'Soccer will miss you' - Ronaldo tells Thiery Henry



Hours after former French striker Thierry Henry announced his retirement from football, his erstwhile teammate at Barcelona Ronaldinho sent out his tribute.

Google Image: Henry and Ronaldinho hug

Ronaldinho share via his Instagram ''Googdluck to my friend Thierry Henry. Soccer will miss you. Congratulations for all you have done at the pitch and success in this new phase.''

According to reports, Henry tried recruiting the Brazilian for his last club New York Red Bulls in the MLS.

 

Champions League: Anderlecht hold Arsenal to 3-3 draw, Real Madrid pip Liverpool (Other Results)

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Anderlecht came from behind to draw Arsenal 3-3 in the return leg of their Champions league encounter at the Emirates on Tuesday night.

Arteta grabbed the opener for the Gunners after he scored from the penalty spot, Alexis Sanchez doubled while Oxlade-Chamberlain made it three before the boys from Belgium rallied back to see that the match ends in a draw.

Borussia Dortmund sealed their position atop the group beating Galatasary 4-1 in Germany while in Italy, Juventus produced a nervy 3-2 win over Olympiacos at home.

For many hoping to see another goals galore at the Bernabeau, that wish didn't come true as Karim Benzema's lone goal helped Real Madrid secure a slim win over Liverpool.

Other results:

Malmo 0-2 Ath Madrid

Benfica 1-0 Monaco

Basel 4-0 Ludogorets

Zenith St Petersburg 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Anderlecht Manager Besnik Hasi vows his side will give Arsenal a fight

Anderlecht Manager Besnik Hasi has said that his team will go all out against Arsenal in the return leg of their Champions league encounter at the Emirates.

Hasi in a pre-match press conference stated that with the qualities they posses, they will not go to the Emirates defending but rather take the game to the Gunner.

The Blegian whose side scored first in the first leg also believe that they did enough to have won the match about a fortnight ago but Arsenal were lucky to have carted away with the victory.

''Yes, if you are a little team then yes you need to do that [counter-attack] but I think we have more qualities than just a counter-attack,'' Hasi said.

''We have the quality to play football and I hope my young team tomorrow are really going to go for it.

''They’re going to make a good game like they did at home against Arsenal, without complexities and just play their game. And in the end if Arsenal is better than us then we will congratulate them.

''But still I think in the first game we didn’t get what we deserved.''

Bizzare: Footballer gets 50-year ban for abusing match officials

 Ricardo Ferreira of Portugal Futebol Clube was hammered with a 50-year ban after a remarkable incident with a referee.

Despite not being fielded by his team in his side's 1-0 defeat by SC Worb in the Bern league, he ensured he created the scene which got him the odd suspension from the game of football until June 5 2064 when he would have clocked 78 years of age. 

According to Swiss newspaper Blick, the player kicked the ball in the referee's face and then proceeded to spray him with water while he was busy hurling insults at the official as he left to depart down the tunnel at full-time. (According to Eurosports)

As for why the ban is so long for the offence, the lawyer of Switzerland's amateur football league attempted to explain.

"We do not want such a player in our league,” said Robert Breiter, the lawyer of Switzerland’s amateur football league.

"Unfortunately we encounter such cases about once a year."

As for Ferreira, he was left utterly bewildered by the whole situation and was left sounding pretty distraught.

"I had expected one or two years maximum. But 50 years? Football’s my life," he said.

It is not the first time for the volatile player, who was once banned for 45 matches after being found guilty of assaulting opposition players and abusing officials.

Usual suspects in FIFA Ballon d’Or 23-man shortlist, no Suarez!

FIFA Has released a list of nominees for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award which includes current holder Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben, and a host of other players who have been impressive in the course of the last one year.

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The list doesn’t include new Barcelona striker Luis Suarez who recently returned from his four months ban which he bagged for biting Giogio Chiellini during the World Cup.

Break down of the list reveals that Germany is the most represented country with a shortlist of about six players while English Premier League boast of Five  players , La Liga accounts for  a total of ten, Bundesliga has six all from Bayern, one from Italia Serie A and one from French Lig 1.

Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mario Gotze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland, James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast).

