Michael Ballack (born 26 September 1976) is a German professional footballer, who is currently playing for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.He is among the top goal scorers in the history of his international team. Ballack has worn the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for except for Kaiserslautern. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He has won the German Footballer of the Year award three times – in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Ballack began his career as a youth at Chemnitz, his local team, and made his professional debut in 1995.Although the team were relegated in his first season, his performances in the Regionalliga the following season led to a transfer to Kaiserslautern in 1997. He won the Bundesliga in his first season at the club; his first major honour. He became a first team regular in 1998–99 season and also earned his first senior national cap for Germany. He moved to Bayer Leverkusen for €4.1 million in 1999. The 2002 season saw him win a slew of runners-up medals: Bayer Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga, German Cup, UEFA Champions League and Germany lost to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup Final.
A €12.9 million move to Bayern Munich led to further honours: the team won the Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Ballack had become a prolific goalscorer from midfield, scoring 58 goals for Bayern Munich between 2002 and 2006. He joined Premier League club Chelsea in mid-2006 and won his first English honours, the FA Cup and League Cup, in his first season at the club. Injury ruled out much of 2007 but he returned the following season, helping Chelsea reach their first ever Champions League Final. He also went on to win the FA cup again in 2009 and then once more as part of a league and cup double in 2010.
Internationally, Ballack has played in the European Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006. Jürgen Klinsmann appointed him captain of the national team in 2004. Ballack scored consecutive game-winning goals in the quarter-final and semi-final to help his country to the 2002 World Cup Final, and led his team to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup and the Euro 2008 Final.
Fernando José Torres Sanz (Spanish pronunciation: [ferˈnando ˈtores]; born 20 March 1984), nicknamed El Niño (The Kid in Spanish), is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker.
Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 after signing for a club record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals after scoring against Aston Villa in December 2009. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which also made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.
Torres is a Spanish international and made his debut for the country against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in four major tournaments, UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Torres did not score at Euro 2004, but netted three at the 2006 World Cup. He scored twice at UEFA Euro 2008, including the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win over Germany in the Final. He won the 2010 World Cup with Spain, but did not score any goals during the tournament.
Xavier Hernández i Creus (born 25 January 1980), commonly known as Xavi Hernández or simply Xavi is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, where he has spent his entire 14-year career.
Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at the age of 11. He made his first-team debut in 18 August 1998. Since then he playeed 665 matches, scored 70 goals and made more than 150 assists for above 40 players. He was an integral part of the sextuple-winning Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in a year.
He has been capped 107 times for the Spanish national team, with whom he won UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at UEFA Euro 2008.
Xavi played for Spain at the young levels, before making his international debut in 2000.
He received five Ballon d'Or nominations, and finished on third place in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (in all these years, his colleague, Lionel Messi was the winner). He won the World Soccer Player of the Year in 2010, especially for his performance with Spain national team at the World Cup 2010.
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Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), commonly known simply as Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Santos and the Brazilian national football team. He won the 2011FIFA Puskás Award for scoring the best goal of the season in the Brazileirão in a 5–4 loss to Flamengo.
Club career
Born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Neymar joined Santos in 2003 and eventually made his first-team debut six years later aged 17 on 7 March 2009 in a 2–1 win againstOeste. He made another appearance the following week against Mogi Mirim, during which he scored his first goal for Santos. On 11 April, in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg against Palmeiras, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win at Estádio Vila Belmiro.In the final however Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat toCorinthians.
On 15 April 2010, Neymar scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 routing of Guarani in theround of 16 of the Brazilian Cup.Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games,the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to other Brazilians, including Robinho and Pelé.In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid for him from English Premier League team West Ham United. Neymar said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club,However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that he did not want to stay in Brazil.
On 30 November 2010, Santos sold 5 percent shares on future transfer fees received to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million). DIS Group (subsidiary of Sonda Group, a Brazil supermarket chain), investment partner of Santos in recent years, bought 40% sporting rights from Neymar's family in 2009.Neymar scored six goals during Santos run to the 2011Copa Libertadores Finals, tying him for third top goalscorer, including the clinching goal of Santos' 4-3 aggregate win over Cerro Porteño in the semifinals.In the two-legged final, Santos faced Uruguayan side C.A. Peñarol and drew the first leg 0-0 in Montevideo.At home in the second leg, Neymar opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Santos held on for a 2-1 win and Neymar won Man of the Match honours.The win brought Santos their first Copa Libertadores triumph since 1963, when Brazilian legend Pelé was playing for the club.
