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Neymar will hope to get his hands on his first Champions League trophy as Barcelona take on Juventus in the final .
Brazil star Neymar says Barcelona's Champions League final against Juventus will be a dream come true on Saturday as he plans to celebrate writing history by kissing the trophy. (Barcelona aiming to be first team with two trebles)
The 23-year-old will finish his second season at Barca in his first Champions League final with the Spaniards bidding to emulate their 2009 feat of winning the treble of European, league and cup titles. (The secret to stopping the fab trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez)
"For me to be able to play this final is a dream, ever since I was six or seven years old I have been dreaming of this opportunity to win a Champions League final," said Neymar. (Barcelona v Juventus - Road to Champions League final)
"Leo (Messi) and Luis (Suarez) are two players of a very high level.
"We understand each other on and off the pitch, we get on very well.
"I hope to end the season in a happy way taking advantage of the work of all the year with the team and we can be victors."
Neymar has played his part in Barcelona's record-breaking season by scoring 38 of the 120 goals netted alongside his fellow superstars Messi and Suarez.
Juventus for their part are also bidding to join the exclusive club of treble winners having already secured the league and cup double.
The charges arose from the player's controversial trade from Brazilian team Santos to the Spanish club for an undisclosed sum, Brazilian weekly magazine Epoca reported in its Friday edition.
Brazilian footballer Neymar, currently playing forward for Barcelona, is under investigation in his home country for tax evasion, a media report said on Saturday.
The charges arose from the player's controversial trade from Brazilian team Santos to the Spanish club for an undisclosed sum, Brazilian weekly magazine Epoca reported in its Friday edition.
On April 7, according to the magazine, federal prosecutors in the city of Santos ordered an audit of all assets owned by the footballer, one of the stars of Brazil's national team, and his father Neymar Santos Silva, Xinhua news agency reported.
Officials could confiscate part of those assets if their suspicions are confirmed.
The magazine said investigators in Spain have uncovered that Barcelona paid 86.3 million euros for Neymar, while the club earlier said it had paid 57 million euros in a bid to pay less taxes on the deal.
Phillip Lahm retired from the national side following Germany's success in the World Cup in 2014. He is considered by many to be one of the best full backs of his generation, and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Berlin: FC Barcelona striker Lionel Messi has said he believes German champions Bayern Munich's veteran defender Philipp Lahm is the most consistent player in world football.
The Argentine has scored 58 goals this season and has spearheaded his team's quest for a treble-trophy winning season. Barcelona have already bagged the La Liga and the Copa Del Ray trophies and will face Italian champions Juventus in the Champions League final at Berlin on Saturday.
Experts have tipped Barcelona as the overwhelming favourites with Messi favoured to play a stellar role during the match.
Messi and Lahm have been involved in some memorable duels in the past and the 27-year-old was effusive in his praise for the German. Messi struck twice in the first leg against Lahm's Bayern Munich side in the Champions League semi-final.
"Philipp Lahm is just the most consistent player you'll ever see," he was quoted as saying by squawka.com on Saturday.
Lahm retired from the national side following Germany's success in the World Cup in 2014. He is considered by many to be one of the best full backs of his generation, and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Messi also said that despite his avalanche of goals for his club Barcelona, his primary aim remains to win trophies for the club.
"I don't look at records, that's not why I'm playing the game. Goals, of course. Every player in my position wants to score goals. But most of all, trophies.
"My target is always to win trophies for Barcelona, and that will always be my motivation, to win things. Nothing feels better than doing that as a team," he said.
And to achieve his aim he insisted on never being short on motivation.
"Motivation is not something I struggle with. I love playing football, I love being in training, the day-to-day life is fantastic. When you have success, you just want to repeat it, again and again.
"Whether it is training, playing a game, winning trophies - it is the best life I can imagine. I want to achieve as much as it is possible to achieve with this team."
The footballer also expressed his gratitude to his teammates - past and present - who he said have helped him tremendously in his evolution to becoming arguably the world's finest player.
He said he is enjoying the partnership with Brazilian Neymar and Uruguay's Luis Suarez for Barcelona this season. The trio have together racked up an incredible 120 goals this season.
"I'm lucky. I've played with so many wonderful forwards over the years. I had a great connection with Ronaldinho. I played with Samuel Eto'o, with Thierry Henry, with Pedro, David Villa, Alexis Sanchez," he said.
