Pele’s shock tryst with Batman
... San Sebastian, Real Sociedad’s rise to the top of La Liga was all down to a sinister masked man with an axe
1 “WHAT’S YOUR BEEF, PAL?”
With an axe- wielding maniac setting up stall on the edge of the penalty area, it’s little wonder that Real Sociedad have been so tough to beat in the opening stages of the new La Liga season.
Well OK, he’s not actually a maniac – his name is Jon Gorostiaga, president of the Iruki beef firm, and he’s come up with a scheme that helped fire the San Sebastian high- fliers to Spain’s summit early on.
Txuleton steak is a delicacy in the Basque country – Real Sociedad used to award the prized meat to their man of the match and John Aldridge became known as ‘ The King of the Txuleton’, tucking in after each of his 40 strikes from 1989- 91 following a £ 1 million move from Liverpool.
If you thought such weird traditions were a thing of the past, you’d be wrong – Iruki are awarding a steak to the first goalscorer at every home game this term.
That was enough of an incentive for homegrown hero Mikel Oyarzabal, who bagged two steaks running after netting in a 3- 0 triumph over Getafe, then a 4- 1 win over Huesca. He may weigh 20 stone by the end of the season, but at least he’ll have a winner’s medal.
2 MAKE PUMPKINS GREAT AGAIN
Before England was sent back into lockdown, there were Halloween celebrations aplenty in Cheshire – and even Jurgen Klopp joined in.
Some plans ran smoother than others: a drive- in movie at Chester’s Deva Stadium was almost cancelled because half of the stadium is in England and half of the stadium in Wales – already under lockdown.
Just a few miles further north, a Liverpool supporter superbly turned a pumpkin into Klopp, complete with glasses and a tactics board. It bore a likeness to another public figure, too – with a bizarre orange face and a silly red hat, Donald Trump is yet to make any comment.
3 “HELP, I’M TRAPPED IN A CAPPUCCINO!”
If you’ve always wanted a cappuccino with Lionel Messi’s face in it, head to the Bulgarian city of Varna.
Barista Vladimir Stoev has become famous in Bulgaria for his coffee art, previously drawing faces for Cristiano Ronaldo and Vladimir Putin. Now he’s cleverly depicted Messi, too – we’ll just ignore the fact that the Argentine has got a gigantic head and tiny legs ( no wonder Barcelona lost 8- 2 to Bayern).
Some stars have visited Stoev’s cafe to drink their own faces – including boxer Kubrat Pulev, who’s scheduled to fight Anthony Joshua in December. Presumably Pulev’s preparations have primarily involved punching a series of frothy coffees with Joshua’s likeness.
4 SKULL- DUGGERY
Halloween is far too tame for the folks of Mexico: there, they gleefully celebrate the Day of the Dead – and several Liga MX clubs unveiled one- off kits to mark the occasion.
Naturally, Santos Laguna’s kit launch featured a bloke holding a skull. “The green and white should be defended like a warrior, even after death,” the club declared. Can they really afford to give ghosts such lengthy contracts?
If you’re going to launch a novelty kit, though, it’s not ideal to do it after you’ve just lost the local derby and missed out on the play- offs – as Atlas did, prompting rival supporters to question whether a Day of the Dead jersey should be sported by a team whose season is actually dead. Harsh.
5 MANE ATTRACTION
If we’d told you at the start of 2020 that lions would be driving buses around London by autumn, you’d probably have been surprised. Now, though, it seems about right.
Thankfully it wasn’t a real lion – that could have got very ugly, particularly if you’d tried to board the bus without the right fare. Instead, Millwall mascot Zampa got behind the wheel ahead of a game against Barnsley: dressed up with no fans to entertain, it probably just got bored and fancied a joyride.
With Zampa doing donuts outside The Den in his double decker, Millwall drew 1- 1. We await his next exploit, when he picks up Gunnersaurus on the North Circular and they go around the country fighting crime.
6 MOOED BY THEIR OWN SUPPORTERS
Seven stadiums in England’s second tier hold more than 30,000 fans, but life is slightly different in Romania, where even the local farm animals get an unobstructed view.
Comuna Recea are in Romania’s second division for the first time this season, after promotion last term, and their home ground isn’t exactly a fortress. Holding just 600 people, one end of the Stadionul Central basically consists of some railings and a tiny fence: nearby cows were the most notable spectators when Recea lost at home to Petrolul on TV.
It’s just as well those cows didn’t enjoy their life in the Basque Country – Mikel Oyarzabal would be getting stuck into them right about now.
7 “HOLY GOALSCORING LEGEND, BATMAN!”
Pele knew how to celebrate his 80th birthday – by giving Batman a kiss.
In October the Brazil great became an octogenarian, and street artist Luis Bueno marked it with a new poster in his honour. For 10 years, Bueno has been creating ace designs around Sao Paulo, depicting Pele kissing famous figures – originally inspired by a photo of the forward embracing Muhammad Ali at his New York Cosmos farewell.
The posters previously featured Bob Marley, David Bowie, the Mona Lisa and even Chewbacca, before Marilyn Monroe and superhero Batman each got a smooch in two of Bueno’s latest artworks. It’s reported that Pele has now kissed more than 1,000 people, although that does include friendlies.
8 OH, TEDDY, TEDDY
Heerenveen’s recent tussle against Emmen was watched on by an impressive crowd of 15,000 – after the cuddly hosts filled their stadium with teddy bears.
All fixtures in the Netherlands have gone behind closed doors once more because of the recent resurgence of coronavirus, so De Superfriezen linked up with a children’s cancer charity to pack the Abe Lenstra Stadium with stuffed toys instead.
All 15,000 teddies were decked out in tiny Heerenveen shirts and then sold to fans, who helped to raise more than £ 200,000 for the charity. To cap it all off, the home side recorded a fine 4- 0 victory – and not one of the bears got themselves arrested for setting off a flare or invading the pitch.
9 “RIGHT, ER... WE’LL BE GOING NOW THEN”
When Tunisian club CS Chebba were kicked out of the country’s top division last month, 2,000 fans made a drastic decision – to move to Italy, en masse.
Chebba finished eighth in their debut top- flight season, only for the team’s president to fall out with the Tunisian FA, who banned them for a year after their late membership application.
Angry fans set tyres on fire during protests, vowing to leave the coastal city immediately – only for their exit on a fleet of boats to be delayed due to ‘ bad weather’ as the government tried to mediate. Miffed supporters hung around the port and posed for photos ( on a sunny day) to make it clear they were definitely leaving, just as soon as the weather improved.