THE WHACKY WORLD of football gets more surreal every season, so you never know what rumours to believe.
Sometimes I recall my Irish dad advising me to “Believe none of what you read and only half of what you see.”
On Monday I heard that Samuel Eto’o threw a wobbly at the training ground. He said he doesn’t want another big star at Barcelona. He is on £60,000 a week while Ronaldinho is on £158,000 a week, so Sammy would not want two players earning more than him.
Then came news of a rumour that was circulating in Barcelona : that president Joan Laporta asked Thierry to call Eto’o and tell him to calm down. And that Henry phoned Eto’o !
Is that one bizarre enough for you?
Of course, if Laporta, who is a lawyer, has Henry’s mobile number, and is calling Henry directly, it’s a disgrace. Is that sort of thing part of the world we now inhabit ? Myself, I don’t believe that Laporta would call Thierry and ask him to phone Sammy. Maybe that will be denied soon. Although if it is denied that wouldn’t mean it’s untrue.
AC MILAN were the better side in a 0-0 at Lyon last night.
Houllier said he didn’t recognise his team in the first 20 minutes and neither did I. They looked muscular, clumsy and clueless, unable to produce the thrilling three-man breaks that terrorise so many of their opponents. I was thinking : This bunch of bruisers should form a rugby club. They haven’t got the skills to play football. They should scrum down and shove Milan off the pitch !
After 18 minutes the pacy Serginho crossed beyond the far post and Kaka back-heeled the ball back across the box and Shevchenko blasted a fierce shot, but Coupet saved luckily with his legs.After that I thought the spectacle would take off, but it never did.
INTER MILAN beat Villareal 2-1.
Forlan scored after 50 seconds and Adriano equalised immediately and Martins stabbed in an offside winner. So that tie is nicely balanced for the second leg in Spain.
Later on I was thinking about Maldini, Nesta and Ambrosini going on holiday with their families in Florida last summer, and talking round the pool about Istanbul and saying, “How did we lose that?” And the players being, of course, very, very determined to go back to the 2006 final in Paris and put that right.
Because after a fabulous career you do NOT want your last memory of the European Cup Final to be one of leading 3-0 at half-time and then losing.
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