"But I have to say that it is hard to top lining up alongside Neymar and Suarez. They are two players at the top of their games. We have only been together as a three for one season, so there is still work to do on the partnership, and we can all improve together - but we all see it as teamwork."
"I've said before that with Neymar's quality, touch and fitness, he can become the best in the world - and Luis is the same. His touch, vision, his movement, his instinctive play, are incredible. We all offer something different, and make each other better," he added.
The Jansens have pedaled more than 6,000 miles in seven countries since setting out the day after Eric retired.
On Sept. 30, 2014, after a 40-year career in industrial construction, my husband, Eric, age 64 (I’m 54), retired. The next day at 7:30 a.m., we shut the door to our residence in Malaysia and began what is proving to be the most challenging and rewarding experience in our lives: cycling our way around much of the world.
In the past eight months, we have traveled more than 6,000 miles through seven countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. (As I write this, we’re in New Zealand and getting ready to leave for Australia.) We have grappled with, among other trials, stifling heat, food poisoning, more than a dozen punctured tires — and no small amount of homesickness.
At the same time, we have explored ancient temples in Thailand and Indonesia, been greeted by hundreds of village children waving and shouting “sa-bai-dee” (hello) in the mountains of Laos, and met retiree cycle-tourists energized from their experiences from many parts of the world.
We didn’t see ourselves starting retirement this way. Our original plan was simply to return to the U.S. But the idea of attempting this adventure together finally took hold.
Our advice to would-be retirees with a desire to do something big and different — and this applies not only to travel and outdoor sports but to starting a business, writing a novel or any of a vast range of possibilities — is to look beyond your fears. Read blogs, join groups, talk to people. Then, pick a date, tell people what you plan to do, take their admonishments and warnings with a grain of salt, don’t overplan, and get going. The rest will sort itself out.
Here’s how we started, what our days are like and what lies ahead.
Wheels begin to turn
We have always enjoyed an active lifestyle, including skiing, running, cycling, hiking and tennis. But it wasn’t until Eric’s final assignment in Malaysia that we became serious about an extended cycle tour.
We had been riding bicycles every morning for exercise and had logged more than 3,000 miles. During one ride in particular around Penang Island, we met a couple in their early 30s who were finishing a two-year, 25,000-mile cycle tour. They were our inspiration and answered many questions about logistics. We already had the bicycles and felt ready to go.
We joined warmshowers.org — a fantastic resource for cyclists — and offered rooms in our home for cycle tourists passing through Malaysia. From each guest we obtained more information about routes, planning and gear. We outfitted our bought-in-Malaysia mountain bikes to be more comfortable and road-friendly.
In particular, we liked the idea of starting the ride the day after Eric retired. We were afraid if we flew back to the U.S. first, we might never return to Asia — finding it too easy to jump back into our old routines. Instead, we shipped a few personal belongings to our storage garage in Washington state. (Our rented house in Malaysia came furnished.) The rest we loaded on our bikes — and we were off.
In a typical day, we will cover 30 to 60 miles, depending on several variables: the distance between adequate lodging, hills (a hard but memorable day in Vietnam saw us climb 8,500 feet) and weather. We take days off when our bodies need it, when we’re in an area that warrants more than one day of exploration, when the weather can be dangerous, or when we just need a good cup of coffee and Wi-Fi.
Barcelona are in with a chance of winning a treble this season and that is largely due to the influence and contribution from their talisman, Lionel Messi. The Argentine is arguably the greatest footballer of all-time and has been in terrific form this season, scoring 56 goals this far. But with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring 61 goals, some might argue about who the front-runner for FIFA Ballon d’Or award is this season.
But I will point out a few factors, which will show why Messi is ahead of Ronaldo and why he deserves to win the Ballon d’Or award for 2015. I will start off with what I feel is one of the most important factors when comparing the two footballers this season, penalties.
While Ronaldo has scored 61 goals this season, 13 of those goals have come from the penalty spot. Compare that with Messi’s 6 goals from the penalty spot, then we have a totally different picture. If we take away the penalty goals, then that leaves Ronaldo with 48 goals and Messi with 50 goals. I feel that this is a very important factor that the Ballon d’Or adjudicators have to take into consideration.
