Reuters Soccer Blog

Bravo for the unpredictable King’s Cup!

Spain’s much-maligned King’s Cup struggles to make an impression these days with La Liga and the Champions League squeezing it into a distant third in terms of prestige and matches poorly attended.

But this week’s Cup action served up a veritable feast of drama that more than matched what is generally served up in the other two competitions.

Atletico Madrid’s madcap victory over Recreativo Huelva earned them the last quarter-final berth on Thursday, with a thriller at the Calderon.

Having lost 3-0 in the first leg, to a team in the wrong half of the second division, Atletico stormed into a 4-0 lead.

But true to their tradition of making life complicated for themselves they gifted Recre an away goal and then had a player sent off, before Simao Sabrosa curled in a wonderful freekick to put them through 5-4 on aggregate.

The other second legs were no less enjoyable. Holders Barcelona were dumped out by Sevilla after just failing to turnaround a 2-1 first-leg defeat, thanks in no small part to the heroics of Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop.

Real Mallorca grabbed a 92nd-minute goal to see off second-division Rayo Vallecano 4-3 on aggregate, and second-tier Celta Vigo netted a 91st-minute penalty to humble Villarreal.

Bojan, Canales suggest La Liga no longer a teenage wasteland

Lionel Messi hogged most of the headlines thanks to his wonderful hat-trick at Tenerife, but it was the performances of a pair of teenagers who had pundits, coaches and team mates purring following the weekend’s La Liga action.

Barcelona’s Spanish forward Bojan Krkic has been around for a while –- he made his first-team debut in a friendly in Egypt in 2007 -– but all three of Messi’s goals came from passes supplied by the 19-year-old and coach Pep Guardiola was effusive in his praise.

“He constantly demonstrates his quality, but the problem is his coach doesn’t let him play very much,” Guardiola joked at a news conference.

“He didn’t manage to score (against Tenerife) but he has to see that the team doesn’t just survive on goals but on assists too.”

Racing Santander midfielder Sergio Canales is a newer phenomenon.

The 18-year-old had already earned himself the nickname “Peter Pan” with some polished performances that belied his relative youth.

But two outstanding goals in a 2-1 win at Sevilla on Saturday, in which he made experienced goalkeeper Andres Palop look rather foolish, have put him firmly in the spotlight as one of La Liga’s hottest young talents.

Pellegrini under fire after embarrassing Cup exit

Real Madrid and coach Manuel Pellegrini were on the business end of some damning newspaper headlines on Wednesday after their humiliating exit from the King’s Cup at the hands of third-tier Alcorcon.

In the build-up to the match, Kaka suggested pride and the club’s history would inspire the players to a dramatic comeback from the 4-0 away defeat in the first leg.

But Real only managed to win 1-0 on the night at the Bernabeu and crashed out to the tiny Segunda B side, who play in the same division as Real’s youth team and have an annual budget more than four hundred times smaller than the La Liga giants.

Even the Madrid-based sports papers showed no mercy, as club and fans woke up to the fact that their expensively assembled squad can no longer match the title treble of Champions League, La Liga and King’s Cup achieved last season by their arch rivals Barcelona.

“Complete disaster,” screamed the headline in As.

“Unprecedented farce,” bellowed Marca above a picture of the celebrating Alcorcon players. The paper said it refused to put any photos of Real on the front page as they did not deserve it.

Fans chanted for Pellegrini to quit when he brought on defender Marcelo for midfielder Lassana Diarra with around 20 minutes left and the Madrid papers focused much of their ire on the hapless Chilean.

Thinking the unthinkable: should Liverpool sell Torres?

It is a little glib to suggest that Liverpool have a one-man strike force in Fernando Torres.

It seems almost beyond dispute, though, that whenever the Spaniard is unavailable Liverpool look ill equipped to challenge for the title, a situation hardly helped by the sales of Xabi Alonso, Robbie Keane and Alvaro Arbeloa in the past year.

