Village Idiot

Is there a buyout option in there? Villarreal are so awful in their sales lately, they should have got a fee from Swansea and made a proper transfer.

3 years, two years ago he went for €8,5m...

Is the blue in there because it's your sponsors' main color? Awful if that's the reason. Take the blue out and it's a decent striped shirt.

He should quit Barcelona and sign for them and help raise them up the league. He just doesn't care enough though. Aye, the greedy cunt. Pretty sure he'll retire there, though.

They made it to Europe too, and played some pretty nifty football. That's when they got the "Clockwork Cheese" nickname.

Iniesta has given €250k to his hometown club Albacete (in Spanish Segunda B) so they avoided relegation due to debt. He is already sponsoring the team through the vineyards he owns in the area. Legend

http://i.cr3ation.co.uk/dl/s1/gif/a095b62ba601cdf2e9b5ff3d0e9c8069_pirlocoolpen.gif

Just keeping up with La Liga and the Premier league barely leaves me time to watch anything else than a few games here and there from other leagues, I just can't fathom how some people over here manage it

I'll hardly blame Cole for you underperformance these past years, but England would have benefited from switching to Baines sooner, imho.

Baines has been better than Cole for a good two years, never understood why he hasn't got more time for England.

Will the WC use the same time slots as this, by the way? It's been great being able to follow it without going to bed at 3am, but I don't think the heat will do the footballers any good, particularly in a longer tournament.

20m is a lot for a player that probably has 3 seasons left at the level ManU need, but they haven't ofered 20m yet.

David Moyes with money, man... He will be like a teenager that has just discovered pot.

We've been linked with Eriksen today in "Sport" (usually full of BS, mind), in case Thiago leaves. A Danish attacking mid Anyway, most likely fluff to fill up the paper.

Spain is genuinely Messi-less Barça this year, it's the first time they're playing with the very same tactics. But you need Messi upfront to put people to the sword given that you expose yourself to counters much more than in the more conservative system we used in 2010 and 2012.

Boring as sin to watch IMO. Don't overreact, fair enough that people want somebody new to win stuff but we're more entertaining in this tournament that we've been in a while. Not boring by a mile. Heck, we could play with Iniesta+10 cloggers and it would still be worth it.

http://himg2.huanqiu.com/attachment2010/2013/0108/20130108092457889.jpg I was 7 at the time, I'm not THAT old!

27 years since the last Spain - Brazil competitive match. I actually remember that game... Sócrates scored

I definitely agree with this. Spain have some sort of juju around their goal. It incredible how many fantastic chances have been missed against them in the past two matches. They have looked nothing like the side that are champions three times over. I know this tournament is of less import, but the Spain sides of 2010 and 2012 especially were very defensively oriented. They have not allowed a goal in the knockout stages of any of the last three major tournaments, and in 2010 and 2012 it is hard to remember them conceding chances. Alba especially looks so frail on the counter. Is the absence of Xabi that crucial? We only play with one DM without Xabi (Martínez could easily fill in though). Thing is, that when Alba runs forward, Busquets is the one that covers, either by him moving to the left, or filling in as CB while Piqué drifts to the left. Either way he leaves a hole in the center that Alonso would usually cover. To be frank, I'm enjoying our matches more this way. I don't care that much about this tin cup, and I expect VDB going back to his usual more conservative self for the real cup.

Spurs to hold talks with Villa next week, says Marca. According to them, Villa remains unsure about joining.

"We've reached the final of our dreams at Maracaná" FFS Spanish pundits, it's just the Confe Cup

What has happened?

We won't be well rested for Sunday after this, sadly. Hopefully VDB rotates a few players, there's people more than good enough to come in. Our penalty shootout record, though

HELL YEAH Navas you speedy cunt beauty!

Woah!