Meanwhile, here’s a list of coaches nominated for the manager  category:  

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Juventus/Italy), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Juergen Klinsmann (USA), Joachim Low (Germany), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Holland/Manchester United).

The world football body had four days ago released the women’s category. In the statement on the body’s website, On 1 December, FIFA and France Football will announce in a live show the names of the three women and three men, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners). The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards (15), midfielders (15), defenders (20) and goalkeepers (5) will be unveiled in the end of November and the beginning of December.

Who will make the final cut? Drop your opinion

It's Obagoal's Birthday: What a year for Obafemi Martins. Story in Pictures

His club Seattle Sounders won the MLS Supporters Shield, Won The Player of the Month Award in August and being nominated for same award for October. He and his club also won the US Open Cup in September 2014.

Do you now agree it's indeed a happy Birthday for Obagoal? Many Happy Return to the goal poacher.

All Photos on this post from Instagram/obagoal

Robin Van Persie late strike saves United from home defeat to Chelsea

Robin Van Persie fired home from close range to help Manchester United secure a 1-1 draw in Sunday's BPL match against Chelsea.

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The visitors were reduced to 10-men after Branislav Ivanovic carelessly pulled Angel Di Maria in injury time which gave the Red Devils last gasp before the sound of final whistle. Marouane Fellaini attacked Di Maria's effort, saved by Thibuat Courtois and finally buried home by RVP.

Didier Drogba had earlier put the Blues ahead in the 53rd minute which looked like the Blues were coasting away with a win from Old Trafford.

 

Man Utd striker Falcao watched El Clasico in Real Madrid Jersey

Are you for real? Anyways, his fellow countryman James Rodriguez now plays for Madrid, they were also team mates while in Monaco.

Twitter/@Realmadridplace

EPL: Liverpool struggle continues as West Ham Pip Manchester City

Brendan Rogers men continued in their struggle to make an impact in the premier league after they played out a goalless draw with Hull City in Saturday's league match.

Goal-shy Balotelli fired blank as the Red failed to see the back of the net again this week.

West Ham United had a very good outing on the day as they beat Manchester City 2-1 to remain in the top four of the EPL while Southampton also continued their impressive run edging Stoke City by a goal to nil.

Arsenal's visit to the Stadium of light was fruitful with Alexis Sanchez stealing the headline after he scored two goals for the Gunners.

Swansea ended a run of five league games without a win when they beat Leicester City 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium while Crystal Palace secured a 2-2 draw away at West Brom.

Nigeria beat Cameroon to win African Women Championship Title

The Super Falcons of Nigeria defeated Cameroon 2-0 to win the CAF African Womens Championship in Namibia on Saturday evening.

Desire Oparanozie and Asisat Oshoala's goals helped the Falcons see off the Lioness who battled for glory on the night to stop the Nigerians from winning their 7th continental title.

In the 3rd place match, Ivory Coast beat South Africa to claim 3rd place spot which see them join the finalist as representatives of Africa in the Womens World cup.

Asisat Oshoala was however adjudged the Most valuable player of the tournament while Desire Oparanozie picked the Golden Boot Award after scoring five goals in the championship.

Real Madrid expose Barcelona in 3-1 El Clasico win

Real Madrid came from a goal down to beat Barcelona 3-1 in the first El Clasico of the season in the La Liga which saw former Liverpool striker debut for his new side in the league.

Neymar put the visitors ahead in the 3rd minute of the match while it took a Cristiano Ronaldo 35th minute Penalty kick for Madrid to come back into the game after Gerard Pique caught the ball in an attempt to stop a Marcelo pass.

The home side came all attacking in the second half with Pepe scoring a header to put Madrid ahead before Karim Benzema increased the tally in the 61st minute of the match.

The win places the Whites (21pts) just a point behind Barcelona (22pts) after 8 games into the L Liga season.

Why Always Him: Police investigating Mario Balotelli for ''threatening'' a woman taking photographs of his Ferrari

Mario Balotelli has made the headlines again, not for football reasons though. Reports have it that the Liverpool striker is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police for ''threatening'' a woman who took photographs of his red Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.

