Probably needs a new thread along the lines of "medals you didn't think players won" but I was watching Atleti win the league at the Nou Camp and I noticed David Villa playing for Atleti. I know he's won leagues with Barcelona but I often forget he won one with Atletico Madrid.
Weird things about football that are true but don't sound it
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As he was there about four times as long not at all surprising really.
Mario Ballotelli is the only italian with a premier league winners medal
Cudicini & Macheda, Taibi didnt make enough appearances to earn one
Cudicini & Macheda, Taibi didnt make enough appearances to earn one
Yeh Paisley was good but he started with a much better team than what Fergie did. It rankles with a Liverpool mate of mine that he never got a knighthood and Fergie did, and also won trophies at Aberdeen which is probably irrelevant.
I did some frantic checking because I thought this could not possibly be true. But it is. Amazing stat.
Macheda got one for 08/09 as PL winners normally have 10 medals given to them to hand out to players that made special contributions but did not make the min app mark. So did Cudicini, as the min app requirement doesn't apply to backup keepers.
Yeah that seems mental. I had no idea he was playing at that level back then.
According to his wiki he doesnt, anything online to prove this?
Cudicinis wiki - " he missed out on a Premier League winners' medal as he managed only three league appearances all season, all of which came after Chelsea had secured the trophy "
Not sure if weird but I’m sure that Sam Alladyce’s Bolton were the first team to field 11 foreign players.
What's interesting is that if we consider the Guardiola era to be Xavi's peak, he was 28ish when it started in 2008.
Didier Drogba has won more Premier League titles than Frank Lampard.
He made his CL debut at Old Trafford. I remember watching an interview where he talked about that game, he was about to be substituted on when Beckham scored that freekick and the roar of the crowd is something he'll never forget, or something along those lines.
Guess this depends if you exclude managers. Four of them have won the league - Ancelotti, Mancini, Ranieri, and Conte. All within the last decade, and one each.
In fact, Italian managers have won the most Premier League league titles this past decade. Scotland and Spain have two each courtesy of Ferguson and Guardiola respectively. Portugal and Chile have each one with Mourinho and Pellegrini.
Only about twice as long. I didn’t realise he was at Villa for so many years though.
Number of goals scored for the Italian National Team:
Mario Balotelli - 14
Francesco Totti - 9
Mario Balotelli - 14
Francesco Totti - 9
Balotelli also did it in less games.
Probably another weird one is that Totti only played 58 times for Italy.
Morten Gamst Pedersen is statistically one of the best premier league footballers ever.
Some documentary years ago looked deep at a lot of different player statistics. Pedersen was the only non-superstar name that would top some of the stats. And he topped 3 of them.
If I remember correctly those 3 where:
#1 Freekick goals per effort.
#1 Successful long passes per effort.
#1 Cross leading to a Finnish per effort
Some documentary years ago looked deep at a lot of different player statistics. Pedersen was the only non-superstar name that would top some of the stats. And he topped 3 of them.
If I remember correctly those 3 where:
#1 Freekick goals per effort.
#1 Successful long passes per effort.
#1 Cross leading to a Finnish per effort
Hartlepool F.C. are known as the monkey hangers. At games especially against rivals Darlington opposing fans shout 'Who hung the monkey!" The story behind it is that in the 19th Century a french ship was wrecked off the coast and a monkey washed to shore. The locals not knowing what a monkey was, thought it was a french spy and tortured it for information. When it wouldn't respond they hung the poor monkey in the square. Its obviously not known if the story is true. Historians theorized it might have been a 'Powder monkey' - small boy that looked after the gun powder. But still the fans and the people of Harlepool believe and tell this story and are affectionate about being the monkey hangers.
Mike Newell has scored the second fastest hat-trick in Champions League in 1995/1996 for Blackburn against Rosenborg.
It was the fastest hat-trick in the competition for 16 years, until Bafetimbi Gomis scored an even faster one for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in that crazy 7-1 game (and goal difference swing between Lyon and Ajax) in 2011/2012.
