Albert Riera Fan – Page 8 – We all LOVE Albert Riera

MEL CHASING RIERA

The manager of West Bromwich Albion, Pepe Mel, has been reported to have Albert Riera on his radar.

Riera who has the experience of playing for a couple of top English clubs in the past is currently featuring in Turkish top flight for Galatasaray SK. His performance there hasn’t been that well of late and that’s why, the club is looking to offload him.

As far as Mel is concerned, he has recently taken charge at West Brom. The match against Everton FC the other day was his debut match as Baggies’ boss and he didn’t have a bad start at all. Yes, he would certainly have preferred a win and 3 points, but, to start with a draw was alright too.

GALA TAKE ON REAL

The manager of Galatasaray SK, Roberto Mancini, has said that beating Real Madrid on their home ground is not going to be easy at all for his team.
Galatasaray will take on Real Madrid in a Champions League game on Wednesday. It’s going to be a very important game for the Turkish giants. They can’t afford to suffer a defeat in that game.

Galatasaray is at the second position in the Group B points table at the moment. They have played 4 games so far out of which they have won 1, have lost 2 and have shared points on one occasion. They have just 4 in the point’ column and to increase their chances of playoffs qualification, they need 3 points from the game against Madrid.

SUAREZ LOVING LINK-UP

Luis Suarez has said that he is very happy with the way his partnership with Daniel Sturridge is going on at the moment.

Suarez has formed a tremendous partnership with Sturridge at Liverpool this season. The duo has put up quite a few match winning performances for the Reds so far and according to Suarez, they are determined to carry on the good work.

Talking to the reporters yesterday about his partnership with Sturridge, Suarez said, “I am really glad with the way me and Daniel are playing together. When there are two good players playing upfront, the opposition defenders find it very hard because they have to focus on both those players. They can’t concentrate on one because if they do so, the other guy will get the space.”

YILMAZ LINKED

There have been a lot of rumours surrounding striker Burak Yilmaz of Galatasaray. He has been linked with a number of clubs over the last few months including Chelsea. He was the second top scorer in the Champions League last season, which is an incredible achievement while playing for a club in Turkey.

The striker moved to the Turkish giants only recently, and he has already been linked with a move to various clubs across Europe. At the back end of last season, he was heavily linked with a £ 20 million move to Chelsea, but there has been no offer from the West London outfit so far.

SPAIN LOSE TO BRAZIL

The manager of the Spanish national football team, Vicente Del Bosque, has admitted that the performance of his team was very poor in the final of the Confederations Cup against Brazil. Spain had been defeated by 0-3 in that match.

Spain had been ruling the football world since the last 5 years. They were the favourites in this tournament as well and the way they had played in the games before the final, it seemed that they would achieve glory here as well. But, that wasn’t the case to be. In the final match, they were completely outsmarted by a young, enthusiastic Brazilian side.

Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, Bosque said, “I want to congratulate Brazil for winning this tournament again. They were certainly a better unit today.”

Soccer Safari

Football’s coming home, or so we all like to think. Britain is the true home of the sport which is now the most popular competitive team sport the word over and which is played in around 200 countries by around 250 million players.

There are many sports themed online slot games that are based on football. Some of these take themselves and their football theme quite seriously, while others adopt a more fun-orientated aspect to their football themes. One of these latter ones, and the one that we will review here, is called Soccer Safari and it is based on the last Football World Cup that was hosted in South Africa. The game is from Microgaming.

STUN REAL

The winger of Galatasaray, Albert Riera, has said that his side can stun Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League.

Galatasaray has reached the quarter finals of the Champions League after 12 years. The last time they had qualified for the final 8 of this competition was way back in the 2000-01 season. In that season also, they had to face Madrid in the quarter final. They hadn’t managed to get better of the Spanish giants and were knocked out of the tournament.

This time also, it’s Real Madrid which is the favourite. The first leg of this quarter final clash will be played at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, while, the return leg will be played on Tuesday next week at Turk Telecom Arena.

When asked about the upcoming quarter final clash against Madrid, Riera said, “Real Madrid is undoubtedly a great side, but, frankly speaking, we have got enough capability to face any side in this world. Our team can stun a lot of people. We will play aggressive football and will make things very tough for Madrid.”

“The Real Madrid players have got more experience of playing in these kinds of matches. People are expecting them to win both the legs easily, but, in these matches, sometimes, unexpected things happen.”