According to Dailymail Police were called to a housing estate at 3pm on Thursday in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester, where the 24-year-old was reportedly visiting his mum Rose Barwuah.

GMP are investigating Balotelli's use of ''threatening behaviour'' after the forward demanded the woman stop taking photographs of the £240,000 car he shipped from Italy during the summer.

The controversial forward was seen swapping jersey with Real Madrid defender Pepe at half time while Liverpool were 3 nil behind.

AFCON 2015: Mind your business, CAF tells UEFA

The Confederation of African Football CAF has sent a resounding message to European football body president Michel Platini saying his opinion on the postponement of Afcon 2015 can be described as treachery.

Platini had earlier urged CAF to postpone the Nations Cup due to the outbreak of Ebola Virus but the African Football body has asked Platini to concentrate on matters that affects his confederation.

According to report on Vanguard, CAF hit back at the UEFA boss pointing out that football activities sanctioned by the Europe governing body continue in Ukraine despite the war in the country.

“CAF under the leadership of its President, Issa Hayatou, has always promoted free expression within it. Far from it therefore, claim to deprive anyone latitude to express themselves,” CAF said in the press release published on its official website.

“But we must beware of what appears in every way as interference by a president of a Confederation, in cases involving first and foremost Africa and CAF.

“Under the principle of non-interference required to comply, CAF has refrained so far to comment on some issues on the managing of European football or any other continent.”

CAF pointed to the UEFA boss that despite the shooting down of a passenger plane in Ukraine and the ongoing civil war in the country, Europe’s governing body has sanctioned matches in the nation despite threat to human life.

“Despite the risks involved in armed conflict in Ukraine, a country where a civilian plane was shot down killing nearly 300 people, UEFA did not consider it necessary to exclude Ukrainian clubs from its competitions as a security parameter by hosting games outside this nation, as treacherously raised once it is about Africa,” the statement further said.

Nigeria drops again in latest FIFA Ranking

Nigeria has dropped again in the latest FIFA ranking released which sees the Super Eagles rank 42nd in the world.

It could be recalled that the Eagles ranked 37th last month and 33rd in August.

Reasons for this downsliding is not far fetched as the African Champions have not been convincing in their performance. Recently the Eagles lost 0-1 to Sudan in Khartoum but gave a better show in the return leg.

In the ranking, Germany however remain on top while Argentina and Colombia are next.

Anderlecht vs Arsenal UCL Night Out: A Birthday gift delivered at dawn

Have you ever had a birthday celebration and the baker failed to deliver in time? Let's look at it this way, imagine it's your birthday and after several calls to the baker, the cake is still not in sight and your guests are around waiting to cut and have a piece of the cake.

Say for some adult, there may be claims of having the birthday with or without the cake it's still going to so much fun. Well, try it with your child and then you'll know how much importance is accorded to the ''Birthday Cake''.

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What a feeling when the baker drops by the door to deliver your birthday cake and then it begins to dawn on you that it's your birthday actually.

Arsenal Manager clocked 65 on Wednesday and his piece of cake got delivered almost at the end of the party. Just as fate would have it, Anderlecht lost to Arsenal 1-2 on home soil right in Belgium when it seemed they would get a result on the night's UCL game.

The Gunners came from a goal down to win with Goals from Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski late on in the match to secure their much needed win in the group. Podolski joined the part in the 84th minute replacing midfielder Jack Wilshere, a sub which the manager termed risky but paid off n the long run.

'' I had hope. It didn't look like it but it happened and that means we took all the risks and in the end, it paid off.''

''It's a little bit of a gambling situation that happens in this kind of games and it worked tonight. It did not look obvious, that is for sure.''

Wenger according to reports is one those who do not accord much importance to birthdays, here's his quote just before the game: 

"I am not a celebrator of birthdays," he said. "I just think what is important is that my team performs well.

"Do I feel young? No, because my age is my age and you have to deal with that, but until now I am lucky to be in good shape - the desire and the motivation is stronger than ever."

But come to think of it, should Arsenal have lost on the night, how would it have been for the manager and the players who had wished him a happy Birthday? But yes or yes, it was a happy ending for Arsene Wenger and his men on the road.

Even the French celebrant agreed it was a date with super ending ''It's a nice end to a game.'' - Wenger said in a post-match press conference.

