Navigation

Home May 21st 2006 June 20th 2006 May 25th 2006

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART Quique Flores says Felix Magath is jealous of Valencia THE bitter war and rivalry between Valencia boss Quique Flores and Bayern Munich's Felix Magath continued, but is for sure a long way from reaching it's climax. Flores hit back at Magath for accusing ECS officials for not doing their job properly and told him to "shut up". Magath claimed Ismael's and Cocu's red cards were not justified and is "disgusted" ECS turned down their appeal against the red cards. Flores insisted if anyone was to be charged or fined it should be Valerien Ismael for what he describes as an "atrocious" challenge of David Villa, which could've easily left the Spanish strike star severely injured. He spoke at a local press conference in detail. "Felix Magath is starting to irritate me. He just goes on with himself criticising others. If it's not other manager's, it's the officials that are to blame and it seems it's purely because things aren't going his way. Just because he is not winning games he starts to question those around him. I don't think he realises that it's nobody elses fault, but his and his players performing badly. I'm not saying it's a discipline problem, I'm just trying to stop him criticising others. I know Magath has a lot to say about my team, but it's not going to affect us in the slightest. We are going to keep at it and shrug off any comments from opposing managers and ignore the papers. I am speaking from my heart when I say Felix Magath is jealous of my squad. For some reason he sees us as underdogs in the Master League, but I think he knows, deep inside that his team is weaker than ours. I can only say that the ECS officials are just doing their job and they are doing it properly and I can't agree that there have been mistakes. Valerien Ismael committed an atrocious tackle on David Villa and I'm surprised he didn't severely injure one of my top strikers. He should be lucky if his players don't hit a fine for the kind of behaviour we've seen from certain individuals from their disposal." Flores left the conference room with a smug grin on his face, clearly implying that this war has only just begun. David Villa under went a scan to initialise any damages from the tackle he sustained from French defender Valerien Ismael in that pretty nasty tackle during their 3-3 draw. It revealed no breaks or fractures and Villa got the all clear to feature in Valencia's next game. He is set to take centre stage and lead the attack on his own again despite Vagner Love's efforts on his Che debut, which helped Valencia backfire Felix Magath's belief's right back at the German. DEFENDERS

PUT UP, OR SHUT UP! "As far as I'm concerned, Valencia are over-rated" ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO has made sure the outcome of the feud between German and Spanish giants Bayern Munich and Valencia is far from over. Bayern's record signing Del Piero felt it was his turn to join in on the act and have a pop at Che coach Quique Flores. It was Del Piero's late strike that earned the German's the point at the Mestalla. He also recieved a well earned man of match award in the process. He defended Felix Magath after Flores' verbal attack to the press just yesterday. Flores accused Magath of being "irritating" and being "jelous" of Valencia's talented squad. Del Piero agreed with his managed Magath that Valencia will have it tough and all to do in their upcoming string of fixtures against plenty of the leagues top clubs. Flores concluded that Bayern weren't the beginning of that length of fixtures, counting them down as one of the weaker sides, especially if Magath thinks this of Valencia. Del Piero however, said... "Flores, tells us that we are under performing? The gaffer can blame nobody, but us, the players, for our proclaimed poor form. Apparently we're looking for excuses...Where? We lost two games to two English clubs, we held our hands up and accepted defeat. but we draw to Valencia and they start moaning to the press looking for any excuse to have a pop at our manager. My word to Flores are, shut up yourself. We have moved on since our encounter and he should do the same for his own good. Frankly, we look to do our talking on the pitch and prove to people we can do it. As far as I'm concerned Valencia are over-rated. They have played many weaker teams under management crisis near the bottom of the league and apparently playing teams with a low morale makes them fantastic. I don't get it. All I know is, come the final week of the season we'll look at the league table and see who really deserves to have the right of running their mouth to the press." Felix Magath would have Alessandro Del Piero to thank for saving the embarrasement of losing to Valencia after he branded them a weak team that cannot compete with the bigger clubs. Magath stil has a lot to anticipate before he is proved right or wrong however, not just by the draw between his own team and Valencia. They have a string of fixtures against the Master League's best on offer and it will be the ultimate test to determin what Valencia can do, what they're capable of and if they have what it takes to challenge for honours within the greatest European football has to give. DEFENDERS

