Diego21

That Athletic Bilbao shirt brings back so many memories if you're Spanish... PS: Many years ago, the video of a girl wearing that shirt and raising it to the cry of 'Apua Athletic' was circulating on all mobile phones so that the whole world could see her attributes.

The hungarian with his medal against a Frankfurt fan.

I don't like Luke Edwards but I have to admit I would love to sign Kalvin Phillips.

In Spain it has been rumored for many months that the boy is going to play in the Premier League next year. In fact, the president of Celta himself said a few months ago that it was going to be impossible for them to retain him because there were already 4 Premier League teams that had told him they were willing to pay the money from his termination clause. From Spain it has always been said that the best positioned team to sign him is Newcastle. I have seen him play very little, because he has only been at the highest level for a year and I almost never watch the Spanish League, but I think he is one of the most exciting players that Spain has produced in a long time and I should pay €40M for him. it's something we could do and not feel like it's a waste of money. He can play as a pure midfielder, playmaker or pivot, which is where he has played most of the year and has finished with 11 goals. I don't think Barcelona are going to sign him. Real Madrid did want it, but I see it as complicated, because now they have to urgently restructure other more important positions.

What an amazing match is doing Gabri Veiga.

If you can see Szoboszlai, the Final Match in the German Cup is starting right now. Leipzig-Frankfurt.

Absolutely. And I hope we sign him y 'The Galician' become 'The Magician'.

The person who signs the 'Marca' article is José Felix Díaz. José Felix Diaz is the Chief Director of the Real Madrid section in that newspaper, but he honestly would not dare to believe what he says. José Felix Diaz, just 7 days ago, wrote that Newcastle was going to sign Joao Felix and the only reason he had was that 'Newcastle have a lot of money'. José Felix Díaz has spent two summers making a fool of himself with the Real Madrid-Mbappe theme. What an eye, I am not saying that the Gabri Veiga thing cannot be done (In fact, the president of Celta de Vigo confirmed a few months ago that it was going to be impossible to retain him and that there were emissaries from Newcastle watching him play and we discussed it here). But for now I put the credibility of the news in quarantine.

No

Szoboszlai>Maddison The Hungarian is younger. The Hungarian will cost a lot more money to transfer, but he will ask for less salary, so the price will probably end up being quite similar. I like that Maddison has played well in the Premier League and we agree that Szoboszlai is a bit more unknown, but that's not 100% effective either. How many players who played well in other Premier teams did not here? I think Maddison's peak level is where he is today, but Szoboszlai can still improve and become a star. I really like Maddison (in fact, last year I commented here that I would sign him before Paquetá), , but I think the Hungarian can go to another level. I think Maddison's style of play is slower, calmer and he doesn't have as much pressure. Szoboszlai seems to me a player with much more drive, with a good stride and capable of playing very well on the counterattack. I think Szoboszlai can play both on the right and in the middle and he can be a good long ball shooter and a good passer against tight defences.

HAHAHAHAHAHA You know... Michael Owen 1998-2004 was another level.

I know that my level of English, at a grammatical level, is not very good. I confuse verb tenses and I understand that sometimes it can be difficult for you to read me. I was better before. While I was studying (and at times when I haven't worked as a journalist) he worked in a shop in the center of Madrid, so he had to speak to many tourists in English almost every day. I think I was performing well for my level. Now I realize that every day it costs me more and that by not having those daily conversations it begins to cost me more. But I try to read a lot in English. I think that possibly next year I will try to go to an academy to get closer to grammar again.

Well. Actually, either we have a problem with the language and I don't know how to express myself or then you don't want to understand me. I leave the subject here because it is too complicated and important a topic to leave misunderstandings..

