Bayern Munich’s French star Franck Ribery and Inter Milan’s Balotelli both endured tough weeks yet their respective clubs remain in pole position to make the Champions League final. It was also a good week for Manchester United and Roma as they won local derbies to maintain their challenge at the top of the Premier league and Serie A respectively. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.
The Good
A very good week for Tottenham after they beat league leaders and local rivals Chelsea 2-1 on Saturday. Goals from Jermaine Defoe and the outstanding Gareth Bale ensured that Spurs keep their Champions League hopes alive and notch their second successive London derby win in three days. Great stuff!
It was good for title hopefuls Manchester United and Roma as both won huge derby fixtures last weekend. The victories meant that Manchester United are still in with a shout while for Roma, the win kept them in pole position to win the championship. It looked like the Manchester derby between Manchester City and United was going to end in stalemate when Paul Scholes, fresh from signing a new contract, popped up to head a winner in the last 30 seconds of extra time. Meanwhile, in Italy the huge Rome derby between Lazio and Roma was settled by a Vucinic brace, a penalty and a free kick. The 2-1 victory leaves Roma one point ahead of Inter while in the premier League Manchester United’s win, cut their deficit behind Chelsea to just one point. It should be an exciting end to the season in both leagues.
Bad
The troubled Inter forward Mario Balotelli’s future at the club is in doubt after he was booed by his own fans in his club’s 3-1 victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semi final. At the end of the game, he also threw his shirt to the ground and he has been criticised by his teammates too after a number of other incidents. It is difficult to imagine that he can stay at the club despite owner Massimo Moratti saying he wants him to stay. The Inter boss is probably trying to protect the player’s price from falling, something that is bound to happen if he is forced to leave. The player himself is unrepentant saying modestly, ‘”I am ready to become the greatest player in the world. I am relaxed and nothing has changed.”
It has been a tough week for former England captain John Terry as his side Chelsea lost to Tottenham at White Hart Lane and the Blues captain compounded a poor personal display with a red card after two reckless challenges. Terry will miss the next game against Stoke City in the league adding more pressure to Chelsea’s title push. A bad week for JT indeed.
Ugly
Vocabulary
outstanding: Very, very good; played very well
notch : To score
(be) in with a shout: to have a chance of winning (in this case – the title)
(be) in pole position: be the leaders, to be in the best position for a race
a brace: two (in this case – goals), a pair
boo: to show criticism or disapproval especially of a sportsman or woman
unrepentant: not sorry, show no remorse
compounded a poor personal display : Added to his bad performance (by getting a red card)
JT: Nickname of John Terry
