Bitch

YOU ARE JUST A FUCKING SELFISH USELESS BITCH THAT CAN NEVER SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN!

Barcelona Defender Gerard Pique: Lionel Messi Has Us Spoiled

Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique has stated that the Blaugrana are spoiled by the talents of team-mate Lionel Messi and also said that he expects either his side or title rivals Real Madrid to slip up in one of their league games after Saturday's Clasico showdown.

"We have been amazed many times [by Messi]. We are spoiled. He number one. An example for all and will show it again," Pique told AS.

"I'm sure that one of us will fail in one of the remaining league games."

The 23-year-old defender also drew comparisons between a number of key figures on the Barcelona andReal Madrid teams ahead of the top of the table clash at the Bernabeu.

"Victor Valdes gives us security at the back and keeps a lot of clean sheets and is a great goalkeeper. [Iker] Casillas' track record says it all. Xavi is the essence of Barcelona and [Xabi] Alonso is essential for Madrid, because he gives the side stability and control."

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Today's featured article

Temple Sinai (officially First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland)^[7] is a Reform synagogue located at 2808 Summit Street (28th and Webster Streets) in Oakland, California, in the United States. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the East Bay.^[8][9]

Its early members included Gertrude Stein and Judah Leon Magnes, who studied at Temple Sinai's Sabbath school, and Ray Frank, who taught them. Originally traditional, the temple reformed its beliefs and practices under the leadership of Rabbi Marcus Friedlander (1893–1915). By 1914, it had become a Classical Reform congregation.^[10][11][12] That year the current sanctuary was built, a Beaux-Arts structure designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, which is the oldest synagogue in Oakland.^[3]

The congregation weathered four major financial crises by 1934. It has since been led by just three rabbis, William Stern (1934–1965), Samuel Broude (1966–1989), and Steven Chester (1989–present).^[10][13]

In 2006 Temple Sinai embarked on a $15 million capital campaign to construct an entirely new synagogue campus adjacent to its current sanctuary.^[14] Groundbreaking took place in October 2007,^[15] and by late 2009 the congregation had raised almost $12 million towards the construction.^[16] As of 2010, the Temple Sinai had nearly 1,000 member families.^[15] The rabbis were Steven Chester, Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, and Andrea Berlin, and the cantor was Ilene Keys

Is the Premier League Big Four the most dominant ever?

Phil Babb: Not part of the all-conquering Sporting team of the 1950s (but we were struggling). Photograph: Matthew Ashton/EMPICS Sports Photo Agency

"We have been stuck with the Big Four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United since Everton finished fourth in 2004-05, although that may end this season," says Liam Bradfield."Have any other leagues had the same top four for four consecutive seasons?"

Such a quadopoly (is that a word? It is now) is extremely rare: it has never occurred in France, Italy, Germany, Holland or Spain, although Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla did make up the top four for three consecutive seasons from 1954-55 to 1956-57. In 1957-58, Bilbao dropped to sixth and Sevilla to 10th.

There was a four-year Big Four in Scotland in the early 1980s, when the Old Firm and New Firm of Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United and Rangers held sway. That was broken in 1985-86, when Hearts finished second and Rangers fifth.

Turkey have a long-established Big Four of Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, the only sides to have won the league (although Bursapor may change that this season). They also exclusively comprised the top four places for four seasons in a row, from 1993-94 to 1996-97.

That, however, has nothing on Portugal, where a cartel of Belenenses, Benfica, Porto, Sporting Libson held sway for a whopping nine straight seasons, from 1951-52 to 1959-60. Belenenses were the only one of the four not to win the league in that time. (Their only title came in 1945-46; it was not until 2000-01, when Boavista won their only title, that a side other than Benfica, Porto or Sporting claimed the title.) The side who broke the monotony (and the monopoly) of this particular foursome were Vitória: they finished fourth in 1960-61, with Belenenses dropping to fifth.

Can anyone improve on that? If so, email knowledge@guardian.co.uk

FULHAM: EUROPEAN RECORD BREAKERS?

"Fulham's game against Wolfsburg on Thursday will be their 16th European game of the season," notes Iain Barnes. "Are they close to a record?"

Close but no cigar. If Fulham were to reach the final of the Europa League, their 19 European games would only equal the second longest European run – currently held by Bayer Leverkusen, Milan, Valencia – and see them fall one short of Bordeaux's marathon in 1995-96.

