Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Sport magazine issue 306
Citation preview
Issue 306 | May 24 2013
751tackles
so far
jul
oct
feb
may
Untitled-10 3 21/05/2013 10:41
Gareth Bale and Fernando Torres have predicted the final. now it’s your turn.
goals 4goals 3
tackles 20tackles 23
shots 12shots 18
fouls 18fouls 20
cards 5cards 2
saves 8saves 10
headers 30headers 50
shirt-pulls 15shirt-pulls 7
nutmegs 1nutmegs 3
offsides 7offsides 4
for the chance to win the ultimate prize,
a 2013/14 UEFA Champions League season
ticket for the club of your choice, make your
prediction at adidas.com/allforthis or one of
the adidas Performance Stores at Oxford Street,
Westfield White City and Westfield Stratford.
Bale’s prediction Torres’ prediction
Untitled-10 4 21/05/2013 10:41
Take a deep breath on... www.spor t-emotions.com
4 0 8 7 3 F 2 3 2 x 3 0 0 . p d f P a g e 1 0 7 / 0 5 / 1 3 , 1 1 : 0 9
06
Issue 306, May 24 2013
Radar
05 Saddle up... ... without the saddle sores: with
Le Tour on the Xbox and PS3 and
Pro Cycling Manager on the PC
06 Europe: the final countdown Jimmy Greaves on a time when
European finals had far less
importance and much more variety
o this coming weekFeatures
18 Rafael Nadal The greatest clay-court player of all
time on his crack at an eighth French
Open championship, doping in sport
and good ol’ uncle Miguel Angel
27 Jimmy Anderson England’s newest member of the
elite 300 Club ahead of his side’s
second Test against New Zealand
34 Carl Froch The “sexual tyrannosaurus” looks
forward to a brutal bout with
Mikkel Kessler – and cream cakes
38 Ben Foden The Northampton Saints full-back
is looking to end a disrupted season
on a Premiership final-related high
Extra Time
52 Gadgets A spiffing new take on the classic
radiogram, old sport, with Ruark
Audio’s R7 Music System
54 Kit Waterproof golf jackets – will not,
regrettably, improve your chances
of avoiding a water hazard
56 Grooming A fragrance from Ferrari, deodorant
from Lotus and Bernie Ecclestone’s
new talcum powder. No, not really
60 Entertainment The wolfpack is back once more in
The Hangover Part III, and Skeletor
takes up residence at the V&A
18
Co
ve
r im
ag
e: C
live
Bru
ns
kill
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s. T
his
pa
ge
: Cliv
e M
as
on
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s, K
en
t G
av
in/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
Contents
27 60
| May 24 2013 | 03
win the ultimate UEFA Champions League prize
jul
oct
feb
may
predict the final for the chance to follow the team of your choice,
home and away, in next season’s competition. adidas.com/allforthis
4G is nice. But our
Running at what we affectionately
call 3.9G, our Ultrafast network is
built to give you all-you-can-eat-data.
So you won’t run out when sharing
pictures of happy cheese graters.
And when we roll out 4G, we’ll
nudge you up without charging you
for the privilege. Which is nice too.
network is built for more.
Our Ultrafast network currently uses DC-HSDPA technology. The speeds you’ll get will vary by device, location, coverage, demand and TrafficSense.™ See Three.co.uk
#iseef
aces
H3G03G03070_Q2_Ultrafast_300x232_Sport.indd 1 20/05/2013 15:44
| May 24 2013 | 05
Radarp06 – The best of British sports writing not currently available in this magazine
p08 – The adidas football boot as light as a box of Cup a Soup
he only thing that makes us sweat
more than a slight incline is the
sight of George Hincapie’s varicose
veins, so maybe we’re not really cut out for
professional cycling. Luckily, the upcoming
Le Tour de France game (360, PS3) offers
a taste of the race without the chafing.
In multiplayer mode, you and a friend can
break away from the peloton together, à la
Froome and Wiggins – just make sure, unlike
them, you’re friends afterwards. If you fancy
yourself as more of a Dave Brailsford-type,
the new edition of Pro Cycling Manager (PC)
lets you manage the strategy for a whole team.
Both released in June
p10 – Jimmy Greaves on the early years of English football in Europe
T
Tour de lounge
or much of the last year, the printing
presses of sporting publishers have been
working non-stop, churning out millions of
words about balls and bikes in an Olympic year.
And, on Tuesday night, the 11th Annual British
Sports Book Awards picked out some of the best for
special praise across a range of categories. The
winners are as follows – so, if you’re searching for
some sporting summer reads, look no further.
t’s not quite up to Gary
Neville-like levels of
touchscreen analysis,
but the updated Sky Sports iPad
app is as close as you will get
without him. Launching in time for
the Champions League final on
Saturday, the app will now let you
replay goals and other key match
incidents from up to 20 different
camera angles.
So, unlike the match referee,
you’ll have the all information you
need when trying to decide
whether Arjen Robben dived to
secure that match-winning
penalty (he probably did).
Either way, the app will also let
you survey the views of others on
Twitter, and see match statistics
to back up your insightful tactical
points. It’s the perfect second-
screen experience.
Available from iTunes Store.
Free for Sky Sports subscribers,
£4.99 per month otherwise
Radar
06 | May 24 2013 |
British booksF
I
how many goals?oct
feb
may
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
Best illustrated21 Days to Glory,
by Team Sky
Contributions from
Wiggins, Cav and Dave
Brailsford, combined
with photos, tell the
story of Team Sky’s
remarkable 2012.
Best horse racingHer Majesty’s Pleasure,
by Julian Muscat
The country’s attitude
to horses has taken
a bad turn this year,
particularly in
Newcastle – but Her
Maj still loves them.
Best footballBarça,
by Graham Hunter
Find out what makes
(or made) Barcelona
the greatest team in
the world. Bayern
Munich must have had
a read of this in the
Best motorsportThat Near-Death Thing,
by Rick Broadbent
A frightening look
inside the absolute
madness of the Isle of
Man TT – comes no
closer to working out
why people do it.
Best cricketOn Warne,
by Gideon Haigh
A thorough profile
of the career of the
divisive Aussie spinner,
whose life has taken
as many turns as one
of his deliveries.
Best new writerRunning With
The Kenyans,
by Adharanand Finn
The author spent six
months training with
the best in the
business to write this
uplifting book on
Best biography/autobiographySeven Deadly Sins,
by David Walsh
Vindicated journalist
tells the tale of his
pursuit of Lance
Armstrong – one of
sport’s biggest cheats.
Best rugbyThe Final Whistle,
by Stephen Cooper
Fifteen rugby players
from a London club
went to war and never
returned. This poignant
and lovingly researched
book tells their story.
Best golfBobby’s Open,
by Steven Reid
Explores how
legendary American
amateur Bobby Jones
captured the attention
of the sporting world
at the 1926 Open.
Outstanding contributionCMJ: A Cricketing Life,
by Christopher
Martin-Jenkins
The memoirs of
the beloved TMS
commentator are full
of warmth and vigour.
Total replay
Radar
Answered by Ted Kravitz, Sky Sports F1 presenter and analyst
Football isn’t the only sport
with some high-profile
retirements – in Formula 1,
Pirelli will soon be changing their tyres
(get it?) after criticism resulting from an
excessive number of pit stops at the Spanish
Grand Prix. We asked Ted Kravitz to explain.
“Pirelli have been under a lot of pressure
from some pretty big teams in F1 to change
their approach to making their tyres. A lot
of teams can’t get them to work – they’re
too delicate and they wear out too quickly.
This is what Pirelli were asked to do, so it’d
be pretty unfair for them to change their
tyres just for the benefit of some teams.
“So, what they’ve done is change the way
the tyres are made, but not what they’re
made of. Hopefully it won’t change too
much. I think we’ll still have races where
there are three stops per car, but not four.
“Pit stops are all well and good, and
they’re quite fun when a wheel falls off or
something goes wrong, but it does interrupt
the flow of a race. People are just about
to get into a nice fight with somebody, and
then they have to come in for a pit stop.
“Hopefully it will mean the cars stay out on
track a bit longer, and they are able to fight
with each other without the fear the tyres
will get destroyed if they do start racing
each other. It rather defeats the point of
motor racing – drivers have been told not
to race because it ruins the tyres. That was
something Pirelli want to fix, and hopefully
they will have done with these changes.”
The Monaco Grand Prix on May 23-26 is
exclusively live on Sky Sports F1 HD
08 | May 24 2013 |
does f1 have awheel problem?
Ph
ilip
pe
Lo
pe
z/A
FP
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s
how many shirt-pulls?
jul
oct
feb
may
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
The booT oF The FuTure
e hoped that futuristic footie boots
would have rocket propulsion, but
adidas are sensibly focusing on making
them lighter. This 99g concept is on show at the
company’s UCL Innovation event today.
For more information on the adidas innovation
story, follow @adidasuk #adidaslab
W
stud layout ensures quick movement in all directions
when playing
Technology such as the miCoach will continue to track player movement, and will work in
conjunction with hi-tech balls and kit for a more complete
picture of performance
weight is reduced by removing any unnecessary materials, with the boot being reduced to its essential elements in a similar way to an f1 car
high-tech composite materials like Zerotex
reduce weight while still providing rigidity – the
outsole is just 1mm thick
aturday‘s Champions League final will
be played at Wembley to commemorate
150 years since the founding of the FA.
This is ironic, because the English football
authorities have spent a large part of that time
turning their nose up at European football.
The Football League discouraged English
clubs from entering for some years, and so
it wasn‘t until 1963 that a team from these
shores first lifted a European trophy – when
Tottenham won the Cup Winners’ Cup with a
5-1 win over Atlético Madrid. Jimmy Greaves
scored twice that day, and he tells us European
football back then was a world away from the
glitz, glamour and Gazprom of modern times:
“Football in Europe was quite young then.
In fact, when I was at Chelsea, they won
the championship in 1955 and never even
entered the European Cup. In ‘63, when we
won it, everything was pretty new. Nobody
really knew about each other – there were
lots of teams that were playing, particularly
behind the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain was
well and truly up then, so if you got drawn
against a side like that – from, say, Bulgaria
or somewhere like that – you knew nothing
about them, whereas everybody knows
everybody else now. It was totally different.
You know, we were a very good side. We felt
that we‘d been robbed the year before in
the semi final against Benfica, and we were
determined to put it right. That‘s what we did.
“We travelled on ordinary airlines. You
didn‘t have your own plane or anything like
that... didn‘t get first class, either! By the
time we won it, it had become important to
be known as a European-winning side. Of
course, it went from strength to strength
and you know now what it‘s like – in fact, I‘m
still surprised there isn‘t a European League.
I felt that that would have come in by now.
It will eventually.”
Radar
10 | May 24 2013 |
Po
pp
erf
oto
/Ge
tty
Im
ag
es
Memory lane
S
espite the late start and the
five-year ban imposed on
English clubs after the Heysel
disaster, Chelsea‘s win last week
puts England level with Spain in the
overall standings, taking into
account European Cup/Champions
League, the UEFA Cup/Europa
League and the Cup Winners’ Cup.
D
The overall record
Royal Mail Football
Heroes Special
Stamps are on sale
now from royalmail.
com/footballheroes
4.Germany Total = 18
7 | 6 | 5
5.Netherlands Total = 11
6 | 4 | 1
6.Portugal Total = 07
4 | 2 | 1
how many nutmegs?
jul
oct
feb
may
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
1.Italy Total = 28
12 | 9 | 7
2.Spain Total = 27
13 | 7 | 7
2.England Total = 27
12 | 7 | 8
EVERYTHING YOU LOVE IN ONE PLACE
Create personalised home screens for you and your family with our new Smart VIERA TV range. Save and access your favourite websites, apps and games as well as services such as BBC iPlayer, Netfl ix and YouTube in one convenient place. New Smart VIERA with personalised home screens, it’s smart TV made easy.
