Batista, Argentina's new saviour

Batista, Argentina's new saviour


“I was exhausted and excited, and I went to celebrate in a corner. I had my eyes down, but when I looked up I saw him coming. There he was, thin and ungainly and with that beard on him. He looked like Jesus, walking towards me with his arms outstretched.”

In his elation at scoring the goal that secured the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico™ for Argentina, Jorge Burruchaga could have been forgiven for mistaking team-mate Sergio Batista for a celestial figure.

Twenty-four years on from that memorable celebration, and shorn of the beard that made him a distinctive presence during the South Americans’ glorious campaign, Batista has just made his return to the Albiceleste fold, taking over from feted former team-mate Diego Maradona as the country’s national coach.

An unheralded figure at Mexico '86, whose unglamorous midfield foraging allowed Maradona the freedom to weave his beguiling patterns, Batista’s appointment as El Diez’s successor represents the pinnacle of a coaching career that almost came to an end five years ago.

As he explained in an interview FIFA.com recently, the pressure of being Oscar Ruggeri’s assistant at San Lorenzo was proving almost too much for the ex-central midfielder to bear. “I couldn’t take it any more,” commented Batista frankly. “I wanted to go off and do something else. It just wasn’t worth it: the fans going crazy, the insults, waiting in a locked dressing room for five hours before it was safe to go out.”

The personal touch
A grafter in his playing days with Argentinos Juniors and River Plate, Batista took up his first coaching position in Japan, his decision to move there inspired by a need for a quieter personal life. And even though he had previously said he was unwilling to make the transition from player to coach, it was in his first post with Tosu Future that he began to develop the man-management skills for which he has become well known.

As he explains, his methods are simple: “I like to see what’s going on but I try to make sure I don’t on top of players. I’ll only say something if I really have to.”

That approach paid dividends when Batista took charge of the Argentina U-20 side. Bringing his attributes to bear at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008, he steered a star-studded side featuring the likes of Juan Roman Riquelme and Lionel Messi to the gold medal, a run that included a memorable 3-0 defeat of Brazil in the semi-finals.

That achievement proved instrumental to Batista taking up the reins of the full national team on an interim basis following their quarter-final exit at South Africa 2010. Even though the caretaker repeatedly stated that he did not want to be judged on results, his chances of taking on the job full-time only increased following a 1-0 win away to Republic of Ireland and a stunning 4-1 victory over world and European champions Spain.

A new dawn
Though those results were followed by a sketchy 1-0 loss in Japan, Batista had done enough to impress his employers and was confirmed in his position last Wednesday, his brief being to rebuild a team that has not won an official title since the 1993 Copa America.

“I’ve followed a logical process up to now because I hadn’t officially been named the coach,” he says. “But now that I have been, we’ll start to do things our way, and our thoughts are on the last game at Brazil 2014.”

Batista has made a point of that by recalling Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti, with Riquelme certain to renew his international career in the near future.

“He’s a fantastic player with bags of character and we get on extremely well,” says Batista, who is also committed to an enterprising style of play. “There will always be room in my teams for players whose job it is to attack and not defend. We’re going to be holding on to the ball too. That’s something I won’t be compromising on.”

In bringing back the old guard and nurturing Argentina’s exciting crop of youngsters, the new boss, who enjoys an excellent relationship with key man Lionel Messi, is hoping to mould a team that can win next year’s Copa America on home soil.

“Argentina really needs to win a title, we all need it. There’ll be a lot of pressure on us,” says Batista, who invariably tries to handle that pressure by puffing on a cigarette.

On the point of quitting the game five years ago, Maradona’s unassuming successor has accepted the fact that, for the foreseeable future at least, he will be enjoying anything but a quiet life: “What can I do? When you love football you end up doing things like this. It’s all I’m thinking about right now. I’ve got the chance to make 40 million people happy, and it would be impossible for me not to enjoy that.”