For the three seasons between 1999-2000 and 2002-2003, the Champions League was split up into two group stages, meaning that any side playing in the third qualifying round and making it all the way to the final, as Leverkusen did in 2001-02, Milan did in 2002-03 and Valencia did in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, played 12 group games and seven knockout matches. Of those teams, Milan are the only side to have lifted the trophy at the end of it all having face Slovan Liberec, Deportivo La Coruña, Lens, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lokomotiv Moscow, Ajax, Internazionale and then Juventus in the final.

Bordeaux's Zinedine Zidane-inspired 1995-96 European campaign is even more impressive. It began in the Intertoto Cup group stages (remember those?) with a 6-2 win over IFK Norrkoping on 1 July 1995. Girondins followed that up with victories over Odense and Dublin's Bohemians and a draw in Finland against HJK Helsinki was enough to put them through to the knockout stages. Eintracht Frankfurt and Heerenveen were defeated in one-leg affairs at the Stade du Parc Lescure and Karlsruhe were vanquished over to legs to seal, after eight games, Bordeaux's place in the Uefa Cup.

In the Uefa Cup proper Macedonia's FK Vardar, Rotor Volgograd of Russia, Real Betis were all beaten and Milan (who won 2-0 in San Siro before being hammered 3-0 in France) followed in the quarter-finals. Victory over two legs against Slavia Prague set up a two-legged final against Bayern Munich, the mid-90s powerhouse model of Lothar Matthaus and co. Zidane, the team's talisman, and Christophe Dugarry were both absent for the first leg, a 2-0 defeat in Munich, and their return couldn't save the les marine et blanc in the home tie on 15 May 1996. Their 20-game 320-day European campaign ended agonisingly in a 5-1 aggregate defeat.

YOUNG, DECORATED AND UNCAPPED

"Victor Valdes has not played full international for Spain (he has represented Catalunia, but they are not recognised by Fifa or Uefa)," notes Joe Buggy. "But in his career has won three La Ligas, two Champions Leagues, one Copa del Rey, the Club World Cup and a plethora of Super Cups. So which player has won the most club titles without winning an international cap?"

Part of the problem here is whether you go for the widest definition of trophy (absolute everything, be it gold or tin) or the more widespread definition (not including Charity Shields, Super Cups and the like). So, for this purpose, we have excluded the Charity Shield and its equivalent, the European Super Cup and also lower-division titles. All cup competitions involving top-flight sides are included, except those Full Members/Simod things in the late 1980s.

We're going to count down in reverse order, to build what little suspense there is. A number of you nominated Steve Bruce, Manchester United's hard-nosed, multi-nosed centre-back, but his trophy haul was a relatively modest nine: three league titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups (one with Norwich) and a Cup Winners' Cup. On the same total, and nominated by Owen Ravenscroft, are the Liverpool pair of Liverpool's of Jimmy Case and boot-designing champion Craig Johnston. Case won four league titles, a League Cup, three European Cups and a Uefa Cup; Johnston got his fingers on five league titles, two League Cups, an FA Cup and a European Cup.

Oliver Alexander has suggested the Bayern Munich midfielder Bernd Dürnberger, who picked up 11 major cups between 1972 and 1985: five Bundesligas, two DFB Cups, three European Cups and an Intercontinental Cup. Also on 11 is the Ajax goalkeeper of the early 1970s, Heinz Stuy. "He won three European Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, four league titles and three Dutch cups," says Rudy Janssen. "His nickname was 'Heinz Kroket' ('Heinz Croquette'), because he would sometimes drop a ball as if it were a hot croquette."

Eleven is pretty good, but Mark Rae points out an unlikely leader: John 'Bomber' Brown, the strawberry blond Rangers defender who won six titles, three Scottish Cups and three League Cups.

So, to summarise: 9, Steve Bruce, Jimmy Case, Craig Johnston; 11, Bernd Dürnberger, Heinz Stuy; 12, John Brown. Can anyone better that? If so, you know what to do.

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"Trawling the U-21 World Championships archives, I saw that in 1991 Serhiy Scherbakov won the Golden Shoe," wrote Andrew Gordon in 2007. "I searched for him on Wikipedia and it seems he moved to Sporting Lisbon from Shakhtar Donetsk in 1993 but then suddenly retired in 1995. Since as far as I can tell he is still alive, what happened?"

Unfortunately, Andrew, it's a sad story. Scherbakov had been brought to Sporting by Bobby Robson in 1993, but the manager was sent packing by the club following their Uefa Cup exit against Casino Salzburg, despite leading the league at the time. Pedro Estêvão takes up the tale: "The manager was highly regarded by the players and the fans, so the players decided to stage a dinner in honour of the departing manager. On his way home, however, Serhiy suffered a horrible car crash that left him paralysed from the waist down. I still get a lump in the throat when I remember the television footage of him frantically pursuing his rehabilitation and vowing that he would don the Sporting jersey on the pitch once again someday."

