Down to Ten Men

After the final whistle blew at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday evening you would have been forgiven for thinking Roma had just wrapped up their fourth Serie A win.

The celebrations were in fact il Giallorossi’s reaction to beating title rivals Inter Milan 2-1 thanks to goals from Daniele De Rossi and on-loan Luca Toni, putting them a point behind the reigning champions who sit atop the league with 63 points.

Roma's inspired loan signing Luca Toni

It’s not hard to imagine Wayne Rooney sat on his luxurious leather couch this morning, fingers aggressively pressed into the buttons on his Sky remote, eyes glaring with a cocktail of rage and bewilderment at the latest sports update on Spanish football.

“It is a weird one because for the first time in my life I will be hoping Spurs lose. I want to play at Wembley.”

So said Portsmouth loanee Jamie O’Hara today about his permanent club, and the team he has supported since a boy, Tottenham Hotspur.

This may be an opinion piece, but these are facts: Lionel Messi is the best player in the world. I know this because he has the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or trophies resting on his mantelpiece. Rooney and Ronaldo are world class. Messi is out-of-this-world class.

At 22 years old he’s already scored 114 goals in 199 games for Barcelona. At the weekend he scored his second hat-trick in as many matches in La Liga, taking his recent tally to eight goals in three games in all competitions.

John Terry has received as much criticism for his personal life over the last few weeks as he has received praise for his professional life over the last decade.

He was Captain Perfect, Captain Courageous and even the next World Cup-winning Captain if you share that eternal optimism so beloved of your average St George’s flag-waving fan.

As I write this in the dying embers of the Manchester United v Liverpool clash I can’t help but notice the growing numbers of green and gold scarves being twirled above the heads of the jubilant Manchester United fans. These scarves are a protest against the American ownership of the Glazer family who have plummeted United in to astronomical debt. Although it is business as usual on the field, on the terraces there has been a growing hatred towards the Glazer’s tenure which is now starting to rear its head in public.