Tragedy Strikes!

:O I was on the Juventus site this morning and decided to cheer myself up by reading the players bios which are just amazing. They include their fashion sense, what wine they like and just interesting facts about their life. They were written so well and comical- by far the best player bios I had ever read. However, I am saddened- deeply, deeply saddened to find that they have been replaced with a short paragraph explaining the players playing prowess. :( This is the most tragic thing to happen all summer. I hope once the new season starts the new bios will be put up and all will be back to good.

The 'not so good anymore' bios

Fabio Cannavaro says goodbye to Real Madrid

Smiling and charming as ever, but also sad for leaving Real Madrid, Fabio Cannavaro said goodbye to the media in his last press conference as a Madridista.

It's time to say goodbye.
Yes. I've thought much about it and I'm going back to Italy to play for Juventus. I've made many friends in Madrid, people with whom I've had great relationships. I'm leaving Real Madrid. The important things is that I've given my all these last three years and that's why I have no regrets about leaving.

Are you disappointed?
What I don't like is that people will mostly remember our last three games. It shouldn't be like that. Many strange things have happened this year that would have greatly affected any other team; there's been a change of coach, a new President, Van Nistelrooy, Diarra and De la red have been injured all season, Pepe has been suspended... Before the game against Barcelona, all people saw was a phenomenal team that was having its best-ever run in the second leg of La Liga.

You'll have a great chance to say goodbye to the fans on Sunday.
It's important to win the game; both the team and the fans deserve it. It's essential to have a good farewell at the Bernabeu so that we all have a nice feeling after the game. It will be special for me because it will be my last match at the Bernabeu.

Do you understand people being angry with you for signing for another team before the end of the season?
I've waited a long time. Juventus didn't make it public until two days ago. I've waited for the Club to make a move, but it hasn't, so I had to look out for my future. I didn't have my medical with Juventus until after the Clasico, when it was already impossible for us to win the title.

What are your fondest memories of the last three years?
I have many because we've won two league titles and one Spanish Super Cup. I was very excited about winning the Champions League when I signed, but I've had a lot of fun despite failing to win the Club's tenth European title. I've been to Cibeles twice and that makes me very happy.

Who will you miss the most?
Every team-mate. I've had a chance to play alongside the best: Iker, Diarra, Ruud, Sergio, Raul, Pepe... We fought together to the end. I will also miss the equipment managers, coaches and, of course, the press. You've always praised me when I've played well and thrashed me when I haven't. This is natural in football and I'm relaxed about leaving.

Which are your saddest and happiest memories?
The saddest was the defeat against Barcelona at the Bernabeu this year. We worked hard before then and it was, as we say in Italy, "like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope." The match in Liverpool was also a hard blow to all the squad. I think the happiest moments were having Barcelona receive us as victors last season, the Super Cup match against Valencia -which we won with just nine men-, the match against Mallorca that gave us our first league title... I have very fond memories of my three years at Real Madrid.

You arrived with the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player awards in your pocket and you leave after a bad season.
No, no. This is typical in a footballer's life. Some years are better than others, but what counts is being a professional. I've had an exemplary behaviour throughout these three years and I've behaved like a professional. Things can't turn out well all the time.

What do Real Madrid need?
I think they need to take things slowly because many strange things have happened this year. The Club needs a clear path to follow as befits a great entity. It needs a President that lasts for more than four years; it's the only way to make solid plans for the future.

Would you like to score a goal in your farewell at the Bernabeu?
I haven't scored there in three years... Each player must know his place. It isn't important to say goodbye with a goal because I don't have to prove my worth in just one game. I must have done something well in three years.

Could Mourinho be a good coach for Real Madrid?
I think he is a great coach and Inter Milan have built a great team in recent years. We will have to work hard at Juventus to beat them because they are a great opponent. Mourinho has enough experience to coach a team like Real Madrid, but people are forgetting about Juande Ramos, who's had a great season and is also a fantastic coach.

What would you like to say to the fans?
Grazie mille. The fans have always been great to me. They were very forgiving the first year and I can only thank them for it.

How would you like them to bid you farewell on Sunday?
Winning the game is what's most important to me. The rest will come later. I shouldn't think about having a good or a bad farewell; the team is what's really important.

See you next year in the 2010 Champions League final.
I hope so. That would make me very happy.