The accident fractured Scherbakov's skull and his spinal column in three places, although The Resident newspaper reported that he had been "over the legal alcohol limit" at the time. Scherbakov, according to Alexei Berezovoi, "has undergone a series of operations and is still working on his health. He is working with several football-related charities, such as the Federation of Football that unites football lovers that have cerebral paralysis. He lives in Moscow."

For thousands more questions and answers, lose yourself in the Knowledge archive

Can you help? Allan Simonsen-inspired TV special!

"I've got a vivid memory from growing up in the early 80s," says Nathan Smith. "An old cartoon, featuring two football teams. One was a well organised, well-drilled team who wore suits of armour – when they got possesssion, they built an impenetrable wall around the player with the ball. The opposition were a Latin team, who bamboozled the other team with joyful tricks and flicks. I've always thought it represented Brazil vs Germany, or (more recently) George Graham's Arsenal vs Arsène Wenger's. Despite searching around the web, I've never been able to find it again. Any ideas?"

"The old question regarding Allan Simonsen in a film [thanks to Adam Ramadan for the link] made me think about other 'football' films that I've seen," shares Frank Nesci. "There was one that I recall seeing late night 20 years ago. It was in Italian and the basic plot (and my memory is sketchy) was that a Serie A ref received a package with video tape containing footage of a player doing the dirty deed on his missus. The ref then goes on to referee a match featuring this player with hilarious results. I think the team may have been Juve and I can't remember if any real players were involved. Can anyone help?"

"I once watched a documentary about everyday Marseille, the locals living their lives but tied together by a sense of community that the football club gave them," says Noah Berhe. "The focus was a large family taking their boys to play for the local youth team, one of these kids was a 10-year-old Samir Nasri. The film featured some extensive interviews with him and his family and how he was coping with pressures of competition, and with being a kid. Surely, a film like this must have been watched by someone? I cant remember the title though"

QOTD

We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are

Ridgewell frustrates Liverpool

Liverpool's challenge for a Champions League place suffered another setback as Liam Ridgewell's goal gave Birmingham a 1-1 draw at St Andrews on Sunday.

Rafael Benitez's side took the lead early in the second half through Steven Gerrard's seventh Premier League goal of a worryingly unproductive season. But Ridgewell equalised soon after to leave Liverpool without an away win in seven league outings, their worst run away from Anfield in four seasons.

The Reds remain four points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City, having played a game more than Roberto Mancini's side. Benitez also opted to substitute Fernando Torres 25 minutes before full-time in an attempt to save the legs of the Spanish international ahead of Thursday's Europa League quarter final second leg against Benfica.

For all Benitez's promises of a fourth place finish and Torres's assertion they needed to win their remaining six games, the lack of urgency in Liverpool's first half performance was alarming. Benitez's decision to play two holding midfielders was far too cautious and they will surely have to be more adventurous to achieve the bare minimum of Champions League qualification.

Birmingham had already deprived Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City of points at St Andrews, so it was hardly surprising to see Liverpool struggle to break down the home side's defence. Yet Maxi Rodriguez will take some time to work out how he did not register his first Liverpool goal at the end of an incisive move begun by Pepe Reina's throw out to Dirk Kuyt. Yossi Benayoun and Torres combined to set up the Argentinian's volley from six yards, but somehow Joe Hart managed to push the shot up onto the bar and away to safety.

Gerrard strikes, Liverpool breaks
That was as exciting as it got in the first 45 minutes, but the game burst into life with two goals in nine second half minutes. Gerrard is the first to admit his form has been far from the high levels he sets himself this season and the fact that his 47th-minute intervention was only his second league goal in 2010 underlines his concerns.

There was more than a hint of good fortune in the way Glen Johnson's attempted shot from the edge of the area found its way to Gerrard after the England international's corner had been headed clear by Stephen Carr. But there was nothing remotely fortunate about the way Gerrard wrong-footed Lee Bowyer and produced devastating power in his right boot to defeat Hart from an acute angle.

But Gerrard's hard work was undone by dreadful defending with no one within five yards of Ridgewell as he bundled in James McFadden's cross at the far post in the 56th minute. Bowyer could have won it for Birmingham, but contrived to miss from six yards when unmarked at the far post and David Ngog, Torres's replacement, could easily have finished with two goals of his own. Rodriguez's pass set up Ngog, who shot wide from 15 yards and in stoppage time the Frenchman missed from closer range after Gerrard's long diagonal pass.