Chelsea lead, Arsenal chase

Chelsea lead, Arsenal chase


Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over local rivals Fulham as the Manchester derby failed to live up to expectations. Elsewhere in England, Arsenal resumed the title chase with a 2-0 win over Wolves.

A Michael Essien goal after half an hour saw Chelsea bounce back from Sunday's defeat to Liverpool to open a four-point lead after Manchester United were held 0-0 by Manchester City in a dour stalemate at Eastlands. Chelsea's delight at victory was tempered however by a red card for goalscorer Essien deep in injury time for a second bookable offence.

Arsenal recovered from the shock of their home defeat to Newcastle on Sunday by easing past struggling Wolves 2-0 at Molineux. The Gunners took the lead with one of the fastest goals of the season, Marouane Chamakh netting his seventh goal of the campaign in less than a minute to set the Gunners on the way to victory. Chamakh added a second in injury time to leave Arsenal in third place, five points adrift of leaders Chelsea, and one behind Manchester United in second.

Liverpool's revival suffered a blip as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Wigan. The Reds looked to be on course for a fourth consecutive league victory after Fernando Torres slotted his fourth goal in as many games after seven minutes at the DW Stadium. Wigan, however, came back into the match and netted a deserved equaliser early in the second half when Hugo Rodallega steered in a low shot from 10 yards.

After their superb away victory over Arsenal, Newcastle were brought crashing down to earth in a 2-1 home defeat by Blackburn. Morten Gamst Pedersen fired Rovers ahead after only three minutes. Newcastle got back on level terms through in-form striker Andy Carroll, who enhanced his claims for a place in England manager Fabio Capello's next squad with a well-taken equaliser two minutes after half-time. Second half substitute Jason Roberts then slotted the winner eight minutes from time as Rovers' former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce made it a happy return to St James Park.

An 89th-minute goal from from Aston Villa defender James Collins clinched all three points for Gerard Houllier's team in a 3-2 win over Blackpool in a helter skelter tussle at Villa Park. Stewart Downing put Villa 1-0 up after 28 minutes, curling into the top corner after good work from Ashley Young.

Blackpool struck back right on half-time when Marlon Harewood pounced on a Matt Phillips backheel to tuck away the equaliser. Aston Villa had the ball in the net early in the second half but Nathan Delfouneso's header was disallowed. Delfouneso made no mistake shortly afterwards, picking up Young's through ball to make it 2-1. An 87th-minute equaliser from DJ Campbell looked to have secured a point for the Tangerines before Collins late winner downed the visitors.

At Upton Park, West Ham and West Bromwich Albion shared the points in a 2-2 draw. West Brom's Peter Odemwingie put the Baggies 1-0 up from the penalty spot on 38 minutes after Luis Boa Morte was adjudged to have held Steven Reid. Scott Parker levelled for the Hammers five minutes later and early in the second half Frederic Piquionne scored from the spot to put the Londoners ahead. West Ham's hopes of a precious three points were dashed by Pablo Ibanez, however, who scored on 71 minutes to earn the visitors a draw, a result which left the Hammers rooted to the bottom of the table.

At Goodison Park, Everton needed a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time from Jermaine Beckford to secure a 1-1 draw against Bolton, who had taken the lead after 79 minutes through Ivan Klasnic.

Scolari: I want to coach at Brazil 2014

Scolari: I want to coach at Brazil 2014
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Luiz Felipe Scolari has been a self-confessed football addict throughout his adult life. And though his time as a no-nonsense defender was unexceptional, his coaching career has been immensely fruitful. Among his long list of accomplishments are winning the Copa Libertadores with two different sides, masterminding Brazil’s 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™ conquest, and guiding Portugal to the UEFA EURO 2004 final and Germany 2006 semis.

FIFA.com caught up with the 61-year-old to discuss his coaching methods, boldest decisions, problems at Chelsea, treatment of players, being back in the Palmeiras hot-seat and desire to lead a team at Brazil 2014.