A Few Sports Ramblings

So, the NBA draft lottery is tonight. Basically what it is a drawing to find out what teams get to pick first and the order. Of course this is super important though because it will more than likely determine what team that Ricky Rubio will go to. It's appearing that he will be the #2 pick behind Blake Griffin. Washington state is looking to be a realistic team for him which isn't horrible. I just hope he goes to one of the better teams and not some nonsense team like the Memphis Grizzlies or something.

So, it's been known for awhile that Cannavaro was going to be signing for Juve, but today, it was officially annouced on their site and the deal is done. It just hit me at exactly how sad I am that he is leaving Real Madrid, even though he is going to Juve and that isn't horrible, but I'll def miss him in the shirt of Lost Merengues!

Actual important football news!

So, Claudio Ranieri, professional moron, has officially been sacked as Juventus's head coach. This is so good. We haven't had a win in over 2 months, this is just too sad and it's about time he's let go. Obviously he wasn't fired soon enough and it's far to late to salvage our season, but it's okay because they brought in none other than Ciro Ferrara! Ciro Ferrara is legend and I can't really think of a better man for the job. He's played with the older players and he's coached the younger ones so he knows this team inside out. I believe he can do for Juve what Pep Guardiola has done for Barcelona. This might come back to haunt me, but after the horrible season that Juve have had and especially after the past few months, this is a step in the right direction for the club. This is the Juve board directors first step toward redemption and I welcome Ciro with open arms!

From the Juventus official site:

"From today, the first team will be handed over, and guided by Ciro Ferrara. Juventus would like to thank Claudio Ranieri for the work he has done in these two years.

We would like to wish new coach Ciro Ferrara well for immediate success."

Ciro then followed with a press conference:

"My intention is to see a different Juve. I know I have little time and that I must intervene but I can’t change a team completely in these two weeks. Hopefully by the end of the week I will be more precise with regards to details. Apart from the technical, tactical and physical aspect of the role I think I will have to work on other things. I think I will have to show the players the difficult time the club is going through. Sometimes little details are necessary to make big changes. I think the problem is not the scarce physical condition but that the players must find the right motivation for these two matches"

"It is clear that it is difficult to judge me technically since I have two weeks to work. I will try to work well and try to bring out the players’ capabilities even because I know them. Since I took on the managerial post I have put my footballer days behind me. I want to be judged on the work that I will do as coach from now on. I felt obliged to give my contribution and do not fear risking in this strange moment"

He ended the conference on this sentiment:

"At this moment we really need the supporters to reach a difficult objective that is the direct qualification to the Champions League and therefore we have to work together"

I'm ready to start believing again-

FORZA JUVE

Champiooons! Well, not really.... :(

Whenever I heard the Champions League tune or whatever my heart starts beating faster and my adrenaline starts flowing because I just love it so much. All three teams I support are still in and normally this is a good thing, but right now it's just painful. It's time like these that I understand why so many sports fans drink. Here is my slightly pathetic CL recap from what I can remember after trying hard to forget and move on.

On Tuesday Arsenal beat Roma 1-0 which was a good result especially that I am a born again Arsenal fan so yay. However, Inter couldn't manage to defeat Manchester United. Now don't get me wrong, I really dislike Inter, I might even go as far as to say I loathe them, but whenever anyone is up against ManU I have to cheer them on to success. The draw was a mediocre result at best but at least Grody SAF didn't manage to get that ever so precious away goal.

Wednesday was a complete fail! ESPN decided to broadcast the Chelsea/Juventus game and I managed to get a stream of the Real Madrid/Liverpool match. I witnessed both of my teams lose 1-0 and this was too much. I'll start with my thoughts on the Chelsea/Juventus game-

It could have been worse. The next leg is a home game for Juve so they have a strong chance to win at the San Siro. Also, Trezeguet is back and he managed to play for a few minutes and I expect him to be even better for the return leg. Despite this, it should have been better. Juventus didn't manage to get the away goal which could utimately decide this draw. On the positive, Buffon was once again wearing his plum purple ensamble- I love it!

I don't even know where to begin with the Real Madrid/Liverpool game except to say that this was a complete disaster on RM's part. Canna got carded for the first time in like forever. I wasn't really upset, but I was annoyed, but mostly in part to the fact that he didn't even try to flirt his way out of it. Also, really Canna, shirt pulling? You are above that. Raul played really well, but where was everyone else. Heinze was such a massive fail I can't even begin to describe the ways he messed up. Also, congrats to the scouse side. Pepe Reina played the game and in my opinion was clearly the man of the match, if not for him I think RM would have won.

