Each week Futera’s ‘Man in the Stands’ Mitch Freeley will keep you upto date with the latest news in the world of Football.
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Article 6 – Feb 2009
The January transfer window slammed shut last week (Feb 2nd) and it saw a last minute gasp of frantic transfer action particularly in the premiership. Tottenham Hotspur were the transfer window’s biggest spenders with over GBP 40 million pounds spent on a new pair of strikers recruiting former players Irish International Robbie Keane & Jermaine Defoe from Liverpool & Portsmouth respectively.
On the other half of North London, Arsenal finally brought long term target Andrei Arshavin for a reported club record fee of GBP 15 million pounds. It is hoped that Arshavin can be the catalyst that will pull the Gunners up to that crucial fourth place for Champion’s League football.
The North London rivals clashed last Sunday (8th Feb) at White Hart Lane. The game was marred by the dismissal of Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Eboué. But even though Tottenham had the main advantage they failed to capitalise, the game ending 0-0.
Elsewhere in the Premiership, Chelsea only managed to draw with Hull 0-0, that being the last game for Brazilian Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was quickly replaced by Dutch Coach Guus Hiddink. Portsmouth are also the latest Club to be looking for a Manager as Tony Adams left the Fratton Park hot seat, after a woeful 3-2 defeat to title contenders Liverpool. Adams had been in charge for only 4 months.
Over in Spain, Barcelona are still the team to beat with an impressive 3-1 victory over Sporting Gijon at the Nou Camp. Baca scored their 102 goal of the season in all competitions. And an interesting fact is that the front three strikers of Henry, Messi, and Eto’o have scored more goals combined than any team in the top four European Leagues (Spain, Italy, England, and Germany). Elsewhere, Real Madrid scraped a one goal victory at home to Racing, and Sevilla lost to local rivals Real Betis 2-1 in the big Seville Derby.
In France, the Title race is hotting up as PSG managed to defeat Nantes 4-1 at the Parc des Princes. The victory leaves the Parisians just one point off the League leaders, with goals coming from young Benin striker Stephane Sessegnon & also former Barcelona player Ludovic Giuly. Leaders Lyon kept top spot with a victory against Nice with a brace from Jean Makoun.
Over to Germany, and it’s turning into a three way race for the title between Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich & Hertha Berlin. The latter two just 2 points off the League leaders. Bayern looked comfortable against Borussia Dortmund winning 3-1 with a brace from German striker Miroslav Klose. However, Hertha could only manage a draw against Arminia Bielefeld, as could Hoffenheim who drew 1-1 away from home against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Finally over to Italy where it seems that David Beckham’s stay at A.C Milan could be much longer than his initial loan. The English super star is reported to be happy at Milan and is considering leaving American side L.A Galaxy to join the Rossoneri. However Beckham, who won his record equalling 108th English cap midweek against Spain, failed to inspire as Milan drew 1-1 against lowly Regina. At the top of the table Inter cruised to a convincing 3-0 victory against Lecce with goals from Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Luis Figo.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Futera or www.futera.com
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