Messi also beats Ronaldo on the assists tally with 27 assists, compared to Ronaldo’s 22. He has combined well with the likes of Luis Suarez and Neymar, with the trio scoring over a hundred goals for Barca this season.
Messi’s goals have also been more effective than Ronaldo’s goals. Messi’s goals have led Barcelona to a chance of clinching a treble, while Ronaldo’s goals could not prevent Real Madrid from losing out in La Liga, Copa Del Rey and the Champions League. The importance of Messi’s goals is summed up with his vital strikes against Bayern Munich in the 1st leg of the Champions League semi-finals and when he scored the winning goal at Atletico Madrid, to secure the La Liga title for Barcelona.
The Ballon d’Or is an individual award but football is a team sport. Messi has had an unbelievable season individually but he has also helped his team to an unbelievable season. Ronaldo has had a great season in terms of his goal scoring but his team have not benefited from his contribution. Messi is a team man, while Ronaldo plays for himself.
In 2015, Messi leads the goal tally with 33 goals with Ronaldo on 29 goals. Messi also leads the goal assists tally with 18 compared to Ronaldo’s 10 assists. That makes Messi the front runner for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
In my opinion, Lionel Messi deserves to win the 2015 Ballon d’Or award because of what he has done individually and how his individual efforts have contributed to a successful season for his team.
LeBron James has already given Cleveland so much joy, no matter what happens in the NBA Finals. For that, he should be celebrated.
thing makes you appreciate winning more than losing. (Take it from a basketball fan familiar with the concept of losing.) Every team strives for a championship because it's the pinnacle of success. Every fan wants that parade. Every booster wants to be in the arena for the clinching win and in the streets for the party afterward.
But only one team can claim that level of success each season. If your team doesn't capture the crown, the next best thing is to be really good. Really good teams win a lot and wins are fun to watch and celebrate. Losses are not fun. While lots of smart fans understand that team-building often requires a franchise bottoming out, it's indisputable that it's better to root for a really good team that doesn't win a title than a really bad team that never had a chance. Every fan in the world would prefer 50, 55, 60 nights of glee over 50, 55, 60 nights of disappointment.
Cleveland must know this. Here are the past 15 years of regular season results for the Cavaliers.
The tale is well-known. LeBron arrived in the 2003 NBA Draft and the Cavaliers rapidly improved, hitting the 50-win level in just three seasons. LeBron left in 2010, and the Cavaliers went deep into the tank. LeBron returned for the 2014-15 season and the Cavaliers are back on top of the world. Over the past 15 years, the Cavaliers' best season without LeBron (2014) was less successful than their worst season with LeBron (2004, his rookie year).
The championship is the goal, but the regular season is long and full of terrors. No team in the NBA was worse than Cleveland over the past four seasons. The Cavaliers went 97-215 (.311) during that stretch. Even worse, the man that left them cold in the July night was busy making the Finals every season in Miami and winning two championships. My favorite team is No. 2 on that list of recent futility, and even I can't grasp how awful those last four years of basketball must have been for Cleveland. (We had heartbreak of a different sort in Sacramento.)
Just being in this place -- where a title is possible, where basketball lives beyond April, where you can bristle at underdog status instead of wallowing in irrelevance -- is a huge victory. Cleveland sports fans have tasted suffering of all flavors. LeBron's decision to return to Northeast Ohio changed everything immediately.
It's something we knew the moment it happened, but this is the proof. That Cleveland limped through the dread for four years and immediately climbed the ladder upon LeBron's return is impressive, but not surprising. This is why they partied in the streets when LeBron dropped "I'm Back" on that beautiful July Friday. This became inevitable. Not the Finals per se, but basketball relevance. Success. A return to form.
That LeBron actually carried this franchise back to the Finals immediately is proof he's already won. You now see the favorable comparisons to His Airness crop up, stories you saw only from cranks and attention beggars in Miami. The evidence of undeniable greatness is before us and only fools deny it now.
If he wins this title, the hyperbole will soar to the heavens. If he doesn't, well, that's fine, because look at what he accomplished with this mismatched, broken club. Look at what he brought back to Cleveland.
LeBron can't lose because he's already won. And thanks to LeBron's decision, Cleveland is winning, too.
Once you prove yourself to be a member of a sport's pantheon, we race to be the first one to correctly call you done, finished, kaput. Just ask Roger Federer. It becomes a game. OK ... NOW he's done. No? Now! And ...... now!