FIFA.com: Mr Scolari, Palmeiras have come on a lot in the four months since you took over. Did you expect to make an impact so quickly?
Luiz Felipe Scolari: My initial idea was to take up a coaching position in January. But when I got offers from Internacional, Flamengo and then Palmeiras, who were going through a rough spell, I thought to myself, ‘if I come back early, then I can get an extra six months to set a team up for 2011 and compete on a level playing field with the rest’. So that’s what I did. I changed a few things around in the first eight or ten games or so, and tried to impose my coaching style. I think the team’s improved over the last month and a half. We are 50 per cent better organised now. When we win it’s usually not by very much, but when we lose there’s never a lot in it either.

You’re known for your ability to adapt systems in line with the resources at your disposal...
Of course. The first thing I have to do is find out what my team’s strengths are and then try to find the best system. At Palmeiras, for example, we don’t have a fast winger, someone who can run on to long balls. That means we have to work hard on playing a possession game. But these days virtually every team gets eight or nine players behind the ball and it’s hard to create chances using technical ability alone.
I didn’t have total control. There were two or three players who tried to impose their authority in a way that wasn’t right. I think English football’s great, but I had to go.
Luiz Felipe Scolari on his time at Chelsea

A lot of people say you’re at your best as a motivator. Would you agree with that?
To an extent. I like players to know and to feel that I’m going to defend them like a father would his children. But I’m still as motivated as I was when I started out 30 years ago. I still feel like a youth-team coach when I go out on the pitch. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be able to convey that sense of protection. And it takes time to do that. People who say they can get to know a team within ten days of taking over usually only last three months in the job. They’re just stop-gap coaches. I always stay two or three years with my teams and I adapt and change things around as I get to know them. It’s only after six months that I can say I really know what makes them tick.

Is that why things didn’t work out at Chelsea, because you weren’t given enough time?
The board were worried because we hadn’t beaten any of the big teams. I can understand that but we were only two or three points off the lead. And there were all these questions about the atmosphere, because there were one or two issues with some of the top players. That’s because I took a stance that other coaches wouldn’t have taken. I didn’t have total control. There was this resistance to me, mainly because there were two or three players who tried to impose their authority in a way that wasn’t right. The only thing is that I made them an important part of my plans, and that hadn’t been the case before. I wanted them to get back to their best, not just for Chelsea but for the rest of their careers, and they couldn’t see that. They wanted to play every game and that was one of the problems I had.

Whenever European clubs appoint South American coaches they always have doubts about how they work. My working methods were not the kind you’d usually associate with English football. In South America we do a lot of work on the basics. When we have a whole week of training sessions, for example, we get the first-team players and the reserves together, and that doesn’t really happen over there. That was another of the reasons why I didn’t stay.

I just carried on with my job though, and I know that some of the players improved as a result. Look at [Nicolas] Anelka. He wasn’t getting a game and then all of a sudden he was Chelsea’s top scorer. Ashley Cole couldn’t use his right foot and later he even scored with it, and all [Salomon] Kalou could do was run fast. He couldn’t dribble very well, so we taught him to dribble round poles. Ok, I know they were only poles in the ground but it helped him to start dribbling round opponents, which is something he does now without any problem. And then there’s [Didier] Drogba, who had a serious knee injury but is fine now thanks to the work I did, not just the club’s doctors. I refused to let him play with an injury and I had problems with him because of that. But in 20 or 30 years' time, there’ll be two or three of them who’ll still be walking absolutely fine. They’ll remember me then, for sure. I’ve never spoken about this before and I’m not bringing it up now to justify myself. I understood the reasons and I accepted them. I was sad because I was enjoying the job and I wanted to stay on. I think English football’s great, but I had to go and I did.

Do you think things would have been different had it not been for the language barrier?
It would have been much easier for me, because I would have used normal words as well as the others you often hear on a football pitch. They’re a bit stronger and sometimes players understand that kind of language better than if you talk to them like a friend. Yes, it would have been different. You have to think hard about which words to use and that stops your thought processes. And even then it often comes out wrong. If I’m talking in Portuguese though, I’ll say what I want to say and add a bit more if I feel like it. Then I’m done.