This is just so disheartening because RM had been on such a good winning streak and everything was in their favor. Also, on a more selfish side, this may possibly be Canna's last year and Real Madrid and I would just love for them to win the Champions League because it is his last feat to concur. He is truely a world class player and will go down as one of the greats and he really deserves it.

Anyways, in times of hardship, I try to match up songs with how I feel. The song for this post would be either The Beatles- "Let It Be", or "Yesterday". Take your pic.

I just don't understand

I don't know, maybe he's 18 and just going through a rebellious stage or something, but apparently Bojan now has a tattoo on his upper right back. I wasn't sure about it, so i turned to the ladies of ONTD_football for help and word is, is that it is some Indonesian tribal symbol or something. His back was fine the way it was. I have nothing against tattoos, Canna is covered in them, but I just didn't see
Bojan as the type. I guess I was wrong :(

I'm just not coping at all.

Juve also drew to Sampdoria today 1-1 and basically have screwed themselves. If Inter win the Milan Darby, then they are 9 points behind them in second place. If AC Milan win, they are 1 point behind them and in third and if they draw, then they become tied for second with AC Milan and go 10 points behind Inter.

Just all around not good and I am being emo for the day.

The brightside of things

I'm going to go ahead and try to ignore/deny/forget the fact that Juventus LOST 3-2 TO CAGLIARI FFS! And go ahead and focus on the positives, like this incredibly awesome pic of Amauri.

(photo/Getty Images)

It's okay Juventus, I understand

Juventus playing Reggina on November 29th:Outside of my house on Monday (December 8th):

I was just thinking there is not enough pink in football

Besides Palermo with their pink jersey's, there clearly isn't enough pink in footie. I'm glad Nike took my many emails seriously and have decided to change that by introducing the pink boot. This was apparently a big deal and even somewhat scandalous. Many people dislike this, but

I LOVE THE PINK BOOTS!

I knew Bendtner was wearing them and he kind of looked dumb doing so, but not everyone is as unfortunate as him. I was watching the Intercriminale/Juventus game (which I'm not going to get into because it's serious epic fail on Juve's part) and who did I spy wearing the pink boots? None other than Amauri and the Matrix. I know Materazzi is a stupid Inter player, but I don't mind him. I think he's a cool dude and of course Amauri is one of my faves so this really cheered me up despite the poor result.

Randoms Round-up

Juventus beat Genoa 4-1! It was a really good game and Yay! They’re now third place right below both Milan teams, but I have faith and top 3 is by no means a bad place to be!

Real Madrid lost 1-0 in a pathetic display. I can’t remember the last time I have seen them play this poorly, just EVERY SINGLE PERSON was off.

Barcugh won, but only by 1-0 so they’re slowly on their way to losing. Bojan only played for the last 3 minutes and then the 3 minutes of overtime. DWP!

The Jazz sucked horribly. On their 10 day, 5 game road trip they went from being undefeated to only winning 1 of the away games. They return to Salt Lake tonight to face off with the Phoenix Suns which they need to win. They aren’t even that bad, but they keep doing this thing where in the first half they build themselves a comfortable 10+ points lead and then in the second half they just throw it all away. Way to get my hopes up Jazz!

Fantasy Football for the win! I am 4/21 in the EPL FF league and I don’t even watch EPL so I am super awesome and I got 70 puntos in this week’s La Liga FF League keeping me solidly in fourth place and only half a punto from being tied for third!

I went and saw Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. I LOVED the first one and normally when sequels are made they aren’t nearly as good as the first one, but I LOVED this one too! It’s weird though because I love it in a different way than I love the first one, but I did really really enjoy it. I might even like it more than the first one. King Julian is definitely my favorite and he did not fail to make me so happy! Go see this movie!

Paolo, my love!

