GLOVE SPOTTING: HART SHOWED UP IN ENGLAND TRAINING WITH HIS NEW GLOVES

Last week, Joe Hart, England's number one goalkeeper, used his new goalkeeper gloves for the first time. His gloves were the Nike Vapor Grip 3 RS in the brand new colorway for 2016/2017. One modification on his gloves is the Profi Foam Palm. This palm is made exclusively for the pro Nike goalkeepers. It's grip is phenomenal but it's durability isn't that great. All the Nike gloves that feature the Profi Foam are a little bit more expensive than the regular retail models because they are more rare and hard to find. Hart's gloves have also latex thumbs. Still, the best thing about these gloves is the fact that they have colored palms, something never done before by Nike (except black palms). These gloves have fluo yellow palms and I think they are stunning.

So here are the pics:

Awesome gloves, can't wait for them to come out.

MORE GLOVE SPOTTINGS TO COME

GLOVE SPOTTING: JAN OBLAK AND KEYLOR NAVAS DEBUT THEIR NEW GLOVES

Real Madrid returned home following their dramatic Champions League triumph over city rivals Atletico – and immediately jumped onto an open-top bus for a victory parade. Thousands of jubilant fans – the vast majority of whom had no doubt been partying all night – lined the city streets to salute their heroes after their record 11th European Cup win. 

Real beat Atletico 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at the San Siro in Milan on Saturday night, with Cristiano Ronaldo firing home the decisive kick.
During that extraordinary game, the 2 goalkeepers, Jan Oblak and Keylor Navas, were wearing their brand new equipment. The Champions League Final was the game chosen for their debut. Navas was wearing the new Adidas Ace Trans goalkeeper gloves in the black colorway while Oblak was wearing his Nike SGT NC in a new colorway ( solar yellow/ pink).

Here are the pictures:

                                                         NIKE SGT PREMIER RS 

Oblak's Nike SGT gloves were stitched from the inside (negative cut), they did not feature the Laser Etched Sipe Grip Technology and had the Profi Foam palm instead of Contact Foam.

ADIDAS ACE TRANS PRO

Keylor's gloves were the Adidas Ace Trans Pro in a Negative Cut. His gloves didn't have any difference from the retail models. They had both the Stretch-Strap and the Abrasion Zone.

MORE GLOVE SPOTTINGS TO COME

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL 2016: A BATTLE FOR THE TITLE

• Real Madrid and Atlético to meet in second Champions League final in three seasons
• Repeat of 2014 final, when Real Madrid came back to beat Atlético in extra time
• Madrid also triumphed 1-0 over 2 legs in last season's quarter-finals

Zinédine Zidane says:

• Ronaldo has been feeling a bit of pain but he's OK. He'll be there 100%. He has a little niggle, but that disappears when you're going to play in a Champions League final.
• I see the players the same as in Lisbon. We're one game away. We're all very happy to be in this final. We're ready for this, and that's the big word: we're ready to play. We've worked hard to achieve this. I'm happy with the work we've carried out. We've suffered a lot, but reaching a final without suffering is impossible. We know how to do that and that's what we'll have to do again, no doubt. In a final it's perfectly normal to have difficulties. If you want to win it, you have to suffer.
• Losing will not be a failure. Failure is in your attitude, or if you don't give your all. It's just a football game. You never know what will happen but I can tell you we're very prepared. [Since 2014] some players have left but the idea of this club is always the same. It's the great story: unity, effort, companionship and, when the time comes to play, quality and leaving everything on the field. We want to repeat that.
• When the match begins I'll be a bit more tense [than as a player] but that's usual too – it's part of the coaching job. I like it, I like this kind of pressure. I've experienced it as a player but as a coach it's completely different. Carlo Ancelotti used to tell me that often. He told me before the final in Lisbon: "I hope you experience this some day as head coach." Here we are, so I keep thinking of Carlo.
• Above all you have to defend well, first and foremost, especially when you don't have the ball. On top of that, we have our weapons to work well when we're attacking. What we really have to do is run: run, run, run.

Diego Simeone says:

• The game will be very tense, very even, especially at the beginning. Casemiro enables them to regroup better if they lose the ball. Whoever wins the early battles in midfield will have an advantage – Madrid, with their technical qualities, might try to play more.
• The club, the players, the group we've created, is reinventing itself continuously. That's what is most valuable at this club. Everyone works with the idea of improving, growing, and that's life – if you work, work, work, eventually you get what you want.
• To play a final is absolutely fantastic, to win it is even better. That experience makes you want to continue living these moments. It's not easy; you have to pick yourself up, keep inventing yourself, change the players but not change the commitment, the values, the work. If you keep working, you're insistent, you can achieve things
• We're not really going to change much for this game – neither team will. Madrid haven't changed much [since 2014]; we've changed more but we have the same structure. Casemiro makes Madrid a lot more dangerous on the counterattack – that's how they played in both [semi-final] legs against Manchester City. Many people think that's bad – not me. There could be different situations during the game but it's clear that, if you give Madrid space, they're very dangerous.
• I like to have 113 years of history on my back – I like that, I love the pressure. Only winning would satisfy me.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

REAL MADRID

Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro, Kroos, Modrić; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.