You’ve coached Brazil and Portugal. What’s the key to success when you’re only able to work with players for short periods of time?
I try to bring in a club ethic and make the players understand that when they’re playing for the national team, it’s just like playing for another club for a few days. I never ask for more than 21 days to get a team ready for a competition. A lot of coaches say you need two months before the World Cup, but if you can get players together for 21 days then you’ve got no excuses. That’s more than enough time to get them in peak technical and physical condition.
My contract with Palmeiras runs out in 2012. After that I think I'll still be able to work with a national team in the qualifiers and then end my career at the 2014 World Cup.
Luiz Felipe Scolari

As an international coach you’ve been able to get the very best out of players, even when they’ve been struggling with their clubs.
Yes, that’s right. Just look at Costinha. He hadn’t been getting a game in Russia and he hadn’t been training either. We knew we had to do something, so we came to an arrangement with Belenenses and got him training for 15 or 20 days before we announced the squad for the 2006 World Cup. I had faith in him. He made the squad and the starting line-up. Here’s another example for you. In 2002 the coaching and medical staff had a specific plan for Ronaldo, and we set a limit on the number of minutes he could play in each game. In the opening match with Turkey we were drawing 1-1 but we’d reached the limit, and so I took him off and sent on Luizao. We had a plan and we had to stick to it. Obviously there are ground rules, but sometimes you can take risks because you’re the coach. Sometimes it can be worth taking them if it involves a player you trust in.

Do you think players can sense the confidence you have in them?
Absolutely. Let me give you another example. When I took on the Brazil job, Rivaldo was coming in for more criticism than anyone. So, the first chance I got – and I took a lot of stick for this – I came out and said that he’d definitely play the next ten games, whether he was in form or not. How did that make him feel? Full of confidence. From a tactical standpoint he was our most important player at the World Cup [in 2002].

You’ve coached teams at two FIFA World Cups and reached the latter stages in both. Will we be seeing you at a third?
My contract with Palmeiras runs out in 2012. After that I think I'll still be able to work with a national team in the qualifiers and then end my career at the 2014 World Cup in my home country. There’s no other competition like the World Cup. That involvement you have with the other teams, the contact with opposing coaches, and the friendships you build up at the seminars and congresses is wonderful. But I’m definitely going to retire from coaching in 2014, whether I’m at the World Cup or not. I’m going to stay in football, maybe as a technical director or general manager, but I don’t want to be involved in the day-to-day, hands-on stuff I’m doing now.

Inter fall to on-fire Spurs, Barcelona held

Inter fall to on-fire Spurs, Barcelona held

The three sides in with a chance of qualifying for the last 16 of UEFA Champions League on Tuesday were all made to wait after a trying evening.

Reigning champions Inter Milan came unstuck against a vibrant Tottenham Hotspur side, Lyon went down to Benfica despite an exciting late rally, and Barcelona needed another Lionel Messi goal to keep Copenhagen in check. Elsewhere, Manchester United eased past Bursaspor in Turkey, while section rivals Valencia boosted their hopes of progress by downing Glasgow Rangers.

FIFA.com has the news on those games and more as Matchday 4 got under way.

Match of the day
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Inter Milan
Goals: Rafael Van der Vaart 18, Peter Crouch 61, Roman Pavlyuchenko 89 (Tottenham); Samuel Eto'o 80 (Inter)
Inspired by another majestic performance from Welsh wizard Gareth Bale, a rampant Spurs side toyed with holders Inter Milan, subjecting the Nerazzurri rearguard to an examination they are unlikely to forget in a hurry. No one suffered more than Brazilian star Maicon, who was powerless to stem Bale’s devastating runs down the left, the source of two of Spurs’ three goals.