31st March Or 1st april

31st March Or 1st april
Fool is Fool dosnt matter.
Wishing very happy, prosperous and joyful
Fool Day to the King of Fools.. :)

Benitez begins to show his frustration with Aquilani

RAFAEL BENITEZ has shown the first signs of exasperation with Alberto Aquilani by suggesting the Liverpool midfielder’s latest problem is not merely physical but psychological.

The Italy international has started only eight times for Liverpool since his €22.5 million arrival from Roma and is sidelined with an ankle injury sustained in training on Wednesday.

Aquilani has complained of discomfort in the same ankle that required surgery last May and which forced him to miss the first three months of this season, although scans have so far failed to identify the cause of the problem. Benitez admits he is at a loss as to when the 25-year-old will be fit but indicated that a history of injury problems is affecting Aquilani.

“He was complaining of pain in his ankle and said he couldn’t train,” the Liverpool manager said. “We will have to talk with the doctors to see what’s going on because at the moment we don’t know.”

There are concerns that the Italian, earmarked as the replacement for Xabi Alonso in a season that opened amid high expectation at Anfield, will be absent for the rest of this campaign should he undergo exploratory surgery.

But Benitez said: “We don’t know if he needs an operation. He has some pain and we will just analyse that with the doctor. It’s the same ankle he did before.

“Some players maybe can manage with the pain, some players cannot. When you talk of pain you never know, it depends on each individual and that makes it really difficult.”

Another Liverpool midfielder aggravating Benitez is Albert Riera, whose proposed move to Spartak Moscow has stalled over his demands to be paid almost double what he earns at Anfield.

The Spanish winger effectively announced the end of his Liverpool career when he spoke against Benitez and the club last month, having become marginalised at the club.

Liverpool were “a sinking ship”, according to an interview Riera gave, only to be described by the player this week as “one of the best clubs in the world” following Spartak’s refusal to offer over €68,000 a week in wages. The U-turn represents a further headache for Benitez, who sent Riera home from training three times for poor behaviour before his outburst.

Benitez was told a deal to take Riera to Russia was in place before the player went public with his criticism and, though a permanent transfer to CSKA failed to materialise and the Spartak loan has stalled, he still hopes an exit can be arranged before their transfer window closes next week.

“We still have some time until the end of the Russian transfer window so we will see what happens,” he said. “I didn’t see his latest comments but for me, when he was talking this way on the day before a massive game (against Lille) was disappointing.

“It was especially so when he was saying things that weren’t true. He also said he wants to play, that’s why he had to go, but our fans are not stupid and they will know what’s going on.”

Clash of Titans

"The Clash of the Titans" is set in the Greek city of Argos where a war is about to explode between man and the gods. Persesus (Sam Worthington) raised as a fisherman, but is actually a demi-god. Persesus is the bastard son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) who is about to take on the gods after the death of his family. Zeus' brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) was the one who kill his family, and Persesus wants to kill him. However, it is Persesus' destiny to rescue the city of Argos from the ruthless rage of Hades and his Kraken monster. With nothing to lose, Persesus leads a band of soldiers on a quest to defeat the Kraken. In doing this, Persesus will prevent Hades from overthrowing Zeus and in turn destroying mankind. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

Its a must watch movie for greek mythology lover. Wonder why Simon was so high yesterday night before the show, maybe he seldom got a chance to watch midnight show, pity you Simon

Lukaku staying put

Talented teenager happy at Anderlecht

Anderlecht starlet Romelu Lukaku has reiterated to skysports.com that he is not looking to leave Belgium just yet.

The 16-year-old sensation made his debut for Les Mauves last season and this term he has taken the Belgian league by storm.

He is currently top-scorer in the Jupiler League with 15 goals and most of Europe's top clubs have dispatched scouts to check on his progress, with Chelsea and Arsenal said to be leading the chase.

He has also been handed his first senior cap by Belgium and speculation is mounting that he will move in the summer.

But the teenager has always stressed that he would not like to move away from Belgium until he is 18, and he is standing by that.

"I am not leaving Belgium yet," he toldskysports.com.

"To be honest I am only 16-years-old, I will leave if I have to when I get to 18 years old.

"I know there is interest but I need to learn football near my family, I am well here.

"All clubs interested have to wait for what I say."

The latest club to be linked is Bordeaux, who are said to be considering a move for him as a replacement for Marouane Chamakh, who is set to leave on a Bosman free transfer in the summer.