Atletico Madrid star Koke has praised Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi by saying that he is a step above Cristiano Ronaldo, who he thinks is one of the best athletes around. The competition between Ronaldo and Messi is seen as one of the greatest rivalries since the days of Pele and Maradona. The duo have been competing consistently for major titles including individual accolades for several years. Messi has consistently come out on top with four FIFA Ballon d’Or awards to his name. This is considerably better than Ronaldo’s two Ballon d’Or titles.
Former Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino has hit out at his critics after a poor season with the Spanish club by saying that it was largely due to the faith in him and his methods. Martino became the manager of Barcelona, one of the best clubs in the world, despite having no introduction to European football. He has been the manager of several top clubs in America, but this was his big jump with the European club. He fared very poorly after failing to win any major trophy in the single campaigns he lasted at the club.
Wes Brown is going to be out of contract at Sunderland next summer, but, he has not started thinking about his future as yet. He wants to have a successful 2014-15 Season first and then, he would take things from there.
The new manager of Barcelona, Luis Enrique, is looking to have quite a few superstar players at his disposal in his debut season at Camp Nou.
The three big names whose services Enrique is looking to secure this summer are Marquinhos (Brazil), Luis Suarez (Uruguay) and Juan Cuadrado (Colombia).
The 44-year old former Spanish striker is a great fan of all the above mentioned players and is planning to place a bid for them pretty soon. He is believed to be ready to spend an amount in excess of 100 million Euros for the trio.