Ten years from now, when tennis' aging Big 4 are finally finished (well, except for Djokovic, who will be sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber and still winning five-hour matches), we'll be able to go back and properly pinpoint the moment everything officially fell apart for each given player. And perhaps Wednesday was just that for Nadal. Perhaps he'll never again maintain for two weeks what we have thought of as his fifth gear of play. He's 29, after all, and his absurdly physical style has put four decades' worth of age on his legs. Watching him play makes you tired, and he probably wasn't a candidate to play elite, top-3 or so tennis for quite as long as the lighter-on-his-feet Federer has. From a style standpoint, he is Dwyane Wade to Federer's Kobe Bryant, Bo Jackson to Fed's Barry Sanders.
But he's still 70-2 all time at Roland Garros. It took Novak Djokovic to end his five-year title streak. He dropped three sets during his 2011 title run and was taken to five sets by John Isner, and we started to assume Djokovic was going to overtake him soon; then he dropped one set in winning in 2012. He dropped four sets and won as a 3-seed in 2013, then dropped only two as a 1-seed in 2014. Every time we think he's on his way down, he rebounds. Djokovic's Wednesday dominance was extreme, but it was only a little bit more convincing than Nadal's other Roland Garros loss, a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 defeat at the hands of Robin Soderling. He responded to that one by winning five titles in a row.
Nadal might not be done, and he still might have a 10th title in him if Djokovic's form dips again (and your perfect form always does). But when he is officially through winning slams, this is what it will look like: a timid, aging Nadal, camped out far behind the baseline and incapable of doing enough damage against an opponents who is dialed in and running him from side to side. That it happened against a peaking Djokovic doesn't mean it will happen against just anybody, but it will likely happen more in the next couple of years.
On March 1, Djokovic lost to Roger Federer, 6-3, 7-5, in the finals in Dubai. Since then, he has not lost. He dropped a total of eight sets in winning Indian Wells (beating Federer in the final), Miami (Murray), Monte Carlo (Berdych), and Rome (Federer again). Before facing Nadal, he massacred No. 20 Richard Gasquet, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, in the fourth round.
The story of this match is going to be The End For Nadal. That's fine. But nobody else in the world could have made Nadal look like Djokovic did on Wednesday. Nadal knows he is not completely fit, and he has to defend more than he would prefer; it cost him a set in the fourth round against big-hitting Nebraskan Jack Sock, and it made him an underdog against Djokovic.
But from the opening points of the quarterfinals, he was on the defensive. He forfeited the court to Djokovic from the get-go, hoping instead that his defense could force errors or create eventual opportunities. That can work against a lot of guys; it doesn't work against this version of Djokovic.
Even during the tight first set, the hitting numbers were drastically in Djokovic's favor: Djokovic hit 19 winners to Nadal's nine and won 55 percent of first-set points. That tends to translate more to a 6-3 set than 7-5, and it hinted at what was to come.
Second set winners: Djokovic 13, Nadal 4. Total points won: Djokovic 58 percent.
Third set winners: Djokovic 13, Nadal 3. Total points won: Djokovic 68 percent.
Again, Nadal isn't in peak form, whatever that is for him at this point. But Djokovic has been playing as well or better than he did even in 2011, when he went 70-6 and won three slams. He can still grind and wear you down as well as ever -- he has closed out matches with sets of either 6-0 or 6-1 on 11 occasions in 2015, including in both the semis and finals of the Australian Open in January. But his offense is crippling, and his serve is improving. He won 86 percent of his service games during his 2011 run; he's winning 90 percent in 2015. And the best returner in the game is still the best returner in the game.
It took a peaking Novak Djokovic to make Nadal look like he did on Wednesday, but whenever Nadal's demise comes on in full, he will look like this a lot more.
We knew for a while that Rafael Nadal was not in peak form heading into the 2015 French Open. The greatest clay-courter of all time was mortal during all of clay season. He lost to Fabio Fognini in both Rio and Barcelona, and against Novak Djokovic (Monte Carlo), Andy Murray (Madrid), and Stan Wawrinka (Rome) in spring tune-ups, he lost by a combined 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2.
Still, he did beat Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych, and John Isner, all in straight sets, in recent weeks, and with the right draw, it was still conceivable that he could make a run at his 10th French Open title.
