Mourinho hails super United - but can't help a cheeky swipe at Rooney

Jose Mourinho expects to be facing the world’s top team when Inter Milan tackle Manchester United in the Champions League but he could not resist a typical swipe about Wayne Rooney’s availability.

‘I wanted United because I want to face the best,’ he added.

‘They are European champions and will probably become world champions.

'They have the Ballon d’Or winner in Cristiano Ronaldo, many other great players and a great coach in Sir Alex.

'All this will motivate us.’

Mourinho then took a dig at UEFA for ignoring Rooney’s stamp on Aalborg’s Kasper Risgard in United’s final group game, a decision which cleared the striker to meet Inter in the last 16 in February.

The former Chelsea boss, recalling Michael Essien’s ban for a bad tackle on Liverpool’s Dietmar Hamann in 2005, said: ‘If they are the rules, they must be respected.

'But something extraordinary happened to me when I was at Chelsea.

'The rules were changed exclusively for us. We played in the group phase in the same group as Liverpool.

‘This could not happen now and Essien was disqualified for three matches through trial by TV.

'The same thing didn’t happen with Rooney last week.

'So he will be available against us.’

United, who are in Sunday's Club World Cup Final in Japan, are away to Inter first and Ferguson said: ‘It will be interesting to come up against Jose again.

‘He’s a character with a good personality and I’ve always got on well with him.

'He knocked us out of the competition when he was at Porto, so I hope we have the luck they had in that tie this time round.’

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Surgeons: Gattuso really is hard!

Gennaro Gattuso amazed the medical community again after his knee surgery. “We had to change the scalpel, as he has very hard bones!”

The Milan and Italy man recovered in record time from multiple fractures to his wrist earlier this season and hopes he can also cut the expected six-month spell on the sidelines for ligament damage.

“The surgeon took the tendon, an incomplete part, and made a tunnel to put the ligament through. It will take six months for this to form a strong cruciate ligament,” said Krystel De Reycke.

The assistant to Professor Marc Martens – who also operated on Ronaldo and other top stars – revealed a surprising moment during the surgery.

“During the operation we had to change the scalpel, as Gattuso has very hard bones. He is extraordinary! This has never happened before.”

It was not the only physical anomaly they discovered, as the World Cup winner was able to play for 86 minutes after he had torn knee ligaments in the 1-0 win over Catania.

“He has some very large muscles that allowed him to do that,” the assistant told Sky Italia television.

“Now he will wear a protective cast for a month and that will give him normal mobility without limits. He’ll then walk with crutches for 10 days.

“Another protective device is needed up for another month, but after four months he can start running again.”

Source: www.channel4.com

Marek Hamsik: I Thought I Was Going To Die

Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik has been outstanding this season, but Calcio's image has taken another huge blow after masked gunmen robbed him of his Rolex watch and €800.

A police investigation is underway and Hamsik has revealed thought he was going to die when the criminals demanded valuables at gun point.

"It lasted just one minute, but it was enough to feel the fear of dying," Hamsik told Il Corriere Dello Sport.

"It was terrible and I was shocked.

"However, I am feeling OK now. It's all behind me and I hope to forget about it soon."

Reports in Italy suggest Hamsik has been allowed to return to Slovakia for an early Christmas holiday by Napoli and thus he will not feature during this weekend's clash against Torino.

Source: goal.com

‘Bidone d'Oro’ to Quaresma

Ricardo Quaresma is the ‘Bidone d'Oro’ 2008. It is the 6th edition of the prize which crowns the worst player in Serie A. After the two of Adriano 2006-2007, it is the winger to carve his name on the gold "trophy" given by Catersport a program broadcast on Sunday by Rai Radio2. Nine games in the league with a swinging performance, but tending be low rather than high, were sufficient for the listeners to vote Quaresma: 3001 of 17,544, equivalent to 17.11% of the total.

Behind the Portuguese, are two ex winners of the award: in second place is Christian Vieri, ‘Bidone d'Oro’ in 2005 with 1792 votes (10.21%) and in third place the outgoing champion Adriano with 1656 votes (9.44%). Then a Rossonero trio (or almost): Ronaldo, Dida and Shevchenko, only the sixth against all predictions. In seventh place the disappointing Giallorosso defender Simone Loria, the eighth place went to Alvaro Recoba (for the part of 2008 played in Turin). In ninth another favorite: the Juventus player Tiago, while Cagliari’s Joaquin Larrivey came tenth.

Source: gazzetta.it

Anonymous Italian Gigolo Claims To Have Serie A Clients

A new scandal could rattle Italian football as an unnamed gigolo claims that he is aware of several clients who live a double life, as they come to him for his services.

This could be the start of Gigolopoli, following the Calciopoli scandal of a few years back. It apparently involves players from big clubs, and the national team, too.

Nonetheless it seems unlikely that gigolo will be able to back up his allegations with any evidence when he takes to the television screens tonight, and in any case his approach has been criticised by some as being sensationalist.

Snippets of the interview give a glimpse into the secret life of the supposed gigolo.

"It's €1,500 Euros for a few hours," revealed the footballer, who also plays professionally in Serie C.

"The players pay without any problem. I often meet them at a hotel, on Sunday evening after the game, in the only moment of tranquillity that they have.

"They ask to relax and have no problem with being kissed on their mouth. However, they are afraid, actually terrorized by the idea of being discovered.

"With one of them I met in the dark, outside Milan - I don't know who he was. The deal was that everything had to be done with the lights off."

His girlfriend does not know anything about his double life and that is why he wants to keep his identity hidden.

"I sell my performances to players from important teams," he continued. "I have around 30 footballers as clients and a dozen of them are from Serie A.

"There are some, but not many, who are part of the national team and are even married. On three occasions they asked to make love in a group with more players of the same team, but also with friends from opposing squads.

"Many of them are bisexual. In Italy, no player will admit that he's gay, at least not now. There are too many social conditions - maybe that's fair."

Quite what is fair about his taking such stories public when those allegedly involved would rather keep them private has yet to be explained, but perhaps he hopes to remove the stigma of homosexuality from football.

Source: www.goal.com

Where's Beckham? All Blacks show Kaka their skills on trip to Milan

Not content with a clean sweep against Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England - the All Blacks have turned their attention to the AC Milan.

The likes of Richie McCaw, Ma'a NonuRodney So'oialo and Joe Rokocoko pitched up in northern Italy to trade skills with the seven-time European Cup winners.

The best player in the world met the best player in the world, with Dan Carter showing Kaka the Brazil forward how to kick a rugby ball.

And the San Siro idol soon looked as comfortable as with a normal size five football.

'It was difficult kicking the oval ball for the first time, but after a few attempts I was able to direct it where I wanted,' said Kaka.

'I only started to get interested in this sport when I arrived in Italy, because in Brazil it's a sport that is hardly followed.'

Milan were probably hoping some of the All Blacks' success would rub off on them after two straight defeats, leaving them six points off rivals Inter at the top of the league.

All Blacks centre Richard Kahui said: 'It's true that we're not used to losing. But I'm sure that as such great champions, the Milan players know what to do.'

And with David Beckham on the way for a loan spell starting in January, Kahui added: 'They'll surely improve, since it's only the season's midpoint and the Christmas vacation is near.'

The two sets of players rounded off the day with a sight-seeing tour of Milan - though it was unconfirmed whether they got up to the kind of drinking games that rugby players are famous for.

All Blacks captain McCaw said: 'To get a chance to go and mix with a team like AC Milan, some of the biggest sports stars in the world, and see what they do is something pretty exciting.'

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk