Weekly News Round Up: Sir Bobby's Death, India's Mixed Results In Barcelona, Toure's Man City Move And More

7. Louis van Gaal Bursts Out Of Press Conference

Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal was a happy man after his side's 4-1 thumping of AC Milan on Wednesday until an Italian reporter asked him why he had played young striker Thomas Muller instead of Luca Toni. Toni is not fully fit at the moment and so was left out of the starting xi. The Italian journalist, though, had failed to do his homework and didn't know this. Van Gaal didn't want to talk anymore after that question and left the press conference in anger.

6. Juan Pablo Sorin Retires From Football

Former Argentine international left-back Juan Pablo Sorin announced his retirement from football earlier this week. The former Villarreal player had gone back to South America to play for Brazilian club Cruzeiro but injuries stopped him from playing at a top-flight level.

5. Aliaksandr Hleb Returns To VfB Stuttgart

Aliaksandr Hleb was originally part of the Zlatan Ibrahimovic-Samuel Eto'o swap deal between Inter Milan and FC Barcelona but the Belarusian midfielder expressed his disinclination to join the Italian champions on a one-year loan. Instead the former Arsenal player decided to return to his old club VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga on a one-year loan deal. Hleb spent most of last season at Camp Nou on the sidelines and is looking to gain more playing time at Stuttgart. Meanwhile, the Ibra-Eto'o swap finally became official this week.

4. Kolo Toure Signs For Manchester City

After selling Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City, Arsenal decided to swap money for Kolo Toure as they sold the Ivorian to Man City for £16 million. This deal, like that of Adebayor, is not a bad one for the Gunners as Toure has been off his game for quite a while and the cash the Gunners have received for him could be used to strengthen in some other areas - although Toure still remains a Premier League quality defender and could have been a good back-up - but what most people are apprehensive about is that Arsenal are actually strengthening their supposed main rivals for the fourth spot in the Premier League.

3. Mixed Results For India In Spain

The Indian national team is in Barcelona at the moment preparing for the upcoming Nehru Cup. They are mostly training there but are also scheduled to play a few friendly matches with lower division sides. Bob Houghton's side has already played two such practice matches, both against Tercera Division sides, and have drawn one and won the other. In their first match they were held to a 1-1 draw by UE Castelldefels but in their second they managed to beat another third division side Associacio Esportiva El Prat 2-0 with striker Abhishek Yadav scoring both the goals.

2. Xabi Alonso To Madrid - Near But Still Far

Xabi Alonso reportedly handed his transfer request to Liverpool and could join Real Madrid in the coming weeks. The Spanish international midfielder appears to have made up his mind to swap Anfield for the Bernabeu and Liverpool too seem to have bowed down to his wishes. But the Reds have not prostrated themselves yet as they insist that they won't sell Alonso for anything less than €35 million. Madrid, though, refuse to cough up that much amount but are willing to add a player of their own into the deal.

1. Sir Bobby Robson Passes Away

One of football's most respected and loved figures, Sir Bobby Robson, passed away in the early hours of Friday morning at the age of 76. The former FC Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven and Newcastle United boss was diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time and this time he couldn't stave off Death. Sir Bobby is regarded as one of the best English managers of all time and won silverware with PSV, FC Porto and Barcelona.

Subhankar Mondal