A Bologna icon Giacomo Bulgarelli has passed away, he was 68. Bulgarelli played for the Azzurri 27 times and had scored seven goals. He made two World Cups 1962 and 1966 and was part of the European Championship in 1968 when Italy won the competition. Bulgarelli was a one team player having played for Bologna (Rossoblu - Red-Blues) 486 times between 1959 and 1975. In 1964 Bulgarelli was able to lift the Scudetto. for more information of Giacomo Bulgarelli go to Bologna FC. 

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This week on Forza Futbol Mando, Elisa and Hannah review the latest from Serie A and La Liga. We discuss Real Madrid and Roberto Mancini as well as predictions.

This week on Forza Futbol Mando, Elisa and Hannah review the latest from Serie A and La Liga. We also Talk predictions and go over last weeks Champions League and UEFA Cup games.

This week on Forza Futbol Elisa and Hannah review the latest rounds in Serie A and La Liga. We also Talk predictions and go over the Young Player of the Year award.

Of the Ballon d'Or Nominees who is on your short list? We broke it down this week on the show and here is our list.

Agüero
Archavine
Casillas
Ronaldo
Fabregas
Torres
Ibrahimovic
Ribéry
Rooney
Senna
Ramos
Toni
Edwin van der Sar
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Vidic
Villa
Xavi

And we had Casillas, C. Ronaldo and David Villa tied for the award and it went to Casillas in the end with two votes to one. Ending with Ronaldo in second place.

This week we discuss the Sicilian and Madrid derby. We also talk about Club Atlético de Madrid and their UEFA problem. We take the Ballon d’Or “short list” and make it really a short list. All that and so much more on this weeks episode of Forza Futbol.

This week on Forza Futbol we look at week six in Serie A and La Liga. We also discuss the Azzurri call ups from the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers.

We were all bored to tears with the drama that was, between Cronaldo, Man United and Real Madrid. Well, little did Madrid know, but they alienated one of their key, creative players in the process, little Robinho. Robinho was offered to Manchester United as part of the CRon deal, to lower the asking price down to 65M Euros. No one from the Madrid camp, of course, bothered to talk to Robinho about the whole situation and Robinho felt unwanted, unsure of his place in the Madrid pantheon, etc. Did Madrid coddle their star? Offer an improved salary and contract? No, nothing, nada.

Along comes Samba, Felipao and Big Bucks Chelsea, with an offer Robinho cannot refuse. They can double his wages as long as Madrid agrees to the transfer. Well Madrid was furious, so Robinho does his best rendition of Cristiano Ronaldo and is doing a fine job of touche while pushing his way out. He's gone to the press, pleaded his case and frankly is playing like crap when he is forced to participate. Madrid's President Calderon has come out now stating if Robinho wants to go, he can buyout his contract. Not the 120M buyout clause but the 45M Euros that Madrid has asked Chelsea to meet.

It's going to happen. Madrid has been out played by their own player. Whodathunk? Just desserts? Did Madrid value and treasure one of it's most precious assets? Or did they spend their time drooling over the merchandise bonanza and possibilities of Cristiano Ronaldo? Well, now they got beat at their own game.

And Robinho is not the only one. Vincent Company was not happy with the way Hamburg treated him at the Olympics, so now he is at Man City. Who knows what is going to happen to Rafinha at Schalke or Diego at Bremen? I say they will be leaving their respective clubs, shortly. And what about Xabi Alonso, put on the market for Garreth Barry, without his knowledge. I am sure Xabi did not appreciate this, especially since he is a damn good player. Better than Barry IMO. I saw the way Xabi played against Middlesboro. He was poor, lacked confidence, until the end when he helped bring about the last two goals. Rafa has broken his spirit, very similar to Madrid with Robinho.

Is this just the latest star player vs club battles that we have seen since the time of Maradona or Garrincha?  Or is this some new player impowerment of late, that has emerged with all the money that has been invested in football?  What do you think?

Once again, a club has been hijacked by the actions of a fan or group of fans and forced to pay, in this case 1,500 Euros to a fan in Napoli, who was “damaged” by banners in a Napol v Inter Milan match at the Guiseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan last October. The banners in question were a response to a work stoppage organized by the Camorra-run, garbage collectors who were in disagreement with landfill operators and the government, causing a build-up of refuse in the streets of Napoli. They mentioned Naples as the “sewer of Italy”, another one that called residents “cholera sufferers” and others that said, “Neapolitans have got tuberculosis”. The anonymous fan was left “indignant and deeply hurt” and sued the club for “existential damage” with the verdict coming in his favor this week despite the clubs arguing that the courts had no jjurisdiction. The club and the supporters had already been sited by the league, but the Italian courts had the ultimate say.

