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Today in La Liga

October 4th, 2009

Barcelona increased their lead to 3 points without even getting on the field today. Big spenders, Real Madrid faced their first defeat this season against third placed Sevilla who were playing at home. Though Real were playing without their costliest possession, as Ronaldo was ruled out due to injury he picked during midweek’s Champions League game.

Benzema and Kaka failed to provide the spark and they were forced to slip from the top. Pepe equalized in the 48th minute but Real had no reply to Renato’s 66th minute goal. Getafe and Sporting Gijon also recorded home wins against Osasuna and Mallorca respectively. Valladoid came from behind at home as Athletic Bilbao scored the opener only to go behind by a goal in the 75th minute when Nivaldo scored for the home team.

Next minute Marcos was shown a second yellow of the match leaving his team 10 men down to protect the lead. Muniain took the opportunity and equalized. Nivaldo was shown a straight red the next minute leaving the home team with only 9 men on the pitch. To the relief of the fans, Valladoid were successful in holding Athletic Bilbao as the match ended in a 2-2 raw.

Villareal also drew 0-0 at home against a 10 men Espanyol. Xerez were heading towards their first win this season when Obinna scored the equalizer for Malaga in the 83rd minute ending the match 1-1 at the final whistle. Racing Santander was the only team today that lost at home. Racing were defeated 0-1 by Valencia.

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Posted in Barcelona, Football Post Match Review, Football Results, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga

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Match Day 2 Champions League – Groups C and D

September 30th, 2009

Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid continued their winning run this season in all competitions. Summer signings Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema showed their worth when they all came together to give Real Madrid 3-0 win at Santiago Bernabau against Marseille. Ronaldo continued to shine as he scored two goals and won a penalty for his team which was eventually converted by Kaka, all within a matter of 9 minutes.

Ronaldo’s composure seemed to defy Marseille keeper Mandanda in the 58th minute who jumped, thinking Ronaldo would lo instead he chose to keep the ball low and found the net by passing the ball through the skied keeper. 3 minutes later Diawara tried to outpace Ronaldo and ended up bringing him down inside the penalty box. This gave Diawara his second yellow for the night leaving his team down to 10 men. Kaka stepped up and scored the spot kick in the 62nd minute.

The scored was jointly scored by Real’s new trio, Kaka, Benzema and Ronaldo. Kaka passed the ball to Benzema who played it towards unmarked Ronaldo who scored in the empty net.  The other fixture of the group saw AC Milan continuing their dismal run this season when they lost 0-1 at home against FC Zurich. The results left Real clear at the top with 6 points followed by Milan with 3 points in Group C.

Group D had English powerhouse Chelsea winning away against APOEL Nicosia. Anelka scored the only goal of the match early in the 18th minute. Porto defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 in front of the home fans and also scored their first win in Champions League this season. This left Chelsea on the top with 6 points followed by Porto with 3 points.

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Posted in AC Milan, Champions League, Chelsea FC, Football Post Match Review, Real Madrid

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Match Day 5 in La Liga

September 27th, 2009

Real Madrid and Barcelona continued their unbeaten run this season by recording comfortable wins respectively. Real were playing at Santiago Bernabau against Tenerife. Ronaldo did perform in the match but failed to score for the first time in the League for Real with the goals coming from other new players Benzema, and Kaka. Benzema scored twice making the score 3-0 at full time.

Barca was visiting Malaga this week. As predicted, Henry made it in the starting XI while Ibrahimovich who was recovering from an ankle injury was named a substitute but interestingly Henry was substituted in the 28th minute giving way to the already injured Ibrahimovich. Though Ibrahimovich seemed fine, it was later found that Henry picked up an injury during his time on the pitch. Barcelona defeated Malaga 0-2, Ibrahimovich and Pique being the goal scorers.

Real replaced Barcelona and topped the league table on goal difference. Athletic Bilbao faced a shameful defeat at the hands of Sevilla in front of home fans. Sevilla won 0-4. Valencia drew at home against Athletico Madrid. Osasuna recorded their second win this season in front of home fans. They defeated Sporting de Gijon 1-0.

Mallorca, Zaragoza and Deportivo recorded home wins against Valladolid, Getafe, and Villareal. The defeat left Villareal without a single win this season. They have only managed to score 2 points this season so far with the 2 points coming from 2 draws against Osasuna, and Mallorca.  Xerez scored their first point this season when they drew against Espanyol.  Almeria too, drew at home playing against Racing.

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Posted in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga

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Ronaldo Shining

September 24th, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo continue his dream run at Real Madrid. In doing so, he became the first player in the history of Real Madrid to score goals in the first 4 games of the season for the club. Last night Real were visiting Villareal who were hoping to stop Real’s unbeaten run in this seasons campaign, but football is not predictable. Villareal, and probably all of Spain got to know of Ronaldo’s intentions this season when in the second minute of the match, he dribbled the ball from his half, and scored a goal for Real Madrid single handedly.