I realise this could come across as heresy to Liverpool fans, but might the answer be to sell Torres too?

Torres is, without question, an exceptional player but he is not irreplaceable. Liverpool have won nothing with the Spaniard in attack because they simply do not have the same in-depth quality that Chelsea and Manchester United can boast.

If Cristiano Ronaldo was worth 80 million when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Torres should command a similar figure.

With that money Liverpool could buy three, maybe four, top drawer players who would give their squad more balance. Valencia striker David Villa would cost around 30 million and would be a handy replacement for Torres, as would Atletico Madrid’s Argentine frontman Sergio Aguero. Either, or both of them, would leave manager Rafael Benitez enough left over to strengthen in other areas.

Villa’s team mate David Silva would add some creativity in Liverpool’s midfield as would Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield spark Luca Modric or his team mate Aaron Lennon, if they could be prised away.

Can Ibrahimovic fit in at Barca after Super Cup showing?

Barcelona’s new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic was given a glowing report by Pep Guardiola after their Spanish Super Cup victory over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

But the doubts remain as to whether his qualities will be enough to replace or improve upon those the side have lost with the swap deal which sent former number nine Samuel Eto’o to Inter Milan.

The Swedish striker lined up from the start between Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry for the first time, and helped Barca sweep aside the visitors 3-0 to win the curtain-raiser to the new season 5-1 on aggregate.

Messi grabbed the headlines with a brace, and Ibrahimovic’s second-half replacement, Bojan Krkic, added the other goal.

“Ibrahimovic was perfect,” Guardiola said. “Everyone is worried about how he will pressure our rivals’ defences, but I have no doubts.

“Because he’s so tall he doesn’t appear very dynamic, but he will pressure as required for the team. Step by step he will adapt to our needs.”

Why are Barcelona paying so much for Ibrahimovic?

If your first reaction on hearing about the Samuel Eto’o-Zlatan Ibrahimovic deal was “How much?” then I can assure you you weren’t the only one.

To land Ibrahimovic, who is due to be presented this evening at the Nou Camp, Barcelona will not only hand over the Cameroon international striker but will also give Inter Milan a reported 45 million euros and the loan, for one season, of Aleksandr Hleb.

According to Marca, who are not exactly fans of Barcelona it must be said, that makes the total cost of the Swedish striker at least 87.5 million euros (with Eto’o valued at 35 million, and Hleb for a season at 7.5).

So how on earth is Ibrahimovic worth close to 90 million euros? How on earth is he valued at double Eto’o, one of the world’s top strikers?

Ibrahimovic is the sort of striker coaches love. Tall and strong, he is happy playing with his back to goal and therefore gives the team a target man. He scores goals too, of course, and he has contributed to six league title-winning campaigns with Ajax and Inter.

But Eto’o is no mean player himself. The Cameroon international is also strong but relies more on his skill and explosive pace to get past defences. After signing for Barcelona in 2004 he proved to be the missing piece in the puzzle, joining forces with Ronaldinho to get the team back to title-winning ways.

Great teams evolve … they’re never bought off the shelf

One of the cruellest insults thrown at Florentino Perez during his first spell at Real Madrid was that the president had turned a great team into football’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

For Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon read Figo and Zidane. For Wilt Chamberlain and Marques Haynes we had Ronaldo and David Beckham to bring gasps from the crowd and bamboozle the  opposition.

First time around, it took Perez three years to assemble the All-Star cast that came to define his project, and another three for it to collapse under the combined weight of the salaries and egos, and those damned image rights we heard so much about.

In his second spell, Perez seems intent on proving that the only thing he did wrong at the start of the decade was move too slowly.

In the past few days he has pledged 162 million euros in transfer fees alone to sign Kaka from AC Milan and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

If Marca and As are correct, David Villa will be the next to come, with Xabi Alonso, David Silva and Franck Ribery among the other targets.

