I can't see anybody but Inter winning the title for quite a long time.

The last international break of 2009, yes.

Let's snatch him and Balotelli!

Patrick Vieira has made a career out of elbowing opponents. Seriously, how many players has the Frenchman injured over the years when jumping up for headers? Yesterday it was Daniele De Rossi, who suffered a fractured cheekbone. With those wings – I declare a new name for the 33-year-old – Bat-rick Vieira!

De Rossi had better not complain about it.

True. That's what I thought when I read the report.

But De Rossi went off with a red card, while Viera continued to play.

Cassano hit my son, jokes Lippi
Wednesday 11 November, 2009
Italy boss Marcello Lippi has joked that the reason why he has repeatedly ignored Antonio Cassano is because he gave his son Davide a swollen cheek.

Earlier this month Sampdoria President Riccardo Garrone said that “a very very ugly story” was keeping Cassano out of the Italy squad.

As Garrone was unwilling to reveal what the “ugly story” actually was, the Italian Press went into overdrive, speculating about all sorts of possible scenarios.

La Stampa wrote that Cassano had actually been involved in a fight with Lippi’s son David who is an influential football agent.

At the time, Lippi denied the allegation, but he has since seen the funny side.

Accosted by a reporter from satirical Italian TV show Striscia La Notizia, Lippi joked: “My son has a swollen cheek because of that punch.”

Asked if Cassano and his son had in fact quarreled, Lippi turned serious and replied: “I don’t know, it doesn’t concern me.”

The World Cup winner then had a pop at the media for misquoting him during yesterday’s Press Conference.

It was widely reported that Lippi called Gianluigi Buffon “a canary sculpted in marble” when he actually called him “a tractor sculpted in marble.”

Dal Pallone al Bidone, Dinho in corsa per l'Oro più sgradito
Il prossimo 13 dicembre sarà il Bidone Day nel quale verrà eletto il giocatore del 2009 più deludente della A attraverso la trasmissione radiofonica Catersport. Tra le nomination, oltre al detentore del trofeo, Quaresma anche Dida, Tiago, Huntelaar e Melo

Sarà sicuramente uno straniero il Bidone d'oro 2009. Il 13 dicembre, il "Bidone-Day", gli ascoltatori di Catersport potranno scegliere tra questi nomi per eleggere il più deludente calciatore di Serie A: Carrizo, Dida, Felipe Melo, Huntelaar, Julio Baptista, Mancini, Poulsen, Quaresma, Ronaldinho e Tiago. Per il settimo anno lo sgradito premio organizzato dalla trasmissione di Radio2 incoronerà il peggior giocatore della serie A nell'anno solare 2009. I 'bidonabili' sono stati scelti da una super-giuria di giornalisti ed esperti, quest'anno allargata a 39 membri, con l'aggiunta di numerosi osservatori stranieri.

Le squadre più rappresentate sono Milan e Juventus con 3 giocatori ognuna: Dida, Huntelaar e Ronaldinho per i rossoneri; Tiago, Poulsen e Felipe Melo per i bianconeri. I campioni d'Italia dell'Inter portano al ballottaggio 2 nomi: quelli di Mancini e del bidone in carica Quaresma. Una nomination a testa per le squadre romane: Juan Pablo Carrizo, anche se è passato dalla Lazio al Real Saragozza, mentre Julio Baptista è l'unico a entrare in votazione tra i giallorossi.

Ricardo Quaresma è il detentore del premio e in caso di vittoria potrebbe ripetere la doppietta realizzata da Adriano nel 2006-7. Saranno ora gli ascoltatori di Catersport, il 13 dicembre, a eleggere il successore di Rivaldo (Bidone d'oro 2003), Legrottaglie (2004), Vieri (2005), Adriano (trionfatore nel 2006 e 2007) e appunto Quaresma nel 2008.

Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt Blames Italy For Robin van Persie's Injury

Azzurri did not play in friendly spirit...

Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt has blamed the Italian national team for the injury to Arsenal striker Robin van Persie.

The Gunners man is expected to be out for six weeks after a tackle from Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini damaged his ankle ligaments during the Netherlands' weekend friendly in Pescara, and Kuyt is keen to point the finger at the Azzurri.

"I was very disappointed. We played a friendly against a big country, Italy, and if you see the way they kicked us it's very sad," Kuyt told Sky Sports News.

"It's very sad for the Dutch team, but it's also sad for Robin because he was in great form.

"I think it was a bad tackle and sometimes when you play friendly games for your country you should have more respect for each other.

"Hopefully it won't happen in the future."

Everton defender John Heitnga shared Kuyt's disappointment.

"It's hard for a team, but it's harder for himself [Van Persie], because he was playing well the last couple of months, and he was one of the best players in the Premier League," he said.

"I hope for him he will recover as soon as possible."

Why the f*** is Dida in there? Is this some kind of a joke? And Huntelaar has been with us for what, six months?

Whoever invented this "award" should be shot.

God, they can't stop whining, can they?

There was nothing wrong with Chiellini's tackle. he went for the ball and got the ball. completely faultless.

Too bad he got Van Persie's ligaments as well.

Please go and watch the video carefully and see "how" he got VP's ligaments. it was his other foot not the one he went for the challenge with. and as it was pointed out before, come on, it was Robin van Persie!

Now, what part of that am I supposed NOT to be pis*ed off by?

Well... you were not going to win the Premier League anyway...

*runs for the hills*

Maybe not, but the CL and/or the FA Cup would suffice for me.

*won't come out of hiding place with this fake calm response*

Well unless you draw a tricky opponent I think you should be able to get through the Round of 16 without him... he will be back for the potential QF games won't he?

Ahem...what does it say?

It was Robin Van Persie, and it was a fu*king monster tackle on a terrible pitch during a pointless friendly in a town called Pescara.

Now, what part of that am I supposed NOT to be pis*ed off by?

He goes for the ball and gets the ball and it's "****ing monster tackle". I wonder what you'd be saying if he'd not gotten the ball at all...

You have every right to be pissed off - had a similar thing happened to, say, Pato, I'd be just as pissed off. but I'd never blame a defender for making a challenge as well-functioned as that! it's true van Persie got injured because of it but that's football.

The blame for the pointless friendly is on the Holland FF!

Yeah, because Holland played against itself or what?

If it's that difficult for you to guess why, then forget about it.

When two national teams play a friendly I dare say they both have a say in where and when.

Do one of the countries force the other one to accept playing the friendly?

I haven't see anyone complaining about friendlies and circumstances surrounding them before. it only happens with official games - for example, Lyon had to play on an awful Franchi pitch and had that led to one of their players getting injured they would have had a right to complain about it.

But friendlies... if Holland accept this friendly (which they did) it means they also accept to play in that small stadium with its awful pitch against some players who may take the game seriously and so forth (which they did), doesn't it?

What I meant by that was that it was a take it or leave it friendly offer by Italy. Holland knew what the conditions were and accepted it. had they declined another team would have taken their place. that's how teams around the globe plan their friendlies!

So complaining about the circumstances surrounding the friendly, whether it's Chiellini or the state of the pitch, or above all its uselessness, is quite hypocritical is what I'm saying.