“At home, we are a very dangerous side because we have our supporters behind us there. So, if we don’t fall that far behind in the first leg, we will have a real opportunity in our hands in the return leg.”

This is Riera’s second season for Galatasaray. He had joined the club in September 2011.
Riera has so far played 19 matches for Galatasaray in this season and has found the net once. He has also assisted a couple of goals.

TERIM DISAPPOINTED

The manager of Galatasaray SK, Fatih Terim, has said that he is disappointed with his team’s performance in the Champions League match against Schalke 04. The Galatasaray team lost quite a few opportunities against Schalke 04 and the match eventually ended in a draw.

Galatasaray took the lead in the 12th minute of the match with the goal of Burak Yilmaz. Selcuk Inan assisted the goal with a fine pass.

Galatasaray lost its advantage just a few minutes before the half time break. Jermaine Jones scored the leveller for Schalke 04.

Talking to the reporters after the match, Fatih Terim said, “We started well and took the lead, but, we lost our concentration just a bit towards the end of the first half which gave Schalke the opportunity to equalize the scores.”

“We had quite a few opportunities to get ahead again in the second half, but, we failed in cashing on those chances and ended up playing a draw. I am really disappointed with this result. I had expected the boys to perform better than this.”

In this match, the former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was included in the starting XI of Galatasaray. This was Drogba’s second match for Galatasaray. He had featured for his new team in the last match against Akhisar Belediyespor as well, but, in that match, he hadn’t started. He was sent onto the field as a substitute, but, he had scored a goal just 5 minutes after coming onto the field.

When asked about Drogba’s performance in his first couple of matches for Galatasaray, Terim said, “He has been fantastic so far. He was at his very best in the last match and today also, he played quite well. Hopefully, his form would remain good in the upcoming games as well.”

BIG GAMES

The Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim has slighted that the upcoming group stage match with Manchester United is one of the biggest in the Turkish club’s history. Galatasaray are involved in the Champions League group stages alongside teams like Manchester United knowing that they still have an opportunity to take part in the last 16 stage provided they perform well in the remaining two matches. Fatih Terim has said that he cannot wait to meet Sir Alex Ferguson, while he is extremely hopeful that the team will be able to win this match more than anything else.

Turkish football has been under a cloud of doubt of match fixing over the last few months. The prospect of having a Turkish team in the last 16 stage of the Champions League will be extremely positive for the nation as a whole according to the Galatasaray manager. Galatasaray have so far collected four points from four matches this season. Due to the fact that Manchester United have already qualified, they are expected to have a weakened line-up for this match. This coupled with the fact that the Ali Sami Yen is one of the toughest places to visit in the world, Terim is confident of success.

“It’s clear that this match is one of the most important games in Galatasaray’s history. Hopefully we’ll see a historic night at the Ali Sami Yen. I am sure that the fans will be putting a lot of effort into their preparations for the game and will support us until the final whistle. Our group is very complicated. There are two teams on four points and one team with three. The best thing now is us and Cluj winning tomorrow,” said the Galatasaray manager ahead of the match. Ferguson has confirmed that he will not have seven first-team players for this match.

TURKEY STRUGGLING THROUGH

The Turkish national team manager Abdullah Avcı will be without the services of the influential Fenerbahçe midfielder Gökhan Gönül for the match against Hungary. Turkey will be taking on Hungary in the World Cup qualifying matches tomorrow after having been recently defeated 1-0 by Romania.

The 1-0 defeat only a few days ago adds more pressure to the manager Abdullah Avcı. However, he will have to do without the services of Gökhan Gönül, who is regarded as one of the best players for Turkey over the last few years. Aside from this, he is also suffering from a long list of injuries to key players ahead of this match.

It has not been a great qualifying season for the manager after he has recently seen the nation lose in the first World Cup qualifying match against Netherlands. They then followed that with a respectable 3-0 win over Estonia, but the victory has now been rendered useless following the 1-0 defeat against Romania. As result of this defeat, Turkey must now definitely win the match against Hungary in order to have any chance of progressing. Even though it is still the early stage, the Turkish manager Abdullah Avcı feels that other teams will pull away from them if they do not take a victory against Hungary.

“I believe that I was not wrong in my player choices, the choice belongs to me and my team. Losing is a part of the game and today we lost. Nuri is one of the most valuable players in this country and the national team. He has been taking more time since his transfer to Liverpool, and that is an advantage for us. Nuri is one of the players who will wear this team’s jersey,” said the Turkish national team manager after the match against Romania.