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Mario Balotelli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Maradona and many more feature as we look back on some of the more eccentric moments in football during 2011

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Ah, Christmas. A time for reflection as we reach the end of the year. And even when a ball isn’t being kicked, somebody is saying something of interest to someone somewhere about football.

The modern day player has seemingly at times had most of the personality media-trained out of them. But fortunately for us, occasionally, a maverick – a renegade – goes ‘off message’ and delivers us a sumptuous piece of verbal pie.

The calendar year of 2011 had no shortage of these characters, and so, here is the pick of the bunch.

We begin at the start, in January, with the villains of our piece…

and with those four words, broadcaster Richard Keys, synonymous with the Premier League era, was dropped into the sexism row that had seen colleague Andy Gray lose his job. Off-air footage of Gray scoffing at the suggestion of a female assistant referee, and making inappropriate comments to fellow presenter Charlotte Jackson had earlier leaked.

Keys resigned and apologized, but claimed “dark forces” were at work in the leaking of the footage. The pair now present a talk radio show and have recently entered into the public speaking circuit.

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