Barca crushes Athletic as Messi edges closer to record

Lionel Messi moved one goal short of Gerd Mueller’s calendar year record as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 5-1 at the Camp Nou to stay top of La Liga.
Goals from Gerard Pique, Messi and Adriano Correiaput Barca 3-0 up at the break, with Messi’s second-half strike putting him on 84 goals in all competitions for 2012.
Former Germany star Mueller holds the record for his 85 in 1972, and while Messi is near certain to break it before the Christmas break, his first goal may be given as an own-goal, although it was his at the time of writing.
Fabregas had added a thunderous fourth, his fifth Liga goal of the season, and while Athletic improved in the second half they only had one goal to show for it, Ibai Gomez finishing an Ander Iturraspelong ball that caught the defence ball-watching.
The result ensures Barca stay top of La Liga this weekend, while Bilbao – who now have the worst defensive record in La Liga – stay 14th but could slide as low as 16th by Sunday night.
With Athletic Bilbao missing the fatigued Iker Munian and continuing to leave contract rebel Fernando Llorente on the bench, their game was all about defensive resistance.
Initially they shaped up well, shutting out Messi and defending in numbers as Barca looked a touch frustrated.
But for all the good defensive work the visitors came unstuck at a set piece, leaving Pique unmarked to fire home from close range after Gorka Iraizozsaved Cesc Fabregas’s shot when Los Leones failed to clear a corner.
Messi added a second soon afterwards, although his clipped finish may have been going just wide as Fernando Amorebietaslid in on the line – replays were inconclusive as to whether it was the Argentine’s 83rd goal of the year, or an own-goal for the Venezuela defender.
Chasing the game, the visiting defence opened up as attempts to double-up on Messi saw others find space, Cesc Fabregas forcing a save from Iraizoz, Andres Iniesta putting wide of an empty net from a tight angle, and Messi himself hitting the bar after lovely wingplay from Iniesta and Jordi Alba.
Seconds after that chance Barca did have their third as Adriano fired into the roof of the net after a sweeping move initiated by Messi, Fabregas with a delightful through-ball to the Brazilian full-back.
The Basques at least brought Llorente on for the second half but, while he did give them more cohesion going forward, Barca were still very much in charge as Iraizoz denied Messi, who could have won a penalty after a clumsy challenge from Ander Herrara.
They got their fourth soon afterwards though and it was the best goal of the night – typical of Barca it was initiated by a thunderous tackle by Sergio Busquets, Iniesta then giving the defence the eyes as he fed Fabregas, who smashed a ferocious shot past the helpless keeper.
But Athletic had improved after half-time – Llorente and Ander both going close – and they pulled a deserved goal back when Gomez raced on to Iturraspe’s long pass before sliding it past the onrushing Victor Valdes.
Any faint hopes of a comeback were quickly put to bed though as Messi got his second of the night with a curling finish into the top right after an incessant spell of Barca pressure that saw defenders and keeper alike making desperate blocks.
It was a convincing win and one that ensures Barca stay clear of Atletico Madrid in second and – crucially – well ahead of the defending champions Real.

