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Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham on the day 17-year-old David signed for Manchester United [via soccerissue.com]

Buon compleanno, Capitano!

Fiorentina's Airplane Is Taking Off - Gabriele Marcotti - WSJ →

As a player, Vincenzo Montella was known as the “little airplane” thanks to a much-copied goal celebration which saw him race away, arms outstretched, as if he were soaring and banking across a green, rather than blue, backdrop. Last Tuesday Montella—now the manager of Fiorentina—sat in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio next to the city’s mayor, Matteo Renzi, and talked about, well, flight and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the 1970 fantasy novella. “I love to fly, because it’s liberating, it offers a sense of freedom,” he told the assembled audience of Florentines of all ages. “Sometimes, though, you need to fly low, working quietly and making sacrifices. If you do that, you can then soar and reach heights you never imagined.” Nine months after arriving in Florence, Montella is beginning to take off.

Ronaldinho (Atletico Mineiro 5 - 2 Arsenal, April 3, 2013)

Man's journey from Los Angeles to Real Madrid good-luck charm - Grant Wahl - SI.com →

Abel Rodríguez is a 41-year-old Mexican-American who waxes floors in Los Angeles for Metro Transportation. Real Madrid’s José Mourinho is one of the world’s most famous managers. On the face of things, the two men have nothing in common. Yet recently they became the central figures in a surreal but true buddy story that took Rodríguez behind the scenes as a member of Real Madrid’s team in the biggest games of world soccer against Barcelona and Manchester United.

Ruud Gullit

Round Thoughts - Depression: Football’s Great Problem? →

Back in 2002, Barcelona goalkeeper Robert Enke arrived at the Camp Nou stadium for a Champions League match against Leverkusen. When he entered the locker room, he found out that he wasn’t on the team sheet for the game. As he made his way outside, he had no idea how to get back home – he completely forgot about the existence of taxis and buses – so he just stayed there. Enke was rarely a starter for Barcelona. His most notable performance there came in an embarrassing loss to 3rd division team Novelda, when he made 2 critical errors that led to the team’s exit from the Spanish cup. This led to a lot of criticism in the media about his ability. Since then, he played only a handful of matches for the club. Despite that, he was the team’s regular 2nd goalkeeper – that’s why he was so distraught about not being selected for the match against Leverkusen. In the world of football, where people often find out about changes from the media rather than by a face-to-face conversation, this is a way to signal to a player that he is no longer wanted in the club. Enke tried to keep going after this incident. He showed up to practices and trained with the team, until he was sent to Turkish side Fenerbahçe. That’s where he suffered his first spell of depression, the illness that would eventually lead him to end his life.

Marco Van Basten’s debut agains Nijmegen, April 3, 1982 

Quel giorno Cruyff si mise a protestare con l’arbitro per un fallo senza importanza. E dato che l’arbitro non smetteva di dargli spiegazioni, suggerii a Cruyff di tenere quel pallone e di darcene un altro, visto che in quella partita avevamo qualche diritto anche noi. Cruyff mi chiese: come ti chiami? «Jorge Valdano». E quanti anni hai? «Ventuno». «Ragazzino, a 21 anni a Cruyff si dà del lei».

— Jorge Valdano, Il sogno di Futbolandia

Auguri, Maestro