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Published: Tue, 24 February 2009, 09:34, also tagged: europe, sport, arsenal, soccer, barcelona, champions league, manchester united, jose mourinho, dimitar berbatov, serie a, uefa, premier league, carlos tevez, cristiano ronaldo, wayne rooney, lyon, inter milan, roma, san siro, porto, atletico madrid, zlatan ibrahimovic, eduardo
Tonight sees the first set of games of the remaining 16 teams in the UEFA Champions League. This year's draw has produced some tantalising fixtures between the football heavyweights of Europe with the English teams up against some fierce competition from their European rivals. Two English teams kick off tonight with Arsenal and Manchester United facing Serie A teams Roma and Inter Milan respectively.
Arsenal have had a tough season; shock defeats to newly promoted teams Hull and Stoke plus a myriad of injuries dented their confidence and Premier League title hopes. With that said they've improved in recent games and the recovery of Croatia striker Eduardo the team certainly has a solid chance of progressing to the next round over their Italian rivals Roma who have also had an indifferent season.
The San Siro will host the first leg of the game between two football giants and Champions of their respective countries. Inter Milan face Manchester United – current champions of England, Europe and the World. Both teams are in great form having both recently beat their closest rivals and both sitting comfortably at the tops of their domestic leagues. Inter Milan may have José Mourinho at the helm and an in-form Zlatan Ibrahimović but I just don't think it will be enough to beat Manchester United – especially with the attacking prowess of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tévez.
Published: Thu, 12 February 2009, 06:40, also tagged: sport, england, internationals, soccer, spain
Last nights international friendly between Spain and England shows that Fabio Capello and the England squad still have plenty of work to do before England look anything like a championship winning team.
England did field a squad lacking depth with Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard missing from the team but it's hard to take anything away from the Spanish victory. Agbonlahor and Heskey seemed out of their depth with Spain doing well to cut the connection between the English midfield and strikers making any attacking play from England improvised and rushed with possession more often than not going straight back to Spain. On the other hand Spain controlled the game with confident passing, high possession and patience – something that England lacked.
Spain's first goal was a show of individual brilliance by David Villa who received the ball from a wayward pass by Jagielka to the feet of Xabi who accurately supplied a great ball to Villa who did the rest to leave the ball in the back of the England net. Llorente's header from Xavi's fine free kick sealed the deal for Spain who commanded much of the play.
Published: Thu, 15 January 2009, 05:10, also tagged: sport, soccer, manchester united, ac milan, premier league, manchester city, kaka, mark hughes, city of manchester stadium, sheikh mansour bin zayed al nahyan, khaldoon al mubarak, ricardo izecson dos santos leite
The football world is buzzing with reports of Manchester City making an astronomical bid for Brazilian footballing superstar, and 2007 World Footballer of the Year – Kaká, real name Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite. Man City have reportedly made an offer in the region of £100 to get Kaká playing at the City of Manchester Stadium.
This is a local team, I'd love to see such amazing talent playing so close to home and in my countries domestic league but I'm not sure if the price tag sets a dangerous precedent – not only for football transfer fees in general but also Manchester City's future transfer options.
Manchester City are in a sticky situation because they could be held to ransom when showing interest in players in the future. They are not a top flight European team and they are not in the Champions League or Premier League top four which makes attracting talent based on prestige and success very difficult, especially with neighbours like Champions League holders Manchester United. The owner's very deep pockets and the potential of one day achieving football success are the only attractive benefits to world class players who could play in the best leagues in the world for the best teams.
Published: Thu, 15 January 2009, 04:50, also tagged: sport, chelsea, liverpool, soccer, champions league, manchester united, premier league, old trafford, luiz felipe scolari
Manchester United secured a comfortable 3 nil win over rival title contenders Chelsea with a confident display at Old Trafford.
Chelsea started this season strongly with some impressive displays at the helm of new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. In recent games however, Chelsea have been below par. The relentless winning machine has been turned on its head ever since the Champions League qualifier in Rome which saw Chelsea lose 3 – 1 to an impressive Roma team.
The opposite is true for Manchester United as they didn't start this season as well as desired, albeit down to the fact they had very tough fixtures, but this is typical of them and unlike Chelsea they are improving with each game. Liverpool are still at the top but with a game in hand Manchester United are poised to be number one.
Published: Sun, 21 December 2008, 08:09, also tagged: sport, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool, soccer, barcelona, champions league, manchester united, real madrid, uefa, bayern munich, lyon, inter milan, roma, juventus, sporting lisbon, porto, atletico madrid, villarreal, panathinaikos
The English teams have all successfully progressed to the quarter final stage of the Champions League albeit some with more of a stumble than confident progression. Manchester United, and uncharacteristically Liverpool have both progressed as first seeds, whilst (also uncharacteristically) Chelsea and Arsenal are second seeds.
Manchester United have potentially the most difficult match with José Mourinho's Inter Milan. Liverpool are matched with Real Madrid who have been less than convincing this season. Chelsea who stumbled in their away game to Roma losing 3 – 1 will face Juventus and Arsenal will play the conquerors of Chelsea; Roma. Both second seed English teams will be happy to have dodged being drawn with the on-form Barcelona.
The fixtures sure are mouth watering prospect – some of the best teams in the world will go out at the first knock-out stage of the competition. There are certainly some difficult test for the English sides, but I do see them all making the next round. I'm quite confident of Manchester United's and Liverpool's progression in current form. The only questionable fixture for me, surprisingly, is Chelsea v Juventus. Chelsea have been haphazard this season; they've displayed some of the best attacking football I've seen, but at the same time have been tamed by Arsenal and Roma.