See how easy it is to personalise your TV, at: panasonic.co.uk/smartviera
NEW SMART VIERA WITH PERSONALISED HOME SCREENS
105948 PAN SMART VIERA UK SPORT 300x232.indd 1 02/05/2013 10:40
12 | May 24 2013 |
Radar Editor’s letter
Editor-in-chief
Simon Caney
@simoncaney
Sport magazinePart of UTV Media plc 18 Hatfields, London SE1 8DJTelephone: 020 7959 7800 Fax: 020 7959 7942
Email: [email protected]
EditorialEditor-in-chief: Simon Caney (7951)Deputy editor: Tony Hodson (7954) Art editor: John Mahood (7860)Subeditor: Graham Willgoss (7431)Senior writers: Sarah Shephard (7958), Alex Reid (7915)Staff writers: Mark Coughlan (7901), Amit Katwala (7914)Picture editor: Julian Wait (7961)Designer: Matthew Samson (7861)Digital designer: Chris Firth (7952)Production manager: Tara Dixon (7963) Contributors: David Lawrenson, Mark Richardson, Douglas Rankine
Commercial Head of Sales: Iain Duffy (7991) Advertising Managers: Steve Hare (7930), Kevin O’Byrne (7832), Aaron Pinto del Rio (7918) Sales Executive: Joe Grant (7904)Creative Solutions Account Manager: John Cole (7908)Distribution Manager: Sian George (7852) Distribution Assistant: Makrum Dudgeon
Head of Online: Matt Davis (7825) Head of Communications: Laura Wootton (7913) Managing Director: Calum Macaulay PA to Managing Director: Deborah Dilworth (7826)
Colour reproduction: Rival Colour LtdPrinted by: Wyndeham Group Ltd
© UTV Media plc 2012UTV Media plc takes no responsibility for the content of advertisements placed in Sport magazine
£1 where sold Hearty thanks to: Sara Lincoln, Christian Brown, Sportfolio PR, Lewis Davey, Rachael Bradshaw
Don’t forget: Help keep public transport clean and tidy for everyone by taking your copy of Sport away with you when you leave the bus or train.
LAUNCH OFTHE YEAR
2008
Total Average Distribution:
302,466 Jul-Dec 2012
www.sport-magazine.co.uk
@sportmaguk
facebook.com/sportmagazine
Horse racing divides sports fans. It is proper
Marmite stuff – you love it or want nothing to
do with it. I fall in the former camp.
It often has a bad public image, and sometimes does little to
help itself; many of those in the sport would rather have nothing
to do with the public at all, let alone actively try to grow their
fanbase. So we can only imagine their horror at racing’s closed
doors being blasted off by the revelations of doping by trainer
Mahmood al-Zarooni.
Recently I wrote of how well I thought the British
Horseracing Authority had dealt with the issue – briskly,
efficiently and stringently. Maybe I spoke too soon. Since
Zarooni’s eight-year ban was announced, further evidence has
come to light, notably showing that last year’s St Leger winner
Encke had been doped this year.
This is significant in racing terms, for the horse Encke beat
into second, Camelot, was bidding to become the first in more
than 40 years to win the Triple Crown of 2,000 Guineas, Derby
and St Leger. Thus we may have been denied a little bit of
history. Would Encke have won anyway? Was he doped at all
last year? We’ll never know. He may have passed a drugs test in
August – but, as with humans, horses can benefit from anabolic
steroids long after they have left the system. They help them
recover more quickly from injury and train better.
Thankfully, Zarooni’s old boss Sheikh Mohammed has acted
quickly and appears to have taken control of the situation, at
least internally. But questions over any horses previously
trained by Zarooni will linger for some time to come.
I never quite understood the stick that David Beckham
received. He maybe wasn’t truly great, but he was very, very
good. Not only that, but he had a superb attitude and never
stopped running for the cause. His off-pitch exploits, and the
simple fact he became incredibly rich, made people dislike him
and, for some reason, decide he wasn’t very good. Perhaps
understandably, that’s his biggest regret – but he retires with
his head held high. What a terrific career.
On page 27 of this very magazine, you’ll find an interview with
Jimmy Anderson. While his colleague Stuart Broad stole the
headlines in the first Test, I can’t help thinking Anderson is the
best paceman England have had in my lifetime, and that’s going
back a while now. Broad is irresistible on his day, but Jimmy
does it every single game. A worthy member of the 300 Club.
Doubts still linger...... thanks to fresh revelations over the scale of doping by trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni
Ala
n C
row
hu
rst/
Ge
tty
Im
ag
es
Reader comments of the week
@Sportmaguk has to be the
worst sports publication on
earth. Example – top 3
managers of the year
included Allardyce instead
of laudrup??!!
@BrunoBates
Premier League Awards
are worth a look in today’s
@Sportmaguk – clear
winner in ‘The Animal
Standing Up To Physical
Abuse From A Fan’ award.
@levijharris
Comments in
@Sportmaguk had me in
stitches this morn – esp
regarding fox feeding
and sweaty Skype calls.
A great start to a
hungover Friday.
@Zoe2307
Excellent Sir Alex article in
this week’s @Sportmaguk
I’m worried about “Sir Matt
Busby syndrome” but SAF
has left young squad this
time.
@neilmack_the
Nice PL year-end
retrospective
@Sportmaguk. Finally,
someone recognises
#Koscielny and #Cazorla on
a team of the year. #Arsenal
@markjfine
Free iPad app available on iPad, Kindle and Android devices
Cover of the Year
@Sportmaguk Do we
have to put up with bitter
Bertie @billborrows every
week from now on? If so
you might as well hand out
bog roll instead
@JamesSPRogers
Get in touch @sportmaguk [email protected]
Tainted glory: Encke (in blue)
won the St Leger last year, but a
positive doping test this year
renders it a hollow victory
250
ml
Powered by proteinfeelingupbeat.com
full ofA bottle
bringit onIntroducing delicious new Upbeat, the fresh, high-protein dairy drink that packs a healthy punch.
Every bottle of chilled Upbeat is packed with 20 grams of protein, contains real fruit and is a natural source of calcium.
If that’s not enough, it has no more than 150 calories and contains less than half the sugar of leading fruit juices and smoothies.
So take on life the healthy way, and grab a bottle of low-fat, protein-packed Upbeat.
Grab a bottle now at selected
Waitrose stores, coffee shops and independent outlets in London.
14 | May 24 2013 |
Radar Opinion
My experience of Premiership Grand Finals isn’t great. Well, my
memories of semi finals are probably
worse, having been sent home from a couple on
the wrong end of a beating. At Leicester a few
years ago, we were going toe to toe until about
60 minutes in – when, as my energy levels were
being melted away by the scorching sun, they
brought on Dan Cole, who promptly introduced my
head to my colon. The referee’s arm went up, they
kicked the points and I knew that the prospect of
any and all glory had been promptly harpooned.
That was a tough one to take, but not as tough
as 2004. That season I played pretty much every
minute of every game and we finished top of the
log, so life was dandy. In those days, the top team
had three weeks off, while those below scrapped it
out in the playoffs to decide who was to contest
the final. Having three weeks off was a terrible
idea – and that approach was soon abolished – as
the rust began to set in after about 10 days. But
rust wasn’t my issue in ’04; I managed to get
injured just before the final game of the season
and was, with a few days to go, ruled out of the
Big Dance.
As it happened, that injury would keep me out
for a further 18 months – but, on that day, it
forced me to sit in the stands sweating in a suit
while my buddies ran out to bring the title home.
We lost 10-6, and I rarely felt more impotent as
a sportsman; even getting hammered up at
Leicester felt better, as I at least had a chance to
do something about it. And poor performances are
often avenged in the end, anyway; I played against
Leicester many more times after that and various
scores were settled, but none of them allows me
to forget that horrible day and the worst coach
journey home of my career.
This weekend, Leicester and Northampton will
collide in a local derby relocated to southwest
London, and one team will spend the bus trip
back swilling warm beer, wrestling like hormonal
badgers, likely stripping naked in a manly fashion
and generally releasing a whole season’s worth of
pressure from their cauliflower ears. Lions and
England tourists aside, this party will probably
continue until Monday or Tuesday; their wives
can expect not to see them until then.
The other team, though, will travel home in near
silence. There will always be a couple of guys whose
spirits are harder to dampen, but most will be found
gazing ruefully out of the bus window into the night,
devastated at what might have been but is not.
It’s a tough old world, sport, but ours isn’t to
sympathise too long with those proven unworthy.
No, our job is to enjoy the occasion and to admire
the victors. Spare a thought for those wanting
the Twickenham turf to open up and let them
disappear, but not for too long. This is survival of
the fittest and, were it any other way, it wouldn’t
be worth watching.
@davidflatman
Da
vid
Ly
ttle
ton
Flats on Friday
Do you remember what the close season felt like when you were a kid? No breaking news ticker on dedicated
24-hour sport stations, no exotic foreign players
(until Ardiles and Villa landed), American financiers
or oil-rich Sheikhs running riot. There was not even
the distraction of the national team failing to bother the
trophy engravers.
Luckily, England contrived to avoid qualification for
any major international tournament the entire time I
was at primary school (and all memories of ‘Europa 80’*
have been mysteriously wiped from my memory banks).
How the hell did I survive?
Well, first of all there was the Shoot!
Summer Special, a bumper-size copy
of the weekly magazine. If your
team was featured in the action
shot on the cover, that was almost
as good as winning the League
Cup. Other magazines and comics
didn’t quite get it. They thought
that summer was for cricket.
Even Billy Dane, the eponymous hero
of Billy’s Boots in Scorcher and Score (later Tiger
and Scorcher), stretched suspension of disbelief to
breaking point, when he also found a pair of cricket
boots belonging to world-beating Victorian all-rounder
‘Dead Shot’ Keen in his commodious attic.
Lucky Billy. All we got was playing ‘Wembley’ – or,
every four years, ‘World Cup’ (with the worst player
having to be either Scotland or Iran) – on the meticulous
patch of closely mown grass that was supposed to be
the cricket square. Don’t want kids to play football on it?
Don’t put stakes that double as goals around it.
And then we were cruelly ripped from our mates to
be taken to the seaside for a fortnight. First question on
the beach: ‘Who do you support?’ Within minutes there was
a full-on 15-a-side match going on with that holy of holies
– a 99p plastic ball screen-printed with the names of all
the First Division teams. In north Wales it was normally
Mancs versus Scousers, and usually a bloody affair.
And that’s how it went until Shoot! produced the
league ladders in early August, and everything returned
to normal. Today, the close season has disappeared.
Unusually, perhaps, part of me wants it back. A break
from football 24/7. We made our own entertainment in
those days, etc… and everything else our dads said.
@billborrows
* I don’t recall being in hospital during the summer of
1980. Were the games shown on TV? Can anyone advise?
It’s like this…Bill Borrows
Plank of the WeekPhillip ‘Phil’ Bardsley, Sunderland AFC
And here’s the PFA poster boy, lying on his back in
a casino covered in £50 notes the night his team
escaped relegation. You total cock-knocker.
To the victors, the spoils
16 | May 24 2013 |
Frozen in time
| 17
Mic
ha
el R
eg
an
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s
Up, up, up and awaySo you get a new job, but after a few months you
decide to move on. You’ve not even had time to get
to know everyone’s name yet, let alone where the
toilets are, so there won’t be a leaving do. You’ll
slide off quietly. But then everyone arrives at your
work station and throws you in the air – even the
fella from accounts who refused your expenses
last month. And the temp on reception. And the
workie. Ze crazy buggers. You don’t have to be
mad to work at Paris Saint-Germain, but it helps.
Rafael Nadal
18 | May 24 2013 |
Ga
bri
el B
ou
ys
/AF
P/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
The first time Rafael Nadal stepped
foot inside Roland Garros, he was
not happy. It was 2004, and the
season after the ruling body of
men’s tennis, the ATP, had named him
“Newcomer of the Year”– an award earned
on the back of a rapid ascent up the
rankings, which had seen him rise from
199 to 109 in the space of four months.
That year, Nadal says, he was “a teenager
in a hurry, madly hyperactive, operating at a
thousand revolutions a minute in training as
in competition”. But the month before he was
due to launch his first assault on the French
Open, his body cried enough. A tiny crack in
a bone of his left foot meant there was to be
no Roland Garros for another year yet.
