According to The Guardian, Drogba said in a interview that will be published in France Football tomorrow that he is desperate to leave Stamford Bridge. As he said, the team "have been broken by the departure of José Mourinho". Quoting:

"It took me some time to fall in love with Chelsea, but now I believe it's time to move on to something else. My decision is taken.My dream is to win the Calcio, the Italian Cup or the Copa del Rey, (..)I need new challenges, new horizons and these two countries really appeal to me ... I need a club with whom I'd be ready to break my leg to win. I want to get back to playing with butterflies in my stomach for a club who make me dream. For me, there aren't 50 clubs who could stimulate this sort of passion, just four: AC Milan, Inter, Barça and Real."

I think it's common knowledge that Mourinho and Drogba were (and still are) close to each other. When the portuguese announced that he was leaving, I tought the players's reaction would be very fast. Not declaring how sad they were with his departure, but demanding a move away from Chelsea. Most of the players liked him as their coach, so maybe there will be more of this.

About the teams that he'd like to play, I think he'd have a place only in Internazionale (they're like a mother's heart, always finding a place for someone) and - especially - in AC Milan, because they're really missing a striker. And Drogba isn't any striker, he was  the second best player in the EPL last season. And maybe still is!

Really,  this is one of the brightest thing someone wrote about Raul in the latest years.

Raúl-rage pays off for Aragonés

I didn't see any match yet, just some (excellent) minute-by-minute reports from  Guardian and, of course, the results. But there are 2 things that are clear for me:

- We won't see major changes in the top four  ;

- Sunderland, Newcastle, Man City, Blackburn, Spurs and Everton (and maybe Portsmouth) will fight for a UEFA Cup place;

 The fist statement seems obvious, but it's not since many people (like me) tought that Arsenal would collapse without Henry and the Spurs would take their place in the qualifiers for the CL next season. Well, only two teams can bother the Gunners in my opinion: Everton and Man City. And that will happen only if the board screw the possibilities of renewing Wenger's contract. In my opinion this is the only thing that could take the 4th positon away from them. About Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool, the only doubt is who will win the title, and I would't bet in Liverpool.

My last point can me resumed in this sentence: the major imprebisibility of the Premiership is located between the 5th and the 7th places. As these teams are good, I think it will be very exciting to watch their fight for the UEFA Cup - at some point, even more exciting than the tile race.

A semifinal da Taça Rio conseguiu mostrar nesses quase 120 minutos - tempo normal, comoção com a cãimbra do Baixinho e, enfim, pênaltis - um excelente panorama contemporâneo do futebol carioca: jogos emocionantes, algum talento individual, aptidão defensiva nula, parco conhecimento tático, falta de profissionalismo¹, desordem generalizada e gol mil.

 Não que os demais estaduais estejam acima, é só que nenhuma partida até o momento conseguiu mostrar todas as facetas do futebol do Rio (e quiça da maior parte do Brasil) de uma só vez, ao menos que eu me lembre.

¹ - Pensei primeiro na invasão do campo pela imprensa, mas o fulano do Botafogo que pretendia enforcar o árbitro foi de longe mais absurdo.