Google has decided to stop playing mind games with me and when I googled Paolo De Ceglie, his official website showed up once again as it used to. In repayment for such trickery Google were kind enough to (poorly) translate it for me. Some of the stuff I already knew from the last time I google translated his page, but it was updated and the pictures were finally bigger and yeah. Anyways, not a lot is known about Paolo (other than Tuono and double cheeseburgers :P) so I thought I would do a post to inform you on my #2 Italian love (behind Canna of course.)
The stats first I guess:

He was born in Aosta, Italy. He came up thru the Juventus youth system (from age 14 and up) and is now a Juventus first team player. He spent the 2007-08 season playing for Siena where he scored a few goals. He is a defender. He is left footed therefore making him a left back. He can also play as a defensive midfielder when need be. He is 6’0” and was born on September 17th, 1986.

Anyways, here is a list of just random factoids along with some pics, so enjoy (this started turning into an MFEO list like halfway thru, but whatever, I just went with it)!

• He started playing football at the age of five and got into because of his father, who is a coach and physical trainer
• He loves crepes with Nutella on them (Oh my God, who makes crepes with Nutella on them all the time? Oh, that’s right, I do!)
• He loves beach volleyball and basketball (I like basketball)
• He likes Rihanna’s Please Don’t Stop The Music and Survivor's Eye of The Tiger (so do I)
• He prefers to stay in and eat rather than go out (I can cook for him)
• Paolo loves skiing and finds it relaxing, but has given it up (I skied once and I gave it up)
• His family owns a youth football training camp where he goes and volunteers. He is also an honorary director there.

(in the middle of course)
This pic was at the camp his family owns, taken in June of 2008. Two comments about his pic:

1. He doesn't have a mullet in it and yet the olympics were like 6 weeks after that pic, so his hair obviously grows bad super fast! Okay, so he kind of does have the mullet, but not nearly as serious as it was at the olympics....
   
2. That's in Aosta where he is from and that seriously looks just like where I live! (Another MFEO, maybe...)
   

Alessandro Del Piero

Happy 34th Birthday!
You gorgeous gorgeous man you!

Blog Challenge: Why do I support the teams I support?

Oh wow, look at me super procrastinating on this weeks blog challenge. Oh well, it's just how I do.

If you haven't noticed by now I support Real Madrid and Juventus. This is a hard topic for me to write about because I don't actually know why I chose to support either team. It was onced charged that I supported both teams due to a certain constant smiling Italian hottie, but that's just simply not true. I started supporting both teams when said hottie was busy playing for Intercrimnale.

I got into footie/soccer thru my general love of most sports. I came across an EPL game on Fox Sports. It was a pre-recorded one and I really liked it. I can't remember who it was, but I started watching it once a week whenever Fox Sports decided they would play it. I didn't get majorly into it until World Cup 2002. After that I loved it, the drama, the goals, the player, just all of it! I continued to watch the occasional international and EPL match, but basic cable really limited my viewing options. Then my family upgraded and I was introduced to GOLtv and FSN.

Again, I have no idea how I started supporting Real Madrid, but the best answer I can give is from when I saw them play live in 2006 against Utah's local team Real Salt Lake. I watched La Liga and I really like Real Madrid and Villareal, but didnt' really support one over the other. Once I saw Real Madrid in person, I guess that's when I decided they were going to be my team.

I started watching Serie A and a lot of people knock it for being more boring and having less goals, but I appreciate great defenses a lot more than most. I don't need a big sweeping scoreline and I find it a nice contradiction to some of the specatacles in La Liga. Again, I have no idea why I decided to support Juventus, but I did. They seemed like a really cool team so I just went with it.

My story is obviously not as exciting as everyone else's and is pretty much just me not knowing anything, but there it is.

Real Madrid/Juventus second leg

It was the secong leg of the UEFA Champions League matchup between Real Madrid and Juventus. Juventus won the first leg at home in Turin 3-2. Real Madrid were just a hot mess during this game and they lost 0-2 due to two great goals from Del Piero. This means that Juve are now atop the UCL Group H table with 10 points while Real Madrid are second with 6 points. I supported Juve for their home game and decided to support RM fully for their home game. Unfortunately they lost. I'm not too fussed over the result though because as long and Juventus and Real Madrid finish in spots one and two (don't care who finishes where) I'm okay because that means that they move onto the knockout rounds. I'm also just really relieved that this is finally over!Juventus continues their quest to win the Champions League on Tuesday, November 25th with an away game against Zenit St. Petersburg. Real Madrid continue in the group stage with an away game on the same day against BATE Borisov. Good Luck to them both!

You know how when you really want something.....

