Soccer Scene With Real Madrid in hunt, will Zidane leave Juventus?

By Joe Behan

When stories leak out that top soccer players may be unhappy at their clubs, it’s an obvious concern for owners, directors, coaches and the fans.

When Real Madrid is said to be interested in a player, look out! Luciano Moggi, the Juventus general manager, insisted last week that Zinedine Zidane is staying in Turin. "There is no question of selling Zindane," Moggi said last week.

Zidane, the former World Player of the Year, is plastered all over the media in Spain. The Spanish soccer world is crazy about the French international and his name is popping up on TV and radio throughout the last few weeks. Agents are desperate to create whatever hysteria they can to get probably the most gifted player in the world to play La Liga football.

It doesn’t help Moggi that there is also loose talk that Juve and Dutch international goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar is not top choice anymore. Supposedly Juve are looking for a new goalkeeper. It’s speculation, but according to Italian newspapers, Van der Sar’s time is up at Juve.

It’s typical tabloid stuff at this time of year and it for sure doesn’t help the backroom staff in Juventus. Things have not been going that great for the Serie A club, where expectations are extremely high. Moggi didn’t sound too convincing when he reminded us that Juventus have the best defensive record, which, incidentally, is also due to Van der Sar’s technique and his character. The general manager needed to explain how he was going to keep Zindane at Juve, and how the Stripes were going to score more goals, not prevent them. He needed to talk about what world-class forwards Juve will buy for CL to complement the brilliance of Zindane’s play making.

At the end of day, of course, it is Zindane’s decision. Although down to earth and modest, he is hungry to continue winning top trophies in all major competition, something he is already doing. But for now Juve have gone downhill and if the French wizard stays in Turin, it may well be only for one more season.

Of course, if Juventus win the Serie A Championship and reach the final stages of the Champions League, the speculative stories may go away. They are not the kind of stories we need to hear about such a magnificent talent, and that includes Van der Sar, too. For Rivaldo, however, it is a different story, even though he has had major run-ins with the big guns at the Catalan club, Barcelona.

Rivaldo idolized

It was easy to forgive Rivaldo for missing a penalty in a recent King’s Cup game after his sensational performance for Barcelona against Valencia in the last game of the season. The brilliant Brazilian hit a hat trick to give Barc a 3-2 victory and ensure a spot in next year’s Champions League. Hector Cuper, Valencia coach bound for Inter Milan, admitted that Rivaldo was the sole reason for his team’s defeat. Cuper paid the utmost of respect to Rivaldo and "never," he said, did he see a player change the course of a game three times and in three completely different ways. It was Rivaldo’s second hat trick of the season and he was robbed of another against Real when his third was disallowed in the last minute. No doubt Rivaldo is the hero at the moment with the Catalan club, among both fans and the boardroom staff, whose bacon he more or less saved.

Rivaldo hit a superb free kick followed by a typical individual solo goal. In the last minutes of the game he surpassed these two efforts with an incredible overhead kick that he blasted into the back of the net. The concept that no player is bigger than the club was put on ice until Rivaldo missed that penalty in the 3-1 cup loss to Roma.

The 29-year-old Brazilian is the Catalan idol and fans will consider that it was Rivaldo, and Rivaldo alone, who got Barc to Champions League 2001-02. Barcelona’s incoming coach, Carles Rexach, agreed with Cuper that if it wasn’t for Rivaldo, Barcelona wouldn’t be rubbing shoulders with the Euro elite in the Champions League.

Get-tough time

Premier managers should take heed to the no nonsense attitude of Inter’s new coach, Hector Cuper, and what he says about superstars.

"The team comes first," said the Argentine.

Cuper was hinting about Christian Vieri’s future at Milan.

"Any player that wants to leave the club is free to go," were the somber words of the newly appointed coach.

For the longest time Dwight Yorke was reported as the rude boy at Manchester United, and yet Ferguson held onto him, and indeed played him in the big showdowns. Trinidad and Tobago are guilty of letting the superstar back into their side when it came to playing the U.S. in the recent crunch World Cup qualifier. Never has Yorke been given the ultimate question — do you want to play for the team? — for fear he might say no.

Patrick Vieira was all mouth just before Arsenal qualified for the Champions League. Now Eric Cantona is stirring it all up again for his fellow Frenchman. Vieira should tell Cantona to mind his own business and certainly should not let Cantona claim that leaving Arsenal is a way to win trophies. Cantona claimed that Vieira should not stay at Arsenal just because "the fans, the director and the manager love him." Those are the very reasons why Cantona was able to stay on at United after he jumped into the crowd and kicked a fan as he was being sent off.

If Vieira wants to go, Arsene Wenger should simply let him go and Mr. Cantona should concentrate on his acting. Vieira is worse to let somebody speak in public about his career and most of all his desires. Once again, Real Madrid join the list of interested clubs in the midfield general.

Real are all over superstars these days and Leeds are looking to add £5,000 a week to Mark Viduka’s wage package to keep the Spanish giants at bay. The outlandish figure of £22 million is the projected price for the skillful Aussie and it will come down to his desire to stay at Elland Road.

Again, O’Leary should let him go if Viduka wants to leave. O’Leary should put the ball in Viduka’s court. Yes he had a great season with Leeds, but he needs to have another one to know if he can make it on the continent, where it is a different ballgame altogether. While it is important for managers to fight for their prize possessions, no player is irreplaceable, not even Zindane and Rivaldo.