It is has already been dubbed the league title no one wants to win and with its succession of mishaps, slip-ups, fall-outs and injuries, this season’s Primera Liga plot has taken more twists than even the most low-budget Spanish afternoon soap opera.

Leaders and defending champions Real Madrid appear to be caught in a dangerous downward spiral, losing five of their last eight league matches, while Barcelona are struggling to take advantage of their arch-rivals’ errors.

Although they closed to within four points of Real at the top of the table after their flattering 4-1 win over Valladolid at the weekend, the Catalans have won just one of their last four games and continue to look unsettled and nervy when they take to the pitch.

Real, meanwhile, managed to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory against Valencia, losing out thanks to an 89th minute breakaway goal from former Atletico Madrid forward Angel Arizmendi.

Marca’s leading football correspondent Santiago Segurola described the match as an example of a new footballing genre called “epicomedia” - an unexpected reaction caused by a mixture of the epic and the comic.

The epic element came from Real’s frantic attempts to win the game by throwing everyone forward and peppering the Valencia goal with shots in the final 10 minutes. The comedy came from their defending, with Fabio Cannavaro conceding an unnecessary penalty and badly misjudging his attempt to stop Arizmendi before he snatched the win.

Barca should be rubbing their hands in delight at Real’s predicament, but instead they are suffering their own crisis of confidence. Defeat in the semi-finals of the King’s Cup at the hands of Valencia, speculation about a possible fall-out between Rijkaard and Ronaldinho, the absence through injury of Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry’s failure to settle and continued defensive frailty mean that the Catalans appear as vulnerable as Real.

The weaknesses of the top two should have thrown the door open to more challengers, but of all the other possible contenders only Villarreal have managed to stay in the title race.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side are on a four-match winning streak, but they hardly set the world alight with their late 2-1 win at basement side Levante on Sunday.

The league title is there for the taking, but who will eventually triumph - an anxious Real, an unhinged Barcelona or an unfancied Villarreal?

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s Pepe gestures during their defeat by Valencia at the Bernabeu, March 23, 2008. REUTERS/Juan Medina

The great 1970s TV programme ‘Fawlty Towers’ left its mark by being voted Britain’s fifth best sitcom in 2004, and the way Fernando Torres is going he’s bound to leave an indelible print on English football.

‘Fawlty Towers’ only lasted four years, in which a mere 12 episodes were shot. No doubt Liverpool will want the 24-year-old Torres to stick around a little longer, even if he didn’t sparkle at the weekend against Manchester United.

But this is international week, and it’s a good time to consider whether Torres might be the man to lead Spain to long-overdue success at Euro 2008.

As Simon Baskett writes in his preview, Wednesday’s friendly against Italy is the perfect time for Torres to show his country how far he has come since leaving Atletico Madrid for Liverpool last summer.

As a 17-year-old, Torres became the youngest player to take the field in an Atletico shirt, and two years later he became the youngest player to captain the side. As if this wasn’t enough, that season (2003-4) he also made his international debut.

His first year in the Spanish top flight yielded 13 goals from 29 appearances which was an impressive return for an 18/19-year-old, but since then he has added a lot more to his game.

I’m thinking mainly about his willingness to get stuck in, just one of the many hurdles for foreign players to overcome if they want to succeed in the Premiership.

Back in September Torres was having lumps kicked out of him by Reading’s Andre Bikey during a league cup match but responded with a hat-trick rather than a sulk.

Then there are the goals – 27 of them this season.

Greece’s victory in the last European Championship continued a trend that has seen the last four titles going to the team with the greatest collective understanding.

That is in stark contrast to the two previous tournaments - events that are remembered for the genius of Platini in 1984 and the combination of Van Basten and Gullitt in 1988.

So, will this year’s European championships be won by a ‘whole’ team or a squad containing a few talismanic individuals? And with Torres, Fabregas et al, can Spain now claim to stand in the latter camp?

PHOTO: Torres falls to the ground after a tackle by France’s Lilian Thuram during a friendly in Malaga, February 6, 2008. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

Javier Mascherano is in a long tradition of strong-charactered Argentine central midfielders going back to Antonio Rattin, and further.

Sadly, his petulance at Old Trafford in Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester United on Sunday recalls Rattin’s dismissal against England in the 1966 World Cup quarter-final at Wembley.

Both dismissals were for dissent rather than foul play, although Mascherano had already been booked and so might not have been shown the red card if he had not seen an earlier yellow for a late tackle.

