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Al: Thanks for doing this interview, Quentin!

Quentin: Where the hell am I?

Al: I just have a few questions on behalf of the readers on this site.

Quentin: No seriously, my head hurts. Why are there men with baseball bats by the door? Why is this room so…. red? Why am I in a stray jacket?

Al: To start things off, what movies are you working on right now?

Quentin: Oh my GOD not another one of these nightmares! (twitches)

Al: Calm down, Quentin.

Quentin: Ya know pal, I will sue your pants off once I get the heck outta here.

Al: What does my pants coming off have anything to do with this interview?

Quentin: Uhh… next question.

Al: Does this man look familiar to you, Quentin?

(I show him this image)

Quentin: Is that me when I had hair?

Al: Ah hah! So you admit it!

Quentin: Get me the f*ck out of here you Liechtensteinian!

Al: That does it!

[Quentin now makes a living testing Barbie dolls after I traumatized the poor guy.]

A video of the interview:

AUPA ATLETI!

2008 was quite the year for Atlético, with a few shock victories and losses here and there, and of course, the glorious Champions League qualification and a not-too-shabby campaign so far. And also, the re-inauguration of this blog

For all of you readers, lurkers, anti-Madridistas, La Liga fanatics, etc. that stumble upon this red-and-white corner of The Offside, thanks for reading. I work on this blog for you guys, whether it’s hundreds or a select few.

Here’s to a 2009 of success, happiness and more solid Atlético Offside.

Aupa Atleti!

DEM.

BITS.

Anyways, here’s a quick post with some tidbits on the happenings in the world of Atlético Madrid (all the links are in Spanish, but I translated the good stuff for you guys):

- Kun Agüero and Diego Maradona, recorded a song for Kun’s fiancée and Diego’s daughter Giannina (more after the jump):

Aguero and Maradona have recorded a song for Giannina, the bride’s first and the daughter of the Argentine star, near the Argentine musical group Mezgaya. The song is called “Dalma y Giannina son mi inspiración” (Dalma and Giannina are my inspiration). As the title suggests, it is also dedicated to the other daughter of Diego.

…But Aguero and Maradona aren’t singing for the first time together: the two Albiceleste idols sang in unison last July at the Colonial Theater.

There will not be a cover of Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” on the album. However, a “High School Musical” cover album is in the talks. Not.

And Kun, if you see an old man at the recording studio with crazy hair, glasses, and wearing anything blue or black, stay the HELL away. If he says “offer”, it really means “disease”, and you don’t want that.

-Fun stuff aside, 3 wins and 3 losses is what we’ll be dragging onto our backs going into the Madrid derby on Sunday the 19th.

Wait, the 19th?

That’s right, it’s International week again. We’ll have ants in our pants awaiting the almighty derby. Here’s the list of those called up:

Argentina – Sergio Agüero
Portugal – Maniche
Netherlands – Johnny Heitinga
Czech Republic – Tomáš Ujfaluši
France – Florent Sinama-Pongolle (about time)
Colombia – Luis Perea
Spain U-21 – Miguel de las Cuevas

This’ll keep our players busy and in-shape, as Real Netherlands will also be in good shape as they have some qualifiers as well. Har, har.

“It’s my fault.” “No, it’s my fault” “No, it’s our fault.”

Coach Aguirre takes the blame for the the loss to Barcelona:

“I am the one who is solely responsible. I failed in the line-up, in the preparation, in the team talk, in not re-arranging our attack after eight minutes… in everything else,”

But then Maxi defended him and made the players take the blame:

“It is normal that the coach wants to cover for his players but when we win the players are always praised and in this case we have to stand up and say we were at fault. One must take responsibility and change it,”

Antonio Lopez also has some words to say:

“However much the coach says it is his fault, is all ours. We played like children,” he said.

“The squad is really stunned by this really big result, but nothing has finished here and now we have to face Madrid at home and we have to win.

“We went out half asleep, with our heads down, but now we have to move on after a very hard day.

“There is always communication on the pitch, but against Barcelona there was no play nor any communication.”

And Enrique Cerezo, the president of the club himself, blames the players:

We are all responsible, but in the end, those responsible are those who played, because after all, they were the ones on the pitch. But there’s no need to dramatize, we lost against a great team and we must look into the future. Our players played a bad match, they know it and they have to resolve the problem within the pitch.

Time to move on. At least we never lost this bad at home. Like 0-6 or something. Oh, wait….

- Maxi will be back in time for the Madrid derby. He was injured in the match against Barcelona with a thigh injury.

Diego Forlan and Simao will also be back in time for the for the derby. This news is great, because having our best players will be crucial for derby day. And everyone’s favorite blonde Uruguayan was missed dearly. Damn you, injuries.

The international break will be used to recover from the wounds of Barcelona’s beatdown, and we’ll be more than ready for Real Madrid. Hopefully.

.

I will team up with Corey from Real Madrid Offside in delivering the goods before the derby. We’ll coincide in re-living past Derbi moments on our respective team pages throughout the international break and will have in-depth analyses a few days before the big day.

Aupa Atleti!