The Story So Far - Oct 29 Arsenal vs Chelsea, Frimpong vs Twitter
Is there football on today?
Yes actually, a wee bit. It’s the Capital One League Cup in England so we have a few games, including Arsenal vs Chelsea at 3:45 PM EST.
At 3:45 PM EST, we have Atalanta vs Inter in Serie A. Additionally, Ajax plays ASWH at 1:45 EST, and then a full slate of Eredivisie matches at 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM EST respectively. There are also a pair of La Liga matches, including Celta Vigo vs Barcelona at 5:00 PM.
What’s the big story?
The 23 man short list for the FIFA Ballon D’Or has been released (the ten women short list came out on Friday). Fairly straightforward stuff, though the winner may not be as predictable as in year’s past (though there is no reason why Messi could not win it again). From the Guardian:
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales), Edinson Cavani (Paris St-Germain/Uruguay), Radamel Falcao (Monaco/Colombia), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St-Germain/Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich/Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund/Poland), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich/Germany), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany), Neymar (Barcelona/Brazil), Mesut Özil (Arsenal/Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/France), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/Holland), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich/Germany), Luis Suárez (Liverpool/Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Paris St-Germain/Brazil), Yaya Touré (Manchester City/Ivory Coast), Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Holland), Xavi (Barcelona/Spain).
Anyway, there! Have at your subjective, meaningless but ultimately time-passing debates!
Oh, and the coach of the year short list can be found here.
Any other news?
Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong claimed on Twitter that he would be in tonight’s Arsenal line-up if he were “white and English.” He later explained it was a “joke.” Ha ha?
And we could see Wilfried Zaha thrown in to action by Man United today against Norwich. So be sure to tune in!
Finally, and weirdly, former France and Man United keeper Fabian Barthez is apparently good at racing cars.Good enough to win France’s GT motorsport series. Euro speed! Blow your doors, buddy!
So what you’re telling me is that nothing happened yesterday. Any Gifs?
Mario Balotelli insists on having fun and enjoying life (h/t reddit/r/soccer):
Any good reads?
Not a read really, but pretty clever/annoying/click-baitey. Are you a football hipster? Take the quiz and find out!