In September 2011, Santos president Luis Ribeiro threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA following reports that they had attempted to sign Neymar to a pre-contract agreement, and denied that such an agreement was in place.On 9 November 2011, Neymar and Santos agreed to a contract extension that would see the player stay with the club until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The deal reportedly increased Neymar's wages by 50%, to the levels that top European clubs would be paying him.On Wednesday 14 December 2011, Neymar scored the opening goal for Santos as they defeated Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Toyota Stadium inToyota, Japan, but failed to score against Barcelona in the final (18 December 2011), where Santos were defeated 4-0, and ultimately finished second in the competition.He won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award for scoring the best goal of the season in the Brazileirão in a 5–4 loss to Flamengo.
International career
Following Neymar's performances for Brazil's U-17 team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in which he scored a goal in the opening match againstJapan, former Brazilian football players Pelé and Romário reportedly urged coach Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup.Although the widespread opinion that Neymar deserved a place in Dunga's squad went as far as a 14,000 signature petition, and despite the huge pressure on Dunga to pick Neymar, he was omitted from both the squad of 23, and the stand-by list. Although Dunga described Neymar as "extremely talented", he claimed that he had not been tested sufficiently on the international level to earn a World Cup spot and he had failed to impress enough while on international duty.On 26 July 2010, Neymar was selected for the first time in the Brazil senior team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the United States to be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On 10 August 2010 he made his debut with the national team in that game, aged 18 years old, starting the match and wearing the number 11 jersey. He scored on his debut after 28 minutes, a header coming from an André Santos cross in a 2–0 win for Brazil.On 27 March 2011, he scored twice in a 2–0 win against Scotland at the Emirates Stadium. During the match against Scotland, a banana was thrown onto the pitch after he scored from the penalty spot, which led Neymar to complain about 'constant jeering and an atmosphere of racism', implying that Scottish fans exhibited racism.While Scottish officials explained that Neymar had been booed solely for perceived injury-feigning, a German student who was in the station amongst Brazil supporters said that he threw the banana with no racist intentions. This led to the Scottish Football Association asking the Brazilian Football Confederation for an apology for the accusations made to the Scottish fans.Neymar refused to apologise or retract his words claiming he 'did not accuse any person or any group of supporters'. Neymar took part at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, where he scored two goals in the first round game againstEcuador.
Neymar Pictures
Zinedine Zidane: To attack Jose Mourinho & the players is the same as attacking Real Madrid
The Frenchman says that the former Chelsea boss is in the process of building something great at the club and that no other manager has a system to beat Barcelona.
Real Madrid director of football Zinedine Zidane has hit out at fans who are criticising Jose Mourinho and his players after the 2-1 Copa del Rey loss to Barcelona on Wednesday.
Since the Portuguese coach arrived in the Spanish capital, Real Madrid have beaten their arch-rivals in only one of their meetings, but Zidane feels criticism of the 48-year-old is unfounded.
"Attacking Jose Mourinho and the players is the same as attacking Real Madrid," Zidane told AS.
"I can't understand those who can demand that Mourinho leaves when he's in the middle of building something great, of imprinting a winning character on our team," explained the 39-year-old.
The former France international also defended Mourinho's tactics, despite widespread talk of his side's negative approach to the tie.
"I also don't understand those who criticise the system Mourinho used in the cup match on Wednesday.
"I challenge any coach to tell me if they know an appropriate tactical system to beat Barcelona."
Real Madrid will look to salvage their attempt to hold their Copa del Rey title on January 25 at Camp Nou.
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980 in Whiston, Merseyside, England) is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger. Gerrard is best known for his tremendous long-range striking ability and has scored in numerous cup finals, including the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2006 FA Cup Final.
Gerrard, who has spent his entire career at Anfield, made his début in 1998 and cemented his place in the first team in the 2000–01 season, succeeding Sami Hyypiä as Liverpool team captain in 2003. His honours include two FA Cup wins, two League Cup wins, a UEFA Cup win, and a UEFA Champions League win in 2005. In 2005, Gerrard came third in the voting for Ballon d'Or, given to the top player in Europe.
Gerrard made his international debut in 2000 and has represented England at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, as well as the 2006 World Cup, where he was the team's top goalscorer with two goals. Gerrard is the current vice-captain of the England national football team. However, he captained his country at the 2010 World Cup in the absence of regular captain Rio Ferdinand who missed the tournament through injury.
Gerrard is widely regarded as one of the greatest English footballers ever. Gerrard came second only to Kenny Dalglish in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, a Liverpool F.C. fan poll.Zinedine Zidane said in 2009 that he considers Gerrard one of the best footballers in the world.In 2010, The Guardian named Gerrard to their World XI team, which compiled the greatest footballers of all-time onto one squad.
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Santos Futebol Clube
