Cristiano Will Always Be CR7: Joy and Despair

Manchester--
This week the Reds returned from Doha, Qatar and clobbered Burnley 3-0 at Old Trafford, with Mame Diouf bagging his first goal in his OT opener. After being purchased from Norwegian side Molde FK, the 22-yr-old impressed on his home debut. Berbatov and Rooney scored the other two, taking Rooney's season-long tally to 17. 3-0. 3 points. 1 behind Chelscum (who won 7-2 against a side I could have scored against wearing 5-inch Louboutin boots!).

Berba bangs one home

Rooney shows why he leads the Prem League in goals

Diouf teaches the keeper a lesson...

...and celebrates by balancing upside down on the corner flag! hehe

Ronny is in trouble at RM. The Merengues failed to make a showing against Athletic Bilbao, thanks to the disorganized play (for the most part) and an incredible display of guardianship by the Bilbao keeper, Gorka Iraizoz...I'm not making up that name. Thanks to a goal by Llorente, Bilbao put down Los Blancos and sent them home empty-handed. Not a good thing when Barcelona stomped their competition 4-0 (Sevilla), a team that they lost to in the King's Cup on Wednesday. Revenge. The Blaugrana are now 5 points ahead of Madrid, and showing no sign of letting up.
Why is Ronny in trouble? He was confounded by the defense and flustered by the hideous fans yelling, "Die Cristiano," and "Portuguese S.O.B.," and many other foul things. He even had a brief spat with a fan (although it was largely overblown by the Spanish media), which amounted to nothing more than Cristiano pretending to throw a ball at a man (see photos below and video). Cristiano has always been singled out by opposing fans, like last year's barrage from Chelscum fans, "You should have died in the tunnel." (referring to his horrifying Ferrari crash the day before the match.) Opposing players have also taken a swipe at CR, as former teammate Ryan Giggs has attested, "You should see his ankles. Defenders kick at him and go in hard to try and stop him." Cristiano has largely ignored those, even saying that he enjoyed the boos because it made him want to do even better. So why was he so unnerved yesterday against Bilbao? Only CR knows, but as you will see by the photos, he was not at his best. I blame the environment in which he lives and works. Despite moving to his "dream team as a child," he hasn't clicked yet and has spoken recently of Manchester United. This week Sir Alex was asked if United missed Ronny at all:

“Of course we miss him,” Ferguson said in Doha, Qatar. “He’s a great personality. He’s a great player. He was with us for six years. That was the best we could do for him.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dlM9pHqwew

Ronny showing his fan appreciation in Bilbao

Another missed chance by Ronny

Ronny seems to be saying, "shut it"...in Spanish of course..."por que no te callas!"

I went to a footy match and a wrestling match broke out!

Can't deal with "the wall"

Yep...you lost

I haven't talked much about les Girondins de Bordeaux lately, as they have been on winter hiatus in France, but today was a huge match for the Marine et Blanc. They started out the day being 9 points ahead of second-place Lille in Ligue One standings. Their opposition today was quite honestly the most physical, violent team in France. Cristiano Ronaldo would say not just France, but the Champions League as well. Souleymane Diawara (known as Souley) who used to play for Bordeau last year, is now a defender for Marseilles. He is the one who slid into Cristiano during a CL match, injuring the star. Former United and Real Madrid defender, Gabriel Heinze (and good friend of Cristiano) also plays for Olympique. The Marseillaise, who are used to being in the top three each year, have struggled this year. Because of that they seem to have taken it upon themselves to muscle their way to the top by sheer thuggery. It hasn't been successful and they are languishing in 6th, 11 points behind Bordeaux.
The match was very physical from the start. Marouane Chamakh opened the scoring with a header/own goal near the halfway mark. He rose to head in a cross and proceeded to knock it in with the keeper assisting! Despite the protestations of the Marseilles players, the goal stood. Bordeaux 1-0. That's where the score stayed for almost 30 minutes. On 61 minutes, Marc Planus of Bordeaux was shown a red card and the Bordelaise played with 10 for the rest of the night. What's the big deal? Well, this is the first red card for Marseilles for the entire season. Yes, Bordeaux plays a clean game, relying more on finesse than cheap tackles. Going down a player meant most of the last 30 minutes was played in the Bordeaux half, with Marseilles battering the keeper with a constant barrage of balls. The Bordeaux keeper, Carrasso, was injured and Ulrich Rame, the backup keeper came in to play his part. He did fabulously until an offside goal was allowed. Bordeaux 1-1 Marseilles. The Bordelaise held on for the draw, which is a testament to their fortitude.