Hugo Almeida found out in a cruel way that he will be suspended along with playmaker Diego when Werder Bremen face Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup final on May 20.
The Portuguese striker had celebrated the 3-2 semi-final win at SV Hamburg with his teammates on the pitch and strolled into the mixed zone saying, “I am so happy to be in the final.”
It was only then that a reporter told him quietly that the yellow card he picked up two minutes into stoppage time would make him ineligible for the big match in Istanbul.
PHOTO: EPA
“Really?” Almeida asked in utter astonishment. “100 percent?” he continued as his face turned pale. The reporter nodded, Almeida hung his head and walked away in silence as tears filled his eyes.
He simply hadn’t known. Possibly others were unaware as well, as no one appeared to have told him.
They all knew about Diego, though, as at the same time midfielder Torsten Frings started the choir of lamenting the fateful booking he had received in the first half — like Almeida for a heated argument with a Hamburg player.
PHOTO: AFP
“The suspension is unjust. The referee was against us,” fumed the temperamental Frings in the direction of Belgian Frank de Bleeckere.
Coach Thomas Schaaf was also not amused: “This is very disappointing. Diego attacked no one. If you want to see emotions in football then the players must be able to show their emotions.”
Claudio Pizarro was less sentimental.
“That’s football,” the Peruvian striker said.
But Pizarro also said “Diego played a great match” and that it was “a pity” he won’t be in the final.
The man himself kept a straight face, well aware from the minute he was shown the card that his dream of the final was over.
“It is very bad for me not to go to the final. It was a difficult situation. I didn’t do anything,” Diego said.
But Bremen has to live with the reality of his absence on May 20, which could be a test for the future as a summer move of Diego to Italian giants Juventus Turin was on Thursday reported to be all but completed.
Maybe Bremen will also take heart from the fact that Diego was also not present when Bremen secured its place in the UEFA Cup as Champions League dropout with a surprise 2-1 win over Inter Milan in December.
Frings, meanwhile, insisted that Bremen has a good team even in the absence of Diego and promised that: “Now we will try and win the cup for him.”
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
RSS