Munich’s Thiago injured his knee again – could be ousted for another lengthy spell

Some players are more than unlucky as far their injuries are concerned, especially if they are in young age and just missed the world cup. Yes, you guessed it right; we are talking about Spanish player Thiago Alcântara who plays for Bayern Munich. Knowingly, he missed the world cup for his knee injury and again damaged his knee ligament in the training last week. It is the third time, he got the specific area damaged and assumingly doctor could advise him another lengthy sideline. His injury is following him since last season when he first damaged knee ligament during Bayern’s clash with Hoffenheim back in March and then he saw further recurrence of the same injury during the world cup and had to be ousted from the whole event. Although, club has refused to reveal the severity of the injury but close sources have said that he could miss a long period since his knee is not in a right shape at the moment. What Bayern has said officially is he has suffered a partial tear which could require an operation without mentioning the timeframe he could be back in the field within.

Like any professional side, club sporting director Matthias Sammer has promised to offer any support to see him back in the game and said, “We are all shocked and saddened by his new injury. Thiago was so close to his comeback after all this time. But he knows Bayern are there for him. We will do everything so that he will get healthy again, and can win a lot of titles with us.” As far his replacement is concerned, Munich is having Franck Ribery and Rafinha back in the side for weekend game with the Werder Bremen.

Anyway, Thiago himself informed about this setback via a site post and said, “What can I say ? Of course, I am at the moment profoundly disappointed and desperate. Why always me ? But I will not give up . I will fight again. I ‘m going to get close again . And I will celebrate my comeback at Bayern.” Apart from this, he did not hint about the time he is going to take for recovery, but no worry, Bayern is known for support to players during needy days, hence we can expect his comeback very soon, however, he would have to earn the team space with a promising start after almost a year.

Toni Kroos goes to Real Madrid for 20 million Euros

If reports coming from Germany are to be believed, world cup star midfielder Toni Kroos, who scored two back to back goals in the semifinal against the hosts, could move to the Spanish side Real Madrid if everything goes well. Though, the talks between Bayern Munich and Real were on since long but recently after seeing Kroos form in the world cup, it looked German club could change its mind and not allow its star player to leave, but reports are now coming that he could soon move to Spain. The amount involved in the deal is not confirmed but close sources have revealed it to be somewhere around 25 million Euros though final confirmation would only be given by the La Liga side after deal takes place. Actually, attacking centre-back had been offered an extension earlier in January by Die Roten but he reportedly refused to have the addition citing the amount that was being offered to him was too less for his caliber and status. Nonetheless, whatever is being flashed in the media, there is a small possibility where Allianz side could revise their earlier offer to win their dissenting player back, but these are just possibilities which could happen in coming days.

Real is not the only club who had been interested in the 24-year-old, Manchester United was also once aspiring him but after a managerial change at Old Trafford, Kroos denied off associating with Louis Gaal.

Update

Current deal, which has apparently been agreed between the two, is for five year and central midfielder would get £160,000-a-week from Champions League winners. Though, the deal is being labeled as the intelligent one from the Spanish side, but there are few who are suspecting it to be successful in future coz Real has apparently replaced him with Argentine 26-year-old Angel Di Maria who is now moving toward The Red Devils.

Anyways, Kroos seems to be more than happy joining his dream side and he pointy expressed his feelings in a recent interview where he said, “We’ve finished the World Cup in the best way possible. Now I’m going to Madrid, so that’s two dreams achieved.” During his stay with the German side, he scored four goals plus eight assists during 45 played games that include as well two Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal title wins.

It so now a new beginning for the midfielder in his professional career where he needs to prove his performance in the world cup was not a fluke and he deserves much more than what was offered by his former club early this year; hence he made no mistake by choosing a better place for rest of his profession.

Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema case finally begun in a French court

Soccer stars enjoy the shining world where every move they make is on the radar of the media, but sometimes this also becomes a nightmare for them coz each of their impish moves is also trapped by news hungry peoples. The thirty-year-old French footballer Franck Ribéry who plays for German club Bayern Munich and his 26-year-old countryman Karim Benzema who plays for Read Madrid are the starlets who are like the eye candies for sport media around the world these days. Don’t worry; they have not done anything brilliant on the field but coz they are accused of having a relationship with a minor prostitute – something that they are obviously denying right from the beginning. Since, the incident belongs to Spain their case was also subjected for Paris Jurisdiction, but they have until been denying to appear before any court of law for obvious reasons. Now, there is a bad news for them as a court in Paris has accepted an application to proceed with a trial on them. Notably, if they are found guilty of doing anything wrong in this case they can be penalized up to 45,000 euros or three years imprisonment or both.

