Xavi has announced that he will leave Barcelona at the end of the season and join Qatari club Al-Sadd on a two-year contract. The end of Xavi’s extraordinary 24 years with Barca, from La Masia to winning 23 trophies with the first team, will be an emotional one. But he’s looking forward to his new adventure in Qatar — not only on the pitch, but in his new position with the Aspire Academy and as an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup.
This is Xavi’s letter to the people of his new home…
Poor, handsome Luis Figo. After months of traveling the world, holding up a manifesto, and touting himself as the man to reform FIFA, he has abruptly dropped his idealistic bid to become president of football’s governing body upon arriving at the shocking realization that the election might not be totally fair. Like someone applying to be CEO of slaughterhouse rescinding their application after finding out that they get their meat by killing animals.
If only someone had told him of this certainty before he went to the trouble of coming up with a hashtag.
Randers FC fan Michael Hansen was tasked with kicking the ball through a small hole in the top corner of the net from the penalty spot at halftime of a match against Habro. The prize was 100,000 kroner (about $15,000).
So, wearing jeans and a baseball cap, he put the ball down and lined up his shot, then he walked up to the ball and chipped into through the hole like it was the easiest thing in the world.
The remnants of the crowd went wild, the money was his, and that’s how you make some quick cash at a football match.
Like a plague spreading through the bloodstream, kit advertisements have now made their way down to players’ socks in La Liga. A deal has been struck between the LFP and Konami to slap ads for video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 (aka Not FIFA 15) on one of the last remaining sections of a player’s body that isn’t sponsored.
Maybe it’s the latest symptom of Suarezitis, but Juventus captain for the night Giorgio Chiellini seemed to be having difficulty closing his mouth after they required extra time to beat Lazio 2-1 in the Coppa Italia final.
Sunderland matches the Premier League record of 17 draws in a 38-game season with their scoreless effort against Arsenal, but it was enough to avoid relegation yet again. It also had manager Dick Advocaat in tears…of joy. Not boredom, like everyone else.
Some players don’t react well to being shown a yellow card and Union Perene’s goalkeeper is apparently one of them. After getting booked in a Copa Peru match, the keeper chased down the unsuspecting ref and kicked him square in the back.
Once the ref got back up, he sent off the keeper and presumably spent that evening picking his studs out of his back.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Madame Toussads in New York unveiled a new Lionel Messi was figure and, first of all, it looks like Keanu Reeves…
Louis van Gaal is just about finished with his first season at Man United. It started off terribly and, for a time, looked like he might go the way of David Moyes. But he got the club back into the Champions League and he’s ready to celebrate that. Perhaps a little too much.
Manchester City have reportedly offered James Milner a four-year, £165,000 a week deal that he might reject. All of those words in one sentence is an incredible thing. Thankfully, to make sense of it all, we have obtained a transcript of Milner’s negotiation with Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
