I would have loved an all-English CL final, insists Platini
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I would have loved an all-English Champions League final, insists UEFA chief Platini
Platini rejected the suggestion that he did not want an All-English affair.
Michel Platini has emphatically rejected the suggestion that he did not want Chelsea to beat Barcelona in order to prevent a second successive all-English Champions League final, insisting the current phenomenon of Premier League success is simply in the cyclical nature of the tournament.
‘If there had been two English clubs in the final I would have been happy because I respect the result of the competition,’ said Platini, the UEFA president.
‘It’s not about the nationality of the team. I will always respect the result. If there were two English clubs I would be as happy as if there were two German clubs.
‘I am 54 years old. You are younger than me, but the balance in European football always changes. I always say, you had two Italian clubs in the final in Manchester six years ago and two Spanish clubs in 2000. That’s not bad.’
But Platini does acknowledge that he was inconsistent when condemning Manchester City for wanting £120million Kaka while appearing to accept Real Madrid’s pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo for £70m funded by a bank loan.
Platini does acknowledge that he was inconsistent condemning Manchester City while appearing to accept Real Madrid’s pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo for £70m funded by a bank loan.
‘That is a good question,’ said the Frenchman. ‘You have embarrassed me! Why is it different? I could understand [why people were upset in England] but it wasn’t what I intended. My intention was to rationalise things.
‘I didn’t know that Real Madrid would receive a loan for the transfer so we will look at that and we will see. The fact is, how can we work to protect football? I think
it’s not a good thing that a player can be bought for £120million. It’s not good for
football to spend £120m in the financial crisis.’And Platini put in context comments that he wanted Juventus to win the Champions League, which, given the recent history of corruption at Juventus, appeared inappropriate for the UEFA president. ‘I said it of all my former three clubs,’ said Platini.
‘For the first time, all three of my former clubs were in European competition, with
Nancy and St Etienne in the UEFA Cup and Juventus in the Champions League. I
never say it would be nice if they won, but it was throwaway line. I always respect what is happening on the field.’ -
Chelsea Have €43m Bid For Valencia's David Villa Turned Down - Report Respected Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague has today declared that Chelsea have lodged an unsuccessful €43 million bid for Valencia's in-demand striker David Villa. Much in the same vein as the speculation surrounding Kaka, Balague believes that this could spark a tug-of-war auction between the Blues and Real Madrid, both of whom covet a proven world class goal-scorer. Balague recently confided to Sky Sports News, "There will be an offer for Villa [from Real Madrid] next week, which means that there will be another Chelsea versus Real Madrid fight because Chelsea have put an offer to Valencia of €43m, which Valencia have not accepted." He continued by commenting that should the decision ultimately come down to Villa's personal preference, then he will likely choose Madrid. "The player wants to go to Real Madrid and it's only a matter of days [until he does]," Balague said. Villa was Spain's top scorer at last summer's European Championship. His team-mate, David Silva, has also been linked with a move to the Premier League, albeit to Rafael Benitez's Liverpool.
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What a cunt
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fking liar.
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fuck the french... he might have been one of the best player during his time but he sucks big time as the chief...
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what a dog barking
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yeah yeah yeah
when things happened, defintely you say that.
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lying thru his teeth... we all know he wanted poo vs porto in finals.... :P
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what a douchebag.