Nadal’s agent, Carlos Costa, decreed that
the future champ should go to Paris anyway,
to familiarise himself with a setting that it
was hoped would one day bring him much
success. A nice idea, in theory – but it only
served to ramp up the frustration Nadal
was already feeling. “I hated not playing,”
he explains. “I felt almost ill watching games
involving people who I knew I had it in me
to beat. Carlos remembers me telling him:
‘Next year, this one’s mine.’”
He wasn’t wrong. Sunday June 5 2005
heralded the beginning of the Nadal reign
at Roland Garros. It has been a period of
domination that has seen him lift the trophy
a record seven times – and lose just once
in 53 matches – on the brick-dust covered
courts, and firmly establish himself as the
finest clay-court player of all time.
TESTING TIMESThis year, though, when Nadal arrives in
Paris, it won’t be with the unerring belief
that one would expect from a player with his
formidable record. Instead, it will be with
the inevitable self-doubt of a player who
hasn’t competed at a Grand Slam for almost
a year, thanks to the troublesome knee
joints that have so often been the chink in
his otherwise sturdy armour.
So when Sport travels to a sun-drenched
Mediterranean locale to meet the Spaniard
ThE paIN aNd ThE Glory
Ahead of his bid to win an eighth title at Roland Garros this year, Sport spoke to the reigning champion Rafael Nadal about his tumultuous year on the sidelines
ahead of a tournament that will reveal so
much about his mental fortitude as well as
his clay-court prowess, it is with a suitcase
full of curiosity about what the coming
weeks on the courts of Roland Garros
might bring.
If results since his comeback in February
are anything to go by, Nadal’s lengthy lay-off
has done him little harm. He’s reached eight
consecutive finals, winning six of them,
including his first hard-court tournament
in a year at Indian Wells in March. Winning
aside, the 26-year-old who greets Sport
with the famed Colgate grin and warm
graciousness with which he affords
everyone who crosses his path is simply
elated to be back in the game.
“For the past seven months, the only
sport I was really able to practise was golf,”
he says, his words carrying an undertone of
incredulity. “I enjoy playing golf, but I love to
play movement sports – to move my body.
And I didn’t have the chance to do that,
except for in the gym. And in the gym is very
boring a lot of times, no?” >
Sunday > French open |
roland Garros, paris |
British eurosport hd
9.30am & itV 11.30am
| 19
Rafael Nadal
20 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Cliv
e M
as
on
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s, ,
Cra
ig P
ren
tis
/All
sp
ort
He was doing plenty of swimming – at least
a kilometre every morning at one stage of his
rehab – but it’s the competitive aspect of
sport that a man like Nadal cannot bear to be
without. “I need to compete,” he states, the
smile completely erased from his now deadly
serious face. In his book, Rafa: My Story,
Nadal goes further: “As a little boy... I’d throw
fits of rage if I lost; I still do. It used to amaze
my family that, sweet as I supposedly was,
I became transformed into a little demon
whenever there was a game on.”
A SILVER LINING?Is it safe to assume, then, that Nadal found
his seven months in competition purgatory a
painful experience? “No, nothing is negative,”
he insists initially. “In everything in life – or
almost everything – you can find something
positive. If I am ready to keep competing at
100 per cent after the injury – and that
hopefully will happen – we can analyse that
this break in my career will be good for me.
That it will allow me to come back fresher
and to try to have a longer career.
“These things are positive for my future.
The negative things are that I lost a year.
Almost a year, anyway, with a lot of important
tournaments that I really wanted to play and
didn’t have the chance to. And that, in tennis,
is not coming back, because we don’t have a
25 or 30-year career like the golf players.
We have a short period of time... when you
lose opportunities, they are not coming back.”
A career as a professional golfer is
something that many tennis players have
flirted with upon retirement – Andy Murray’s
coach Ivan Lendl being perhaps the most
famous example. Having lowered his handicap
during his time off (“It’s now 3.4, exactly,” he
smiles) and won competitions – although he
modestly insists they’re referred to as
‘events’ rather than tournaments – might
Nadal satisfy his competitive urges on the
links after his life in tennis comes to an end?
He laughs, insisting: “No, I don’t feel I’m
that good. It’s like if somebody at 18 years
old came to me and said: ‘I will try to be a
professional tennis player.’ Well, you can try,
but you’re not gonna do it – you’re not gonna
make it. It’s the same in golf. At 31, 32 or 33
– I don’t know when I will finish my career –
I won’t have the chance to be a professional
golfer. I will have the chance to improve my
handicap to be even better than today for
sure, and to play better than I do now. But
to be a professional golfer is a completely
different story. You have to start when you
are a kid. I love the sport, though, because
it’s so much about your mentality. You need
to be focused in every moment, and I really
like the sports that are so tough mentally.”
THE KEY QUESTIONIn interviews that Nadal gave during that
seven-month period when there appeared to
be no scheduled timetable for his return, the
11-time Grand Slam champion was adamant
that he didn’t want to come back until he felt
100 per cent fit. “I don’t want to keep playing
every day with doubts, not knowing if my
knee is going to answer all the questions,”
he told The Daily Mail last September.
His recent successes might suggest he
achieved his aim, but at the Rome Masters
last week – where he lifted the title – Nadal
admitted that he has had to cut back on
his practice sessions in order to nurse his
knee through the busy clay-court season. >
“AS A bOY, I’d THROw fITS Of RAGE If I LOST. I STILL dO”
bARÇA bOYNadal’s uncle Toni receives all the credit
for developing his nephew into a beast of
a player, but it was another uncle – Miguel
Angel – who made the headlines when Rafa
was growing up. A defender for Mallorca,
Barcelona and Spain, he was nicknamed
‘The Beast’, which sounds familiar.
“I never really thought much about his
fame,” says Nadal who, incidentally, is a Real
Madrid fan. “I met him a lot in Barcelona
when he was playing, and I got to play with
them all and go in the shower with the team.
But I never saw it as him being famous really.”
Long Acre
Seven
Dials
Covent
Garden
Piazza
Floral S
treet
King Street
Covent
Garden
Leicester
Square
Langley St
Mercer St
London Partner Store
Patagonia_London_S13_SportAdv.indd 1 4/30/13 5:32 PM
Rafael Nadal
22 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
The question of whether he is 100 per cent
fit is a tricky one for Nadal to answer,
though. As he searches for the right way to
reply, he fixes his gaze on the table between
us. “I cannot say I’m not 100 per cent when
I won four tournaments or five,” he says.
“Because then the rest of the players can
say: ‘Look, this guy is very arrogant, no?’
“But I am not, seriously. You cannot be at
100 per cent after seven months without
competing. But not only that, without
practising too. I didn’t have a good chance
to practise during all this period of time.
So I need time. I need time to feel perfect in
myself. But sure, I was at 100 per cent in the
last rounds of Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome,
because if not, then you cannot beat the
players I did.
“So if you ask me if I will be ready to
compete over five sets at Roland Garros,
I can only say that if I can compete well in
best-of-three on clay and am able to
compete in the full clay-court season and
complete my calendar, then I will be ready
for Roland Garros.
“Do I feel any anxiety about it? No, not
at all. I never had it, and I don’t think this
will be the first time. It is true, this will be
my first Grand Slam tournament in many
months, but I am more looking at the form
I will arrive with – nothing else.”
TRIPLE-STRENGTH If you dissected Nadal (not that we’re
suggesting it), you would discover a man
constructed of three remarkably strong
pillars: his nationality, his sport and his family.
All three of these contribute to creating the
fierce competitor that we see on the tennis
court and the genuinely good-hearted man
who would rather lose every one of his
Grand Slam titles than be seen to be taking
advantage of the fame and fortune that has
come his way. At tournaments, for example,
he has frequently been observed returning
his empty plate to the canteen while other
players will leave it to be cleared away –
a small but significant detail.
It is when he feels any one of these three
pillars are under threat that Nadal’s strength
of character emerges. As it does when he is
presented with the troubling tale of Lance
Da
vid
Ra
mo
s/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
, Ale
xa
nd
er
Kle
in/A
FP
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s
Armstrong’s fall from grace – the former
seven-time Tour de France winner having
been banned and stripped of his Tour titles
for doping charges he chose not to contest.
It has inevitably left people wondering: if the
American can get away with it for so long,
who else is doing it? Nadal bristles at the
thought that the profession that brings him
so much joy, and which has been an intrinsic
part of his life since the age of four, might
now be spoiled in the eyes of others.
“In the case of Armstrong, as a fan, I feel
really disappointed – but as a sportsman,
I feel much more disappointed,” he says
forcefully. “That’s the real thing, because it’s
true that what happened with Armstrong
damaged a lot the image of cycling – but
Armstrong is a big star of sport in general,
so when he did what he did it affects sport
in general. And nobody can say it doesn’t.
“It was a big shock for everybody, and you
feel very sad because these kind of things
create a bad image of sport, and sport is not
like this. I really know that sport is not like
this. But other people have to know that too,
so we need to do the right things to make the
sport clean. We need to work together with
the people who run the sports to create the
best image of the sport – and to do that, the
first thing the sport needs to be is completely
clean. We have to work on this to be sure
that all the sportsmen and sportswomen
who are competing are doing it in the same
conditions and fairly.”
Fairness is something his competitors
might feel they’re not afforded when coming
up against Nadal on a surface he has
dominated for so long. “Rafa’s record on
clay was incredible before the injury,” Andy
Murray said recently, admitting that the
Spaniard was “quite far ahead of the rest
of the pack” on the red stuff – 100 per cent
fit or not.
So, despite taking his lowest seeding
(four) since the 2005 French Open into his
first Grand Slam in 11 months – unless Andy
Murray fails his fitness test, which would
bump him up a spot – Nadal remains the
favourite with most oddsmakers to win an
eighth French Open title in Paris on June 9.
The man himself stubbornly refuses to
accept the label, though, saying: “I think I am
not the favourite, since the rankings are
saying a different thing.”
He won’t find many (if any) who agree.
But even if he does emerge as ruler of
Roland Garros for a record eighth time,
uncertainty over Nadal’s future remains.
For one of the greatest champions the men’s
game has ever seen is physically flawed.
Whether or not it turns out to be fatal is the
one question nobody wants answered for
many years yet. At least, not until he’s ready
for the Senior PGA Tour, anyway.
Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag
Rafael Nadal is the Bacardi Limited Global Social
Responsibility Ambassador, leading the “Champions
Drink Responsibly” campaign – an award-winning
global social responsibility campaign by Bacardi
Limited. Visit www.facebook.com/champions
drinkresponsibly to find out more
Vamos, Rafa: Nadal on
the way to winning his
eighth Barcelona Open
last month (above); after
winning his first title at
Roland Garros (below)
“You caNNoT bE aT 100 PER cENT afTER SEvEN moNTHS wITHouT comPETING”
365goals
so far
jul
oct
feb
may
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the
2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
Untitled-10 1 21/05/2013 10:41
French Open 2013
24 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Ma
ria
nn
a M
as
se
y/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
LeS big queStionS
Ahead of the year’s second Grand Slam, we asked two-time French Open champion Jim Courier the burning questions we know you want answered...
RafaeL nadaL iS RefuSing to accept that he iS the favouRite to win RoLand gaRRoS foR an eighth time. doeS he have a point, conSideRing hiS Ranking?
“You have to be bullish on
Rafa’s chances given how
his season has been since
he’s come back from injury.
He’s been the dominant
player on tour and certainly
on his favourite surface
– clay. Other than the
Monte Carlo final (which he
lost to Novak Djokovic),
he’s been invincible on the
dirt this spring. So he’s
definitely the favourite,
wherever he’s ranked.
“Djokovic is a very strong
second favourite, which
makes the flip of the draw
this week – when we will
see which half Nadal ends
up in – pretty massive.
At the moment it feels like
Djokovic is the only man
capable of beating Nadal
over five sets on clay,
because players who can
overpower someone like
Rafa are very few and far
between. Although you
always have to hold out
chances for an outlier –
like we saw at Wimbledon
last year – when Lukas
Rosol beat Nadal.”
