The Grab: 03.12

So Jose's been caught on camera mouthing Filho da puta, roughly translated into English as "son of a whore". Typically, the media has decided that this is a remarkable thing, so much that one of the top stories today is Mike Riley's neglect in mentioning this occurrencein his match report. People, c'mon, this is England, where the term "c*nt" is used with the same frequency as "the". Apparently, Mourinho uses this phrase often, kind of like my belief that the F-word doesn't get its due in modern usage so I try to use it as much as I can (especially fun at the office). Now, what manager doesn't say stuff like that during the course of the match? And if he was directing it at Mike Riley, who cares? Sons of whores unite, I say, and show the FA that's there's nothing wrong with having a puta as a mommy (role-playing does not count) [Guardian Unlimited]

Thirty-three. That's the number of points that separate Inter Milan from AC Milan in the Serie A table. Inter's been on a torrid streak lately, setting an Italian league record for consecutive wins and unbeaten in 27, despite getting knocked out of the Champions League by Valencia. Sure, Milan had the Italian match-fixing scandal to deal with, but their penalty resulted in only an eight-point points deduction. And it's all Inter this year for the Scudetto, as the nearest team, Roma, sit 16 points behind the Nerazzuri, who on Sunday won their first league double over their city rivals for the first time since 1981. It's hard to see Roberto Mancini's men stumbling, with former Juve man Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing about as well as he can. And the gaffer's substitution of Julio Cruz for Hernan Crespo proved shrewd as he was involved in both Inter goals, scoring one and setting up Ibra for the other. [Melbourne Herald Sun]

The top two could very well meet in the new Wembley in May for the FA Cup final, but they'll have one more match to get through. Chelsea came back from 3-1 to tie Tottenham Hotspur and send the replay back to White Hart Lane, while Manchester United drew 2-2 with Middlesbrough on Ronaldo's penalty kick to see them host Boro at Old Trafford a week from today. Steve McClaren's gotta be going bananas over this, despite not really having any tactical or strategic plans in store. The two replays, set to be played on March 19, fall on the day the England team is to report for international duty, to salvage their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008 on March 24. But talk about things working out well for the EPL - if things stay the way they are, we could see two big matchups between Chelsea and Man U to decide two cups at the end of the season. [Football 365]

Sevilla blew a great opportunity to pull ahead of Barcelona this weekend, after losing to 19th place Gymnastic. Barcelona, still smarting from losing the opportunity to defend their European title drew 3-3 in a thrilling Gran Clasico at the Nou Camp. Real Madrid, also knocked out of the Champions League last week, limped into Barcelona without er, key players like David Beckham, Roberto Carlos and Fabio Cannavaro. But los Merengues spoke first, with a Ruud van Nistelrooy goal just four minutes in and we had a match. While it's arguable that we were watching two former greats of La Liga duke it out for nothing, it's hard to overlook the sold-out capacity of the Nou Camp and the 800 million worldwide audience. And they got a great show, with Leo Messi securing the point for Barca in the 90th minute. With Sevilla's stumble and the general lack of a dominant team in La Liga, it's wide open in Spain, with only five points seperating fourth from first. [Belfast Telegraph]

-bl