Brazilian ‘Wonderkid’ Wallace moving to Chelsea

Brazilian “wonder kid” Wallace has said he is joining Chelsea.
The Fluminense right-back has in the past been linked with the usual suspects, from Manchester City to Juventus, but, notes the Daily Mirror, Chelsea bought a 40 per cent stake in him two years ago.
The 18-year-old said: “Now that I’m moving to London I’ll have to learn some English but they [the Brazilian players already at Chelsea] are used to this and they will surely help me a lot.
“I used to follow the Spanish league and its big clubs like Real Madrid but now as I’m moving to Chelsea I’m following the club more closely, especially after the Champions League title.
“I watch Chelsea games whenever I can, sometimes I can’t watch because I’m playing or concentrated with my team, but I don’t miss a chance to see them playing on TV.”
Wallace is likely to cost in the region of £5 million.
Meanwhile, fresh from another disappointing performance – this time a 1-1 draw against Everton – Arsenal are planning a New Year raid deep into Germany in order to bring back Mario Gotze . According to Talksport, the Gunners will make a renewed bid to get their hands on the 20-year-old after failing to do so last season.
Borussia Dortmund covet their young playmaker after he helped them to back-to-back Bundesliga titles but Talksport says the Gunners haven’t given up hope of signing him, even if it means waiting until the end of this season.
Gotze, who is contracted to Dortmund until 2016, has a £30 million release contract in his contract. But Arsenal announced last week that they’ll have piles of cash to spend soon, following their £150m shirt deal with Emirates.
That must be why the Arsenal manager is also being linked with a possible move for Malaga midfielder Isco.
Like Gotze, Isco is a 20-year-old prodigy regarded as one of Europe’s hottest properties. Both the Manchester clubs are known to be keen, and reports suggest Tottenham and Liverpool have also been sniffing around.
But according to Spanish rag Malaga Hoy, Malaga is working overtime to persuade Isco to sign on for another term in la Liga. “Talks for renewal [of his contract] are still on track,” Malaga sporting director Mario Husillos explained.
Husillos went on to claim that the “boy wants to stay at the club because it is clear that this is best for his development”. The Premier League chasing pack begs to differ and it’s expected Malaga’s resolve will be tested in the New Year with a big money offer from Arsenal.
The Metro says that Scott Sinclair could soon be on his way out of the Etihad just months after the striker signed from Swansea City. The 23-year-old has started just two matches for City since his £6 million summer arrival, with just 15 minutes of league action in the last two months to his name.
Rumours have emerged in recent weeks suggesting Sinclair is unhappy with his lot at the Sky Blues, but the message from the club is he’ll have to be patient. “When a player comes to this club, they are going to have to accept they are not going to play week-in, week-out,” explained City’s assistant manager David Platt. “When we spoke to Scott, he knew what he was coming into.”
Platt then said that if Sinclair wasn’t happy he could “go and play like Adam Johnson did”. Johnson famously left City in the summer for Sunderland after growing fed up with his lack of game time, advising young players as he left that City wasn’t a good club to join if you wanted regular action.
Finally, caughtoffside.com says that Chelsea are preparing to make a £5 million bid for Feyenoord’s Stefan de Vrij. The center-half, described as a “contract rebel” for his refusal to sign a new deal with the Dutch club, is well thought of in European circles and Newcastle, Sunderland and Arsenal have all been mentioned as possible suitors.
But the Blues look to be ready to pounce first as they seek a replacement for the aging John Terry. ·

Ferguson challenges Rooney to deliver

Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged Striker Wayne Rooney to step up in game in terms goal scoring as he also admitted that time off is not good for him because of his ‘frame’.
According to Ferguson during an interview with Skysports “Wayne is going through a period like all strikers do, he is not scoring,”
“He has missed bits of games and been off with tonsillitis, and Wayne is the type of player who can’t miss games because of the frame he has got.”
Regarding the use of Rooney within the diamond formation, Ferguson added: “I am happy with that part of his game.
Rooney scored 34 goals in the 2009/10 season as a lone striker but has taken a back seat since the arrival of Van Persie from Arsenal in the summer.
Ferguson is impressed with the impact that the former Arsenal striker has made and said: “Without doubt Robin is an up-front player.
“He has experience and now our players are starting to realise how good he is. We are getting more aware of the runs he is making and the movement he has up front. Hopefully that understanding gets better.”
The Premier League leaders head to Reading today and the manager is not concerned that their previous fixtures have not been attacking classics.
“I don’t think the form has been that bad to be honest,” the Scot added. “But when you are manager of this club, you have to go through that analysis about Manchester United not being as good as they used to be.
“We are still top of the league so we must be doing something right.”

Abramovich looking to cut losses on Torres

Signed from Liverpool to Chelsea for a whopping £50 million, Spaniard Fernando Torres has always been topical since his arrival at Stamford Bridge making as he has proved to be the player the Blues can rely on.
An arrow head in the Blues team,in terms of formation, Chelsea’s Russian owner is considering to cut his losses on the £50 million man, tagging  Torres with an ultimatum of one more month to prove pundits wrong and deliver like he used to while he was at Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Abramovich is not sleeping with his two eyes as Chelsea moved on another striker to likely replace Torres and  Brazilian striker, Taison was the choice of the Stamford Bridge club,  as reports indicate that he will sign a £10 million deal next week ahead of the opening of the January transfer window.
Taison was at Stamford Bridge to witness the 0-0 bore draw with Fulham.
The 24-year-old, a former Internacional team-mate of Chelsea’s big money summer signing Oscar, was tracked in the summer. His name has come to greater attention this season following his spectacular Marco Van Basten-esque volley for his club Metalist Kharkiv in the Europa League three weeks ago.
Benitez, on a short-term deal until the end of the season, still believes he can help Torres recapture the form he showed under him during his spell at Anfield.
When asked about Torres’ contribution in the back-to-back goalless draws over the past week, Benitez said: “We have had, maybe, five training sessions.
“It’s still too early. But for me we are watching things that are positive.”
Torres is currently on a run of 648 minutes without a Premier League goal, and has managed just one shot on target during Rafa’s first two games in charge.