Nadal's form was fine through the first week at Roland Garros, but he didn't get the right draw. Stuck with a No. 6 seed, he drew the top-ranked Djokovic in the quarterfinals, and No. 1 player in the world disposed of him in less-than-sentimental manner.
After a nip-and-tuck first set that saw an aggressive Djokovic jump out to a 4-0 lead before Nadal stormed back, the match quickly grew lopsided. Djokovic broke Nadal at 5-5 in the first set and proceeded to win 14 of the final 18 games of the match. He took the second set, 6-3, and any hopes of a last-ditch Nadal comeback were spoiled when Djokovic broke to start the third set. The final: 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. Djokovic will play No. 3 seed Andy Murray in the semifinals while No. 8 Stan Wawrinka and No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battle on the opposite side.
Belgium has risen above Argentina to No. 2 in the monthly FIFA rankings, which are still topped by World Cup winner Germany.
Belgium reached its highest-ever slot despite not playing in the last month. Past results for Argentina, which beat Belgium in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals, devalued in a four-year cycle used for FIFA's calculations.
Colombia and Brazil stayed at Nos. 4 and 5.
France rose two places to No. 9 in a swap with new No. 11 Switzerland.
Costa Rica rose one to No. 14 and leads CONCACAF nations. The United States climbed one spot to No. 27.
Algeria leads Africa at No. 21. Iran is Asia's best at No. 41.
The July rankings will decide seedings for the 2018 World Cup qualifying draw on July 25 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Former England captain David Beckham has blasted FIFA and says it is time for change after Sepp Blatter revealed he would be stepping down, just four days after being re-elected.
After 17-years in charge, Blatter announced on Tuesday that he was leaving his role as FIFA president and Beckham, who has scored in three different World Cups, has called for FIFA to change.
In a statement, Beckham wrote: "Whilst it has not been good to read some of the headlines surrounding our sport recently, I hope at last we are now moving in the right direction.
"Football is not owned by a few individuals at the top, it belongs to the millions of people around the world who love this sport. It is time for FIFA to change and we should all welcome it."
The FIFA corruption scandal took another turn, last night, with former CONCACAF General Secretary and Executive Vice President of the US Soccer Federation Chuck Blazer admitting that he and other FIFA officials accepted bribes over the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.
Barcelona and Juventus might be about to go head to head in the Champions League Final on Saturday but just over 24 hours earlier the two clubs will combine to take on a World XI in a legends match also taking place in Berlin. But UEFA have got the teams a little wrong with one Barcelona player having to be removed from the team.
Berlin will be abuzz with football fans from Turin, Barcelona and from the host city too of course and on Friday evening there will be the chance for fans to watch as Juventus and Barcelona Legends take on World All-Stars XI with the two teams boasting 25 Champions League winner's medals between them.
However one former Barcelona player has been removed, by request of the club, because his inclusion didn't exactly go down well with supporters. And quite frankly that's no surprise!
The player in question is the never greying Luis Figo who moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid in the summer of 2000- you can see why their fans might not want to consider him a legend;
Just to add a bit more context, on his first return to Camp Nou as a Real Madrid player Figo was met with jeers, the odd bottle thrown at him and a pig's head. Yup someone got a pig's head into the stadium and threw it in Figo's direction when he was going to take a corner. And somehow UEFA think this guy counts as a club legend?
Still even with the Portuguese winger out of the match it is still jam packed with stars. These are the teams according to UEFA.com, changes permitting;
World All-Stars 1 Jens Lehmann, 2 Cafu, 6 Youri Djorkaeff, 7 Robert Pirès, 8 Predrag Mijatović, 9 Giovane Élber, 10 Clarence Seedorf, 10 Raí, 14 Christian Karembeu, 17 Steve McManaman, 17 Pierre van Hooijdonk, 23 Marco Materazzi
Juve &Barça Legends 1 Edwin van der Sar, 2 Ciro Ferrara, 8 Ludovic Giuly, 10 Alessandro Del Piero, 12 Giovanni van Bronckhorst, 15 Edmílson, 17 Fabio Cannavaro, 17 David Trezeguet, 17 Mark van Bommel, 19 Gianluca Zambrotta, 20 Deco, 22 Éric Abidal, 32 Christian Vieri
We don't think it's a coincidence that the World All-Stars have five Real Madrid players in the side, maybe Figo could play for them!
