Champions League duals are oft remembered for the tactical and psychological battle between rival managers. Think Mourinho V Benitez, Mourinho Ancelotti or basically any other big game ‘the special one’ has managed in.
In the Champions League, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson takes on Leonardo Nascimento de Araújo, or simply Leonardo, in the last sixteen. Ferguson of course has about 24 years of experience managing one of the world’s biggest clubs, …
“Let’s see if Ancelotti can finish his time at Chelsea with a record as good as mine.”
Just one of a number of comment’s by Mr.Mourinho in the build up to Inter Milan’s crunch Champions League game against Chelsea.
As if that wasn’t enough to set the tone, Mourinho was also quoted in The Daily Mail as saying
“Chelsea have suffered in the last two years, and it’s no coincidence that their decline happened …
The future of Nemanja Vidic has been of much debate over the past year and toady the Mirror reports that the Serbian will definitely leave Old Trafford this summer. The only issue they see remaining is whether he goes to La Liga or Serie A.
The imposing centre half has been tempted by the financial and lifestyle benefits of a move to a major Spanish or Italian club. The transfer …
Roy Hodgson failed in a last ditch attempt to sign Stoke City striker James Beattie for Fulham last night, with The Sun and The Daily Mirror giving differing interpretations of why the deal fell through. Beattie is surplus to requirements at the Britannia Stadium following a bust-up between Beattie and Stoke manager Tony Pulis at the Emirates Stadium in early December. The pair allegedly had to be pulled apart by …
First you had Gianluca Vialli, then you had Gianfranco Zola; Italians coming to England were having a great time and in 2001 Blackburn Rovers decided to get in on the act, signing Corrado Grabbi from Ternana for a fee of £6.75 million, 2 goals in 30 matches were all he could muster during his time in England, that’s £3.38m per goal.
Somewhat of a journeyman player, he began his career in the Juventus youth side and on his debut for the first team against Lazio, he scored, one of his total two appearances in the 1994-1995 season. Despite a great start he failed to cement a place in the squad as was loaned from Juventus to Lucchese and then Chievo, despite a poor goal scoring record Modena took him off Juve’s hands in 1996 where he found his goal scoring prowess.
Ternana were quick to snap up Grabbi but he couldn’t replicate his Modena form and was loaned to Ravenna after only one season, 13 goals in 29 games for Ravenna was a decent return and he was duly welcomed back to Ternana with open arms.
Back at Ternana he was again a regular scorer, with 91 goals in 84 games and became idol for the local supporters, who still remember him as the best player to ever have played for Ternana.
This amazing form alerted the likes of AC Milan and Juventus, however it was the lure of Premier League football that swayed Grabbi and he joined Blackburn Rovers for £6.75 million. Injury and personal problems blighted his Rovers career, 2 goals later he was on his way back to Italy on loan with Messina. Failure to reignite his career upon return to England resulted in a permanent transfer to Ancona.
In an interview with an Italian TV Station, Grabbi stated that he was finding it hard to acclimatise himself to the British weather and game, and also said that he was finding it hard to fit in with the team. The team was accused of singling him out, and not being friendly to him, which also accounted for Blackburn’s slump in form.
In the same interview, Grabbi stated that the only person who he became friends with in this time was Tugay Kerimoğlu.
After 7 games with Ancona and a year out the game he signed with Genoa in the third tier of the Italian league system, scoring 9 goals in Genoa’s promotion campaign. After promotion Grabbi considered retirement after a number of injury concerns, but was persuaded to stay on by fellow players and the Genoa fans, but he was sold during the transfer window in 2006 to Arezzo. A half season with them and he moved for the final time in his career to Swiss second division side AC Bellinzona.
Manchester City have been on the look out for a centre midfielder ever since Roberto Mancini took charge at Eastlands. After being turned away in a bid to lure Fernando Gago to City, the Italian tactician has turned his attention to Parma starlet McDonald Mariga; the midfielder has been a revelation in Italy and has attracted interest from a number of English clubs already in his career.
