charge of the national side for over 2 years. The 50 year old was under
pressure for the teams’ failure at the
quarterfinals of the 2011 Copa America and the disappointment of missing out on
Olympic gold at London 2012.
Ac Milan was under pressure to produce a good result in
their game against Anderlecht in the Champions League and they did winning 3-1
with Philippe Mexes scoring a brilliant overhead kick goal.
Manchester City for the second season in a row failed to qualify
from their champions league group. City needed to defeat Real Madrid and the
Citizens could only muster a draw. They sit bottom of the group with 3 points.
CAF released the names of the nominees for the African
Footballer of the year 2012. The 5 man list includes Andre Ayew(Ghana), Alex Song(Cameroun), Demba
Ba(Senegal), Didier Drogba and Yaya
Toure(Ivory Coast).
In the early hours of Thursday in Rome some hooligans carried
out an attack on supporters of Tottenham who were in the city for the Europa
League game against Lazio. Eleven people were reported to be injured during the attack. During the game
there was also anti-Semitic chanting from the Lazio fans. The Italian FA has issued an apology to the English FA for the action of the fans but the fans and club
could still face UEFA action.
The FA this week has cleared referee Mark Clattenburg of any
wrong doing after he was charged by Chelsea for comments he made in their 3-2
defeat to Manchester United. After missing 4 weeks of action he returns this
weekend as a fourth official in the match between Tottenham and West Ham.
The Chelsea midfielder has been charged by the FA for misconduct
for an alleged breach of the game’s rule. The statement reads “it is alleged that in or
around the match Officials’ changing room at the end of the fixture, Mikel used
threatening and/or abusive and/or
insulting words and/or behaviour” Mikel has not denied the charge but wants a
personal hearing to explain the circumstances that led to his action. The FA
has given him until “November 30 to respond to the charge”
On Friday Manchester United unveiled a nine-foot bronze
statue of manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The 70 year old has been in charge at Old
Trafford for 26 years, winning 37 trophies including 12 Priemer League titles
and 2 champions leagues. This is a fitting tribute to British footballs’ most
successful manager.
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