The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Guardiola lashes out at Barca bosses Posted: 12 Jul 2013 03:12 AM PDT Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola whipped up a media storm in Spain today by accusing his former bosses at Barcelona of trying to use coach Tito Vilanova's cancer illness to criticise him. The 42-year-old, who won 14 titles between 2008 and 2012 at Barcelona and took a year off in New York before joining the German side, exposed a deep rift between him and Barca president Sandro Rosell's management team. "This year there have been too many things that crossed the line," Guardiola told a news conference Thursday at Lake Garda in Italy, where the German team were in pre-season training. "But using Tito's illness to damage me is something I will never forget," he said in Catalan, denying he had failed to see Vilanova while he was treated in New York for salivary gland cancer. "I saw Tito in New York and if we did not see each other on other occasions it is because it was not possible, but not on my part." He did not say who exactly had made the accusation. Barcelona vice president Jordi Cardoner said he was surprised when he heard Guardiola's outburst and he denied the club had made any such claim. "We have not used Tito's illness to go against him and whoever does such a thing is a bad person," he told Barcelona-based sports daily Mundo Deportivo in an interview published Friday, adding that he hoped there would be an explanation because he believed Guardiola's relations with himself and Rosell had always been "cordial". In the same news conference, Guardiola also denied a claim that he had told Brazilian star Neymar's father that Vilanova would not know how to use both Neymar and Lionel Messi in the same squad. In fact, Guardiola said he had met with Neymar's father and repeatedly told him that his son was doing the right thing by signing with Barcelona. Vilanova's name was not mentioned in the conversation, he said. Vilanova had been Guardiola's assistant at Barcelona for five years and he led the Catalan team to their most successful league win in history last season, Guardiola said. "Do I have to excuse myself for wanting things to go badly for someone who has been a colleague for so long?" he asked. "It is very bad taste and I was not expecting it." The new Bayern coach said he had asked Barcelona's management to leave him in peace when he left the club. "The only thing I asked Rosell was to leave me in peace and they have not left me in peace even from 6,000 kilometres away," Guardiola said. "They have not done it, they have not lived up to their word." Guardiola's quotes were splashed across the pages of Spain's sporting press. "Guardiola dynamites Barca, " ran the front page of leading sports daily As. "Guardiola on the attack!" said Mundo Deportivo. - AFP, July 12, 2013. |
| Keep your shirt on, Brazil’s Maracana stadium tells fans Posted: 11 Jul 2013 11:22 PM PDT
Another: no musical instruments such as drums or bamboo poles to wave flags. The code of good conduct at South America's largest stadium was devised after the home team Fluminense signed a contract to play there another 35 years, stadium officials said yesterday. It is a common sight at Maracana to see throngs of young male fans shirtless in the steamy South American heat, standing and screaming throughout games, and occasionally fighting with each other in spats with rival team supporters or rival Fluminense fan clubs. Now, fences will be set up to separate them this season starting later this month. The barriers will be removed when Brazil hosts the World Cup next year. During that period, football's world governing body FIFA will essentially be in charge of the stadium "We are going to talk to the teams to change habits," said Joao Borba, president of the consortium that runs the legendary arena. Not everyone likes the segregation. "It is a shame to put up bars at Maracana to separate fans. They have to live together in harmony," said former Brazilian star Bebeto on Twitter. He is on the World Cup organizing committee. Sports journalist Edgar Catoira said the "FIFA pattern" does not take into account "carioca patterns." Carioca is the local word for people or things from Rio. The stadium has undergone a $536 million overhaul with an eye to being the centerpiece of the World Cup. That kind of spending was one of the sparks for massive protests last month by people complaining that funding for things like education and health care are getting short shrift while Brazil spends heavily to get ready for the World Cup and its hosting of the Olympic Games in 2016. - AFP, July 12, 2013. |
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