The total outlay could be 300 million euros — plus the agents’ fees and the salary commitments for the next half-decade or so. Whether you feel that sort of spending is justifiable in the current climate, and there are plenty who will see it as plain wrong, this is not going to bring Real back to the position they once held as the neutral’s favourite.

Wenger makes his point with customary elegance

“Highly intelligent” and “Arsene Wenger” sit neatly together in countless newspaper columns outlining the exploits, achievements and travails of the cerebral Arsenal manager.

Consequently there was no elaborate deconstruction required following an interview with a French television channel at the club’s training ground this week.

Wenger, who habitually brushes aside any question of his allegiance to the north London club, was asked his thoughts about yet another approach from Real Madrid if Florentino Perez returns as president.

“With Florentino Perez in charge, the project he has put forward would be interesting for any coach but I would prefer  not to comment on this,” Wenger replied.

Wenger was fully aware that he had already commented. His response followed a sometimes acrimonious question-and-answer session with the Arsenal shareholders on the previous night and grumbling among fans who have been forced to absorb higher season ticket prices during a fourth consecutive season without a trophy.

The prospect of Wenger defecting to the Bernabeu after 13 years at Arsenal inspired an instant response in north London and one gratifying to the many supporters of a sensitive man committed to his vision of the beautiful game and convinced that style and success are not mutually exclusive. The group Redaction has mobilised a march of supporters for Sunday’s home match against Stoke and online petitions backing Wenger have been launched.

Game, set and match: Real 2 Barça 6

If Chelsea were cautious in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, what will they do after seeing this display?

Spain’s sports journalists will be doing their best to outdo one another in superlatives after a performance that ranks right up there with the 5-0 Barça managed at the Bernabeu with Johan Cruyff in their team in 1974.

If that Barça team was largely about one man, the current vintage has quite extraordinary talent running all the way through it. From Puyol and Piqué at the back, to Xavi and Iniesta in central midfield to the attacking trio of Henry, Messi and Eto’o this is quite some collective.

We’ll have more on this tomorrow, but for now let’s take a quick look at the early reaction from Spain:

Marca: A humiliation to decide the league. In the big games, the big names should show up. In the Barça team today virtually all of them did: Henry, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Piqué, Puyol… Samuel Etoo was the only one missing.

As: They say you have to learn to walk before you can run. While Barcelona go sprinting towards their date with history, Madrid have barely taken their first steps.

Sport: Madrid came down like a house of cards… What you saw today in the Bernabeu was a true reflection of the enormous gulf that today separates one of these teams from the other. There was no comparison.

Pepe’s Zidane moment could cost Real dear

Real Madrid’s Portuguese defender Pepe faces a lengthy ban that could extend to the end of the season after he had an astonishing Zinedine Zidane moment against Getafe on Tuesday.

I had the evening off and watched the match in a Madrid bar and the looks of disbelief on the faces of the punters around me reminded me of the reaction to the Frenchman’s headbutt in the World Cup final in Berlin in 2006.

There was less at stake on Tuesday but Pepe’s meltdown could hurt Real badly as he is almost certain to miss next week’s “Clasico” against leaders Barcelona at the Bernabeu and may be unavailable for the remaining four league matches after that. He will also miss Sunday’s match at third-placed Sevilla.

The Brazilian-born defender, who moved to Madrid from Porto for 30 million euros in the summer of 2007, has forged an effective partnership with Fabio Cannavaro in central defence and his absence will severely weaken Real as they attempt to overhaul Barca and clinch a third consecutive title.

For those of you who haven’t seen the incident, which happened with the scores level at 2-2 and three minutes left, Pepe totally lost his cool after pushing over Francisco Casquero and conceding a penalty.

He kicked Casquero once on the ground and raked his studs over the midfielder’s back with a vicious second swipe. In the ensuing melee he struck another Getafe player, Juan Albin, in the face.

As he stormed off the pitch, he said “You are all sons of whores” to the fourth official and then committed a further offence by running back on to celebrate Gonzalo Higuain’s dramatic winner in added time.