First hearing of the case was on Monday and none of them appeared in person therein though their legal representatives appeared and explained their absence. This is not the very recent case perhaps something that happened back in September 2009 when Police got the tip from an anonymous source and investigating agency had since been trying to levy such charges on them. Earlier in June, proceedings could have started but court deferred it until January 2014. Lawyers of both players prominently said that victim Zahia Defar, who now owns a lingerie company, was then a prostitute and lied about her age therefore none of the players is guilty doing anything intentionally.

According to investigating agencies, Ribery paid somewhere around €700 to Defar for making a sexual relationship in a Bavarian city hotel room while Benzema paid somewhere around five hundred pounds for sleeping with the same minor girl. Ribery’s lawyer Carlo Alberto Brusa explained, “It’s not a lack of respect for the justice system. We’re in a case where we are going to ask for it to be dropped and there is no complainant.”

Good news is both clubs are backing their players and not letting them alone. Bayern Munich sporting director Matthias Sammer even said, “Of course we are concerned with it – we cannot pass on a topic like this. We have a responsibility to our player and will signal to him that we are on his side, and he’ll get the best support from us.”

Pellegrini accepts his arithmetic gaffe in the match against Bayern Munich

Crucial matches often carry lots of burden on top think-tank of any team, including manager where he needs to make fast decisions keeping in mind their overall impact on the final score. City’s last Championship match with defending champions Bayern Munich has been one of best ones this season coz they won that match despite trailing by two goals at once. However, the match is more in news coz of the manager Manuel Pellegrini who apparently could not calculate how many goals they need to top Group D of European league. Actually, Allianz Arena side has played equal number of games with City and has also won equal number of games, but since there is a one goal’s difference in German’s favor, they are leading the group. City won the match by 2-3 and if they could have scored one more, they would have been leading their group which means they would have enjoyed more chances to score good in the second level as well. But now, they would have to clash with either of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris St Germain, or Atletico Madrid in the second stage in February.

Anyway, it was Pellegrini mistake that he could not guess correctly how many goals his team needed to top the group that is why he replaced striker Edin Dzeko with midfielder Jack Rodwell in the last few minutes and thought they don’t require more goals to overcome Munich’s ranking.

He accepted his ‘wrong’ calculations in an interview post match where he said, “I was tempted if we scored the fourth goal. Of course, that’s why I sent Aguero to warm up. But also I think it was a risk to continue with Silva. He couldn’t play more than 70 minutes. It is very important to be first in the group but not the most important thing. It was difficult to score two goals and I think that Silva couldn’t play more than 70 minutes.”

While Sports pundit Jamie is still surprised how City think tank could not assess their requirement to lead the tally, he said, “He’s given the interview, and I’m still scratching my head that he doesn’t understand the rules or what could have got them through. The fact that he goes to the press conference and says it again proves that it wasn’t something lost in translation, his English is good.

“With what he’s saying there, if they get Real Madrid or Barcelona in that draw, people will look back at that. He keeps mentioning about the game against Arsenal, but that was irrelevant, you’re talking about the last seven or eight minutes that a substitution needed to be made.

“With his comments, it looks obvious to us now he’s said it twice, that he wasn’t aware of what got Man City through. At this level of football, it’s astonishing.”

Borussia Dortmund reveals Reus’ release clause

Many young players don’t understand the tiny clauses their contracts may be having these days, but after Liverpool’s Luis Suarez incident everybody now understands what the details he should look for into his agreement. Generally, clubs only disclose about a special clause when they want it to be, like in case of Liverpool who apparently wanted their forward left them that time. Similarly, German soccer club Borussia Dortmund has now revealed about a release clause they put into the service contract of 24-year-old midfielder Marco Reus. This is not the first time Reus is having a special clause in his contract coz his last stay at Borussia Monchengladbach was also ended after exercise of a clause by BVB. This is his second season with Westfalenstadion and he is enjoying his stay over there with an impressive debut last year and equally fruitful current season, and that is why he is on the radar of many biggies like Manchester United, Barcelona, Arsenal, and PSG. If rumors are to be believed he is continuously in touch with some of them for exercise of his release clause, and probably, he wants a handsome increment from what he is getting in Germany.

According to some insiders, United is preparing a heavy bid to buy more than one player from German club which includes Reus, however, who will be the other players is not yet confirmed by the league defenders, but reportedly, Shinji Kagawa is the one Old Trafford club seems to be interested in. This could also be an intentional move by Jürgen Klopp side just to encash their priciest asset coz as per available reports in the media, an interesting buyer can trigger the release clause if it could offer around €35million for national football team member.

According to current contract, Reus can live at Dortmund until 2017, but his contract also authorizes him for a pay hike after a specific period of time which looks not to be in his club’s comfort zone. Club’s executive Hans-Joachim Watzke confirms about the release clause in is recent interview and said, “Marco Reus possesses a release clause option in his current contract at our club. He could leave our club due to that. He is, however, the only player in our first-team squad that has such a contract clause.”

Next few weeks will clear the cloud over his future and where it lies in upcoming seasons!