Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson and Chelsea striker Diego Costa reportedly had to be separated in the tunnel following the first leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal at Anfield. Though confrontations with opponents are a near daily occurrence for Costa, this one was a bit different since it continued after the final whistle. The following is a transcript of what happened in that tunnel.
Category: England
Manchester United are powerless against mice who control Old Trafford
Manchester United were able to quickly chase David Moyes out of Old Trafford last season, but the mice who have claimed the stadium as their home are apparently proving more difficult to shoo away. And no, I’m not talking about the Glazers.
According to the Daily Mail, Man United were one of only two Premier League clubs to receive a less than perfect score on their latest hygiene report (Burnley being the other), in part because of a mice infestation that has plagued the club for years.
Raheem Sterling and John Terry invent new game during Liverpool-Chelsea match
Chelsea’s defenders couldn’t agree on how to contain Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling in the firs leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal, so they decided to try out a few different things. For example, John Terry went with a fun new game called “surprise wrestling” in which he and Sterling formed some kind of malformed human centipede.
If it continued… (Man City v Arsenal)
Arsenal finally decided to adapt to their opponent instead of the people in their dressing room mirror and ended up beating Man City 2-0 at the Etihad. It marked the first time since 2010 that they have won at City (when the score was 3-0, with goals from Samir Nasri, Alex Song and…Nicklas Bendtner). Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin stepped into the starting XI and though Arsenal uncharacteristically allowed City to have 65% of possession, goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud made the difference. Given the rarity of this event, we really must ask “What if it continued?”
Andy Carroll needs protection from himself
Andy Carroll is a menace to one man and one man only: Andy Carroll. His career has been plagued by injuries — including a fall off a bar stool in 2011. But now he’s hurting himself with increased regularity.
The madness of Wimbledon v Liverpool in pictures
League Two side AFC Wimbledon — the club built from the ground up by fans in 2002 after Wimbledon FC were relocated to become MK Dons — hosted Liverpool in the FA Cup third round in front of a record crowd of 4,785. Even without the requisite Magic of the FA Cup, the match was a reward for more than a decade of hard work and passion from a group of fans betrayed by the game they love who had the determination to turn that into something positive.
As a result, there was a unique atmosphere at Kingsmeadow even before kickoff. And it fueled a wonderful brand of madness that lasted until the final whistle. Let’s take a look…
FA Cup darlings Blyth Spartans have a wonderful fine list
Seventh tier Blyth Sparans embodied the much talked about Magic of the FA Cup by reaching the third round of the FA Cup to face second tier Birmingham and taking a 2-0 lead into halftime. Though that all unraveled when Birmingham scored three goals in six minutes to win 3-2, Blyth have still won over the world (they count Barack Obama and Luis Figo amongst their 11,000 Twitter followers) with their day jobs and quaint fines.
If it continued… (Spurs v Chelsea)
Spurs gave Chelsea a surprise by coming back from 1-0 down to win 5-3 at White Hart Lane on the first day of the new year. A brace from 21-year-old Harry Kane made him the star as Jose Mourinho stewed in his own conspiracy theories and Chelsea’s defending failed them miserably. This made for a rowdy match and demands that we ask the all-important question: “What if it continued?”
10-year-old competition winner takes the FA Cup home for a night
Eating a sandwich in your kitchen beside one of the game’s most iconic trophies is something many children (and adults) fantasize about and one 10-year-old Derby County fan actually got to live that dream. Ryan O’Donnell won a competition put on by the FA and his prize was a tour of the Rams’ iPRO Stadium and a night with the FA Cup at his house.
So how did he spend his time with the cup? He ate next to it (of course), he watched TV with it, he played a board game against it, and he slept with it at his bedside (or he at least got in bed and stared at it with the lights on while a camera person filmed him).
Thankfully, Arsenal finally ended their trophy drought by winning the FA Cup last season so Arsene Wenger didn’t have to go through the indignity of entering this competition himself under a variety of pseudonyms and never giving it back if he won.
Conspiracy Theory: Opposing teams actively trying to beat Chelsea
Thanks to Jose Mourinho’s bold commitment to exposing the truth, we have already established that ball boys are conspiring against Chelsea. And after last weekend’s controversy in which Cesc Fabregas was booked for diving when he should have been awarded a decisive penalty in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Southampton, he has now revealed that the club’s list of enemies extends far beyond a few snot-nosed kids with complete, unchecked control of the flow of balls onto the pitch.