It was the fastest hat-trick in the competition for 16 years, until Bafetimbi Gomis scored an even faster one for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in that crazy 7-1 game (and goal difference swing between Lyon and Ajax) in 2011/2012.
Surely that was Arsenal? I literally remember a season review saying Arsenal were the first to do this in the early 2000's. Or was that just in the premier league?
That. Is. Insane. I had to check that as I didn't believe it. But turns out his national team record in general is dire. Only on year (2000) he got into double figures for appearances. Must have pulled Boeteng and skipped all qualifiers.
I think Chelsea were the first team to field a starting line-up without any English players in a Premier League game, away to Southampton in 1999/2000.
Arsenal were the first team to name an entire match-day squad including the 5 substitutes without any English players in a Premier League game, at home to Palace in 2004/2005.
Tromso-Bodo is considered a local derby in Norwegian football. It takes you 9hours to drive from Tromso to Bodo. or 12 if you don't take a ferry.
That reveals that there are some distances in Norway.
That reveals that there are some distances in Norway.
Despite being league winners in 95/96, only the Neville brothers made it into the England Euro 96 squad from Utd.
Gary played 4 games. Phil didn’t play at all.
No Beckham, No Scholes, No Pallister, No Butt, No Sharpe... not even Cole.
Gary played 4 games. Phil didn’t play at all.
No Beckham, No Scholes, No Pallister, No Butt, No Sharpe... not even Cole.
Just makes United's 1,000s of games in a row where we've had a home grown player in the squad seem insane.
Totti's international career was a very mixed bag.
He was exceptional at Euro 2000 and delivered an MOTM performance in the final.
He flopped at the 2002 World Cup with his tournament ending in a red card.
He spat on a Danish player in the first game of Euro 2004 and was banned for the rest of the tournament.
He had a good World Cup in 2006, but not great. He wasn't one of the star players (Pirlo, Buffon, Cannavaro) but he did his part to help Italy win. To be fair though, he did play the entire tournament with an ankle injury.
The 1982 world cup was the first time England qualified through the world cup qualifiers since 1962.
Feyenoord having a superior European trophy cabinet (1 European Cup + 2 UEFA Cups), than every single French club combined (1 Champions League + 1 Cup Winners' Cup).
Hungary reached 2 world cup finals in a row with 2 completely different squads. 1938 and the first time they were allowed to compete after that was 1954.
In 2019 they got beaten by Slovakia twice and Montenegro. I think they have to be the current national team that is the furthest away from their best/worst period.
In 2019 they got beaten by Slovakia twice and Montenegro. I think they have to be the current national team that is the furthest away from their best/worst period.
To Sami Hyypiä or Jussi Jääskeläinen?
In either case it shouldn't count.
That doesn't make sense.
Firstly, Sami and Jussi were not his teammates, secondly, it must be a striker/forward.
Shefki Kuqi
There is only one national team brazil has not ever been able to beat.
In 4 efforts they could not beat Norway.
In 4 efforts they could not beat Norway.
There is the same amount of time between the 1999 and 2008 champions league finals, as there is between our 2011 final defeat to now.
I don't know about anyone else but the last 9 years have gone in a flash, whereas if you watch footage from those first 2 finals, it looks as though there's 20 years in between.
I don't know about anyone else but the last 9 years have gone in a flash, whereas if you watch footage from those first 2 finals, it looks as though there's 20 years in between.
Probably the change from analogue to digital and then to HD make them look worlds apart
I think it even when comparing the 99 season to, say 2001. Football seemed to become so much more modern looking in and around 2000.
I’ve it in my head a long time Bolton, maybe wrong. Apologies to thread.
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Adding to this: Pirlo also played against Utd in 1999 with Inter Milan.
Chelsea and Real Madrid haven’t faced each other since 1998. They’ve only played 3 competitive games against each other
Immediately actually does sound true to me because I can't remember ever seeing a match between them. Weird though