This week was a really good week in footie! I don't do match reviews because they would be something along the lines of "yeah, the game was really good, some parts were really exciting and then there was a rough tackle......" and it would just be an absolute mess. Anyways, the good week started off with Champions League.

It was Juventus and Madrid and both teams own my heart and it was absolute torture for me to have to root against one or take a side, but I decided it fair to cheer for Juventus during their home game for Real Madrid when they play at the Bernabeu. I was torn and super nervous the whole game and I actually don't mind who wins the group as long as Juventus and Real Madrid both move onto the knock out rounds. Anyways, this game wasn't good because Juve won, it was good because it was Juventus's return back to form. They were really struggling and the game against Real Madrid showed they still had it!

Next was the Derby della Molle (Turin Derby). This was an exciting game and Juve won it 1-0! It's been a while since their last victory and this one was really well deserved.

Then Villareal played and I guess if I didn't support Real Madrid I would support them. They were playing Atletico Madrid so I of course preferred Villareal to be the victors in that match, but it was not to be. The game ended in a draw 4-4. This wasn't bad though! The game was really thrilling with fights and red card dramz! Guiseppe Rossi also scored and had an assist which means mucho puntos for my La Liga Fantasy Football team!

Arsenal also won their game against West Ham 2-0! I'm not big on the EPL and I don't follow it too much, but I guess I support Arsenal over all of the other teams so this made me happy as well!

Last and certainly not least was the Real Madrid and Athletic Club Bilbao game. There was lots of pre game drama with Schuster not playing The Ramos because of some comments he made to the press and all that and the game was tense! There was lots of good fights and card dramz and all that fun stuff, but also some bad stuff like an penalty given to Bilbao and all that, but Real Madrid pulled off a defeat 3-2 so all was well!

On the downside, three Juventus players got injured during Sunday mornings training session. Paolo De Ceglie suffered a distortion of the ankle :'( , Zdenek Grygera has a contracture in his left thigh muscle and Hasan Salihamidzic is having some pains in his left achilles. Juventus already has quite the list of injured players and definitely didn't need anymore to worry about. It's so tragic and the team is suffering because of it. Normally I would be devastated by this news, but something really really good happened....

You know how when you really really want something and it seems like it is never ever going to happen, and you lose all faith. It's almost like the grief process: you first deny that it won't happen, then you get angry that it hasn't happened. After this, you begin to bargain so that it will happen and when after all the bargaining fails, you enter the depression phase. This is the darkest of the stages, but finally it is over and you have come to accept that what you want to happen, just simply isn't. It's like a weight is lifted, because no matter how much you want that thing to happen, you have come to terms that it is okay that it doesn't. I had recently come to the 'acceptance' phase in my wanting of a shirtless pic of Paolo. I searched high and low, left, right and center, but it was there was not one to be found. Then, something spectactular happened and it came thru a Google Alert (as most good things have been lately!)

I got a link to a story about Juve's injuries (no that is NOT the good thing). The story was on a Juventus fan blog and I went to read up. On the sidebar of that blog was the video of the week, I was intrigued so I clicked play! This is one of the best decisions of my life for within that video was not only the entire Juve team shirtless in the locker room, but there was also shirtless Paolo! I was so happy and didn't think it could get any better, but it did. In that video you can hear Paolo kind of mumbling in the background and he has a proper deep tall guy voice. This was a nice suprise after the let down that was Ricky Rubio's voice. Sorry this post is really long, so to reward you for reading it all, please enjoy the Juve locker room. The one part of this video I did not like is the guy with the plumbers crack and when I rewatched to find out who it was, it was of course Molinaro! As if I needed yet another reason to dislike him! Special notice at around 1:11 on the left ;)

Just..........WOW!!!!

The most amazing thing ever! I got a Google alert for my own blog! As many of you know, I have many different Google alerts for lots of different things, most of which are footballers. I have an alert for all things Paolo De Ceglie and I got a Google alert sent from my mentioning of Paolo in my Facebook Friends post!

I would like to believe that maybe Paolo has a google alert set up for his name as well and is possibly reading this on Google translate or something (I do have that one reader from Italy after all) and if that's the case, I would just like to say Grazie!....Please add me on Facebook! And no more mullet hair, it's not a good look for you. Also, I learned that mullet hair in Italian is 'triglia capelli.' For some reason it's comforting knowing they have a term for that specific hairstyle as well.

