titbits of football news
Torres is no longer a Chelsea player
Torres is going to AC Milan permanently but will be at Atletico on loan
Fernando Torres is to join AC Milan on a permanent basis.
The striker moved to the San Siro on a two-year loan deal in August and on January 5 he will complete a permanent transfer to the Serie A side.
Torres, 30, spent three-and-a-half years at Stamford Bridge, in which time he helped Chelsea lift the Champions League, the Europa League and the FA Cup.
A World Cup-winner, Torres joined Chelsea from Liverpool in January 2011. Memorable highlights include his Champions League semi-final breakaway against Barcelona at the Nou Camp and the goal that helped beat Benfica to lift the Europa League trophy a year later.
Torres continued to share in Spain’s international success while at Chelsea. He helped his country to a second successive European Championship in 2012, securing the Golden Boot in the process.
In the busy 2012/13 season his 22 goals were spread over seven competitions, a club record. from the Chelsea blog. Read the rest there
Eibar: highest placed promoted club in top European leagues
Eibar. Yayy for the little club that could
Since last season’s historical promotion to the top flight of Spanish football for the first time in their 74 year history, Eibar can claim to be the highest placed side of all promoted teams from last season in all major European leagues.
Garitano’s side, currently in ninth position in La Liga with 20 points from a possible 48, can also claim to be the highest ranked Basque team. Ahead of traditional footballing powerhouses from Bilbao and San Sebastian: Athletic Club are in 11th with 19 points and Real Sociedad under new coach, David Moyes are 14th with just 15 points. They are the highest place of the 14 promoted from Europe’s major leagues who secured top flight status in their respective countries last season. so happy for them. A bit of context: when Eibar got promoted to La Liga, they were in danger of not being able to cross the threshold because they didn't have enough liquid assets (something like €1.5 million they needed to raise within six weeks) according to the rules of La Liga- even though their club had no debt, etc. They posted shares on the internet and were able to raise the money in about four weeks before La Liga started. Alonso wanted to stump up the amount of money for the club to gain entry, but La Liga refused, so he and Illarmendi called attention to the club's plight. Reddit got wind of it and people contributed money
Chatter from the sidelines
- Reflecting on an exiting first half of Bundesliga Dortmund is the first topic of discussion. Take liquor liberally
- Neuer is the best in the world according to L'Equipe. Would win Balon D'dor under the old system this will run and run
- Reports have claimed Arsenal target Mario Suarez is ready to quit Atletico Madrid in the January window, according to the AS website. wants first team minutes
- Cerci 'evaluating' offerJanuary transfer window, anyone? But they say he's come to terms with AC Milan
- Khedira plans Madrid stay willing to fight for minutes
- Guardiola has brought Barcelona style to Bayern - Sammer read more
- Bayern and Real dominate L'Équipe's dream team no surprise
- Isco reinvented NGL, he's gone from good to great
- Inter will meet with Arsenal this afternoon for Podolski don't shoot the messenger
- Atletico received an offer of 42 million per Mandzukic don't know if true. To be fair, Mandzukic attracted interest from the PL before, and he chose Atletico because of El Cholo
Media and pictures
Click to viewFull length interview with Mourinho. 43 minutes long!
Top ten funny moments in the BuLi
Because you can't escape Crispy this year. Scored most goals
The green dot
Another picture. Bojan Krkic not put off by green laser light from the stands as he slots decisive penalty in Stoke's win over Everton at Goodison read more
OP: pictures are thin on the ground in terms of team training, etc. Tomorrow's post will have more in terms of match pictures and whatnot. So this is just really rumour heavy. Hoping to find someone to speak Spanish with for practice today *fingers crossed* so any broken links, corrections, etc leave in the post and it will be corrected later.