Everyone one who has played football had an idol growing up and for those who made it professional, it’s no different. And during an interview withSquawka, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi revealed which player was his idol growing up, labelling him as ‘unbelievable’.
Messi, who has enjoyed an excellent season in Spain scoring 43 goals, has revealed that Ronaldo, the Brazilian legend, was his idol growing up. The Argentine described the striker as the “most talented” footballer he has ever seen.
The 27-year-old has missed out on the Ballon d’Or to Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the last two seasons, but is expected to win it next time round after getting his hands on both the La Liga title, Copa del Rey and has the opportunity to win the Champions League on Saturday.
Speaking to Squawka, he said: “Ronaldo of Brazil was my idol growing up. He was unbelievable for Barcelona and Brazil, I have never seen a more talented forward. He scored goals from nothing, and his shot was the best there has ever been in football. He was a great guy off the pitch too.”
Paul Pogba has become a key part of Juventus’ line-up since leaving Manchester United in 2012 on a free transfer and although there is no guarantee he will be leaving the club this summer, the French international is constantly linked with a move away.
And now, it seems Pogba has now dropped a huge hint regarding his future at Juventus.
During an interview with Spanish paper AS, Pogba spoke of his admiration for Barcelona and claims that playing with Messi "would be a dream come true".
"Playing with Messi would be a dream come true. He's the best player in the world. I love watching Barcelona play, but I also love watching them lose. We know that we're not favourites but it's a final. We're going to give our all. We have nothing to lose and you never know what can happen."
Barcelona’s sporting Director Ariedo Braida revealed last month that they liked Pogba a lot and that a deal to complete the transfer for 2016 could be an option.
"We like Pogba, we like him a lot - but that's needless to say. All the big clubs like a champion such as Pogba. Marotta is a friend of mine and we talk about a lot of things. We have also discussed Pogba.
"He is still young but already shows things of the highest level. It would be a hugely important operation for Barcelona, a very interesting one. Our situation is complicated, though. We can not register any new players until 2016 because of the Fifa sanction.
"It could be an option to agree terms for a transfer in 2016. That's one of the potential options. It also depends on what Luis Enrique and what the board at Barcelona want. I am waiting for the green light from the club. Until then, I am working on it and sowing the seeds."
Rachelle, a beauty queen and former Miss Newcastle, kissed and waved goodbye to Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse as he set off to spend a month in his homeland.After he failed to return her texts, the 24-year-old went online to try and get to the bottom of it, only to find out he had married a volleyball player three days after leaving England. She found pictures of Cisse and Diallo Awa, who is a Senegalese volleyball star and model, on their wedding day in Paris.Some friends believe his religion and family prevented the two from having a future together and Rachelle has toldThe Sunthat she is “hurt and disgusted”.
“I’m hurt and disgusted to learn Papiss has got married without me knowing after we spent so much time together recently. But it’s his life and if this is what he has chosen to do there is nothing much I can do about it. I just wish he had the decency to tell me first.” After the story was published, Rachelle received a huge amount of abuse through her Twitter account, and she has since posted a message.
‘Yes I am upset and hurt as we were very close and I trusted him all these years. I had a good life before I met Papiss and I intend to get that good life back!
'Contrary to what a lot of you think I have never needed his money - I have my own thank you - and I did not date him because of his job and fame.
'I dated him for the same reason most people date someone and anyone who knows me and Papiss will tell you that! Now it's time for me to move on with my life and he will do the same. Everything happens for a reason.’
Formula 1 is changing. The sport's bosses are in the process of creating new rules aimed at ensuring the cars that race in 2017 will be the fastest ever.
The motivation for this has been concerns that F1 is losing its appeal, a belief created by falling television figures last year in some important markets, such as Germany and Italy.
Commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, governing body the FIA and the teams have decided to leave aside for now the question of whether the falling figures are a reflection on F1 itself, or of a splintering TV market, and take action.
The result for F1 is going to be a very different sport in 2017, when most of the changes will come into force.
So why is F1 taking the decisions it is, and what difference will they make?