The first thing I have to say is that I really don't hate Real Madrid. Maybe when he was little he did, perhaps because he was unconscious, but I don't hate Real Madrid. Hate is a very serious thing. Do I want him to always lose? Yes. But I don't hate it. I can't hate something that surrounds me and is so much in my life. Ever since I was little, I was the only Atleti boy in my school class. The rest, from Real Madrid. I have a group of 24 friends... And except for two, who are from Barcelona and another, who is from Atlético, they are all from Real Madrid. More than half of my family are Real Madrid fans and all my girlfriends have been! I must say that I have worked for 9 months in the 2nd most read sports newspaper in Spain covering Real Madrid. And when my contract ended, my fellow journalists thought, from the way I wrote, that I was a Real Madrid fan. (And that I had to be on a day like the UCL final against Atleti in 2014). In fact, what I can say is that I care less about Real Madrid every day. I have to admit one thing. I practically don't watch any football in the Spanish League. And I only see Real Madrid, Barcelona or Sevilla when they play European competition. The other day, against Valencia, I only saw the second part. I have admired many Real Madrid players, without any problem. I loved when they signed Owen because he was my favorite striker in the world then. I loved when they signed Beckham. Marcelo, Bale or Ronaldo have been players that I have always admired. Even one as violent as Casemiro (I always said that he was the determining and differential player of Real Madrid). Or Pepe, who is one of the most aggressive footballers I have ever seen, I will always say that for me he is one of the 3-4 best central defenders I have seen in my life. In the current squad there are players that I like from Real Madrid. And although I don't completely like Vinicius, I admit that he is very good and above all that he has a personality that makes him win games. And that has nothing to do with me thinking he's a troublemaker. And if. If a person makes monkey gestures at you (for now, the images have only been able to find one, which is the one he points to with his hand), you have to condemn a person. And you have to say that a person is racist. And it is a problem. But it's not the same problem as if an entire stadium called you a monkey, like they did here 15-20 and 30 years ago. The moment you modify a video and mix an audio where you make believe that 45,000 people are calling you a monkey when it's a lie, you stop having credibility. The moment you use the racism of an entire country (which you are not suffering) to patent two of your own brands and make money, you stop having credibility. And I don't think I'm going to comment any more on the subject. I don't care if Vinicius is white, yellow or green. He is an troublemaker player. And it doesn't matter that he's from Real Madrid either, because when I didn't like the attitude of an Atletico Madrid player I've always said so.

It really is a tough market. We don't need to bring stars. I think the ideal would be to make 4-5 signings and nothing more. We need to take one more small step, but I don't know which players are left over at the club. It is clear that Lascelles, Lewis, Manquillo or Kraft have no place. They don't even count this season anymore. And I would venture to say that we could also listen to offers for Targett. I think that where we could improve a lot would be by signing players to replace people like Almirón, Murphy, Schar or Longstaff. (I'm not saying sell them, but let them play a secondary role). But it would be so unfair to them after everything they've done this season. On top of players like Longstaff or Murphy, who are such fans of the club. I really think we need a starter LB, a substitute RB, a CB who can compete with Schar for a spot, an MC who can create play, partner with Bruno and most of all stand in for him when he's not around. I think we could repeat the formula with Botman. A player who is not in Top teams but who has a notable level. I can think of players like Timber (Ajax), Facundo Medina (Lens), Le Normand (Real Sociedad), Todibo (Nice), Scalvini (Atalanta), Tapsoba (Leverkusen), Demiral (Atalanta), Hincapie (Leverkusen). I would only spend a lot of money if we could sign Skriniar for free (who seems to want to earn 10M a year at PSG) or Koundé (who seems Barcelona can sell him because they don't like him at all). The rest has worked fine. Isak and Wilson up top and offensive players like Murphy, Almirón, Maxi, Joelinton, Willock. Gordon is not my favourite, but it is clear that he is a bet for the club and that next season he will have a new opportunity. I think you have to be smart and sign players with a future. It is not necessary to spend a million because we do not need it. In addition, surely this year we will have the Fair Play more adjusted for what we did spend last year. I don't know. We can look at players who haven't had opportunities or who could come out like Kalvin Phillips or Tierney. Or players with relegated teams like Lavia, Livramento. Diaby is a player that I like... But he plays on the right wing. And we have Almirón and Murphy there. He could only come if we sell one of us.

And I will only say one more thing on the subject (that I also need to study a little for some exams). Vinicius is possibly the most unsportsmanlike player I've ever seen in a football stadium. Vinicius is insulted for being provocative, not because of his skin color (I insist again. People who insult him because of his skin color, that he never set foot in a stadium again in his life). He was when he was 16 playing for Flamengo, he was when he was 18 playing for Real Madrid B and he is now that he is a world star. The game is spent provoking the rival fans. The game is spent attacking rival players (in actions that are not merely fouls, I mean) or simulating fouls (Maffeo, Reinildo, Foyth, Gabriel Paulista, Gavi, David García, Fali, Aduriz...). He is the only player in the League that I have seen call the referee a 'son of a bitch' or tell him to his face 'you're crazy' and not even get a yellow card. They kick him a lot. many. But that's within the game, in my opinion. Why don't other players who are just as good as him, like Rodrygo, have these problems? And it has nothing to do with my love for Atlético or with the color of Vinicius's skin. I love Rodrygo, he is one of my favorite players. I love what Camavinga can do in the future. And one of my favorite players was Gareth Bale (and that he took a Champions League from us and cut our sleeves [a gesture that means to us like the V to you]))

Oh man. The timing. 10 minutes ago, Spanish Police said they have arrested 4 people that hold de Vini Doll 8 months ago.