Rafael van der Vaart set the home side on the road to victory in the first half, latching on to a cute Luka Modric pass before calmly slotting past Luca Castellazzi in the Inter goal. Bale, the scorer of a hat-trick when the two sides met in Milan a fortnight ago, then took over. First he left Maicon trailing in his wake to tee up Peter Crouch for Spurs’ second. Then he nutmegged a bewildered Lucio en route to sliding another precision pass into Pavlyuchenko’s path, killing off any revival hopes Inter had harboured and earning the adulation of an ecstatic White Hart Lane.

Other matches
Twente pulled off something of a surprise in the other game in Group A, winning 2-0 at Werder Bremen to stay third. Torsten Frings’ 76th-minute sending-off proved crucial, with the Dutchmen snatching two late goals to claim a potentially valuable win.

Benfica threw Group B wide open when they overcame section leaders Lyon at home to move to within a point of second place. The Frenchmen, who had won their three opening games, were no match for the pacy Portuguese, who surged into a 4-0 lead after 67 minutes, two of the goals coming from Fabio Coentrao. Rousing themselves from their slumber, last season’s semi-finalists staged a late revival, scoring three times before time ran out on them. In the other game in the pool, second-placed Schalke 04 were grateful to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer as they played out a goalless stalemate with Hapoel in Tel Aviv.

Having matched Manchester United for 45 minutes in their Group C meeting, Bursaspor promptly buckled in the second half, shipping three goals as Sir Alex Ferguson’s men moved within touching distance of the next round. Valencia gave themselves every chance of joining them after sweeping to a 3-0 defeat of their closest rivals Glasgow Rangers, striker Roberto Soldado scoring twice as the Scots slipped down to third in the table.

Finally, in Group D, Lionel Messi added another goal to his Champions League haul as Barcelona were matched by an energetic Copenhagen. The Danes responded quickly to the Argentinian’s opener, Claudemir volleying home at the far post after Victor Valdes had flapped at a cross. Although Pedro struck the post late on, the Catalans can be grateful for a point after a testing examination. With two games remaining, the duo look well placed to proceed, Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos having done little to advance their respective causes in playing out a 0-0 draw earlier in the evening.

The stat
25 years and 196 days - The average age of the Benfica team against Lyon, the youngest the club has ever fielded in the Champions League.

Goal of the day
Bursaspor 0-2 Manchester United, Gabriel Obertan 74
Collecting a Park Ji-Sung pass on the edge of the Bursaspor box, the young Frenchman switched the ball from his left foot to his right before, with a minimum of backlift, rifling the ball past a startled Dimitar Ivankov and into the back of the net.

Upcoming fixtures
All four groups are back in action again on Wednesday 24 November:
Group A: Tottenham-Werder Bremen, Inter Milan-Twente
Group B: Schalke 04-Lyon, Hapoel Tel Aviv-Benfica
Group C: Glasgow Rangers-Manchester United, Valencia-Bursaspor
Group D: Panathinaikos-Barcelona, Rubin Kazan-Copenhagen

Have your say
Can Tottenham pip Inter Milan to first place in Group A?

Batista confirmed as Argentina coach

Batista confirmed as Argentina coach

The Argentinian Football Association confirmed Sergio Batista as the head coach of the national team on a permanent basis on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old has been given a contract to the end of the qualification period for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, which will be extended to include the finals should they qualify for the tournament in Brazil. Batista, who took the Under-23 side to gold at the 2008 Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing, had been in caretaker charge since Diego Maradona left the post following the Albiceleste's run to the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals.

Under Batista's interim stewardship, the team recorded two friendly wins and one defeat, beating the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in August and world champions Spain 4-1 the following month, before suffering a 1-0 defeat in Japan. Batista said: "I'm very happy and I thank Julio (Grondona, AFA president) and the officials.

"This is a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to carrying on working the way we've been doing and working towards our aims. This is the best for me. Now I'll think only of working hard."

He added: "I had faith on myself. When you take up a coaching role at a team, you set yourself goals and the biggest one is the national team. Maybe I reached this quite early, but I don't want to waste this chance. The biggest goal is getting to the World Cup and winning it."

