How the Kaká deal fell apart

As the Football world quickly moves away from the events leading up to Kaká staying at AC Milan and not moving as most believed to Manchester City, a number of interesting twists in the tale have come to light.

From the start of this deal to its very end it involved not only the respective clubs and player but the powerful forces of Adidas, Nike as well as Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN TV network stated intent of purchasing the rights to English Premier League matches live. From the broadcasting vantage in many ways the potential move of Kaká to Manchester City represented a near perfect situation for Disney's expansion into Football and the Citizens global branding with one of the sports best examples on and off the pitch. A great athlete not only none for his on-pitch splendor but of irrefutable character and quite possibly the perfect figurehead for the sports emergence within the American market. However not to be outdone, the targeting of Kaká, one of the most recognizable names in Adidas and subsequently the German based company would fight off any assault with whatever they could muster.

While in the shadows of this entire deal with City headed up by chief ex-Nike man Gary Cook as chief exectutive it is not by chance that their attempts were directed towards one of the rivals most well-known athletes. Along with his Nike's £285 acquisition of Umbro and sponsorship involvement of England's national academy, this was a point in the massive financial battle of worlds Football market as City moves slowly under the Nike umbrella.

However what remains to be seen is the "how and why" Man City executives were "played" in this situation. While in the past the executive team of the Citizens have made a series of negotiation blunders, this time they were letter perfect and came with a brilliant plan. Knowing full well that Mr. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite aka Kaká is a man of the highest moral character and it would take more than just a sizable contract to lure him to Manchester, they were ready to table a proposition that would fulfill some of his personal goals and build a charitable foundation of extraordinary proportion. If true be told, City's management which has stumbled on many occasions outdid itself in a not only a brilliant tactical move but one to bring it to the forefront of sports management and leadership. However these plans went stray and after acknowledging Kaká represents the values as the ambassador of the sport, Mr. Cook noted that they were never able to meet with him and all "his representatives wanted to talk about how much we were going to pay him."

After vetting AC Milan's interest in negotiating a deal and being assured "in which Milan made it quite clear Kaka was for sale", Mr Cook told the BBC, he along with a board member from Abu Dhabi and one other senior executive to finalize the deal. However the intent of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and owner of AC Milan changed as per Mr. Cook:

“We were confined to a room, with no food or drink, and we asked some questions of the football club and more importantly we asked some questions of the representatives of the player and they simple could not answer the questions."

So what happened to the deal, possibly the greatest hint is the breadcrumbs left by Kaká's teammate David Beckham, less than forty-eight hours of the deal collapsing when informed Spanish media source "AS" that the he is likely to move to Real Madrid, where he can continue wearing the three stripes this summer.

Real Madrid defeats Zenit in run-out

As noted in my “preview“, I expected the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Zenit Saint Petersburg to be not much more than a “run-out” and would be empty of intensity. Without surprise, the match held true to that as Zenit looked like it had already started its winter holidays and weren’t going to put-forth much of an effort as they lost 3-0 in a sorry display.

Raúl González bookended a brace for the home side scoring at the twenty-fifth and fifty-seventh minute with Arjen Robben adding at five minutes past the hour. While the match was never in question and for that matter I intently question if it was meant to be anything of consequence both Danni and Russian capped Viktor Fayzulin hit the woodwork late but each attempt went astray and the “match” ended with Real Madrid winning 3-0.

Zenit now returns to its holidays after this ninety minute interlude and will be back on the pitch later next month as it begins to prepare the next round of the UEFA Cup.

Zenit visit of Real Madrid

The backdrop of Zenit Saint Petersburg - Real Madrid match at Santiago Bernabéu will certainly have a unique feel to it given both clubs fates in European competition are sealed. With Real Madrid heading to the next stage of the Champions League and Zenit Saint Petersburg falling out to the UEFA Cup, the suspense of the match is eliminated and I’m not expecting the most intense of situations.

However that doesn’t the match won’t be of interest as for loyal supporters of los Blancos all attention will be paid to Juande Ramos who must be the luckiest man in the world to find himself in-charge of the biggest club in the world after doing such a foul job at Tottenham. His shambolic treatment of players, training regimes and dietary approach might not have made itself into the blogging world but within player and coaching ranks, it will live in infamy as one of the worst coaching situations in anyones memory and the best thing that can be said is thankfully he is out of London before Tottenham were in the Championship. Presumably he has learned from his errors or Real Madrid will sink to the lower depths of La Liga table and need to be bailed out just as Tottenham has.

Those warm and fuzzy comments aside, Real Madrid’s spot in the Champions League is assured and presumably Ramos is looking ahead to the El Clásico against Barcelona this weekend. His is dealing with a large grouping of injuries including the loss of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mahamadou Diarra for the year as well Gabriel Heinze, Pepe, Rubén de la Red, Wesley Sneijder and Miguel Torres unavailable for the match.

On the opposite side of the pitch, loyal Zenit supporters can look forward to the return of Dick Advocaat to Petrovsky next year although for many members of the club, this could be their final match before hitting the transfer market. Of special note this will be Vladislav Radimov’s final match. The thirty-three year-old Russian international will conclude his career and enter the front office as team director.

I will report on the match as it concludes.

Zenit Saint Petersburg falls to Real Madrid 2-1

Dick Advocaat’s dream of Champions League glory took a massive downward turn as Zenit Saint Petersburg suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Real Madrid at Petrovsky Stadium.












Los Blancos came out on the attack and tested Vyacheslav Malafeev early. However disaster was just around the corner when a Rafael van der Vaart cross at the four minute mark was unfortunately cleared into the net by surprise starter Tomáš Hubočan for an own goal. A goal handicapped early, Zenit Saint Petersburg pushed forward looking for the leveling goal. At the twenty-fifth minute Andrei Arshavin orchestrated a splendid tying goal when he volleyed to an unmarked Danni in-close. However six minutes later the nightmare continued as with Zenit pushing forward for the lead, a defensive miscue gave Ruud van Nistelrooy a point-blank opportunity which he crisply deposited into the back of the net. With the score 2-1 in the visitors favour, Zenit drove ahead to level the match, yet opportunity after opportunity was squandered and they fell to their second successive Champions League defeat.

Zenit Saint Petersburg Champions League draw

Zenit Saint Petersburg has been drawn into Group H of the Champions League which contains Serie A Juventus, La Liga’s Real Madrid and the surprise entry, FC BATE Borisov. Matches are as follows:

Matchday One - Sep 17
Juventus - Zenit St. Petersburg

Matchday Three - Oct 21
Zenit St. Petersburg - FC BATE Borisov

Matchday Five - Nov 25
Zenit St. Petersburg - Juventus

Matchday Two - Sep 30
Zenit St. Petersburg - Real Madrid

Matchday Four - Nov 5
BATE Borisov - Zenit St. Petersburg

Matchday Six - Dec 10a
Real Madrid - Zenit St. Petersburg