Rattin’s sending-off was the incident that sparked the introduction of yellow and red cards.

He was sent off for repeatedly protesting to referee Rudolf Kreitlein over the German’s decisions for team mates’ misdemeanours, not unlike what happened to Mascherano.

Rattin was not seen in England again and it was, in fact, the only sending-off in the career of an influential and clean player.

Mascherano now risks being a marked man in the eyes of English referees and will need to be doubly careful about his behaviour if he is not to leave Liverpool a man short again.

As a player, he most closely resembles Americo Gallego, the thicker-built number 5 in Argentina’s 1978 World Cup-winning side, absorbing attacks and distributing play.

Sergio Batista, the tall, bearded incumbent in the 1986 World Cup team, was more like Rattin in his quiet, middle-of-the-park dominance, providing the steady holding role and launchpad for the actions of Diego Maradona and his fellow forwards.

Fernando Redondo was the elegant linchpin of the 1993 Copa America-winning side and 1994 World Cup team, a player not out of place making skilled incursions up front.

They all descend from a centre half tradition embodied by Nestor Rossi, a member of the great Argentina side that won the Copa America in 1957 but was badly weakened for the World Cup in Sweden the following year by the loss to Italy’s Serie A of a gifted inside-forward trio that included Omar Sivori, later a European Footballer of the Year.

PHOTO: Javier Mascherano is sent off by referee Steve Bennett during Liverpool’s Premier League defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford, March 23, 2008. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Mexico make a rare visit to Europe when they face Ghana at Craven Cottage on Wednesday in what could be their last game under coach Hugo Sanchez.

The former Real Madrid striker is widely regarded as the finest player Mexico has produced and seemed the obvious choice to replace Ricardo La Volpe following the 2006 World Cup.

Sanchez had been lobbying for the job for a long time, brashly promising to win the World Cup and claiming that his winning mentality would rub off on a team long been regarded as underachievers.

Yet, barely 18 months after taking over, Sanchez’s job is on the line. Defeat against the United States in last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final went down very badly, especially after Mexico also lost to Honduras in the group stage and struggled to 1-0 wins over Panama and Guadeloupe in the same tournament.

Things looked much better in the Copa America shortly afterwards as Mexico beat Brazil 2-0 in the group stage and thumped Paraguay 6-0 in the last eight before going down to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina in the semi-finals.

But last week’s failure of the under-23 team, which Sanchez also coaches, to qualify for the Olympic Games has put him firmly back in the firing line.

On the plus side, Sanchez has secured the services of Nery Castillo and Giovani dos Santos when other national teams had been after after them.

But critics say his 4-4-2 system is too predictable and he does not have the tactical know-how to change the course of the game with substitutions.

The under-23 team were in poor physical shape and their preparations for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers in the United States took them to no fewer than five cities in the U.S. and Mexico.

Sanchez is also criticised for refusing to recognise his mistakes and for what some see as a failure to practice what he preaches. Before taking over as Mexico coach, he had complained about the team playing too many friendlies in the United States — but this has continued under his leadership with games in Phoenix, San Diego, Oakland, Denver, Los Angeles and Houston. The Ghana game will be the first time Mexico have ventured outside the Americas under him.

And, having criticised La Volpe for fielding naturalised players, he has done the same thing himself.

As a club coach, Sanchez won back to back Mexican championships with Pumas UNAM in 2004. But, when they lost form the following year, he was unable to halt the decline and was eventually fired.

The Mexican FA’s national teams committee is due to meet on March 31 to discuss Sanchez’s future.  Should they allow him to carry on?

FILE PHOTO: Hugo Sanchez gestures during Mexico’s Copa America game against  Argentina, July 11, 2007. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

German soccer blogs are not a place I usually go to for a story about religion, but an interesting one has popped up on the forum of the Eintracht Frankfurt team. The team let its fans vote over the Internet late last year to pick a 2008/2009 season jersey among 16 proposed models. Despite the fans' enthusiasm for this innovation, Eintracht has ignored the result and chosen to use the runner-up design. As the team explained on its website:

After a close examination, we have decided that the winning jersey with the cross unfortunately cannot be used because the symbol on the front has a religious background. Inter Milan, an Italian club with a long tradition, has appeared in the current Champions League competition in a similar jersey and been strongly criticised for it. So after careful consideration, Eintracht Frankfurt has gone back and chosen the second jersey, which came in a close second in the vote.