Refuelling
Equipped with a large extendable hose, pit crews stood by ready to refuel, as demonstrated here by the 1999 Benetton team
There was some dismay among F1 bosses when the media focused on the decision of the rule-making strategy group two weeks ago toconsider the reintroduction of refuelling in 2017, rather than what they believed was the more fundamental commitment to make the cars five to six seconds-a-lap faster.
Part of that was down to the communication of the decision. An official statement by the FIA presented refuelling as a done deal - only for Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff to explain a few hours later that it was only a proposal.
Less than a fortnight later, that proposal is looking very shaky indeed, as not one of the teams wants refuelling to happen.
All realise that, as one team boss put it, "refuelling is not good for the spectacle". While it will also add up to a million euros to each team's costs because of increased freight bills.
But the idea is not dead yet.
The teams' sporting directors have been mandated to explore the issue fully. Having met in Monaco last weekend and established the extra costs involved, they will reconvene at the next race in Canada to explore its effect on the show, having looked at the data.
They already know the answer. The data shows that all the refuelling years of 1994-2009 had fewer overtaking manoeuvres on track than any other season since 1980.
In the first year after refuelling was abandoned, 2010, the number of overtaking moves more than doubled compared with 2009. That number then nearly tripled in 2011, when Pirelli tyres and the DRS overtaking aid were introduced.
Whether the sport's big bosses will pay attention to these figures is another matter, though.
The idea was proposed by Donald MacKenzie, chairman of CVC Capital Partners, the main shareholder in the company that runs the commercial side of F1. It won support from Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne. It remains to be seen whether they and Ecclestone will be swayed by the data.
This is only partially true. Mercedes executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe says the cars of 2015 are "close to historical highs in both power and downforce". And this year's cars are approaching the ultimate lap times of those of 2004, which hold nearly all the records.
However, this is only the case in qualifying. In races, drivers do have a point; modern cars are as much as 10 seconds a lap slower than those of a decade ago.
Partly this is to do with the fact that there is no refuelling, so cars are much heavier at the start of races. The rest of the reason is to do with tyres, which we will come to shortly.
F1's bosses do accept, though, that the the current cars need to be faster to distance them from those of the GP2 feeder formula.
Despite criticism from fans over the years, Bernie Ecclestone retains strong relationships with the FIA's chairman, Jean Todt (right) and drivers
Because of this, for 2017, some things are already pretty much set in stone:
- cars will be widened from 1,800mm to 2,000mm
- rear tyre width will be increased from 325mm to 420mm
- front and rear wings will be made bigger
- aspects of the underbody will be changed to increase downforce generated beneath the car
- overall weight will be reduced
- driver aids will be removed, among them almost certainly power steering systems
Widening the cars will speed them up by a second a lap. Another second can be found by reducing the car's ground clearance.
Add in the wider tyres, tweaks to the wings, and taking perhaps 50kg or so off the overall mass and those five or six seconds are found relatively easily.
That in itself will automatically make the cars more demanding physically for the drivers.
Drivers such as Nico Rosberg developed training techniques to strengthen their neck muscles. This was to cope with large amounts of G force within the cockpit
Lowe says: "If we go four or five seconds a lap quicker, there is a human bandwidth aspect to that. You may well find that at a lot of circuits - and Monaco will be one of them - the lap time you do is a function of control and physical limits of the driver and not the car limit, and therefore not the tyre limit."
Some question the wisdom of making the front wing wider. That's because it is believed that the more a car depends on its front wing for downforce, the harder it is for a driver to follow another car closely.
But this misunderstands both the findings of a body called the Overtaking Working Group, which studied these effects in the mid-2000s, and also what is planned.
The OWG found that it is the central part of the front wing that is first affected by 'wake' - turbulent air produced by a car in front. The closer the car gets, the more that effect moves outwards along the wing.
The rear wing of the car in front creates turbulent air. But if the rear wing is narrow enough, this only hits the central part of the front wing. The downforce-creating end areas actually suck in 'fresh' air from the sides.
So if the new rules increase the size of the current 500mm 'neutral' area in the middle of the front wing, which creates no downforce, and move the ends further out, it should in theory make it easier for cars to follow each other.
Tyres and wheels
Tyres are a thorny subject in F1 right now, because more of the viewing audience is waking up to the fact that the nature of the Pirelli tyres means the drivers are hardly ever driving at the limit in races.