You Lifted the tRophY at RoLand gaRRoS twice. how wouLd a Jim couRieR in hiS pomp go about beating a man who haS LoSt JuSt once in 53 matcheS at the fRench open?
“There’s no way to beat him
if you can’t dominate him.
We saw him get dominated
by Robin Soderling at the
French Open in 2009, when
he just wasn’t allowed to
play. And he has been
pushed by players that you
wouldn’t think had a chance
to beat him. John Isner took
him to five sets at the
French Open in 2011, and
he’s another player who
can really prevent Nadal
from dominating the rallies.
The only guy that matches
up with him right now,
though, and who has an
advantage when they’re at
neutral in the baseline
rallies, is Djokovic –
everyone else is at a pretty
substantial deficit.”
SeRena wiLLiamS haS been aLmoSt unbeatabLe So faR thiS SeaSon, but at LaSt YeaR’S fRench open She SuffeRed heR fiRSt eveR opening-Round exit fRom a gRand SLam. wiLL that be pLaYing on heR mind?
“This year’s tournament is
different for her because it
was after that defeat to
Virginie Razzano that
Serena made a big change,
in getting a new coach.
Since she started training
with Patrick Mouratoglou,
she’s been virtually
unbeatable. I just think
she’s seeing the court
differently now, with the
new coach’s mind working
alongside hers, and she is
certainly proving that she
can play on this surface
with wins in Madrid and
Rome recently. She’s the
heavy, heavy favourite to
win, and it would be hard to
see someone knocking her
off. Serena’s biggest
danger is that she could
knock herself off if she is
having a bad day and not
managing herself. She can
handle the people on the
other side of the court
as long as she handles
herself.”
SeRena haS a 13-2 winning RecoRd oveR maRia ShaRapova, the defending fRench open champ, and a 12-2 RecoRd oveR woRLd numbeR thRee victoRia azaRenka. how can heR cLoSeSt RivaLS cLoSe the gap?
“Azarenka probably
matches up better than
Sharapova does against
Serena. Sharapova has the
shot-making ability, but she
doesn’t move quite as well
as Azarenka or Serena.
If Sharapova can control
the rallies, she can
dominate people. But it’s
harder for her to do that
against players like Serena
and Azarenka, who can
defend as well as play well
offensively. For Azarenka,
it’s a question of tightening
a few things up. She has a
great game and she’s a
tremendous athlete, but
mentally she’s a level below
Serena when Serena’s
at her peak. The other
players have to go on court
believing that they stand a
chance against Serena,
that maybe she’ll have an
off day and they can take
advantage of it, because
every now and then you’re
going to get a look in. But
you have to be ready to
take those chances.”
who aRe the pLaYeRS that couLd thRow a few SpanneRS in the woRkS foR the top SeedS?
“Look out for a player like
Jerzy Janowicz of Poland,
who’s very tall [6ft 8ins]
and very powerful, but who
also plays with a lot of
finesse. He beat Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga and Richard
Gasquet on his way to
the quarter finals in Rome,
and I think he could
definitely pose a threat.
On the women’s side, I think
Laura Robson is a pretty
crafty player. I’m not just
saying that because she’s
British and I’m talking to
you. She’s a lefty, and there
aren’t a lot of lefty female
players out there, which
makes her tricky for a
lot of female players.
She could make a run to
the round of 16 or quarter
finals, possibly. She could
also lose first round,
though – but that’s sort
of the nature of dark
horses, isn’t it?”.
Sarah Shephard
@sarahsportmag
Jim Courier is a pundit for
ITV’s live coverage of the
French Open, which starts on
Sunday across ITV and ITV4
27,299,290metres run
so far
juloct
febmay
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the
2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
Untitled-10 8 21/05/2013 10:41
Jimmy Anderson
| May 24 2013 | 27
Ga
reth
Co
ple
y/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
Leader of the pack
Ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, England’s main strike bowler spoke to Sport about reaching 300 Test wickets, the challenges of bowling at Headingley and why he’s not a fan of batting at number 11
Stuart Broad may have walked away
with the man-of-the-match award
after England’s first Test victory
over the touring Kiwis last weekend,
but it was Jimmy Anderson who perhaps
left Lord’s with the greater accolades.
“I know Dale Steyn is an outstanding bowler,
but when you watch Jimmy and the way
he went about things at Lord’s the other
day, he has more skills,” said David Saker,
England’s bowling coach, after the 170-run
win. “When he gets things right, there is
no better bowler.”
The truth is that Anderson has now been
getting things right for the best part of a
decade. Last Friday, just five days short of
the 10th anniversary of his Test debut, he
joined an elite band of English cricketers
to have taken 300 wickets in Tests. He is
just the fourth, after Sir Ian Botham, Bob
Willis and the late Fred Trueman – so it
felt an appropriate place for us to start
our questions...
Congratulations on reaching 300 Test
wickets. How special was it to hit that
milestone?
“Thank you. It’s obviously a huge
achievement, and it was a very proud
moment for me. I think what made it even
more special was the fact that I did it at
Lord’s, too – the ground where I got my
first Test wicket [against Zimbabwe, back
in May 2003].”
You received a standing ovation from the
crowd at Lord’s that day. How does it feel to
be the subject of such warmth?
“It was an incredible feeling, yeah, but it was
also quite an emotional moment for me –
especially because I was surrounded by guys
who I’ve played with for years. That was
pretty special.” >
Jimmy Anderson
28 | May 24 2013 |
Gly
n K
irk
/AF
P/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
You now have 305 Test wickets, putting
you only two behind Fred Trueman. As a
Lancastrian, how satisfying would it be
for you to go past him at Headingley, his
beloved home ground?
“I’ve not thought about that, really – and
to be honest, I’m just happy taking wickets.
I try not to think about the milestones. If I
can just keep taking wickets and putting
in performances that help England win
matches, then I’m happy. That’s my main
job – I’ll let the media and everyone else
talk about the other stuff.”
David Saker has said you have the fitness
and desire to get to 400 Test wickets, while
Ian Botham thinks you should be aiming at
450. How many do you think you can get?
“Well, both 400 and 450 seem quite a long
way off right now. I try not to look too far
ahead, but staying fit is the biggest thing.
We play so much cricket these days; I’m lucky
that our team management are excellent at
their job, and know exactly when to rest me
to try and keep me as fresh as possible. If I
can stay fit and keep my form, then hopefully
I can carry on for a few more years.”
Has the management of players’ fitness
changed over the decade you’ve been
playing Test cricket?
“It’s definitely changed, yeah. There’s more
cricket played now, which is obviously a
difficult thing for every team to manage.
You obviously want your best XI on the field
at any given time, but unfortunately that
sometimes isn’t possible – and there might
come a point where teams have to start
prioritising certain games or series.
You want your best XI out on the field
for the important series.”
After England’s first innings at Lord’s, you
fair sprinted off the pitch. How eager were
you to get out there to bowl on that pitch
and in those conditions?
“It wasn’t that, more that there is just such
a short turnaround between getting off and
then heading back on to bowl. It was strange
really, because we didn’t think it looked that
bad a pitch at Lord’s; it looked pretty decent,
and I think if both teams are honest they’d
admit to not batting as well as they would
have liked. There wasn’t a huge amount in
the pitch, I didn’t think... but enough to take
some encouragement.”
You certainly looked pretty encouraged
as you steamed in on Friday. What can
the team do to improve the batting
performance at Headingley?
“I think we need to get big first-innings
scores, because that’s how you win games
of cricket – getting runs on the board and
putting the pressure on the opposition.
We’ve got some world-class batsmen in our
line-up, though, and they’ll have done all they
can to ensure they’re in the best frame of
mind possible to score big runs this week.
From a bowler’s point of view, we’ll be
working hard too – like you say, my record
isn’t that great at Headingley, and in the last
few years the wicket’s not been renowned
for being that seamer-friendly.”
The first Test represented a welcome
victory after the 0-0 bore draw in New
Zealand. How important was it for the team
to get back on a winning track?
“I think it was our first win in five Tests,
actually, so it was definitely nice to get back
to winning ways. Like you say, it was a
disappointing series in New Zealand – we
didn’t play anywhere near as well as we knew
we could, so it was good to get back here
and show people a bit of what we can do.”
Do you enjoy bowling at the other end when
a teammate is in the middle of one of those
magic spells, as Stuart Broad was on that
fourth day?
“Yeah, he’s pretty good when he gets going
like that. I kind of got the feeling that it was
his day as soon as he started bowling the
other day, so it was my job to keep the
pressure on at my end, not go for many
runs and let him just attack. There are
not many better bowlers out there when
he gets going.”
Finally, rumour is you’re not enamoured
with coming in at number 11. Is that true?
“We all take our batting seriously, because
you never know when you’re going to be
needed. There have been games in the past
when you’ve got to bat for a decent amount
of time to save a game or score valuable
runs down the order, so we all work really
hard on our batting. But no, I’m not overly
fussed about being number 11 – Finny’s
much better at it than me.”
Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1
You are on the brink of taking your Test
average below 30. How much would you love
to do that?
“Hugely. Again, that’s something you can
look back on more at the end of your career
– but you see people’s stats who have played
in the past, and if their average as a bowler
in Test cricket is under 30, then you look at
them and think they’ve had an exceptional
career. It’s something that every bowler
looks to achieve.”
Graeme Swann’s average is just under 30.
There must be some competition between
you about that...
“That’s not really something we talk about
that much – we probably look more at our
five-wicket hauls. I think we’re both on about
13 at the moment [Swann is actually on 14],
but obviously I’ve played a few more games
than him – so he gets on to me about that
quite a lot.”
Your record at Headingley, where the
second Test against New Zealand is being
played, isn’t great [eight wickets at an
average of 55.62]. Is there any reason
for that, do you think?
[Smiles] “Apart from getting a nose bleed
every time I cross the Pennines, I’m not sure.
It’s similar to Lord’s, though, in that people
tend to think of it as a seamer’s pitch – but
it’s changed a lot in recent years, and now
I think it’s one of the flattest pitches in the
country. It’s not an easy place to get wickets;
there have been some huge scores in county
cricket there this year, and I think Joe Root
has got a couple of double-hundreds already.
Even this early in the summer, it’s still a
pretty flat wicket – I’d expect it to be similar
this week.”
Jimmy Anderson’s
strike rate from
nine Tests against
New Zealand –
better than against
any other Test-
playing nation other
than Zimbabwe,
who hardly count
42.9
“Headingley is not an easy place to get wickets”
Subject to availability at participating stores, while stocks last.
Subject to availability at participating stores, while stocks last.
Pro
gra
mm
e C
onte
nt
and P
hot
ogra
phy:
©Tw
iste
d C
hai
nsa
w P
roper
ties
, Inc.
, and N
u Im
age,
Inc.
All
Rig
hts
Res
erve
d. P
acka
ge
Des
ign: ©
2013 L
ionsg
ate
Hom
e Ente
rtai
nm
ent
UK
. All
Rig
hts
Res
erve
d.
© 2
013 L
ions
Gat
e Fi
lms
Inc.
All
Rig
hts
Res
erve
d. ©
2013 L
ionsg
ate
Hom
e
Ente
rtai
nm
ent
UK
. All
Rig
hts
Res
erve
d.
TLStand_TexasC_Sport_hmv#3.indd 1 15/05/2013 18:14
Champions League Final
30 | May 24 2013 |
In a glass cabinet in Borussia Dortmund’s
brilliantly named club museum, the Borusseum,
there’s currently an incongruous bit of red among
all the yellow and black. It’s the Manchester United
shirt of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, occupying the space
where the Bundesliga trophy sat until Bayern
Munich snatched it back a few weeks ago.
It comes from Dortmund’s 1997 meeting with
United, but was placed there with another meaning
in mind – it’s a definite dig at their opponents in
tomorrow’s Champions League final. Bayern
Munich have a knack for bottling it – three times
they have had their hands on the trophy, only to lose
it late on. Solskjaer’s volley is probably the most
famous example, but you can look to Porto in 1987,
and also to Arjen Robben’s penalty miss and Didier
Drogba’s heroics last year.