Over the coming day Batista is expected to name his squad for the upcoming friendly against Brazil in Doha, Qatar, on 17 November.

Redknapp: Hands off Bale

Redknapp: Hands off Bale

Harry Redknapp warned Europe's top clubs to keep their hands off Gareth Bale after the Tottenham winger underlined his growing reputation by inspiring a 3-1 win over Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League.

Although Rafael van der Vaart, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the goals that killed off the European champions at White Hart Lane on Tuesday, it was a formidable display from Bale that laid the groundwork for a night to remember for the north London club. Bale had served emphatic notice of his prodigious talent by scoring a hat-trick in Spurs' 4-3 defeat against Inter in the San Siro two weeks ago, but Rafael Benitez's team clearly hadn't heeded the warning.

The 21-year-old, who joined Spurs from Southampton in 2007 after becoming the youngest player to represent Wales aged 16, was unstoppable as he made a mockery of Maicon's reputation as one of the best right-backs in the world. After Van der Vaart's first-half opener, Bale set up second half goals for Crouch and Pavlyuchenko with scintillating runs that left Inter's defenders trailing in his wake.

It was a tour de force that drew comparisons with Ryan Giggs - another Welsh wing wizard - and left Redknapp reaching for the superlatives to describe what he had just witnessed. "Gareth is getting better and better. He was amazing," Redknapp said. "They're just doing some drug testing now, the dope testers are here, and I hope they're testing him!
It (Tottenham) is not a selling club. He doesn't need to go abroad, he is better off here.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp

"He's against a right-back who is rated as the best right-back in the world and what he's done to him over the last two games is amazing. He's got everything. He's got great ability. It's not just his pace, he can run all day. He's got the ability to cross, his left-foot is great on the run, he can shoot, dribble, head it, he's got everything.

"He's also a great lad. You couldn't meet a nicer, lower-maintenance boy than him. He just comes in and plays his football. I gave him a few days off because he had been playing so well. I said go abroad and he did, he went to Cardiff to stay with his mum! That's the kind of boy he is."

The world's biggest clubs are certain to try to lure Bale away now he has announced his presence as a major player in Europe's elite club competition. Even Inter director Luis Figo, in his day one of the world's best wingers, was in awe of Bale's display, but Redknapp insists Tottenham have no need to sell their young star at any price.

"He said to me, 'Bale is just amazing, he killed us twice'. When Figo says that, it's got to be good, because he was such a fantastic footballer," Redknapp said. "As far as selling him, the people who own Tottenham are not poor people. It is not a selling club. It is a well-run club. He doesn't need to go abroad, he is better off here."

Bale's heroics helped Tottenham to the top of Group A and within touching distance of a place in the last 16. A victory over Werder Bremen in their next match would seal qualification if Inter beat FC Twente on the same night. While Tottenham savoured one of the greatest nights in the club's history, Inter boss Benitez was left to reflect on a chastening return to England following his spell at Liverpool.

Inter briefly threatened to snatch a draw when Samuel Eto'o reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 80th minute, but Bale finished them off, leaving Benitez to admit he would certainly get into his team. "If he played like that, why not," Benitez said.

"He did well in the first game and he did well this time when he had the space. Maicon is a very good offensive defender but he has more problems when other players attack him. When players like Bale have space it is not easy.

"When we scored I thought we were close. The team was growing and doing better. We were on top of them at this moment but the third goal changed everything. There is a lot of work to be done, not just mentally but tactically. We know we can't lose games in this way."