I won’t get into much of a value judgment on what was said. The banners were pretty idiotic and petty. It’s typical of the usual North/South animosities that have been in place and certainly not the first salvo in such a highly charged rivalry; one that has decades of history between the two clubs and the two groups of supporters. I also won’t go into the legalities, as the details of Italian law and how it differs from U.S. law is ultimately beyond me, and other countries do have different definitions of personal freedom, but in my opinion, “what sort of damage exactly was done?” Was this an isolated incident? Was this any different from the scores of other times that Northern fans have reaped scorn at Southerners in the past? Lastly, will it ultimately correct the behavior in question?

I don’t think so really. I’m all for correcting past wrongs and solving this ethnic problem but this is not the time nor the case to do that with. This smacks of one opportunistic fan sticking it to the establishment and while I usually side with guys like him in these cases, I just can’t get by the fact that he was left with “existential damages” from reading a series of banners.

Well, I wanted to call this blog THE GOON SQUAD, but I thought better of it. But what the hell is going on with the Owner's in La Liga? Have they all gone bonkers? Is it something in the water?

This week in La Liga, 3 Owners have made some ghastly decisions that could wreck the future of their respective teams. Let's run down the list:

Real Betis - All verdiblanco supporters loathe resident lunatic, Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, who looks a bit too much like John Waters for my liking. Well, he finally decided to do the right thing and sell his shares to a new investor, Castel. Brilliant, yes! You have been sucking this club dry through legal and illegal means for too long! Please step down and give someone else a chance! But no, psych! Made ya look! Looks like Lopera is having cold feet and won't let go of his greed, I mean club. Give me a break! Can someone just hire an assassin and be done with it? I have a bad feeling that he ain't going anywhere.

Mallorca - In case you weren't aware, the Islanders are in the midst of a fire sale. They are selling all their best players left and right to the top bidder. Guiza, Navarro, Ibagaza, etc. Why? Well, their parent company has filed for bankruptcy for one. Of course, club personnel said that the bankruptcy had nothing whatsoever to do with Real Mallorca. Ya right! Well now, Grande the owner wants to sell his shares in the club to an English Consortium headed by Paul "the plumber" Davidson. Does this sound too much like an episode of Dream Team? Davidson claims that he wants to expand his home improvement- type company sales in Spain and that is his motivation for investing in the club. Whuh? Grande says Davidson will invest a great deal of bling in the club. OK. Now reports coming out of Spain say that the money Grande will be receiving from Davidson, will be used to pay off Grande's creditors. Yup! Also, the bankruptcy courts are investigating and reviewing the sale because it smells fishy!. This sounds like another owner using the club for his own private gain. In the process, the club has sold off it's best players, and the fans will be left with probably nothing but debt and more debt. I honestly don't think this sale will go through. Very sad indeed.

Valencia - Did you guys actually think that happy days were here again? That stability and zen was going to return to the Mestalla? That this year was going to be better? A fresh start? Think again. Juan Soler aka I am the Walrus has no business or sporting sense. The fans and players want him out. Please sell your shares! He "stepped" down last year and put in a puppet. That didn't work. This summer, he brought in ex Telefonica exec, Villalonga as President. Things were going to be different this year. Villalonga made a lot of promises IE keeping the stars, a return to greatness, cleaning house, etc. He brought in his own hatchet man, Javier Azkagorta to help reorganize the club. Unfortunately, Villalonga found out in a mere 10 days, that the financial core of Valencia is black and rotten. So he went to the press and publicly announced that Valencia is in a shiteload of debt. $750M Euros to be exact and that a huge capital infusion of $77M Euros would be needed to keep the star performers. Soler went through the roof and fired Villalonga along with his staff. (Soler paid them off $10M Euros to leave!) The Walrus then decided to make a pact with the devil, his old foe, Vicente Soriano, the second largest shareholder at Los Che. WTF? Has it all gone mad? I thought they hated each other? Is Soler really gone? Or is he lurking in the back? Is Soriano just the same old crap? He has been on the board all this time. And now it looks like the superstars, David Villa (Madrid lurking) and David Silva (Atleti lurking) are back on the market, among others like Joaquin. Shite just hit the fan at Valencia, again!

As the World Turns....