The Kenyan international …
A World Cup third place with Sweden in 1994, a vital part of Manchester United’s treble winning side of 1999, but whatever happened to Jesper Blomqvist?
Starting his youth career with hometown side Tavelsjö IK, he was very quickly snapped up by Umeå who were in the second tier of Swedish football. His performances for Umeå caught the eye of IFK Göteborg who signed Blomqvist on 11th September 1993. This was the big break that Blomqvist waited for and he grabbed it with both hands.
Scoring in a 3–1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League, knocking them out of the competition. This performance caught the eye of United manager Alex Ferguson. Winning four consecutive Allsvenskan (Swedish Championships) with IFK Göteborg, goal of the season for a goal against Helsingborgs, midfielder of year in Sweden and fans’ player of the year in 1996. He was then bought by AC Milan who were champions of Italy.
In his only season with Milan they finished 11th in Serie A and failed to qualify for Europe, during this season Blomqvist spent most his time on the bench, despite Manchester United trying to sign the player, Milan refused to sell but surprisingly he was later transferred to Parma. His reason for leaving was the search for first team football. After a relatively successful season with Parma Sir Alex Ferguson eventually snapped him up for £4.4 million.
Commenting on the signing, Sir Alex said, “Looking back I should have tried harder to bring cover for Ryan Giggs on the left side. I did try to buy Blomqvist from AC Milan but they wouldn’t sell him. They eventually let him go and perhaps I should have pushed them harder.”
Essentially at Manchester United for three years, he only played in his first; the magnificent 1999 treble winning season. He was bought as cover for Ryan Giggs on the left wing, and managed to play 25 games for the club scoring only one goal, against Everton in a 4-1 victory. He also started in the 1999 Champions League Final eventually making way for Teddy Sheringham who went on to score the equalizing goal. But this was his last game for the club as a serious knee injury prevented him making any more appearances.
Two years after this final United released him and Everton manager Walter Smith snapped him up on the recommendation of Sir Alex Ferguson. Only 15 games were managed as injuries ravaged his career and new Everton manager released him in June 2002 only to sign for Charlton Athletic with whom he managed four appearances.
A return to Sweden came when he signed for Djurgårdens IF; Blomqvist played a part as the side became Swedish champions that year. Injury problems, however, restricted him to only nine league appearances. As with Manchester Unied he stayed at the club for two years without kicking a ball, before eventually announcing his retirement in 2005.
Blomqvist joined Enköpings SK as a coach in 2008 and has since made a playing return in the Superettan, the second tier of Swedish football. Ironically, a shortage of players at the club due to injury forced Blomqvist’s playing return. He left Enköping after one season and later signed a contract with newly relegated Hammarby IF as assistant manager.
After officially retiring in 2005, he became a pundit for Swedish television station TV4. He also owns a nightclub in Stockholm.
West Ham have been hit by the news that Klaas Jan Huntelaar is not for sale. The Hammers’ owners had hoped to tempt the Dutchman with a large wage package but AC Milan have reiterated their desire to keep the hit man, The Sun reports.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton were also chasing Huntelaar, who has struggled for game time at the San Siro since his move there in the summer, but Milan’s …
Roma defender Marco Motta is set to join Manchester City on loan until the end of the season, with a deal for striker Antonio Cassano also on the cards. Motta seemed to let the cat out of the bag regarding his exit by saying goodbye to the Roma faithful after their win over Catania on Tuesday. The 23 year old said;
“I want to thank everyone for the months I spent with …
Roberto Mancini will soon unveil his second signing as Manchester City boss. It will be highly rated Italian U21 international Marco Motta. It looks like the player will initially move on a 6 month loan, with option to purchase in the summer. But will he be the man to solve City’s right-back problem or will he find himself consigned to the bench, just as was the case at AS …
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