Goalkeeping defiance, goalscoring brilliance

Goalkeeping defiance, goalscoring brilliance

This week, we look at how goalkeepers Steeve Elana and Edwin van der Sar are defying the odds and the years, pay tribute to the prolific Cristiano Ronaldo and Samuel Eto'o, and highlight a triumphant return for FBK Kaunas.
791

minutes without conceding is the remarkable run that has underpinned Brest’s shock rise to the summit of Ligue 1 for the first time since August 1986. It is now two months and 13 days since Lyon’s Jean Makoun became the last player to breach Steeve Elana’s goal in the top flight, with the subsequent shutouts leading to six wins and two 0-0 draws. Unsurprisingly, the newly-promoted Brittany outfit top Ligue 1’s defensive standings with an average of 0.36 goals conceded per match – a record second only in Europe’s top leagues to Chelsea, who boast an average of 0.3. Elana, meanwhile, is steadily closing in on the top four Ligue 1 clean sheet sequences of all time, with Bruno Martini of Auxerre, Monaco’s Jean-Luc Ettori and Saint-Etienne stalwart Joseph-Antoine Bell (all nine) within touching distance, and Bordeaux’s Gaetan Huard (12) his ultimate target.
81

points from an available 81 is the record with which Lithuania’s record champions, FBK Kaunas, have won promotion back to the top flight. The fallen giants, who were demoted to the country’s third tier shortly before the 2009 season, completed a speedy return by winning all 27 matches in this season’s second tier, 1 Lyga. In Kaunas’s sights for next season are the team that has emerged as Lithuania’s dominant force during their absence. Ekranas Panevezys will be bidding for a fourth successive title, having clinched their third on Sunday with a 2-1 win over KFK Siauliai, leaving them eight points clear of Zalgiris Vilnius with just two rounds of matches remaining. Ekranas now have five national titles overall to the eight of their returning rivals.
38

games, 38 goals. That is how Cristiano Ronaldo’s La Liga record currently stands after the seemingly unstoppable Real Madrid star struck for the tenth time in his last four domestic fixtures. Even the equally irresistible Lionel Messi cannot match his star rival in this respect, although with 41 goals from his last 42 La Liga appearances and an average of 0.98 per game, Barcelona’s talisman could hardly be any closer. With the personal duel between two of the game’s greatest players providing an intriguing subplot to this season’s title race, Real remained on top of the pile after extending their unbeaten league run to 16 games. Despite conceding in the opening half of a top-flight match for the first time under Jose Mourinho, Real maintained their record of having scored more (25) and conceded fewer (5) than any of their domestic rivals. Intriguingly, and thanks largely to Ronaldo, another new record has been set in recent weeks, with every one of the Spanish giants' last 28 goals coming from a foreigner.
9

players over the age of 40 have now turned out in the English Premier League after Edwin van der Sar became the latest member of this exclusive group of veterans. The Manchester United keeper is, in fact, the first non-Brit to reach this milestone, and the first 40-something of any nationality to grace England’s top flight since Watford’s Alec Chamberlain over three years ago. Just two of the nine, Teddy Sheringham and Gordon Strachan, were outfield players, while veteran keeper John Burridge remains the Premier League’s oldest-ever player, having turned out for Manchester City in 1995 at the age of 43 years and 162 days. It proved to be a weekend of landmarks for Manchester United players past and present, with Nemanja Vidic scoring Old Trafford’s 1,000th Premier League goal and Everton's Phil Neville making his 600th career appearance just a week after brother Gary had reached the same milestone.
7

goals have been scored by Samuel Eto’o in his first four UEFA Champions League matches this season. In the history of the competition, only two players had previously managed this feat: Ruud van Nistelrooy, with seven for Manchester United in season 2004/05, and Filippo Inzaghi, who managed eight for AC Milan in 2002/03. Despite Eto’o’s continued success, it was a disappointing night for Inter Milan at White Hart Lane, where Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-1 win – added to a 4-3 defeat in the San Siro – saw the Londoners become the first club to score six goals against I Nerazzurri in a single Champions League season. With 12 goals already to their name, Spurs are the second-highest scorers in this season’s competition behind north London rivals Arsenal, who have 14. Rafael van der Vaart also continued his proud record of having scored in every one of his five appearances at White Hart Lane since arriving from Real Madrid.