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When the Pope starts talking about football …

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The Vatican has weighed in on Real Madrid’s nearly $300 million spending spree for three players (Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Karim Benzema). The Vatican’s newspaper, Osservatore Romano, said in an editorial that exorbitant transfer fees would bankrupt teams and could increase the influence of organized crime. “It is good to ask oneself whether the figures paid by Real Madrid’s president in a period of economic and financial crisis are justifiable from a purely economic viewpoint or whether they are inexplicable even under market laws,” the editorial said. “It is also necessary to see whether they are compatible with, or destabilizing for, the soccer world.


[Via Goal]

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Football’s Michael Jackson?



Whether you like Cristiano Ronaldo or not, you can’t hate on the fact that about 80,000 people turned up for his “unveiling” (basically a news conference) at Real Madrid earlier today. Ronaldo may have his detractors against the claim that he is the world’s best player (he is certainly its most expensive), but he has now confirmed his status as a football pop star with all the attendant signs: the media circus, the screaming fans, the tabloid behavior.

On a related note: With Barcelona outplaying Manchester United in the European Champions League and now Kaka and a number of top players joining Ronaldo in Spain, is Ronaldo also right that the Spanish La Liga will displace the English Premier League as the most demanding football league in the world?