Throughout the match Real looked strong, and Ronaldo looked stronger. He was simply unplayable tonight. Gonzalo was shown a 2nd yellow card of the match in the 34th minute for a foul on Kaka. This left Villareal with 10 men on the pitch for the remainder of the game. The score remained 0-1 at half time.

The second half was no different as Real kept attacking, and Villareal kept defending with 10 men. In the 71st minute, Marcelo Silva’s cross in to the box was handed by Villareal defender Lopez. This landed Lopez a yellow card, and Real Madrid was awarded a penalty kick. As Kaka had not scored a single goal in the La Liga this season, Ronaldo who is the first choice penalty taker, allowed Kaka to take the spot kick. Kaka who has a reputation of a silent killer, finished the job in the same manner and Real went up, 0-2 in the 73rd minute. The match ended 0-2 for the visitors.

Other matches of the night saw Atletico Madrid drawing 2 – 2 against Almeria, Espanyol winning 2 – 1 against Malaga, Valladolid losing 1 – 2 against Osasuna. Xerez continued their poor run this season as they lost 0 – 3 against Deportivo La Coruna in front of a home crowd, Tenerife defeated Athletic Bilbao 1-0, and Getafe won 3– 1 against Valencia.

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Posted in Football Post Match Review, Football Results, General, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga

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Spanish La Liga

September 23rd, 2009

Midweek matches in La Liga saw Barcelona regaining top spot from Real Madrid. Barcelona visited El Sardinero, home ground of Racing Santander for a league encounter. The match ended 1-4 to the visitors with two goals from Messi and a goal each from Ibrahimovich, and Pique.

Barcelona was awarded a free kick in the 20th minute, which Xavi took, and passed the ball towards Messi whose cross in the penalty box was headed home by Ibrahimovich in the 20th minute, thus drawing first blood. A minute later Ibrahimovich almost scored another goal but his shot hit the far post.

By now the Catalans were striking towards the Racing goal area like huge waves hitting the beach. Messi showed his wonders two minutes later in the 24th minute with a little help from Xavi. Messi was successful in making the score 0-2.

A defensive error in the 27th minute by the home team saw Barcelona scoring another goal. Five defenders tried tackling Ibrahimovich in the box who was successful in passing the ball to Pique who was left unmarked. Pique held his nerves in front of the Racing keeper and placed the ball in the net in a neat finish.

At the stroke of half time, the score remained 0-3. 18 minutes into the second half saw another brilliant goal from Messi. He just played around with the defenders in the penalty box, passing through them and striking the ball elegantly into the net, making the score 0-4.

Óscar Serrano scored in the 73rd minute giving Racing a consolation goal. The match ended 1-4 with the final whistle. Another match in La Liga saw Sevilla winning 2-0 at home against Mallorca. Squillaci and Perotti scoring a goal each in the 16th minute and 25th minute respectively.

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Posted in Barcelona, Football Post Match Review, Football Results, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga

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Real Madrid Updates

September 22nd, 2009

Without wasting any time or any loss of form after a summer transfer from Manchester United, Ronaldo continues to show his brilliance in scoring goals even at Real Madrid. He scored a first minute goal against Xerez and later added another in the 75th minute, but before he could score more he was substituted in the 80th minute by Coach Manuel Pellegrini.

This is where Ronaldo did the second best thing he does apart from scoring goals, throwing tantrums. He was unhappy with the coach’s decision as he desperately wanted to score more goals. There are speculations that he is aiming for the Pichichi title awarded to the top goal scorer of La Liga. To add fuel to the injury Ruud van Nistelrooy who replaced Ronaldo scored a goal in the 88th minute.

This gives Ronaldo another reason to be angry as the two; Ronaldo and Nistelrooy kind of have a history. When they were together at Manchester United, there were problems between the two players. This forced United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to fire Nistelrooy. At that time keeping Ronaldo happy at United was more important as he was the ever improving young lad, and had the qualities of a great footballer.

Again fate has played its part and the old team mates have become team mates again at Real Madrid. This would prove to be a problem for the Real coach, as they would probably have to keep Ronaldo at the club. Sooner or later Ronaldo would show his prowess and Nistelrooy could be replaced. As of now Nistelrooy is sidelined for 6 weeks due to an injury he picked up during the game against Xerez.

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Posted in Man U, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga

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Spanish La Liga Updates

September 3rd, 2009

La Liga followers will be getting a break this weekend as there will be no games played. FIFA world cup qualifying will be underway this weekend so most of the league players will be reporting their national side.

The news from European champions Barcelona is that they have finally unveiled the new look of their home ground Nou Camp. The task of renovation has been handed over to Norman Foster architecture.

