Implications of Real Madrid’s transfer ban
Spanish giants Real Madrid and their city rivals Atletico Madrid have received a two-year transfer ban for flouting youth players transfer rules. But the ban will only take effect after the current January transfer window.
The immediate implications are that Manchester United and Chelsea, who were rumoured to be in jeopardy of losing David De Gea and Edin Hazard respectively, can heave a sigh of relief as it now seems impossible that Madrid could complete the transfers.
Even if the players are bought in the current January transfer, they would be required to remain with their respective cubs until 2017, the way Barcelona’s Ardar Turan and Axiel Vidal had to wait until this month.
The situation has put another dent on the extravagant-minded club president Florentino Perez’s reign after Madrid were also expelled from the Copa Del Rey for fielding an ineligible player. In fact, the firing of Rafael Benitez was seen by many as a sacrificial lamb by Perez as someone had to take a fall for the cup expulsion.
Who takes the fall now is the hard question Perez will have to answer to his critics.
Those who thought Leicester City’s run in the Premier League will fizzle out in the second round are now pinching themselves. Leicester continue to defy odds as they won an important match against Tottenham on Wednesday that placed them back level on points (43) with Arsenal at the top.
Leicester play against bottom club Aston Villa today and will definitely regain top position as Arsenal do not play until Sunday against Stoke City. I doubt they can stand the raw power that Leicester bring to their matches.
It would appear the wheels have come off Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace after injuries to the agile Yannick Bolasie and striker Connor Wickham. They have now gone four games without a win since they beat Stoke on December 19. Since then, they have settled for stalemates against Bournemouth and Swansea before losing to Chelsea and Aston Villa.
Super Sunday sees in-form Liverpool line up against under fire Man United. United won the first-round encounter 3-1 in September, but since then, Liverpool have won against any big club. They beat Chelsea 3-1 in October before trouncing Man City 4-1 in November. On Wednesday, they almost beat leaders Arsenal before settling for a 3-3 draw.
Brace hero, Brazilian Firminho, should not be underrated because of his lazy body language. Of course, Liverpool’s only problem is inconsistency because their goalkeeper is not in fine form after conceding silly goals against Arsenal from corner kicks. Add to that, Liverpool’s defence looks suspect. The pairing of Kolo Toure and Sakho looks like two Robocops in central defence as they are too rigid.
But they play a United side whose problems are well documented, lack of firepower upfront and defensive blunders. Wednesdays three-all draw against Newcastle highlighted the United’s defensive frailties although the attacking seemed to have improved. n