The cheeky placing of the shirt is exactly the kind
of gesture that has made Dortmund one of the
most likeable teams in Europe. However, this year
their young manager and crop of homegrown talent
have found it hard to keep up with the recalibrated
machine from Munich. Under outgoing manager
Jupp Heynckes, Munich are on for a treble – and it’s
tempting to see this match as their coronation as
the new kings of Europe.
The dismantling of Klopp’s highly coveted team
will begin with the final whistle at Wembley,
whatever the result. Mario Gotze is the jewel in
Dortmund’s yellow and black crown, but he is set
to move to Munich in a €37m deal – and Robert
Lewandowski could yet be joining him.
Klopp’s team has had a chance to adjust to life
without Gotze already, because of the hamstring
injury that could also rule him out of playing
tomorrow. Marco Reus is a fine replacement, but
Gotze has provided five assists in the competition
this season. Dortmund are likely to adopt the same
approach whether their baby-faced playmaker
features or not – they will try to attack quickly and
fluently, feeding into Lewandowski, who has scored
10 Champions League goals this season. Further
back, Ilkay Gundogan will prompt attacks from
deep. Munich have already dealt with the similar
(but much more hirsute) threat of Andrea Pirlo this
season, and will make sure he’s muzzled.
Bayern haven’t conceded a Champions League
goal for more than six hours now, and their defence
also offers an attacking threat, with Philip Lahm
and David Alaba complementing Arjen Robben and
Franck Ribery. It’s no surprise that Bayern top the
tournament charts for headed goals, with six. And
don’t think of Thomas Muller only as a playmaker –
he is his side’s top scorer in Europe with eight.
Wembley has rarely seen two teams as exciting
as these face off. Klopp reckons the neutrals will be
behind his young team. Munich are favourites, but
Klopp and his Dortmund side are well versed in
having the last laugh.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com
German invasionSATURDAY Champions League
FinaL | Borussia DortmunD v
Bayern muniCh | wemBLey
sky sports 1 anD
itv 7.45pm
| 31
Jo
ern
Po
lle
x/B
on
ga
rts
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s, C
urt
o d
e la
To
rre
/ A
FP
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s, H
aro
ld C
un
nin
gh
am
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s
01. Weidenfeller
29.Schmelzer
21.lahm
15.hummelS
06.Bender
17.Boateng
08. martinez
11.reuS/gotze
25.muller
09. leWandoWSki
09. mandzukic
19.groSSkreutz/reuS
10. roBBen
16. BlaSzczykoWSki
07. riBery
04. SuBotic
08. gundogan
04. dante
01.neuer
31. SchWeinSteiger
26.PiSzczek
27. alaBa
dortmund'S road to the finalTheir group comprised three other league champions – but they
topped it undefeated, winning all three home games and drawing
away at Real Madrid and Manchester City, while also beating
Ajax away. A late Mats Hummels goal salvaged a 2-2 draw at
Shakhtar Donetsk in the first knockout stage, before a 3-0
home win saw Klopp’s men easily into the last eight. They were
rewarded with an easy-looking tie against rapidly imploding
Malaga. A 0-0 draw didn’t begin to hint at the drama awaiting in
the second leg, where injury-time goals from Marco Reus and
Santana saw them snatch a semi-final place from their Spanish
opponents. Klopp admitted his side were lucky to win that “crazy”
game, but the tie that followed against Real Madrid was equally
mental. Four Robert Lewandowski goals in the first leg gave
Dortmund a lead as commanding as it was unlikely. They held on
to it for the second leg, too – although late goals from Karim
Benzema and Sergio Ramos for Madrid made the last few
minutes of their road to the final nervy ones.
Bayern'S road to the finalLast year's beaten finalists took a while to get into the swing of
things in the Champions League – they beat Valencia at home in
their first group game but then lost 3-1 away at BATE Borisov
before a narrow win over Lille. They turned on the tap marked
goals after that, scoring 11 goals in their last three group-stage
games to top the group ahead of Valencia on head-to-head
record. Three away goals at the Emirates in the second round
seemed to have put the tie to bed, but Arsenal put up a valiant
fight in the Allianz Arena. Still, away goals helped the Germans
set up a hotly anticipated tie against Italian champions Juventus.
Munich scored in the first and last minute of the tie for a
surprisingly comfortable 4-0 aggregate victory. Surprise turned
to disbelief at the semi-final stage – four goals at home to
Barcelona all but ended the tie, with Thomas Muller finding the
space to score twice. Three more goals in the Camp Nou made
for a 7-0 aggregate win – many have labelled the result a passing
of the baton from Barcelona to Munich. Find out if it is tomorrow...
the teams
James, 2
8B
an
ker
Oli, 2
6E
ng
ine
er
David
, 30
Ele
ctr
icia
n
See how Maximuscle can also help you
get fi tter, leaner and stronger.
If you think protein is just for professionals, think again.
Right now our three average guys David, Oli and James
are using a variety of Maximuscle products to help
them achieve their own individual goals in just 12 weeks.
Watch all their progress live online as they undertake
The Protein Project.
To pick up your own 12 week challenge and see how
Maximuscle and exercise can help you achieve your body and
sporting goals simply visit: maximuscle.com/proteinproject
Available at
MA
XIM
US
CL
E a
nd
sta
r d
evic
e a
re r
eg
iste
red
tra
de
ma
rks
of
the
Gla
xo
Sm
ith
Klin
e g
rou
p o
f c
om
pa
nie
s.
James, 2
8B
an
ker
Oli, 2
6E
ng
ine
er
David
, 30
Ele
ctr
icia
n
See how Maximuscle can also help you
get fi tter, leaner and stronger.
If you think protein is just for professionals, think again.
Right now our three average guys David, Oli and James
are using a variety of Maximuscle products to help
them achieve their own individual goals in just 12 weeks.
Watch all their progress live online as they undertake
The Protein Project.
To pick up your own 12 week challenge and see how
Maximuscle and exercise can help you achieve your body and
sporting goals simply visit: maximuscle.com/proteinproject
Available at
MA
XIM
US
CL
E a
nd
sta
r d
evic
e a
re r
eg
iste
red
tra
de
ma
rks
of
the
Gla
xo
Sm
ith
Klin
e g
rou
p o
f c
om
pa
nie
s.
Carl Froch
34 | May 24 2013 |
Sport talkS cream cakeS, kidS and vengeance with carl Froch ahead oF hiS big rematch in london thiS Saturday
“i want my F**king revenge”
SATURDAY BOXING | Carl FrOCh v MIkkel kessler | O2 areNa, lONdON | sky BOX OFFICe 8PM
TO BOOk, Call 08442 410 888, Or vIsIT skysPOrTs.COM/FrOCh
| 35
This stuff will make you a goddamn sexual
tyrannosaurus, just like me,” Carl Froch announces
to the world, tearing open a packet of antioxidant
powder after he finishes a training session. Moments
earlier, Nottingham’s ‘Cobra’ had been flicking out
jabs with the alacrity with which he’s now firing out
quotes from Predator.
Froch’s trainer Rob McCracken is the man responsible
for holding the pads as his charge fires off crisp four
and five-punch combinations. “Feet, shape, movement,”
McCracken intones calmly as they move around the ring.
“Relax. When you force things is when you f**k them up…
that’s better!” The pattern is three minutes’ work, a minute
of rest, then they go again. Then they repeat the treatment
on the heavy bag, Froch smacking non-stop blows into the
dense bulk held in place by his trainer.
Afterwards, speaking to Sport, Froch has a sheen of
sweat but his breathing is regular. He rarely goes far
above his fighting weight and, now, with a world title fight
on the immediate horizon, the 35-year-old looks in terrific
condition – his body chiselled and his punches sharp. That’s
probably for the best, because this weekend Froch fights
Mikkel Kessler, a man he openly calls “a warrior, a gladiator”.
The Dane is also the man who inflicted Froch’s first
professional defeat back in April 2010.
MINd GAMEs“It still plays on my mind – of course it does,” says Froch of
their first contest in April 2010. “It wasn’t a nice time when I
lost my world title to Mikkel in Denmark. So it’s going through
my head, especially in the build-up to the rematch, because
I can’t think of anything worse than losing twice to the
same guy. You’re not going to get a third chance.”
Their first contest was the type of bout from which the
stature of both fighters emerges enhanced. A battle of will
and skill, the pair traded ferocious punches for 12 rounds,
before Kessler was announced a points winner. Despite the
result, Froch has warm memories of the tear-up. “I enjoy
fights like that,” he admits. “There’s moments when you get
hit with a couple of shots and think: ‘Bloody hell, this could be
the end of the fight here.’ But then you turn it round and land
some good shots yourself and the crowd changes. The bell
goes, you sit back in your corner and you think: ‘What a great
round that was!’”
His appetite for destruction can be counter-productive,
however. With a granite jaw and thudding power, Britain’s
super-middleweight king has at times in the past neglected
his boxing in favour of a scrap. McCracken calls his last
performance against Kessler “sloppy”, and Froch concurs.
“Tactically, I’ve got to do things differently,” he explains. “I’ve
got to move to my right, I’ve got to throw more punches and
I’ve got to be defensively more aware of the shots he’s
throwing – particularly the body shots.”
Having rewatched the first fight numerous times, Froch
is convinced he’s seen things he can exploit in his opponent:
“He’s not very good on his back foot. If you throw a few
punches, he can deal with that, but when you double up your
attack – put him on his back foot, then attack him again – he
goes back in straight lines and he falls apart. He gets hit with
the last two or three shots. He stands and shoots from the
hip, opens himself up, and he’s there to be hit when you’re
standing in front of him, having a bit of a fight.”
That last line could also be said of Froch, reinforcing the
idea that these are two fighters cut from the same cloth.
Fortunately for Froch, he has a strong bond with the man
charged with keeping his overly aggressive instincts in check.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Rob as a coach and as a man,”
he says of the trainer also responsible for Britain’s Olympic
boxers. “We don’t clash. He is very much the boss. >
He’s the master, I’m the pupil. He’s the sensei, I’m the
student. That boundary hasn’t ever been crossed in the
11 or 12 years I’ve known Rob. I wouldn’t have turned
professional if I hadn’t met Rob, because I wasn’t really going
to turn pro. He didn’t talk me into it, but when I was weighing
it up, he was there to say: ‘If you turn pro, you’ll do well –
you can do this.’”
The pair have worked together since Froch’s first fight
– and, to this day, no formal contract exists between them.
“I could have my last fight, owe him a big wedge of money and
not pay him, but we both know that’s not going to happen,”
says Froch. “We’ve never needed any business arrangement,
which is unique, but he’s like a brother. I can consider Rob as
part of my family. It’s great to find that in boxing, because
there are lots of fighters over the years who go through
loads of trainers.
“They get beaten and say: ‘Oh, I need to change trainer
because I’m doing this wrong.’ Don’t blame the trainer if you
get beat. The trainer tells you why you’ve lost – you’ve got to
respect that, listen and learn. How many fighters change
trainers then just get beat again? It’s a load of rubbish.”
A situation that McCracken and his boxer have dealt with
through most of this fight camp is that Rachael Cordingley,
Froch’s partner, has been pregnant through much of
its duration. She gave birth on May 3, but has this not been
a distraction? “For about four or five days towards the end,
I was thinking: ‘Hurry up now, the due date’s been and gone.
I hope this baby comes before the fight,’” says Froch.
“But then she came. Rachael went into labour. I was at the
gym at the time, but Rob ignored the phone calls for about
three hours. He let me do my 14 rounds of sparring, then
said: ‘Oh, by the way, your missus is in the hospital – you
better get off.’ So he made sure I did my work!
“I got to the hospital about half-past five and she was born
at 7pm. So I couldn’t be happier, because I missed all the
build-up, all the aggro, tears and screaming. By the time I got
there, it was short and sweet. I got home that night, went to
sleep, got up and did my run in the morning. So I didn’t miss
a session. Perfect; it couldn’t have gone better.”
Child’s playMaybe so, but it did cause Kessler to comment in the build-up
to this bout that being a father of two could work against Froch.
He observed: “When you have children, suddenly you have
responsibility. So you can’t put it all in the ring. You can’t have
that ‘I don’t care if I die tonight’ [attitude], because now you
have a kid to take care of… that would be a weakness for me.”