This raises a philosophical question about what F1 is. And another about what its stakeholders want it to be.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner describes F1 as "entertainment". But many would say it was a sport which, in an ideal world, would be entertaining. Where you stand on that very much affects what you feel about the tyres.
The drivers are cautious about what they say publicly, out of a desire not to get into trouble for saying the wrong thing. But to a man they would like to have more durable tyres on which they could push hard all the time.
The current Pirelli manufactured tyres have been under scrutiny from drivers for their lack of durability, but it is their width that will make the difference to the speed and overall performance of the cars
The Pirellis are not like that, as one senior engineer who asked not to be named explains: "There are two aspects to it. The first is the fact these tyres do actually run out of rubber. There is a point where the driver will say: 'I'm coming in, the tyre's finished.'
"If you look at a degradation curve, it will have a distinct kink in it, when the tyre will actually run out. I don't think that was such a strong feature in the past - the tyres just carried on and got slower and slower and slower.
"The second aspect is that if you push them hard, you pay the price. They degrade consistently, but that assumes you are managing them. Whereas if you mismanage them you will get something dramatically worse than that curve.
"So, for example, the first couple of laps out of the pits are important to sort of bed the tyres in and get the life out of them. You can easily wreck a set of tyres on those laps. Whereas in the past you would have been right on the ragged edge straight out of the pits if that's what you needed to do."
To a purist, this is anathema; an F1 driver should be flat out all the time, no matter what.
Create a tyre that does that - by, for example, asking Michelin to be the new tyre supplier from 2017 - and the cars would undoubtedly be much quicker, to the tune of three seconds a lap just from the tyres, according to leading engineers.
However, there would also be far fewer pit stops. And pit stops are regarded by many senior figures as crucial to the show.
During otherwise uneventful races, pit stops add the drama the audience want to see
Equally, as another engineer puts it: "Because you have these more extreme degradation characteristics, you end up with people on different strategies. And when they interact they tend to have much bigger performance differentials. That's why the number of overtakes occurring in races has dramatically increased since Pirelli came into the sport."
This - and the fact that Pirelli pays handsomely for trackside advertising - is why Ecclestone has made it clear to teams that, as far as he is concerned, Pirelli will get the new contract, even though the FIA is running a full tender process and is expected to invite Michelin to apply.
Beyond that, there is the question of wheel sizes and lower-profile tyres.
Michelin says it would only come into F1 if wheel diameters increased to 18 inches from the current 13, to make them more relevant to modern, low-profile performance road tyres.
But 18-inch wheels and tyres are much heavier. Low-profile tyres are also slightly slower, because they have lower levels of peak grip.
And that's not good when you're trying to speed the cars up by making them lighter.
Rafael Nadal expects the "toughest quarter-final of my career" against Novak Djokovic at the French Open on Wednesday. Nine-time champion Nadal beat Jack Sock 6-3 6-1 5-7 6-2 in round four to claim a record 70th win at Roland Garros. The Spaniard is trying to become the first player in the Open era to win 10 titles at any Grand Slam event. Nadal has defeated Djokovic - who beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-2 6-3 - six times in the French Open.
That run includes victories over the Serb in each of the past three years.
However, the Spaniard has only won one tournament since Paris last year, while top seed Djokovic is on a 26-match winning streak. "It is not the final, you know," said Nadal, who will turn 29 on Wednesday. "It's a quarter-final. And, no, the winner of that match will not be the Roland Garros champion. "They will be a semi-finalist of Roland Garros. That makes a big difference. Even if it's a special match, it's a quarter-final match." Djokovic, 28, is hoping to win the one major title that has so far eluded him and thus complete the career Grand Slam. After an impressive start against Sock, Nadal faltered as he failed to serve out the match and was broken twice in succession as the world number 30 took the third set.
But the 14-time Grand Slam champion regained control early in the fourth to win in two hours and 52 minutes. Djokovic needed two hours to see off home favourite Gasquet, dropping serve once in the final set but breaking straight back and serving out the win. "Of course it is a different approach mentally when you play Nadal in quarter-finals than any other player," said the Serb. "There is no doubt about that. I'm going to try to keep my routine the same and not give so much importance to the match. "I know what I need to do to have a chance to win. That doesn't mean that I will win. The future is unpredictable."
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Rafael Nadal expects the "toughest quarter-final of my career" against Novak Djokovic at the French Open on Wednesday.