EKO 2012:Lagos will achieve less in track and field events –Analyst

A sports analyst and former board member of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria has commented on the performance of Lagos state; the host of the 18th Sports Festival in the track and field events that it would not achieve much in terms clinching medals.
Adeyemi Philips who lectures Physical and Health Education at the University of Lagos said Delta, Edo and River states respectively possess more advantage than the host the track and field events of the National Sports Festival tagged Eko 2012 because they have top quality athletes which the host do not possess.
“Delta, Edo, and Rivers are the top contenders for the athletics medals, they have top quality athletes. Lagos will find it hard during the competition,”
It can be said now that this claim by the Philips has encompassed performances by the host in the festival as Delta and Rivers states drowned Lagos state on the medals table and as of yesterday Delta was leading the table 10 gold medals, while River is following closely with 8 and Lagos coming third on the table.
He said the whole essence of the Sports festival is for the common goal of the country looking at the development of sports in Nigeria which has recently nose-dived judging by the performance of the country’s sportsmen in world stage.
“The overriding joy will be how many fresh talents we can discover and then be groomed to become world stars.
“This thing about athletes moving from one state to the other when it is time for the sports festival should be a thing of the past. What we want to see are States presenting young and enterprising athletes.
This is the only way Nigeria can produce quality athletes at the international level, the sports festival should be a breeding ground.

Seven goal thriller sends Man U three points clear at the top of the table

Manchester United prepared for next weekend’s derby with Man City by moving three points clear of the champions with a frenzied 4-3 win at Reading in the Premier League on Saturday in which all the goals were scored in the first half.
Hal Robson-Kanu put Reading in front, but Anderson equalized and Wayne Rooney gave United the lead from the penalty spot by the 16th minute.
Adam Le Fondre hit back for Reading and Sean Morrison headed the hosts ahead by the 23rd minute.
Rooney began United’s second comeback and Robin van Persie made it 4-3 by the 34th when the flood of goals ended.
Next Sunday, United hosts second-place City, which was held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Saturday.
Other Matches
Chelsea are now 10 points off the pace in third place after seeing their run without victory stretch to seven games in a 3-1 defeat at West Ham United, while Arsenal tumbled to 10th after a 2-0 loss at home to Swansea City.
Chelsea’s match at West Ham was another game of two halves.
The visitors led 1-0 at halftime, only for the hosts’ rousing second-half fightback to condemn the European champions to their longest sequence of top-flight games without victory since 1995.
Juan Mata scored the first goal of the Rafael Benitez era to put Chelsea ahead at Upton Park but a revitalised West Ham roared back to prevail through goals from Carlton Cole and substitutes Mohamed Diame and Modibo Maiga.
“At this level, you have to take your chances, and we had many clear chances to finish the game,” said interim coach Benitez, who has picked up two points from a possible nine since replacing the sacked Roberto Di Matteo.
Michu was Arsenal’s scourge at the Emirates Stadium, the £2 million ($3.2 million, 2.5 million euros) signing from Rayo Vallecano claiming a late brace for Swansea to leave Arsene Wenger’s side five points below the top four.
“We were not good and Swansea deserved to win,” said Wenger, whose side have made their worst start to a league season since he arrived in 1996.
“Our fans cannot be happy when we do not win games and what we produced today is not enough to keep our fans happy.”
Marouane Fellaini put Everton ahead in the 33rd minute at City, following in after Joe Hart parried his header, but the Belgian’s foul on Edin Dzeko allowed Carlos Tevez to bring the champions level from the spot before halftime.
“It was a hard game,” City manager Roberto Mancini told the BBC.
“We tried to break them down but this week we have played three games in six days so we are tired. We also have players injured.”
A 75th-minute goal by Dean Whitehead gave Stoke City a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, and Tottenham Hotspur capitalised on the Baggies’ setback to move into fourth place with a 3-0 win at Fulham.
Brazilian holding midfielder Sandro set Spurs on their way with a wickedly swerving 30-yard effort in the 55th minute, before a quick-fire Jermain Defoe brace took the game away from Martin Jol’s side.
Spurs lost both Michael Dawson and the in-form Gareth Bale to injury, but coach Andre Villas-Boas said: “They are not very serious (injuries) and hopefully we will have them both back soon.”
Harry Redknapp’s home debut as Queens Park Rangers manager ended in stalemate after the top flight’s bottom club were held 1-1 by Aston Villa at Loftus Road.
Brett Holman put Villa ahead in the eighth minute but Jamie Mackie’s fine 18th-minute header levelled the scores for QPR, who had Stephane Mbia taken to hospital following a collision with Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Liverpool climbed one place to 11th after Daniel Agger’s 43rd-minute header secured a 1-0 success at home to Southampton that gave Brendan Rodgers’ side only their third home win of the campaign.