Continuing to surf on La Gazzetta‘s “Serie A vs. EPL” wave, here are ALL THE PLAYERS from UEFA Champions League’s Chelsea vs. Juventus.
Posts Tagged ‘Florent Malouda’
Chelsea vs. Juventus: The PLAYERS
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009Champions League Preview: Chelsea vs. Juventus
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009This should be a great game between two very well organised and efficient sides. Juventus have got back to winning ways after surprise slip ups against Udinese and against Cagliari and I’m expecting a tough battle when these two sides meet at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. It will be the first time Juve boss Claudio Ranieri has come up against his former employers (who sacked him in the most unfair of circumstances) and Ranieri would sure love to get one over Abramovich, adding that little bit of extra spice to this momentous occasion.
France’s Euro 2008 Roster – 23 Players, No Cissé or Mexès and Gomis is a Surprise
Thursday, May 29th, 2008Since it’s May 28 and all the Euro 2008 rosters have been finalized, let’s take a look at Italy’s biggest rivals from Group C. It may be called the “Group of Death”, but I am talking of course about France. Coach Raymond Domenech had already made a “Pre-selection” list of 30 players some weeks ago, eventually cutting down the group to the required 23 imposed by UEFA. Much like World Cup 2006 (which saw the surprise call-ups of Franck Ribéry and Pascal Chimbonda) there were a few surprises in the list, in particular regarding the absentees.
For example, Mickaël Landreau and Djibril Cissé had extensively featured on Les Bleus‘s roster since the World Cup but instead, the French coach chose to privilege and reward the recent form of Steve Mandanda (keeper for Marseille) and Bafetimbi Gomis (striker for St. Etienne). Les Verts‘s forward had surprised everyone this Tuesday, by scoring the two victory goals in France’s friendly encounter vs. Ecuador (one better than the other, the second of which a spectacular scissor-kick). Cissé must be really fuming though, because he hasn’t played in a major tournament since World Cup 2002 (he was suspended in 2004 and injured in 2006).
In defense, the biggest surprise comes from the absence of Julien Escudé, a pillar of FC Sevilla’s and France’s backline in recent years (it seems however that the French center-back “re-awakened” his hernia (pubalgia) problems on Tuesday and was thus excluded for health/fitness reasons), as well as that of for Philippe Mexès (considered by many as one of Serie A’s best defenders this year). The latter just further demonstrates my theory that Domenech has an absolute phobia for anything coming from Italy, biggest case in point being David Trezeguet‘s (20 goals in Serie A this season, one goal behind topscorer Del Piero) absence even from the “Pre-Selection” list. One really has to wonder how on Earth Sebastien Frey didn’t get the cut.
Finally, Jérémy Toulalan and Lassana Diarra were preferred over Mathieu Flamini and Alou Diarra (Flamini just signed for AC Milan… you see how proving my theory just gets easier and easier?), while Hatem Ben Arfa was discarded due to his limited use in Lyon’s line-up this year. French sports newspaper L’Équipe suggests that by choosing 4 main strikers (Henry, Anelka, Benzema, Gomis) in his roster, Raymond Domenech is determined to keep utilizing his tested 4-4-2 formation for the SwissAustria tournament.
Here’s the full list:
.
Number | Goalkeepers: | Club: |
Nº23 | Grégory Coupet | Lyon |
Nº16 | Sébastien Frey | Fiorentina |
Nº1 | Steve Mandanda | Marseille |
. | ||
Defenders: | ||
Nº3 | Eric Abidal | Barcelona |
Nº2 | Jean-Alain Boumsong | Lyon |
Nº14 | François Clerc | Lyon |
Nº13 | Patrice Evra | Man Utd |
Nº5 | William Gallas | Arsenal |
Nº19 | Willy Sagnol | Bayern Munich |
Nº17 | Sébastien Squillaci | Lyon |
Nº15 | Lilian Thuram | Barcelona |
. | ||
Midfielders: | ||
Nº21 | Lassana Diarra | Portsmouth |
Nº10 | Sidney Govou | Lyon |
Nº6 | Claude Makélélé | Chelsea |
Nº7 | Florent Malouda | Chelsea |
Nº11 | Samir Nasri | Marseille |
Nº22 | Franck Ribéry | Bayern Munich |
Nº4 | Patrick Vieira | Inter |
. | ||
Forwards: | ||
Nº8 | Nicolas Anelka | Chelsea |
Nº9 | Karim Benzema | Lyon |
Nº18 | Bafétimbi Gomis | St. Etienne |
Nº12 | Thierry Henry | Barcelona |
Gattuso-Malouda: friends forever
Saturday, September 8th, 2007By the way, in case you’re wondering why Gennaro Gattuso and Florent Malouda were so amicable during the Italy-France match, here’s why.
Ahhh, the power of Nike ads…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.