Planet Soccer

A round-up of other soccer news in brief...

Quotes of the week

“Maradona could not kick with his right foot and did not score with his head. The only time he scored an important goal with his head he used his hand.” – Pele maintains his love-in with Diego.

“If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn’t say, ‘thank you very much’ and turn the other cheek. Only Jesus Christ did that.” – Arsene Wenger backing Robin Van Persie for speaking out about the cheek he turned after it was stamped on by Emmanuel Adebayor.

“I’ve prohibited her from complaining about life in England. Since then there have been no more criticisms.” – Arsenal’s Russian star Andrei Arshavin puts a gagging order on his wife after she was less than complimentary about their new home.

More quotes of the week

“It’s not celebrating a goal that causes riots, it’s idiots who start riots.” – Top man, Harry Redknapp.

“There are some places in Brazil where the boys do not have the same conditions or treatment we have here. It is less-well medically, psychologically and footballistically.” – Arsene Wengeristically.

“It is not that the club asked me to win the Champions League – they asked me to win the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup.” – Carlo Ancelotti on low expectations at Chelsea.

“I only met Fergie once. I said hello to him one day so he knew straight away I was Irish. He told me he had enough Irish players with Roy Keane and Denis Irwin, so I guess that was another hint for me to hit the road.” – Stephen Ireland on his trial at Manchester United.

“Celtic fans don’t want me to sit there and say ‘I thought we played great’ and we have lost 1-0.” – Celtic manager Tony Mowbray after his side scraped through 2-1 at home to Hearts yesterday.

Sligo connection in Chile injury

IT would have been a day never to forget for Juan Manuel Olivera, except that having been knocked unconscious by the opposing goalkeeper it’s probably all a blur.

The Universidad de Chile striker was taken away in an ambulance after the incident in a league game, but his trip to hospital was delayed for two hours after the ambulance crashed and rush hour traffic held up the arrival of its replacement.

Mercifully, Olivera survived both collisions and has since fully recovered. Team doctor Patrico Delgado said: “He has taken it all with a dose of humour.”

Curiously enough, there’s a bit of a Sligo connection to the story.

The goalkeeper who flattened Olivera plays for O’Higgins, the Chilean club named after Bernardo O’Higgins, one of the founding fathers of independent Chile and son of Ambrose O’Higgins, a native of Ballynary, Co Sligo.

Roma midfielder left in tears after fans' taunts

HAVING read what Arsenal fans were chanting at Emmanuel Adebayor before he charged up the pitch to celebrate that goal (let’s just say they were unpleasant references to his mother and father), we’re inclined to have some sympathy for the fella.

But what he endured was in the ha’penny place next to Daniele De Rossi’s ordeal at the hands of Siena fans.

The Roma midfielder left the pitch in tears after last week’s Serie A game, during which he was subjected to an array of chants and tunes from the Siena faithful about his wife’s father, among them “where’s your father-in-law?”.

And where is his father-in-law? Well, a year ago he disappeared, his body later found dumped on a country road with a bullet in his face and back.

He was so severely disfigured they had trouble identifying him at first.

Siena have been fined €10,000 and all concerned have apologised. Funny old game.

It's not all rosy

NO names were mentioned in yesterday’s Sunday People story, which is a pity, but we desperately want it to be true – and why wouldn’t it be? A Premier League defender arrived home after a heavy training session and collapsed on to his couch.

He then spotted his gardener through the window and decided he didn’t want his services that day. Rather than getting up and having a word with him he rang his agent to tell him to contact the gardener and ask him to go home. Pure gold.

Even more quotes

“If we had wanted, seriously, to buy Carlos Tevez, we’d have been more serious. We made an offer that was well in the compass of the player’s ability.” – Alex Ferguson. Miaow.

“I am not in the slightest bit worried about him leaving. I think he was a good player, yeah. He didn’t think he played enough football last year, but I think he had plenty.” – Ferguson on Tevez again. No hard feelings, then.

“I get people advising me to do different things but in my view that is all shallow, all fur coat and no knickers. It won’t make any difference, only results matter.” – Bolton manager Gary Megson on the strange attire of the club’s opinionated supporters.