Finally, the Sky Sports countdown clock has ticked its final tock: much to everyone’s relief the January transfer window is over.
In spite of a global credit crisis engulfing the world and bringing it to its financial knees, the Premier League’s spending continued unabated. A total of £160 million was spent by clubs in the past month.
Jorge Valdano in Saturday's 'MARCA' newspaper described Nicola Zigic - the on-loan 6 foot 7' Santander striker - as someone 'who produces above, the things that Messi does below' and for more than an hour on Sunday it was Racing Santander and their 'Messi of the skies' that had the upper-handf.
Lionel Messi had, however, been somewhat restricted in his influence on the match from his position on the substitutes’ bench, but that all had to change of course when the giant Serbian put away a Pereira won penalty in the 56th minute, forcing Guardiola to send on his young superstar to try and rescue a result.
“Weee,” and with 18 goals and only two 0-0s it was piss-your-pants with excitement time this weekend in Portugal.
And like three grown men sharing one urinal the big boys were standing on each other’s toes at the start of the weekend, as only one point separated them. All of them fancied themselves for wins as they faced opposition from the bottom four, and while two bonfires remained urine free, Trofense got their usually inadequate willy out and sprayed all over Sporting’s pathetic excuse for a fire.
The outlook continues to be rosy for Steve McClaren and his new team FC Twente. Although a 0-0 home draw with FC Utrecht did not leave much to write home about, there were positives for McClaren to take from the result. FC Twente increased the pressure on their opponents throughout the second half and were unlucky in the last twenty minutes not to force a deciding goal against a team who are one of several vying for a UEFA Cup spot, and looked happy to settle for an away point.
In fact FC Twente are now ten games unbeaten in the Eredivisie since November 9th when they were dispatched by this season's surprise package AZ Alkmaar 3-0. Not only is McClaren's team doing well in the league but last week they comprehensively destroyed ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Cup (KNVB Beker) 5-1. This leaves them facing a very winnable home draw in the quarter-finals against the relegation threatened De Graafschap.
Try as they might Juventus just don’t seem to have it in them to make a fist of this year’s title race. Saturday evening’s 3-2 defeat at home to Cagliari made it two losses on the trot for the Bianconeri, as they followed Wednesday’s defeat at Udinese with another poor performance.
The Italian league has undoubtedly lost a lot of its luster in recent years. Compared to its heyday of the early 90s the competition now fails to attract the big name players, who instead go to the Spanish and English leagues, and Inter are set to win their fourth consecutive title at a canter.