Fabio Cannavaro is like.....an explorer Part 1

Fabio Cannavaro is many things. He is one of the best defenders in the world, a World Cup winning captain, a Real Madrid player, a hottie, an Italian and so on, but most importantly, Fabio Cannavaro is my rock!

This is a strange statement, but it really is true. When all else is failing with footie in my world, Canna is always there to make it better! There are only a few things that can affect my emotions within the general world of football, and they are what make up my world of footie. They are the following (but not limited to): Bojan Krkic, Juventus, Adrian Gonzalez, Real Madrid, Paolo De Ceglie, Italian National Team, Spanish National Team.......and of course, Canna. All of the previous have let me down, and when that happened, Canna was there to make it all better.

Bojan Krkic- Bojan has not been playing as much recently (and we all know the reason for that, don't we!) Anyways, with the few fleeting moments of playing time he has managed to get, he has yet to score a goal! His last goal was in preseason against Fiorentina on July 31st. It's been months! Bojan also has a persisent case of bad hair. I don't know what other hairstyle would look good on him, but maybe if he tried something than the semi-mullet, we might find out. During the whole hair mess and situation of Bojan not playing, Canna has been my rock! He has been playing excellently and has no hair to worry about.

Juventus-Juventus have not had a very good start off to Serie A. They are currently 11th in the table and this is just unacceptable. I don't know what is going on or why they can't get it together, but it is depressing me a lot. I know a lot of this is due to the overwhelming amounts of injuries recently, but still! Through all of the disappointment that is Juventus at the moment, Canna has been my rock!

Adrian Gonzalez-Adrian Gonzalez has been a let down in that he has not yet made his debut for Getafe. He has not played a single game for them, therefore I do not get as many pics or quality watching time. He has also let me down in the fact that he is now a Getafe player! During Adrian's not playing as a Getafe player, Canna has been my rock! Canna has received a lot of playing time and is not a Getafe player.

Real Madrid-Real Madrid had let me down by not winning La Liga for three years in a row! They were in a terrible spell, but this was ended, and I would like to thank none other than Canna for this. During Real Madrid not winning La Liga, Canna has been my rock! Canna signed for Real Madrid and that very same year, they won La Liga, then they won it the next year too. Coincidence? I think not!

To be continued....

This Weeks Footie In Review

Not very good. That sentence is not only incomplete, it describes this weekend in footie. It started on Saturday when Barca won. Being a Real Madrid fan I want Barcugh to lose as often as possible. What made it worse is Pep Guardiola (Down with Pep) once again didn't start Bojan! If Barcugh insist on winning they could at least win with Bojan starting and possibly scoring a goal (I need muchos puntos for my fantasy football team.) The final score was 6-1 Barcugh, you think one of those could have at least been a Bojan goal!

Then came Juventus's first loss of the season. They haven't been doing as well as I expect, they drew the two games from the previous weeks and then they lose 2-1, but not only do they lose, they of course lose to Palermo! This is a team they should have owned, but that was too complicated for them.

Finally was the Real Madrid match against Espanyol. Espanyol is the lesser cared about team from Catalonia. The outlook of this game looked bleak for Espanyol having come out as the losers last week in a very exciting and tense Catalan Derby. Real Madrid had come off of a midweek win in the Champions League and all was in order for a victory, or so I was led to believe. Madrid drew 2-2 after playing a very mediocre game. I blame two people for this loss; Gabriele Heinze and Marcello! Heinze gave away the first penalty and his poor defending was what led to the opening for the second. I blame Marcello for recieving a red card last match and being suspended for this match because if he had not been unavailable for the selection, he might have started in Heinze's place.

Normally with results like this, this week in footie would be a complete loss, but there are several positives that made it bearable:

• Del Piero started for Juve and it looks like he is beginning to play really well again which I'm so excited for!
• Liverpool beat Man City. I'm not a Liverpool fan, but if it means City loses....
• I got lots of points for my EPL Fantasy Football team and I am back up to second place!
• Paolo (De Ceglie) was possibly the best player during the Juve game and he had plenty of camera time which lead to the happiest part of my football filled weekend......
• Paolo finally has an acceptable haircut!!! Since I have started MNM (Mullets No More, my group to join in the fight against bad hair) hairstyles of ballers (Cesc is of course special and the exception) have just been improving so much!

Not the best pic of him, but it gets the hair point across!