Froch shares a genuine friendship with Kessler – “respect
before the fight, respect after, none during”, as he puts it
– but he bridles slightly when the quote is relayed. “He’s not
in a position to talk about how I would feel about having kids,
because he’s not got kids of his own,” says Froch. “It’s like
me talking about rocket science. I haven’t got the first clue
about physics, especially not designing rockets, so he should
steer clear of talking about family or kids.
36 | May 24 2013 |
Jo
hn
Gic
hig
i/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
“he let me do my 14 rounds of sparring, then said: ‘oh, by the way, your missus is in the hospital’”
“It’s fantastic, having kids. Everything I’ve achieved in
boxing and all the material things, I’d give it all up for my kids.
I’d go back to living in a two-bed terraced house in the middle
of wherever and be with my beautiful partner Rachael and
our two kids. So it does put things into perspective, and
makes you realise that money can’t buy happiness. But
the fact that I’ve got kids makes no odds to me when I’m
fighting. I’m not thinking about them when I’m in the ring.
I’m thinking about me, my opponent and concentrating on
what I need to do to win.
“I want to beat Mikkel Kessler because he beat me in the
first fight [pictured above] – and I’m a warrior and I want my
f**king revenge. It’s as simple as that.”
Despite saying that he sees this fight as another brutal,
savage war, Froch is – unsurprisingly – adamant that the
outcome will be different this time. “I gave him the hardest
fight of his career, he retired after that fight,” he says,
referring to the 14-month break between fights Kessler,
now 34, had after their first match-up. “He’s had three fights
at mediocre level since and gone 10 [full] rounds. I’ve done
more than 40 rounds at elite class.
“I just have to come out the blocks early. The faster I start,
the harder the fight will be early on for both of us – but he
will run out of steam before I do. I was 80 or 90 per cent
going into that first fight for a couple of reasons. I don’t think
he can stay with me at 100 per cent. He’s talking now like he
can only train once a day, so he’s changed his training to one
quality session a day and he feels great – but I don’t see how
somebody who does half of what I do can be physically as
strong as me. If he’s not doing what he needs to do to stay
with me, I will force a late stoppage. I can’t see him going
the distance.”
Cream bunsIt’s about time Sport finished up with the IBF champion
ourselves, but before we leave him to the second part of
his workout, we ask him what he’s most looking forward
to when the fight is done and dusted.
“The first thing that’s coming to mind is a cream cake out
of the local bakers,” muses Froch, as he massages his left
bicep. “It sounds stupid, but one of the sacrifices you have
to make when you’re boxing is your diet, and I’ve got a sweet
tooth. I’ve even been known to sleepwalk to the fridge at 3am.
Because I go to bed thinking about food, your body just
awakens, you sleepwalk to the kitchen and you wake up
rooting around in the fridge. I’ve even woken up in the
morning with food smudged into the pillow – it’s disgusting!
I’ve got a chocolate chip cookie around my mouth, and I’m
thinking: ‘Did I eat that?’ And it’s there – half eaten!
“It’s not like I have to starve myself, because I do the
weight quite well. But especially now I’m a bit older, I am
really strict with my diet for the last month or six weeks
[before a fight]. It’s hard, so the immediate thing I’m looking
forward to is getting stuck into a cream cake. Then, on a
more serious note, it’s spending time with Rachael, my son
Rocco and my new baby Natalia. Because I’ve got a baby girl
at home now, and I feel like I’ve not quite bonded with her
yet. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with
my family.”
Not quite yet, though. Froch’s reflections on his family are
right now a fleeting thought, put aside as he turns his tunnel
vision back on to the fight. The two boxers are remarkably
evenly matched in size, age and skill – Kessler the more
polished and technically precise, Froch the more instinctive,
with his low-slung hands poised to strike. However, the
impression that the affable Kessler can sometimes give is of
a proud, dedicated athlete, but a man perhaps comfortable
with where boxing has taken him. Froch might fancy a cream
cake, but the hunch here is that he’ll have enough hunger to
polish off a Danish before then.
Alex Reid @otheralexreid
Carl Froch is an
ambassador for Betfair.
For the latest pre-fight
odds for Betfair’s
Warriors’ Call: Froch
v Kessler II, visit
www.betfair.com/sport
Carl Froch
*While stocks last.
26 stores across the UK/ Ireland – fi nd your nearest store online.
www.runnersneed.com
Summon 4
WAS £84.99
NOW £50.99
Gel-Nimbus 14
WAS £129.99
NOW £90.99
Ride 5
WAS £94.99
NOW £56.99
END OF SEASON
SHOE SALENOW ON
UP TO 40% OFF SELECTED SHOES*
in-store & online
GGGGeell -- NN ii mm bb uu ss 11 44
WWWWAASS ££ 11 22 99 .. 99 99
SSSSuuuu mm mm oo nn 44 RRRRiidd ee 55
WWWWAASS ££ 99 44 .. 99 99
NNNNOO WW ££ 55 66 999999 9999 99999999 9999999999 9999
3455_RN_ShoeSale_SportAd.indd 1 20/05/2013 12:38
Ben Foden
38 | May 24 2013 |
How much are you looking forward to
this weekend’s final?
“I’ve been involved in a Premiership final
before, winning with Sale, but I played a
minor role in that victory. At Northampton,
I’ve been here from what feels like the
beginning: since we came back into the
Premiership and built this team, so I feel
like part of the heartbeat of the squad.
Now we’ve finally made it to a Premiership
final – the first one in the club’s history –
it’s very exciting for us.”
As someone with a lot of experience in big
matches, have you had any words of advice
for any of the younger players?
“We’ve spoken about it before and we just
say: when it gets to knockout rugby, it’s
anyone’s game. We know we’re up against
a very good outfit in Leicester Tigers,
because they’ve been to nine consecutive
finals or something crazy like that.
Hopefully the environment will bring out
a bit more in our players; I think the players
we have will embrace being on the main
stage in front of 84,000 people at
Twickenham.”
How do you set about beating a team
like Leicester?
“There’s no doubt they’ll be going into the
game favourites after what they did to us at
our place a month and a half ago [Leicester
won 36-8], so we know we’re going to be up
against it. At the same time, they’ve got a
lot of players who’ve probably got minds
elsewhere: five or six of their players are in
the Lions squad. We have a massive belief in
our squad that we can win. We’re a match
for any side on our day, and we’re quite
happy going in as underdogs. I think we
surprised a few people with the way we
came out against Saracens in the semi final
– hopefully we’re going to start with an
intensity that Leicester can’t live with.”
Do you adapt your game to the opposition,
or are you more a team that tries to impose
your style of play on a match?
“A bit of both. But in knockout rugby, I think
it’s time to pull tricks out of the bag – to
surprise teams. Leicester have 24 games to
look back on over the course of the season
that we have played, and the same could be
said for us about them. So I wouldn’t be
surprised if there’s a few tricks and a few
cards pulled from sleeves. In finals, it’s
important to surprise teams. I’m pretty sure
that they’ll be conjuring something up in the
coaching rooms of both teams.”
On a personal level, how important is this
game given the disrupted season you’ve had?
“This season has been very much up and
down for me. With the injury and the lack of
international rugby, it would be a nice way
to finish the season off, because it has been
quite a disappointing one. But at the same
time, we’re in a Premiership final, so if we
can get the win, I’ll be delighted. Especially
knowing that we’re going off to Argentina
[for England’s summer tour] in a few weeks,
so I can start trying to get my England spot
back – hopefully take it up where I left off
12 months ago.”
You’re the most experienced player in that
England squad, with 30 caps. What’s going
on, Ben? You’re still a young buck of 27.
“It makes me feel old! It’s quite scary when
I look at the backs and the amount of the
caps the players have, but at the same time
it’s exciting as well. I’m looking forward to
playing with guys like Christian Wade, Jonny
May; these guys are so quick and bring a lot
of ability. A lot of comparisons have been
made between the likes of [Kyle] Eastmond
and Wade, and Jason Robinson... these are
speedy guys who can really beat players.”
It is good news for England, having such
a crop of young players... isn’t it?
“It’s very exciting for me – and yeah, I think
Stuart [Lancaster] will be looking for me to
take a senior role in terms of showing them
the ropes. Playing your first international
game can be quite daunting, but I’m hoping
they will relish the opportunity. It will be a
tough test out there; Argentina are never a
team you take lightly. They’re so dogged in
their performances and they’ve got a very
different style to the way we’ll go out and
play – so it will be a very good way to blood
these guys into international rugby.”
Alex Reid @otheralexreid
Magic manBen Foden on his determination to end a topsy-turvy season on a high – and why Northampton might have a trick up their sleeve for the Aviva Premiership final
Saturday aviva premiership final:
leicester tigers v northampton saints
twickenham | espn 3pm
7 DaysMAY 24-MAY 30
HIGHLIGHTS
» Football: Championship Playoff Final » p44
» Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix » p46
» Golf: BMW PGA Championship » p48
» Cricket: England v New Zealand – Second Test » p48
» Athletics: Great CityGames » p50OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD
WEDNESDAY FOOTBALL | iNTErNATiONAL FriENdLy: ENGLANd v irELANd | WEMBLEy STAdiuM | iTV 8PM
Like a recovering alcoholic righting those they've
previously wronged, the FA is using its 150th
birthday celebrations to renew its relationship
with Ireland. It's a fixture not played since 1995, and
not completed since 1991 (when Lee Dixon and Niall
Quinn got the goals in a 1-1 draw – a European
42 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Sc
ott
He
av
ey
/Ge
tty
Im
ag
es
Friends again
Championship qualifier). Eighteen years ago at
Lansdowne Road, of course, rioting England fans
tore out the stadium fittings and used them as
missiles after a disallowed goal in a politically
charged friendly. The match was duly abandoned.
Some time apart was probably justified, but it's
safe to say Anglo-Irish relations have cooled
somewhat since the mid-1990s – and a friendly
meeting at the new Wembley feels long overdue.
There are no real surprises in Roy Hodgson's
England squad, Reading keeper Alex McCarthy the
only new face in a selection geared towards tuning
things up for the World Cup qualifying campaign.
Wayne Rooney makes it despite his club turmoil; he
will want to take the opportunity to show that his
talents these days stretch beyond scowling.
Ireland have a qualifying game against the
Faroe Islands coming up, but this one might get the
emotions running a bit higher. Their industrious
squad is, however, sorely lacking in goals – star
striker Robbie Keane is their only player with more
than one digit in the international column. That's one
reason why the fare served up by both these sides at
Euro 2012 was as stodgy as cold colcannon. If it's
unlikely anyone will be ripping out their seats, they
may not exactly be on the edge of them either.
44 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
7 Days
Monday Football | Championship playoFF Final: Crystal palaCe v WatFord | Wembley stadium | sky sports 1 3pm
Manuel Almunia
The former Arsenal
keeper has played a
vital role in the Hornets'
defence (the fifth best in
the league), and his quick
distribution starts many
of Watford's counter-
attacks. His 97th-minute
penalty save led to
Troy Deeney’s dramatic
semi-final winner.
Julian Speroni
Palace’s longest-serving
player is arguably the
best keeper outside
the top flight, keeping
opposition at bay almost
single-handedly during
Palace’s leaner days.
Now part of a rising side,
Speroni’s wonder saves
are already legendary in
south London.
Almen Abdi
The Swiss international
is key to Watford's
possession-heavy style
of play, dictating the
tempo and keeping the
ball moving from the
middle of the park. Has
the ability to open Palace
up, and he can score as
well – as his 12 goals this
season have proved.
Mile Jedinak
Watford have the ability
to open Palace up, but
the Australian could hold
the key to shutting the
Hornets out. His strength
and aerial ability help
him break up the play
and provide a constant
menace in the middle of
the park. His clash with
Abdi could be pivotal.
Matej Vydra
Troy Deeney is a man
reborn up front, but it is
his partner Matej Vydra
who Palace fans need to
watch. The Udinese man
has contributed 20 goals
this season, and was
back to his sparkling best
when he grabbed a brace
to help see off Leicester
in the semi final.