The runner-up that came out on top has what Eintracht calls "hints of eagle claws on the front and a stylised eagle on the shoulder". The city's coat-of-arms has a red eagle that also figures on the Eintracht team logo.

So why the change? It turns out that a Turkish lawyer (and Fenerbahçe fan) asked UEFA in December to invalidate an Inter Milan victory over the Istanbul team in the Champions League last November because the red cross on the Italian jerseys recalled the Knights Templar crusaders. Shortly afterwards, the Barcelona daily La Vanguardia reported that fake FC Barcelona jerseys were on sale in Saudi Arabia with the crossbar removed from the cross on the team's emblem. Eintracht doesn't mention this Christian/Muslim angle explicitly, but it takes only a few clicks to find it.

Eintracht's fan forum erupted with comments. The main thread on the jersey is up to 1,728 and climbing, many defending the loser as simply a better design. Almost 500 fans have signed a petition against the winner. The religious angle seemed irrelevant to most of them.

Do you think that teams should pay attention to possible religious overtones on their jerseys?

In the debate over who might finally achieve the seemingly impossible — become a successful manager of Newcastle United — Osvaldo Ardiles has been overlooked.

This is understandable at first glance, given the perception of the Argentine as a manager in England — quite different from his immeasurable impact as a player.

In light, however, of the failure of Kevin Keegan to work his magic again , what price Ossie?

Newcastle fans might consider why Keegan should have been thought of as such a sure-fire choice to revive their fortunes, having confessed on leaving the England job in 2000 that international tactics were beyond him.

With the foreign influence now huge in the Premier League, much greater than when Keegan came close to inspiring Newcastle to the title more than 10 years ago, perhaps Ardiles might not be such a bad choice.

Ardiles had limited success as a manager in England, notably with Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur, the club he graced as a player, leaky defences undermining the neatness of his teams’
build-up.

But he did well in his two stints back home in Argentina, even if the second with former club Huracan ended prematurely in December over differences with the directors on non-playing
issues.

On the field, his Huracan side finished the Apertura championship strongly. Perhaps English scouts should not just be considering Argentine players — and there is, of course, no language barrier.

Ardiles also fell just short of qualifying for the Libertadores Cup, South America’s Champions League, with Racing Club in the 2003-04 season.

In a recent interview with Reuters , he said: “I would love to come back and work in England again but to be honest I don’t think my chances are very good. I left Tottenham as manager in 1994 and it’s a long time…it’s very difficult to come back.

“England is, today, the place to play and to coach. It’s really great. The football is very well organised,” the 55-year-old said. “I’m open to any offer. The first that comes, I’ll look at it and if I like it I’ll take it.”

FILE PHOTO: Ardiles rubs his eye during a news conference at White Hart Lane, November 1, 1994, following his sacking as Tottenham coach. REUTERS/Russell Boyce

It’s just as well Fabio Capello decided to recall David Beckham to his squad for the friendly against France next week because otherwise there’d be very little else for England fans to get excited about.

Assuming Beckham survives the cut on Saturday, fans and the media can amuse themselves by speculating whether Beckham will win his 100th cap as a proud member of the starting line-up, perhaps even as captain, or in a late cameo role that could mark his farewell.

At least that will get it all over with. Whether Beckham deserves to bring up his century or not — and please let us know what you think about it in the comments — we’ve seen enough of him over the years to be pretty sure he’s not going to be the man to inspire England to World Cup glory in 2010.

Looking ahead to South Africa is obviously all England can do after inexplicably failing to reach Euro 2008. So with an eye on the future, Capello has also recalled 19-year-old Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, Middlesbrough defender David Wheater and Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe, while picking Gabriel Agbonlahor again after he was forced to pull out against Switzerland because of injury.

If Wheater turns out to be real international material then great, but England have plenty of decent centre-backs. Where England have consistently failed is in finding creative midfielders who do not give the ball away when the team is under pressure, and forwards with the technique, pace and nerve to score regularly against the best.

I suppose Capello did what he could by bringing in Walcott, Defoe and Agbonlahor. But if that’s as exciting as it gets in terms of players for the future, I wonder if he might have done more good by dropping players who have been short of their best of late, as a wake-up call if nothing else.

An England squad without, say, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch or Wayne Rooney … that would have given us plenty to talk about.

