Deportes: Alex Ferguson y el sabor de la derrota

We're not a very football-orientated family these days.  Both the lads have played in local football teams - and played very well.  Our daughter also played for a couple of years - fittingly, in the style of the Spanish; intelligently kicking into space and never giving up on a tackle.

But - amongst the pressures of learning and work - we seem to have lost our personal involvement in the game.

Our middle son still supports Liverpool, though.  And my personal preference is the wit and wisdom of Barcelona at its best.  Which doesn't stop either of us understanding what Manchester United's Alex Ferguson has brought to the game - or, indeed, being shocked at the size of the defeat the team suffered in yesterday's derby with Manchester City.

Today's text describes Ferguson's reaction, immediately after the match.  The sign of great character lies, of course, in how one reacts to savage and overwhelming defeat.  The ability to honestly understand the implications; the desire to pick oneself up and move on; the hunger for future battle ... these are all indications of a special kind of man.

As always, first the comprehension questions.  Remember, this text was written for native Spanish-speakers.  Nevertheless, with our translation tools and developing gist-reading skills to hand, we will attempt to understand it.  Since you are reading for gist (that is to say, for general meaning), try and predict the possible answers to the questions before you look at the text.

1. What's the first word (in this case, adjective) the text uses about Ferguson?  How would you describe the meaning of this word in your own words?
2. What was the final score?
3. What was the atmosphere like off the pitch?
4. What fundamental mistake did Manchester United make whilst trying to make up the difference in goals?
5. Who was very happy?
6. What had happened to Balotelli, the Manchester City player, during the week before the match?
7. How many of the goals did he score?
8. What did the Manchester City manager say about Manchester United's attacking mentality?

Now the text itself.  And if you're still having problems understanding all of the words, use Google Translate's version which you can find by clicking here.  Remember, if you hover over any sentence in this translation, you can compare the instant English (not perfect but useful) with the original Spanish.

Finally, don't forget you can sign up for our newsletter - and get model answers to the above questions plus a vocabulary list tomorrow.