This week we feature stories from Spain and the Premier League featuring Mourinho and Nasri. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below. Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here. If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Good
Good news for Spanish football fans as the players’ strike, which saw last week’s opening fixtures postponed, has been called off. A compromise has been reached which means that the Spanish League has now guaranteed that players’ wages will be paid – they have set up a fund of over 250 million Euros. Players went on strike last week for the first time since 1984 as more than 200 footballers from both the first and second divisions had not been paid in recent months.
Bad
It’s been a tough week for Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho as the fall out from the Spanish Super Cup defeat to arch-rivals Barcelona continues. He feels that he has not received enough support from the Real Madrid board and there were rumours that he might walk away from the club this week – though the Portuguese manager has moved to deny these claims. It could be a long season ahead for ‘Super Mou‘.
Ugly
It’s never nice when departing players say negative things about their former club but that’s what Samir Nasri did after his multi-million pound move from Arsenal to Manchester City this week. The French international complained that the Arsenal fans did not have the same enthusiasm as other supporters and that Arsenal lacked ambition in the transfer market. Nothing to do with the inflated salary being offered at City then, Samir?
Vocabulary
- opening fixtures postponed: The first games of the season were cancelled.
- A compromise: An agreement between the parties
- the fall out: the aftermath (not positive)
- Super Mou: Nickname for Jose Mourinho in Spain
- inflated: too much, overly-generous