Wilfried Zaha
The man who has made a
thousand headlines this
season will hope to make
one more before leaving
for Manchester United.
Has the ability to beat
defenders at will on his
day, and showed in the
semi final that he can
finish on the big stage.
Can he do it at Wembley?
The key men
Watford Crystal Palace
Premier vision
Club football takes its final bow for the season
this weekend, but what a way to finish – a straight
shootout in a game worth an estimated £120m to the
winners. Two very different sides head to Wembley
on Monday, with Premier League football the reward
for the winner.
For Watford, it's a case of picking themselves
up after missing out on automatic promotion in
heartbreaking fashion on the final day of the regular
season – when they lost to Leeds, with Hull pipping
them to the line with a 2-2 draw at home to Cardiff.
The manner in which Gianfranco Zola’s dream team
of loanees – built using a loophole that Ian Holloway
in the opposition dugout has publicly attacked –
won their semi final against Leicester, with the very
last kick of the game, will give them confidence. As
will the attacking football that saw them fire in the
most league goals over the season: a whopping 85.
Holloway's Crystal Palace were not exactly goal-shy
themselves, however, with 52 at home in the league
helping them finish fifth. The loss of top goalscorer
Glenn Murray to injury is a huge blow for the Eagles,
but any team with the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Jonny
Williams and Yannick Bolasie among their attacking
options won't struggle to hit the back of the net.
This Palace side is built on solidity and can be
devastating on the break, while Watford come with
more of a team ethic, confident in playing their way
out from the back. The Hornets will be the favourites,
but then Palace thrive on being the underdogs. It’s
the beautiful game versus a refusal to accept defeat.
Zola versus Holloway. Your guess is as good as ours.
All
pic
ture
s G
ett
y I
ma
ge
s
Sat June 1 Lions v Barbarians (Hong Kong, 12:30am)
Wed June 5 Western Force v Lions (Perth, 11:00am)
Sat June 8 Queensland Reds v Lions (Brisbane, 10:30am)
Wed June 12 Combined NSW & Queensland Country v Lions (Newcastle, 10:30am)
Sat June 15 NSW Waratahs v Lions (Sydney, 10:30am)
Tue June 18 ACT Brumbies v Lions (Canberra, 10:30am)
Sat June 22 1st Test: Australia v Lions (Brisbane, 11:00am)
Tue June 25 Melbourne Rebels v Lions (Melbourne, 10:30am)
Sat June 29 2nd Test: Australia v Lions (Melbourne, 11:00am)
Sat July 6 3rd Test: Australia v Lions (Sydney, 11:00am)
1089 / 1053 AM, on digital radio and online at www.talksport.co.uk
@talksportfacebook.com/talksport
The British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2013
Live and exclusive national radio commentary of every
match only on
#livelions
7 Days
Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Ma
rk T
ho
mp
so
n/G
ett
y Im
ag
es
SUNDAY FORMULA 1 | MONACO GRAND PRIX | MONTE CARLO | SKY SPORTS F1 1PM
46 | May 24 2013 |
2012 RESULT
1 Mark Webber (Red Bull)
2 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
SChEDULE (GMT)
Saturday May 25
Practice 3 10am; Qualifying 1pm
Sunday May 26
Race 1pm
LAPS 78
CIRCUIT LENGTh 3.340km
RACE DISTANCE 260.520km
LAP RECORD 1:14.439 –
Michael Schumacher (2004)
DRIvER STANDINGS
1 Sebastian vettel (Red Bull) 89
2 Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) 85
3 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 72
4 Lewis hamilton (Mercedes) 50
5 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 45
6 Mark Webber (Red Bull) 42
7 Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 26
8 Paul di Resta (Force India) 26
9 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 22
10 Jenson Button (McLaren) 17
Celebrity parties, multimillion-pound yachts and a
sun-drenched seaside settings are well and good,
but everyone knows what really draws the fans to F1:
weeks of furious arguments about tyre degradation.
Unfortunately for the die-hards, the famous street
circuit that winds its way around Monte Carlo is one
of the slowest of the year, and thus relatively easy on
the rubber. The exciting debate about whether
Pirelli’s new tyre plans are in contravention of FIA
regulation 12.6.3 will have to be put on hold for a
while (although we’ve delved into it in slightly more
depth on page 8).
So, the good news is that the cars probably won’t
be visiting the pits quite as often as the 77 times they
did in Spain a fortnight ago. Unfortunately, they’re
unlikely to be overtaking each other much either –
the narrow nature of Monte Carlo’s streets make it
notoriously difficult. There were just 12 successful
moves in the race last year, the fewest of the season.
It’s only when it rains on the French Riviera that
things really liven up – but with typically sunny
weather predicted for Sunday (at time of writing),
whoever qualifies on pole will have an even bigger
advantage than usual. The Mercedes of Lewis
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have shared the last
three pole positions between them, but have thus far
failed to turn any of them into race victories. If they
Yawning rubber
can make it four straight front-row starts, they could
have a real chance of victory at a circuit that’s less
punishing on the tyres than most.
That’s not to say that the rubber rings won’t be a
deciding factor – with overtaking difficult, teams that
want to move up will have to rely on their pit-stop
strategy to do so. Red Bull have done this well in
previous races to keep Sebastian Vettel at the top of
the standings, but the teams that have had the most
pit success are probably Lotus and Ferrari. With
changes to Pirelli’s tyre compound looking set to
come in for the Canadian Grand Prix, they’ll be
keen to make the most of their current window of
opportunity before their competitive advantage
is erased.
The sport has been in a fractious mood in the wake
of the Spanish tyre meltdown, with some accusing
Red Bull of wielding undue influence to improve their
lot, and others suggesting that drivers being asked to
ease off in order to preserve their tyres goes against
the very nature of motor racing. Those concerns will
be put on hold for Monaco’s annual procession – we
guess it all looks the same if you’re watching from a
superyacht in the harbour anyway.
MONACO
48 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
7 Days
Mik
e H
ew
itt/
Ge
tty
Im
ag
es
, Ia
n W
alt
on
/Ge
tty
Im
ag
es
Finally, the European Tour rolls into the British Isles for
the one tournament of the year to take place in England.
The BMW PGA Championship remains the flagship event of
the season, taking place on the famed West Course at tour
HQ Wentworth and with a total prize fund of £4.75m. In the
Race to Dubai, this is one of the biggest events of the year.
Luke Donald (right) is the man to watch. The former world
number one (now ranked sixth) is seeking a hat-trick of wins
on the West Course – he beat Lee Westwood in a playoff in
2011 before cruising to a four-shot victory last year.
But as ever, the PGA boasts a terrific field. Rory McIlroy
leads the charge, but Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Justin
Rose, Ian Poulter and the in-form Graeme McDowell will
all make the defending champ work hard. With Donald
looking curiously out of touch with his iron play this
season, he will do well to make it three in a row.
FRIDAY > GOLF | BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP | WENTWORTH | SKY SPORTS 1 10AM
FRIDAY > CRICKET | SECONd INvESTEC TEST: ENGLANd v NEW ZEALANd | HEAdINGLEY | SKY SPORTS 1 11AM
Goldmineway outWest
The consistent excellence of Jimmy
Anderson and an Ambrosian spell of
7/44 from Stuart Broad (pictured)
contrived to make England's 170-run
victory in the first of this two-Test series
against New Zealand look a lot more
comfortable than it actually was. Aside
from a 123-run partnership of relative
serenity from Jonathan Trott and Joe
Root, England's batsmen struggled for
fluency. The Lord's pitch did offer swing
and seam movement, however – on a
Headingley wicket that plays a lot flatter
than in years gone by, both batting
line-ups could find some respite.
In truth, England are missing Kevin
Pietersen. Attacking batsmen aren't just
helpful for clearing bars and entertaining
spectators – their free-scoring ways put
opposition bowlers on the back foot and
ease the pressure on their partner at the
other end. Without that dash of KP genius
in it, England's top six has an obdurate
look – and that allowed a consistent Kiwi
attack to settle into a good rhythm.
New Zealand had even more damaging
batting problems, however, and even the
introduction of seven-toed wonder Martin
Guptill may not be enough to stand up to
England's pace attack. To truly feel this
series has been a success, it would be great
if Alastair Cook and his batting buddies
were able to show more aggressive intent
before Aussie skipper Michael Clarke – and
those he deigns acceptable to play cricket
around him – show up for the Ashes.
Genius required
20%outdoor clothing
off
21 stores nationwide | www.snowandrock.com Central London: Covent Garden, King William Street, Kensington
Greater London: Romford, Chertsey, Croydon / South East: Brighton, Port Solent
*Full price outdoor clothing items only. OFFER not AVAILABLE in HARRODS, Cycle Surgery or Runners Need concessions. not in conjunction with any other offers.
in-store & online
ENDS THIS SUNDAY! *
WIN ! A ROUND OF GOLF WITH DARREN CLARKEPlay with the great man at Royal PortrushHere is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win
a round of golf on one of the world’s best
courses with a former Open champion.
Sport has teamed up with Your Golf Travel &
Tourism Ireland to offer one lucky golfer
and three friends an amazing trip to Royal
Portrush to play with 2011 Open Champion
Darren Clarke on June 24.
The Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush is
famed as one of the finest tests of golf on
the planet, and nobody knows it better than
local man Clarke, who grew up nearby.
Not only will you get expert advice from the
five-time Ryder Cup player, but great course
knowledge too!
- Return flights to Belfast
- Transfers
- 18 holes of golf on the
famed Dunluce Links at
Royal Portrush
- An evening with Darren, dinner
and a few pints
- Overnight accommodation
- Plus... the chance to win a
dream trip to the 2014 Ryder
Cup as a special guest of
Darren’s!
To enter, download this week’s iPad
issue of Sport magazine and follow
the link. It couldn’t be simpler.
Entries close on Friday June 7.
| 49
GolfTime to play
7 Days
Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Eri
c F
efe
rbe
rg/A
FP
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s, B
en
Ho
sk
ins
/Ge
tty
Ima
ge
s
SATURDAY ATHLETICS | BT GREAT CITYGAMES | MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE | BBC ONE 1PM
50 | May 24 2013 |
A non-ticketed, completely free
sporting event on the streets of a
bustling city centre... welcome to
LAL (that’s Life After LOCOG).
The fifth edition of the BT Great
CityGames will see world-class athletes
– including a host of Olympic and
Paralympic gold-medallists – compete
on an IAAF-certified, purpose-built
track along Deansgate, and in a pop-up
athletics arena in Albert Square.
Usain Bolt blitzed down the track to
set a new world's best time over 150m
in 2009, while Tyson Gay did the same
thing over a 200m straight in 2010.
This time, the blitzing will most likely
come from the pint-sized Jamaican,
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The five-foot
sprinter (right), whose name takes
longer to say than it does for her to
cross the finish line, became only the
third woman in history to retain the
Olympic 100m title when she won gold
in London last summer. She splits
the difference with Olympic 200m
champion Allyson Felix over 150m;
young British sprinter and former world
junior champion Jodie Williams has the
unenviable task of trying to keep pace
with the formidable duo.
Britain's long jump gold-medallist
Greg Rutherford and Paralympic T44
100m champion Jonnie Peacock are
also on the bill, for what will be their
first competitive outings on home soil
since a crowd of 80,000 roared them to
victory in Stratford. Manchester, it's
over to you. And no excuses – it's free.
Life after LOCOG
SATURDAY RUGBY LEAGUE | SUPER LEAGUE: HULL FC v HULL KINGSTON ROVERS | ETIHAD STADIUM | SKY SPORTS 3 4.30.PM
Could it be magic?No prizes for guessing which will be the
most emotionally charged fixture on
the first day of the Magic Weekend at
Manchester's Etihad Stadium. Derby
fixtures between Hull FC and Hull
Kingston Rovers are never less than
full-blooded, physical confrontations.
Both go into Saturday’s contest on the
back of victories, with Hull FC having
won six of their last seven league games
and lying sixth in the Super League
table, three places above Rovers. But
they lost heavily to their east Hull rivals
at the KC Stadium on Good Friday, and
are probably still smarting from their
defeat in this same fixture last year.
