Real Madrid have had lousy luck in the Spanish Cup ever since their last win in the finals 16 years ago. In the meantime, they have lost to second division and third division opposition - Alaves and Irun respectively, but they have never been as humiliated as on October 28 in Alcorcon. The team from the third tier of Spanish soccer thrashed Madrid 4-0 after leading 3-0 after barely half an hour. It's true that there will be a return leg at Santiago Bernabeu in which Real may well overturn the four goal deficit, but the defeat has already been dubbed by the Spanish press as the "most disgraceful" in the club's glorious history. It is true that Real did not present his best line up, lacking Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Casillas, but the skipper Raul, Guti, Van der Vaart and the recent expensive signings Benzema and Arbeloa were present, among other big names. The former Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek was helpless in goal, while Arbeloa even got himself sent off early into the game. Last December a Cup elimination by Real Union of Irun cost Bernd Schuster his job but this time Manuel Pellegrini seems safe in spite of harsh criticism, for now.
The Liverpool faithful were less than happy when the Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett took over their club three years ago and recent results have fuelled their resentment once again. Several thousand of Liverpool supporters held a demonstration against the owners before the big match against Manchester United at Anfield, which the Reds won 2-0 in a rare positive display this season. The fans are angry because of the major debts incurred by the club and because of poor on-field results which include four defeats in a row during the last month, a humiliation not suffered by the Merseyside giants since 1987. Perhaps spurred by the fans' passionate pleas, the players responded for once by beating United, but just a week later the team returned to losing ways going down to Fulham 1-3 away .
The umpteenth incident caused by Dinamo Zagreb ultras had dire consequences for the Croatian champions. Their pitch battle with rival fans and destruction of property in Timisoara cost Dinamo three points in the Europa League plus the penalty of playing their next two European games behind closed doors. "A gang of hooligans have done this club irreparable damage," said Dinamo's director Damir Vrbanovic, while coach Krunoslav Jurcic partially blamed UEFA for getting too tough on the club: "This sentence is too harsh, even unfair. What is the point of playing without fans and losing points one has won on the field?" Dinamo's ultras have run riot around Europe on a dozen occasions since their infamous visit to Bergamo, Italy, in 1990. Auxerre, Zurich, Milan, Budapest, Udine and Prague among other cities have witnessed their thuggery, but only on one occasion did they manage to kick their club out of Europe. UEFA imposed the ultimate punishment on Dinamo in 1994 after the Croatian hooligans assaulted police in Auxerre and rioted on the stands, causing the Cup Winner's Cup match to be interrupted on various occasions. This time, the deduction of three points has practically eliminated the Croatian champs from the Europa League pushing them to the bottom with zero points, behind Ajax and Anderlecht with five and Timisoara with two. On the fatal day in Romania, Dinamo played brilliantly, winning 3-0, but the radical fans made the players' efforts meaningless.
Nereida Gallardo, one of the impressive number of Cristiano Ronaldo's ex-girlfriends has continued to air the dirty laundry from their relationship. Over a year after their eventful love affair broke up, the brunette still feels the need to share certain details of her ex-lover's intimate life. "When he prepares to go out, he spends as much time in the bathroom as I do. And he never leaves one single hair on his body," Nereida told Bild. The beauty, whom Ronaldo dumped with a text message, also revealed his villa in Cheshire contains mirrors everywhere and a huge collection of porn movies. What disappointed Nereida the most was his behaviour after missing a penalty. "When he would miss a spot kick, he would come home and cry in front of me." The Spanish girl's indiscretions should not hurt Ronaldo's reputation too much as he remains one of the most desirable athletes, at least for women who like a spot of luxury and narcissism.
Miroslav Blazevic, who has taken unfashionable Bosnia and Herzegovina to the World Cup play offs to be played against Portugal, has given an objective assessment of his coaching qualities to the Swiss daily Le Matin. "I am the best coach in the world. I am the coach of coaches. That's how they call me in Croatia and Bosnia, and I like this nickname," said the Bosnian Croat, famous for winning third place in the 1998 World Cup with his adopted homeland of Croatia. Eleven years later he is doing his best to take Bosnia to their first major international tournament. "Nobody believed in me or in my players before the start of the qualifiers, but now everybody fears us. Even France wanted to avoid us in the playoffs. Now, the people should brace themselves for our win over Portugal," said the charismatic coach whose age is a mystery, but is estimated between 72 and 74. Still, it is not his current success with Bosnia, nor his World Cup bronze medal and the quarterfinals at the Euros with Croatia that Blazevic considers his major achievement. "The greatest thing I did was winning the Yugoslav championship with Dinamo in 1982. The people outside of Yugoslavia have a hard time understanding what a magnificent triumph it was," concluded the "world's greatest coach".