Barcelona FC club chairman Laporta thanked his well wishers for supporting him last year and hoped the same will be repeated this year. Laporta who today started his last year at office believes when his term is over as the club chairman by the end of season, there will be a peaceful transition in office which in no way will affect performance of players on pitch. It is also reported that the number of Swedish viewers have increased dramatically after the €69 million Swedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovich.

Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez has announced that the relation between him and Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson is perfectly in good condition. He also stated that he will try and make up with Ferguson for the troubles Manchester United faced because of Real Madrid under the Roman Calderon regime.

Fight over Ronaldo never seems to get over. Ex president Roman Calderon has claimed that it was during his tenure that Ronaldo was successfully signed by Ream Madrid and not during by Florentino Perez. He also said that luring Ronaldo to Madrid was his handiwork, whose finishing touches were given by current President, Florentino Perez.

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Posted in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga

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Spanish La Liga Begins

September 1st, 2009

Real Madrid manager, Manuel Pellegrini started with as many as seven new players. All the high profile signings featured in the match against Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo almost shocked the costliest team in the world but Real survived the scare and Diarra scored a super goal in the 60th minute to drive past Deportivo. The match also saw a goal from ex Manchester United player Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo scored a penalty after Raul was brought down in the penalty area and that’s just what was expected. Everyone go their money’s worth watching Ronaldo score at his Real debut.
Other results saw Real Zaragoza winning 1-0 against Tenerife, Almeria drawing 0-0 against Valladolid, Valencia winning 2-0 against Sevilla, Osasuna drawing 1-1 against Villarreal, Malaga winning 3-0 against Atletico Madrid, Mallorca winning 2-0 against Xerez, Athletic Bilbao winning 1-0 against Espanyol and Racing Santander was the only team in the league losing in front of their home fans 1-4 against Getafe.
The last match of the week saw Barcelona beginning to defend their league title at Camp Nou with a 3-0 win against Sporting Gijon. The match also saw summer signing, Zlatan Ibrahimovich scoring a goal for Barcelona at his league debut. Bojan began the goal scoring with a goal in the 18th minute. This was followed by Keita’s in the 42nd minute, which made it 2-0 at half time. Zlatan added a third in the 82nd minute to end the night with a 3-0 victory. Messi was rested for the match whereas Henry started as a substitute for tonight’s fixture.

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Posted in Barcelona, Man U, Real Madrid, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga

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Spanish league updates

August 26th, 2009

Barcelona added another piece of silverware to their collection last night when they won the Spanish Supercup by beating Athlitico Bilbao 3-0. Two goals from Messi and another from Bojan in the second half made sure that the cup was going nowhere from Camp Nou. The Barca team looks good and this will make it interesting to follow the Spanish League this season since many stars from around the world have joined Spain.

The list includes the likes of Ronaldo, Alonso, Benzema, Abrahmovich and now it is rumored that Vidic wants to play for a Spanish team which according to his manager will be Barcelona. It will surely be not possible this season as Manchester United have already lost two of its stars this season and losing another would throw the title hopes out of the window for boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Chygrynskiy, an Ukranian striker is set to join Barcelona from Shakhtar Donetsk. Barcelona has reportedly offered €30 million for the 22 year old striker. Alvaro Negrado has successfully joined Sevilla from Real Madrid for a reported €15 million for five years. There is a buy back option for Real Madrid according to which the club can avail the services of Negrado only if they pay €17 million to Sevilla within the first two years.

With Real Madrid’s super expensive transfers, the world is again witnessing the rise of the Galácticos. This weekend is certainly going to be a full stadium event with Real Madrid playing against Deportivo la Coruna.

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Posted in Barcelona, Champions League, Real Madrid, Spanish Primera Liga

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Inter start with a draw

August 24th, 2009

This summer’s signing, Samuel Eto scored on his debut for Inter Milan. Despite their undaunted reputation that precedes them having been the Italian champions for the fourth consecutive year, they were held to a draw by the newly promoted Bari side. The match ended with the final scores standing at 1-1.

It wasn’t as slow for Juventus, who look stronger this season with their new signings. Juventus won their first match with a 1 goal lead which was enough to give them the much needed points at the end of game play. Italian world cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro returned to his old club after having left in 2006 for Real Madrid. Fans were still seemingly upset about his departure though. However, the Juventus side looks better this year with the arrival of Brazilian playmaker Diego.

For AC Milan, it was like starting a life after Kaka. Their season start didn’t look bad as they started with a win against Siena. The final score was 2-1, with both Milan goals coming from another Brazilian, Alexandre Pato. It was important for Inter boss Jose Mourinho to get a win against Bari as next weekend they play their city rivals, AC Milan. Mourinho believes his team is lacking a genius in the midfield. He has said that his players are doing the best they can but the lack of a playmaker rids the team of creativity. Just the start of season and everyone’s awaiting the weekend game to see who emerges the early winner.

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Posted in AC Milan, Inter Milan, Italian Serie A, Juventus, Real Madrid

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