ATLETICO MADRID

 Oblak; Juanfran, Godín, Savić, Filipe Luís; Koke, Gabi, Fernández, Ñíguez; Griezmann, Torres.

2014 Champions League Final (Full Highlights)

ADIDAS ACE TRANS: ADIDAS' NEW GOALKEEPER GLOVE FOR THE NEXT SEASON

The Adidas Ace Trans Gloves are Adidas' all-new goalkeeper gloves. Set to be released in June 2016, the new Adidas Trans 2016-2017 Goalkeeper Gloves will be worn by the likes of Manuel Neuer, Iker Casillas, Petr Cech and David de Gea in the Euro 2016 in France, while they could be already debuted in the 2016 Champions League final .

The Adidas Ace Trans collection will include the Ace Trans Pro (5 different colorways including the Iker Casillas SMU), the Ace Trans FingerSave Allround (2 colorways), the Ace Trans FT (2 colorways), the Ace Trans FingerSave Ultimate (1 colorway), the Ace Trans Climaproof (1 colorway), the Ace Trans Competition, the Ace Trans FingerSave Replique and the Junior models like the Ace Trans FingerSave Junior and the Ace Trans Training.

Here are the pictures:

GOALKEEPER NEWS: DE GEA NAMED IN PFA TEAM OF THE YEAR

David de Gea has been rewarded for his fine form by being named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for 2015/16.

Manchester United Goalkeeper have had a mixed season however De Gea excellent form in goal have gone a long way to maintaining the Reds’ push for a top 4 finish.

It’s the third time De Gea has been named in the best top-flight XI for the season after being selected in 2012/13 and this is his second successive appearance after featuring in the 2014/15 team.

The Team in full

David De Gea (Manchester United); Hector Bellerin (Arsenal); Wes Morgan (Leicester City), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Danny Rose (Tottenham); Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), N’Golo Kante (Leicester City), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United); Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham).

GOALKEEPER NEWS: PETR CECH WINS THE GOLDEN GLOVE IN HIS FIRST SEASON WITH ARSENAL

Arsenal Goalkeeper Petr Cech has won the Premier League Golden Glove in his first season at the Gunners.

The former Chelsea goalkeeper has kept an incredible 16 clean sheets in 34 appearances . Cech’s clean sheet in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa moved his total one ahead of Manchester United’s David De Gea.

With United’s final fixture being postponed, it’s not yet known if Cech will win the award outright or be forced to share it with De Gea.

Cech told his official website “David De Gea from Manchester United could still catch up with me since their last game has been postponed. I really value those clean sheets. I’ve been told this would be the first time someone might win the Glove at two different teams”

De Gea can’t pass Cech’s total but he can equal.

Kasper Schmeichel and Joe Hart both kept 15 clean sheets each.

ADIDAS PREDATOR PRO MANUEL NEUER REVIEW

             

When I got the opportunity to buy a pair of  the Adidas Predator Pro at a fairly low price ($40 on ebay), I was thrilled .... By the way, this was my first pair of top notch and state-of-the-art goalkeeper gloves. When they arrived, I quickly took them out of their glove bag and I tried them on. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable they were. I also noticed that they were really sticky. I could palm a ball without any effort at all. They were amazing.

The next day I took them to training. I was so excited to test them that I didn't even give them  a pre-wash. I just couldn't wait .... When I arrived at the field, I quickly put them on. During the warm up, I realized that the gloves had also one negative aspect. Their ventilation wasn't really good and I started to sweat a lot in them but I knew and still believe that this "negative aspect" wouldn't be a deal-breaker. Later on, during our crossing drill I realized that the grip wasn't just sticky, but one of the best I had used to that date. The ball stuck between my hands and it was almost impossible to drop. Even my coach noticed that I had claimed more crosses than usual and that I was more confident. When I returned home I washed them because they were really dirty and I looked for small tears and loose threads but I couldn't find anything. The only thing that was damaged was my glove bag because one of my teammates had stepped on it but that wasn't that much of a problem.

   

After four months the only tears they had were on the fingertips but that is normal because of their cut (negative cut). The grip didn't deteriorate. It was pretty much the same. Overall, an amazing glove. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great glove for matches or high-level training. So, here are my ratings:

   

• GRIP: 8/10
• COMFORT: 9/10
• SHOCK ABSORPTION (PALM THICKNESS): 8/10
• DURABILITY: 8/10
• PUNCHING: 7.5/10
• WRIST STRAP: 10/10
• CUT: 8/10
• LOOKS: 8/10

       Overall: 8.5/10