PAT HAS NOT GOT A KLU Kluivert admits dilemma of hanging up his boots after loan spell DUTCH hitman Patrick Kluivert has joined German side VfB Stuttgart on a seasn long loan deal from Valencia. Kluivert has struggled to break into the first team in Spain this season, making just the one single start. Now with the arrival of a younger, fresher talent such as Vagner Love, not to mention the already presence of David Villa, Kluivert believes his days are numbered regarding football altogether, not just his contract with Valencia. The striker has plenty of baggage from his illustrious career and during his prime he was regarded as one of the top strikers in the world. Stuttgart boss Armin Veh believes he can help the player re-discover his true prolific touch with a good first team opportunity throughout the remainder of the current season in Germany. He has been warned however, that he wont have it any much easier with Stuttgart than he has at Valencia with Pauleta, Jon-Dahl Tomasson and Jeronimo Cacau being in good form and scoring goals for the club. Kluivert has graciously accepted the challenge and says it's one last ditch effort to save his career or he will consider hanging up his boots. Like Dutch compatriot Jaap Stam, it was rumoured he wanted to end his career with the club he started. Ajax. But his presence at Valencia was considered the secret reason for Stam's reconsideration at going to Spain when Valencia made an £8,500,000 offer for him to AC Milan, which was unfortunately turned down. "Since leaving Barcelona I haven't been the same player. I don't really know who I am anymore when I'm on the pitch. When you're in your prime, playing at the peak of your career and enjoying big clubs, international football, major tournements and plenty of success you feel like it will never end, but the horrible reality is that it will all end some day. That day I feel has come an awful lot too quickly for me. I never got going at Newcastle and thought returning to Spain would be the ideal escape, but I haven't made an impact there either. Stuttgart seem genuine in their word. They're enthusiastic about having me and are pulling plenty of strings to have me. If I don't make an impact while I'm on loan then I might seriously consider retirement. I can't say I've done badly in my career really and I'm glad at what I have achieved. The things is though, I might even think about doing the same even if I do succeed at this attempt. I have decided to adopt the "quit while you're ahead" policy and I think it will give me a good send off. But If I do well I fear I may get too carried away and carry on going anyway. We shall see what my short term future brings." Kluivert has not been short of goals during his much travelled footballing career. With Ajax he netted a total of 48 goals in 119 appearences and it did enough to earn him a move to Italian giants AC Milan on a controversial bosman free in 1997. His time in Italy was over shadowed by two accusations of criminal offences. He was firstly charged with manslaughter after running down an art critic and on a seperate occasion was charged with rape, but was later acquitted. He also struggled to reassure his status as one of the world's top strikers though. Just one season with Milan saw him score just 6 goals in 27 games. He re-united himself with Louis van Gaal when he joined Barcelona the following season. The duo worked together in his Ajax days and it motivated Kluivert a lot and slammed an impressive 120 goals in 183 appearences. Louis van Gaal however, was not the Barcelona manager for the entire time he was there. He was released along with Dutch colleagues Marc Overmars and Michael Reiziger in 2004 and Newcastle snapped him up on a free transfer, but he only managed 6 goals in 25 Premiership outings, but his European record had a better ratio. He struck 5 goals in 6. Valencia has been his least successful experience, but he will be welcomed warmly by the fans of the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion. DEFENDERS

PLACE YOUR BETS Houllier calls Capello's bluff insisting he's making a "raffle" out of choosing a midfielder FORMER Chelsea midfielder Tiago Mendez could be on his way to Italian high-flyers Juventus in the next couple of weeks. Lyon have agreed to sell the player should they receive a respectable offer for the Portuguese player. Tiago has impressed with some excellent form for the French club since switching from Chelsea helping them clinch their first top flight league triumph for half a century with an extraordinairy goal at Old Trafford against closest challengers Manchester United. Jose Mourinho bizarrely got rid of Tiago despite a successful opening season in England. Lyon's competition in midfield has grown despite the sale of Mahamadou Diarra to Real Madrid at the start of the season. Tiago leaving could mean Hatem Ben Arfa could get a future at the club after all. Ben Arfa has also been linked with a move away from the club after Real Madrid approached and enquired about him. Juventus are keen to land a midfielder at any opportunity and Fabio Capello has listed a number of targets. Tiago is not the only Lyon star to be under his consideration. Winger Florent Malouda and Jeremy Clement are also in the frame along with Blackburn ace Morten Gamst Pedersen, but they face stiff competition from Arsenal for the Norwegian youngster. Lyon manager Gerard Houllier has urged Capello to hurry up with his decision on who he will make a bid for. After undergoing private discussions with Lyon he has eventually turned to Morten Pedersen with a reported £4,500,000 bid. Houllier still has hope though, that Arsenal win the race to snap up the Blackburn star. Tiago is his main target being a central midfielder which is what he claims to need. His lack of depth has been a problem and insists he's lucky not to have suffered more injuries than the week he lost Patrick Vieira for. Houllier spoke of his frustration earlier today. "He might as well turn it into a lottery. Or better still, a raffle! It's becoming quite a joke at the moment. He's been moaning to the press about his lack of deoth for weeks, but there hasn't been much sign of any attempts to solve that little problem until now, and even then he's making a complete farce of things. Three of my players are involved and we have held talks here at Lyon, but without consulting us about it, he makes a formal bid to another club for a different player. We would like to know where we stand and if we are wasting our time or not."