''We played against an Anderlecht team that played very well. They were well organised, very focused, very quick in the transition and very good in the challenges. 

In the other Group game, Dortmund were ruthless aas they defeated Galatasary 4-0 in Turkey to remain atop of the group. 

David Ospina joins Arsenal injury list as Wenger confirms Martinez for Anderlecht UCL clash

Arsenal have been hit by another injury after Colombian Goalkeeper David Ospina was confirmed injured which keeps him out for about three months.

Google Image/Damian Martinez

Arsene Wenger confirmed this to newsmen in a press conference ahead of their clash with Anderlecht on Wednesday night as reported on the club website.

''He had his first injury in Nice,'' said the French man. ''It was a knee problem and I think he was a bit rushed back. 

'He didn't use his legs so his muscle became weaker, then he got injured during the World Cup. And after that he came to us injured, from the World Cup. 

''It took him two months to play a game. I had to bring him on against Galatasaray without warm-up, without being prepared and he had a recurrence of that injury. 

''He had his first injury in Nice,'' claimed the Arsenal boss. 'It was a knee problem and I think he was a bit rushed back. 

''He didn't use his legs so his muscle became weaker, then he got injured during the World Cup. And after that he came to us injured, from the World Cup. 

''It took him two months to play a game. I had to bring him on against Galatasaray without warm-up, without being prepared and he had a recurrence of that injury. 

Wenger further comfirmed the return of some others into the squad. 

''Chambers is back in our squad after suspension. Coquelin is not in the squad. Szczesny is not here as he is suspended and will be replaced by Martinez.''

Chelsea players share dressing room pic after 6-0 demolition of Maribor

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba shared this picture of the boys in the dressing room shortly after their 6-0 win over Maribor in the UEFA champions league on Tuesday night.

He tagged a couple of other players asking "but where is @cesarazpi"

Ebola-free Nigeria interested in hosting 2015 AFCON

Nigeria is among other countries interested in hosting the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015 having been cleared of the Ebola Virus Disease by World Health Organization on Monday.

Goal.com reports that  the first Vice President of the NFF, Seyi Akinwunmi  dropped the hint shortly after the country was cleared of the EVD after several reports have suggested hat the supposed host nation Morocco may pull out due to the fear of the deadly virus.

Akinwunmi noted that the chance of hosting the continental event is possible, ''I think we are interested [in hosting the Afcon],'' he told Goal on Monday.

''It is not strictly the purview of the NFF alone but we have been asked [if we can host the competition] and we have said yes, why not?

''I think that the National Sports Commission or the Federal Government is looking at the possibility of hosting the tournament.''

Ivorian footballer Salomon Kalou and Yvonne Nelson look perfect in this pose

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou shared a pic of himself and Popular Ghanaian Actress & Model, Yvonne Nelson.

He posted along with the image "Meet one of the most talented African movie star" on his Instagram.

They look like a couple you know. Or What Ya Say?

Kalou joined Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin from Lille of France during the summer transfer.

Wenger blames Arsenal 2-2 draw against Hull City on luck

Arsenal manager has aired his disappointment after his side were held to a 2-2 draw despite having huge possession over visiting Hull City on Saturday in their EPL game.

The Gunners took the lead through an Alexis Sanchez solo goal but Mohamed Diame equalized for the visitors to end half time with one goal appease.

Arsenal.com

Hull grabbed their second as Abel Hernandez rose to a cross heading home to put his side ahead in the second half before Danny Welbeck  pulled a late equalizer for the Emirates side.

Quoting the Gunners manager on the club website: “It is a very disappointing result because we were very unlucky with the referee’s decision for the first goal.

“They had two shots and scored two goals but we had to keep going and that saved us a point in the end. It is a long time since we’ve dominated so much and not won the game.

“Look at the shots on goal; how many times did they come into our half? They defended well and we made it difficult for ourselves by giving them a second goal. Sometimes the team that takes the initiative doesn’t win. We tried our best and we can only look at ourselves.

“We have conceded too many goals and we have to look at ourselves defensively. Some other teams have bought many defenders and concede goals as well. I think it’s a matter of concentration.”