I no longer extend myself. I want to make it clear. I wish the game had really stopped and they would have taken the 2 or 3 that Vini points out, they made monkey gestures at him. I hate racism in stadiums. But it is not only racism. I hate being insulted, just like that. I don't think Spain is racist, but I do believe that in all stadiums there are 1% of fans who use football and use racist insults because they don't know how serious a problem racism is. And since I consider it such a serious problem, I don't like to be frivolous about it either. I remember players who have been seriously insulted in racist terms: Eto'o, Kameni, Dani Alves, Wilfred Agbonavbare, Diego Costa, Freddy Rincon are the players who I think have been most affected by it. And the whole stadium did it to these. Fortunately, for the last 5-6 years, there have been almost no racist insults inside Spanish stadiums because there is a new regulation that prevents it and severely fines the clubs. For this reason, in addition, you can know that justice works with videos and real evidence and not with montages that circulate on the internet and that nothing will happen to the Valencia fans, because the songs are not real (but hopefully they will be able to identify the that they did make racist gestures).

The first thing I have to say is that racism is not justifiable at any time. I myself remember how, when I was very little, the Cameroonian goalkeeper Kameni was insulted at the Atleti stadium (I even remember that bananas were thrown at him). Beyond minority groups or ultras in soccer in some teams, I can assure you that Spain is not a racist country. But I think a serious mistake is being made because Vinicius and Real Madrid are fueling a controversy based on lies and modified videos. The videos that are being published are not relays (and Vinicius is not considering leaving the League). And beware, yes, there will be 3-4 or 5 or I don't know, maybe 40 spectators who said racist things to him, but it's not a whole stadium of 45,000 people. Inside the stadium, the Valencia fans yelled at him "Silly" and not "Mono". I mean, they called him an idiot, not a monkey. But they have subtitled as if it were Mono. Ancelotti was told at a press conference, and Ancelotti did not want to see it. Now Vinicius and the whole world are posting a video that isn't real and that, if you don't speak Spanish, can confuse you because they are two words that can sound similar. There is another important video and it is the video of the arrival of the Real Madrid bus at the stadium. I can pass you the original video, posted by a Twitter account at 16PM. And you will hear how there are no racist chants. But, mysteriously, as soon as the game is over, you see the same video with different audio, clearly modified with audio that, also mysteriously, is the same one that was used to modify another video outside the Atleti stadium this year. (I was there, and I can confirm that no one sang anything against Vinicius. The only thing there was was a fairly well-known boy in the Atleti stands who has mental problems and wore a doll of a conguito and who, by the way, a few years ago Real Madrid fans beat him up). And be careful, I am not saying that Real Madrid modifies the videos, but I am saying that someone on the networks has done so and that a lie is spreading. I think that the press does a lot, a lot, a lot of damage on this issue because it spreads things without contrasting. Just yesterday two Valencia fans were pointed out as if they had been guilty without evidence and they themselves admit that the police separated them from the rest because all they were doing was calming down what happened. Regarding the Vinicius doll... Well, I hate the act. But (what I am going to say is very serious, because I have no proof) I think it was not the Atlético fans. And when it happened, it made me very angry, because I did believe that it was them, obviously. But a person who is usually involved in the ultra movement told me that they were very calm because they had not been and that we would see how in a while nothing of that would be heard again. And so it has been. The police said, a week after it happened, that they had biological remains of the perpetrators and that they were going to arrest them soon... Many months have passed and we don't know anything. Why?. Regarding the press and Atlético... I'm sorry, but it's ridiculous. Florentino Pérez controls everything. He himself has said it. As I told you yesterday, about a year ago his audios were leaked confirming that he was the one in charge of the press, that he was the one who put journalists on and off. And it happened. In fact, it gave names and dates, and history has shown that it is real. And not just journalists. The President of the Spanish League confirmed that the operation of the VAR changed after a call from Florentino Pérez complaining. And just yesterday, the Spanish League has expelled for life the referee who decided to expel Vinicius for his aggression against the Valencia player. I myself have worked in the number 2 most read newspaper in Spain. And calls have come from the Real Madrid office saying how we had to do things. I remember in the 2014 pre-season, when Madrid went to play a friendly against Man United in the US, there were 100,000 people and the ENTIRE stadium wore United shirts. They forced us to change the color of the photograph of the stadium stands and tint it white because it had to look like they were Real Madrid fans. Another thing that happened a lot is that they forced the number of fans to double in the celebrations in the streets, because there were very few and they had to fill in to make it seem like there were more. If until years ago in a photo they eliminated a central defender so that people would believe that there was a goal offside. They are absolutely incredible things. When the campaign against racism began, in the match against Atleti, it was because they asked Koke if he would see it as okay for Vinicius to dance if he scored a goal. And Koke said: "If he scores a goal and celebrates it by dancing in front of our fans, surely it can get messy because the fans will feel bad about it." This is racism? Because they said yes. They said that Koke was racist and he started it all. Later we learned that what was happening was that Vinicius wanted to patent his dance as a brand and needed to create a ball out of all this.

2001-2002 71 points.

Unthinkable 15 months ago. Enjoy a lot, friends.