Spanish on wrong Bourbon street

Spain are to make a tiny change to their shirts before their quarter-final aganist France after the media discovered part of their royal badge is wrong and includes a French design instead.

AS daily revealed the Spanish escutcheon shows three fleur de lys from the House of Bourbon - but the design is shield-shaped whereas the Spanish depiction should be round and include a red circular border currently lacking on the defending champions’ shirts.

AS said they had consulted a heraldry expert and Spain’s kit manufacturers will deal with the mistake which the Spanish Federation had seemingly not picked up on.

The newspaper reported a historian had informed the Federation two years ago but to no effect.

Spanish King Juan Carlos I is from the Bourbon line.

 

No gift of gab for Wayne and Fab

More than a little was lost in translation on both sides when Fabio Capello was still coach of England and he wanted to impart some tactical nuggets of information to Wayne Rooney.

Capello famously did not speak excellent English and Rooney said last week that was an issue for the squad.

But Capello has called into question Rooney’s own linguistic abilities, the Daily Telegraph quoted Capello as telling Italian radio.

“Every now and then, when I tried to explain tactics, things didn’t work out.

“You know what? Maybe it’s because Rooney doesn’t speak English. He doesn’t understand English.”

 

Molby damns Swedes with faint praise

 Former Denmark midfielder and Euro 2012 BBC radio pundit Jan Molby had a joke at Sweden’s expense after their 2-0 win over France.

“This is no more than Sweden deserve. They had an opportunity tonight to prove that they are still the second best team in Scandinavia,” said Molby, whose Danes likewise failed to get through the group phase.

 

German TV kings

 German fans who did not get tickets for the Euros are glued to the television with some 13.5 million on average watching the action on the screen so far, public broadcasters say.

And they expect even more to tune in as Die Mannschaft approach the business end of the event.

“We have dream audience shares and they are going to rise still further,” sports broadcasts director of ZDF television Dieter Gruschwitz told AFP subsidiary SID.

Almost 28 million people watched the 2-1 win over Denmark which clinched a quarter-final against Greece - a 74.2 percent market share which does not even take into account those watching on giant screens erected in public squares or in cafes and bars.

A record 31.1 million Germans watched the 2010 World Cup semi-final loss to Spain.

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