PHOTO: A Los Angeles Galaxy fan sits with a sign during a exhibition match between the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas in Frisco, Texas March 15, 2008. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

There are of course many ways to get sent off, but Jan Simak may be the first player to earn a red card for giving a referee the “Doppel Tomaten auf den Augen” (Two tomatoes on the eyes) gesture.

The Carl Zeiss Jena playmaker’s unfortunate ejection in the 51st minute of their German Cup semi-final match at Borussia Dortmund - when they were behind 1-0 but close to equalising - pretty much took the life out of what was until then a good game.

The relegation-threatened second division underdogs were putting up a great fight against Dortmund and had the Bundesliga side on the ropes. After Simak was sent off Dortmund got two late goals to win 3-0.

Perhaps Simak, a Czech, did not fully understand the impact in German of the gesture — covering his eyes with his fists. “Tomaten auf den Augen” (Tomatoes on the eyes) is a popular phrase in Germany to refer to referees who were blind to something obvious that happened in front of their eyes. Some newspapers even publish pictures of the referee with giant tomatoes covering their eyes after particularly daft decisions.

Or perhaps it was all just a cultural misunderstanding by the Czech. He didn’t realise German referee Manuel Graefe would feel insulted to the extent that he would give him a second yellow card just seconds after flashing him the first for his mild complaints about a foul.

There have been other misunderstandings lately. Hertha Berlin’s French-speaking Swiss coach Lucien Favre was able to avoid a suspension by convincing league officials that he did not make the insulting “bird” gesture (which in Germany usually means “I think you’re crazy”) to a referee in Hertha’s 1-1 draw at Dortmund a week earlier, as the referee had charged, while complaining about an erroneous red card that was then quickly rescinded.

Simak did not attempt such a defence.

“Yes, unfortunately I did,” Simak later told journalists when asked if his gesture was the “double tomato”. “It was a mistake. I’m unhappy about being sent off for it. But soccer is a sport full of emotions.”

And maybe tomatoes.
 

Juventus have decided to redevelop the moth-balled Stadio delle Alpi, one of the most unloved stadiums in the world.

Built for the 1990 World Cup, most Juve fans have always hated the Turin stadium because a running track kept them too far from the pitch and the acoustics were terrible. The 69,000 capacity ground was also hardly ever full. The Serie A side are currently sharing the smaller Stadio Olimpico with Torino.

What’s your least favourite stadium? The old Wembley had history, but that was part of the problem as it decayed before our eyes. The new version is great, but the trip home through congested north London remains a pain.

Barcelona’s Nou Camp is special, but I once watched a boring 2-0 win over Alaves from the very top tier in January. I could hardly tell which player was which and I was freezing cold. You also wouldn’t believe how uncomfortable the ’seats’ are at Milan’s San Siro.

The new breed of stadiums in England, like Middlesbrough’s Riverside and Derby’s Pride Park, are clean and well-planned but they all look exactly the same and lack soul. I guess they are better than the cow sheds of the lower divisions, though.

Let us know your views in the comments.

Mark Meadows, Milan

PHOTO: The new Wembley is turned into a motor sport track for the Race of the Champions, Dec. 16 2007 REUTERS/Stephen Hird

FIFA has put its foot down and refused to reconsider its ban on international matches being played more than 2,750 metres above sea level.

That means that both Ecuador and Bolivia have been turfed out of their traditonial venues in Quito (2,800 metres) and La Paz (3,600 metres) and will have to stage their home World Cup qualifiers in smaller stadiums.

FIFA says it has the welfare of the players at heart. No problem with that argument, but if that’s the case isn’t it about time we introduce a heat limit (and possibly a cold limit) for matches as well? It would be quite simple to work: if the temperature rises above, say, 28 Celsius, then the match will have to wait until the mercury drops or it will have to be played another day or moved to a cooler venue.

Of course, this will play havoc with television schedules and could mean that tournaments such as the World Cup and European championship are moved away from their traditional slots in June. But haven’t FIFA just told us that the health of the players is paramount?

Brazilian clubs, who have to play Libertadores Cup games in the Andes, have been among the vociferous critics of playing matches at high altitude, using terms such as “inhumane” and “a violation of our human rights” to vent their frustration. Yet, when their own federation condemns them to mid-afternoon kick offs at the height of the Brazilian summer for domestic games, they meekly obey.

As hosts of the 2014 World Cup and with many of their proposed venues lying within the tropics, perhaps Brazil would be the ideal place to begin experimenting with a heat limit.

Brian Homewood, Rio de Janeiro