Hooker Danny Houghton (pictured)
continues to sparkle for Hull FC, while
young wing Tom Lineham has impressed
with his strength and pace. Scrum half
Michael Dobson, meanwhile, will be
crucial to the fortunes of Rovers.
The final match on Sunday sees Super
League leaders Wigan Warriors take on
Leeds Rhinos (Sky Sports 4, 7.30pm).
The Warriors look to be in a class of their
own right now, while Leeds have stumbled
in recent weeks – having been knocked
out of the Challenge Cup by Huddersfield,
they then suffered a shock home defeat to
St Helens on Monday. This is not the ideal
fixture for a team looking to stop the rot.
52 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Tylt PowerPlant
If you ever get stranded somewhere with just
your smartphone for company, and find
yourself weighing up whether to use your
last two per cent of battery life to call for
help or to finish your game of Snake, this
pocket-sized gadget could help. It will
provide enough extra juice to charge most
smartphones not once, but twice – so now
you don’t have to choose between emergency
medical assistance and that new high score.
£60 | amazon.co.uk
Ruark Audio R7 Music System
A modern take on the radiogram (the combined
hi-fi and record player popular in the 1950s and
’60s), the R7 includes DAB radio, Bluetooth and
CD inputs – all housed inside a stylish walnut,
glass and aluminium body. Ruark ’n‘ roll.
£TBC, released in autumn | ruark.co.uk
Canon PowerShot N
The petite PowerShot N is packed with
almost as many features as the smartphones
it’s designed to share your pocket space
with. It can capture Full HD video from
a variety of angles thanks to the tiltable
touchscreen, while Creative Shot mode will
give an Instagram-style treatment to your
chosen subject, and Wi-Fi connectivity
means you can upload photos from your
camera to your phone with ease. Lovely.
£269 | amazon.co.uk
Nokia Lumia 925
Promising ‘more than your eyes can see’
(which seems a bit of a waste), the Lumia
925 is Nokia’s new high-end smartphone.
Its Windows Phone operating system isn’t to
everyone’s taste, but combined with the 925’s
new metal body and top-quality hardware, it
makes for an alluring package. The camera
is probably the stand-out feature – it takes
multiple photos so you can erase background
objects or make sure everyone’s smiling.
£TBC | nokia.com
Blast from the past
ExTRA TiMEMaking the most of your time and money
P60
An epic
conclusion of
mayhem and
bad decisions:
the wolfpack
is back
Gadgets
54 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Waterproof golf jackets required
et kit Remember those childhood summers, when the sun shone every day? Well, they're never coming back: it is going to rain, hard, for the rest of our lives. So dress accordingly
galvin green alex
Galvin Green has now established itself
as the number-one manufacturer of wet-
weather golf gear. And, with tops like this,
that's hardly surprising. The Alex GORE-
TEX jacket is available in sizes S-4XL and
five different colour combinations.
£299 | galvingreen.com
adidas climaproof storm
This stylish number from adidas has
adjustable cuffs and side-zipper gussets,
zip pockets and even – wait for it –
articulated elbows. Most importantly,
it's fully seam-sealed, as waterproof as
you like and breathable.
£150 | adidasgolf.com
Nike storm-fit
If it's good enough for Tiger and Rory, eh?
This full-zip jacket is designed with comfort
and breathability in mind – not to mention
keeping out the water. It's fully seam-
sealed, so you finish the round as dry as
when you began. Apart from your hair.
£200 | nikegolf.eu
abacus stretchlite
Swedish firm Abacus is an official supplier
to the European Tour and says the jacket
you see here is the "ultimate all-round
waterproof". Its two-layered, unlined
stretch fabric makes it extremely light
and soft, not to mention quiet.
£249| abacussportswear.com
sunderland of scotland Whisperdry
Sunderland of Scotland's new 2013
collection is the most technically
advanced it has ever produced. The new
Whisperdry Hush jacket breaks the mould
– it's a hoodie – and claims to be the
quietest waterproof in the world.
£155 | www.wesellgolfgear.com
ping response
The Response uses Ping's latest innovation,
HydroPro Dynamics. The jacket has a
100 per cent polyester outer with Teflon
coating, and MicroFleece and Stretch
Mesh lining for outstanding comfort
and flexibility. Ping!
£120 | ping.com
iPad edition on Newsstand now
ET Grooming
56 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
Ferrari Essence MuskSmell like you own a Ferrari (or, at the
very least, a bottle of it) with the ol’
stallion’s scent that “evokes the spirit
of the Ferrari Gran Turismo”. So what,
exactly, does this magnificent hoofed
beast smell like? Top notes of white
grapefruit accentuated by bergamot
and mandarin leaves; heart notes of
cool white mint with refreshing hints
of watermelon, lavender and nutmeg;
and base notes of white musk enveloped
by the woody warmth of amber and
Bourbon vetiver. And there we were
thinking it would be a mixture of
engine oil, rich leather and Fernando
Alonso’s hair wax.
£79 for 100ml | harrods.com
The deodorant
Sure Men Lotus F1
Offering long-lasting protection
(and let’s face it, F1 drivers
need all the protection they can
get from Romain Grosjean),
Sure’s special-edition range
comes in a roll-on (£1.77 for
50ml), anti-perspirant spray
(£2.61 for 150ml) and stick
(£2.85 for 50ml) that will
leave you feeling fresh, dry
and as confident as ice man
Kimi Raikkonen.
Available nationwide
The anti-ageing fluid
Novexpert
Monte Carlo is, of course, the playground of the beautiful people.
Join them, do, by using a formula that targets embryonic wrinkles,
micro-furrows, deep wrinkles, slackened skin, acne and blemish-prone
skin. It’s brimming with moisture and replenishing ingredients,
and Bernie Ecclestone’s been using it for years – probably.
£35 for 40ml | novexpert.co.uk
NEw car SMELLSFit right in on the streets of Monte Carlo this Sunday by a) being
really, really ridiculously rich, or b) getting your hands on this lot
The fragrance
How do you face your problemif your problem is your face?This moisturiser isn’t the whole answer, but it’s a start.
ONLY THE BEST
GET BETTER WITH AGE
WORLD’S
MEN’S SKIN CARE BRAND*
NO1*Source: Euromonitor International Limited; Nivea by global brand name in the category Men’s Skin Care; in retail value terms 2012.
NEW
Shop online at boots.com
Available at larger Boots stores. Subject to availability.
Only available at Boots
003218_Active_Age_232x300_SPORT.indd 1 09/05/2013 11:57
Jo
hn
ny D
ep
p. H
an
So
lo. A
ny a
cto
r w
ho
’s p
laye
d
Jam
es B
on
d, b
ut
part
icu
larl
y R
og
er
Mo
ore
.
Th
ere
are
pre
cio
us f
ew
acce
pta
ble
man
cru
sh
es,
bu
t th
is, la
die
s a
nd
ge
ntl
em
en
, is
th
e k
ing
of
the
m a
ll.
Yo
u s
ee, w
he
n w
e lo
ok a
t D
avid
Be
ckh
am
– o
r B
ecks,
to g
ive
him
his
fu
ll n
am
e –
mo
de
llin
g h
is H
&M
ke
cks,
we
do
n’t
se
e a
vain
, g
ym
-to
ne
d, sq
uat-
thru
sti
ng
to
ol.
We
kn
ow
th
at
tho
se
ab
s h
ave
be
en
scu
lpte
d b
y lu
ng
-
bu
sti
ng
ru
ns d
ow
n t
he
flan
k f
or
his
co
un
try; h
is t
hig
hs
ho
ne
d b
y h
ou
rs o
f sw
ing
ing
in
cro
sse
s a
nd
pe
rfe
ctl
y
pla
ce
d f
ree
-kic
ks; th
e s
ock h
e’s
cle
arl
y s
tuff
ed
do
wn
his
pan
ts lik
ely
so
ake
d in
th
e s
we
at
of
giv
ing
his
all in
718
clu
b g
am
es a
nd
115
matc
he
s f
or
En
gla
nd
.
So
fo
r th
is, an
d f
or
mu
ch
mo
re, w
e t
han
k y
ou
,
Go
lde
nb
alls. If
we
mu
st
have
so
me
ch
ap
’s b
ag
of
sw
ee
ts
po
inti
ng
at
us f
rom
a b
illb
oard
at
fou
r-ti
me
s lif
e s
ize,
we
’re
gla
d t
hat
it o
fte
n s
ee
ms t
o b
e y
ou
rs.
58 | May 24 2013 |
Extra time David Beckham
H&M
Feel t
he
cru
sh
| 59
60 | May 24 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand
The Last Stand
Schwarzenegger breaks out the
Lethal Weapon-style “I’m old”
quips in this flick about a small-
town sheriff who has to stop a
gang of crooks headed to the
Mexico border, armed with just
his reading glasses, a few crazed
locals and, oh, some almighty
firearms. Proof that Arnie can
still deliver action and one-liners
like no other. Come back soon.
Out Monday
False Idols Tricky
A musician on his 10th release
trying to recreate the magic of
his first rarely works, but Bristol
trip-hop boss Tricky’s new album
is a natural and – remarkably –
classy successor to Maxinquaye.
The ethereal female vocals are
present, as is Tricky’s trademark
whispered menace, but it’s the
polished, punchy pop hooks that
steal the show. A return to form.
Out Monday
The Hangover Part IIIThe second Hangover film went the
Die Hard II route of simply remaking the
same film in a different location, so it’s
refreshing that the third part takes us
staggering down a different path. There’s
no bachelor party this time, just bushy-
bearded oddity Alan coming off his meds
and his beloved wolfpack stepping in to
take him to rehab. Cue perennial lame
wolf Doug being kidnapped by a crook
who’s trying to track down camp, cocaine-
loving criminal Leslie Chow, leaving us to
do nothing but watch the chaos unfurl.
Professional scene-stealer John Goodman
is the villain – and a top addition to any
comedy cast – but the original’s strength
was the chemistry between the trio of
leads. If the third can recapture that – and
taking the series back to Vegas should
help – then we’ve no reason to believe
this really will be the series finale. Frankly,
they’ll probably keep going until The
Hangover Part VII: Mission to Moscow. And
you know what? We’d pay to see that, too.
Out today
War Games
V&A Museum
of Childhood
Gawp at war
toys from 1800
to today at this
new exhibition
that explores
the intriguing
relationship
between conflict and children’s
play. Items on display include
toy guns, scale-model fighter
planes and even mighty Skeletor
(pictured). Lest you worry that
Masters of the Universe was a
harrowing docu-drama based on
real events, know that old bones
is actually in the From Reality to
Fantasy section. Secret Weapons,
meanwhile, examines the murky
role of war toys as propaganda.
Opens Saturday
My Left Foot
Moving without being mawkish,
this 1989 biopic of Christy Brown
is a long-awaited Blu-ray release.
Born with severe cerebral palsy,
working-class Dubliner Brown
became a successful artist and
poet despite only having full
control of his left foot. We just
wonder whatever happened to
that young Daniel Day-Lewis
chap who excels in the lead role.
Out Monday
Once I Was An Eagle
Laura Marling
Prodigious, lauded, 23-year-old
folk singer releases fourth album
and shows exactly why the Joni
Mitchell comparisons abound.
The stripped-back production
illustrates Marling’s confidence
in her songwriting prowess, the
lush, finger-plucked guitar an
ideal background for her richly
textured voice. Captivating stuff.
Out Monday
Film
DVDMusicBlu-ray Music
HAIr OF THE DOG
ET Entertainment A third Hangover instalment looks to cure the second film’s
ills, while Skeletor and his chums take over part of London
Co
urt
es
y o
f W
arn
er
Bro
s. P
ictu
res
, © V
&A
Ima
ge
s
Exhibition
124games
so far
oct
feb
may
predict the final
win a club season ticket for the
2013/14 UEFA Champions League
adidas.com/allforthis
Untitled-10 5 21/05/2013 10:41
*te
rms
an
d c
on
dit
ion
s a
pp
ly
3,128shots
so far
jul
octfeb
may
predict the fi nal
win a club season ticket for the
2013/14 UEFA Champions League*
adidas.com/allforthis
Untitled-10 2 21/05/2013 10:41
