Quote
“I’ve been Messi for 34 years, so I’m starting to get used to it.”
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner after being asked if it was hard being Lionel Messi on a daily basis.
Number: 340,000
The peak TV audience for RTÉ’s coverage of Ireland’s game against Georgia last Tuesday, a record for a women’s international game.
Word of Mouth
“Just go out and be Divock.”
Jurgen Klopp’s instruction to Divock Origi when he brought him on as a sub against Wolves on Saturday. It worked a treat, Divock being Divock by scoring a 94th minute winner.
“We didn’t get beat by Celtic, we got beat by poor decisions from the referee. I’d end up going to jail if I said what I want to say about it…… Scottish football, you’re in Glasgow.”
Apart from that, Hearts manager Robbie Neilson took Thursday’s 1-0 defeat well.
“You’ve got to give Man City some respect, otherwise it will be a Holocaust and you don’t want that.”
West Ham old-boy Carlton Cole punditing on BBC Radio 5 Live. The apology followed swiftly.
Texas Twitter Tirade
Spurs fans Ken and Brandi Saxton got a bunch of sympathy after the club's recent game away to Burnley was postponed 50 minutes before kick-off when the pitch disappeared under snow. For any Spurs supporters who'd made the 230-mile journey from London, it was all a bit unfortunate, but Ken and Brandi had travelled a little further - from Texas.
Their trip started with a flight from Dallas to Washington DC, then on to London, and then a seven hour train journey to Burnley - 4,600 miles and 31 hours in all.
The only upside to the sorry tale was that Harry Kane got wind of their misfortune and tweeted them an invitation to be a guest of his at a home game the next time they make it to England. They were, needless to say, chuffed.
But whether or not Harry will still be at Spurs by the time they make it over to London remains to be seen. One Spurs fan certainly hopes not. “Need a manager with the ****** to bench Kane and make this Son’s team. Winter window: sell Kane. It truly needs to happen.”
As the meanies pointed out to Kane, that was what Ken tweeted in September. What’s it the young people say? Awks.
More Word of Mouth
“You give a referee, who has match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany ….. what do you expect?”
Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham just a touch unhappy with referee Felix Zwayer after the 3-2 defeat to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
“The man’s CV is not one that makes you go ‘wow’. I don’t get this appointment on any level. A nice pension for him, 63 years old, it’s lovely work if you can get it.”
Graeme Souness with a warm welcome to Manchester for Ralf Rangnick.
“If you know he’s only going to be there for six months and he didn’t really fancy you, if he says ‘go and warm up’, you’ll say ‘no, I’m not warming up, I’ll be here longer than you, mate’.”
Teddy Sheringham sees trouble, in the form of insurrection, ahead for Ralf.
Jose Plays Nice
How are things going between Jose Mourinho and the Italian media at the moment? Well, they could be better, his refusal to hold a press conference before Saturday’s game against Inter Milan not helping matters.
And after his side lost 3-0 at home? He turned up at his press conference, alright, but refused to answer any questions, instead delivering a monologue.
When a reporter attempted to ask him a question? “Your job is a lot easier than ours,” he said, “which is why we earn a lot more than you.” Still making friends wherever he goes, then.
