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Stevenage and Barcelona Celebrate

May 29th, 2011

It’s not often that you can mention these two sides in the same sentence, yet yesterday there was reason for both Stevenage and Barcelona to celebrate. League Two team Stevenage completed a memorable journey to seal a playoff final victory against Torquay and gain promotion, while Barcelona did what everyone expected and beat Manchester United in 3-1 fashion to lift the Champions League trophy.

For Stevenage, their success over recent times has been remarkable and it seems hard to believe that just two years ago they were plying their trade in the Conference. Manager Graham Westley has now masterminded back-to-back promotions after a John Mousinho effort helped the Boro to a 1-0 win over Torquay yesterday afternoon.

While Stevenage success is superb, we now go to the other end of the spectrum where Barcelona once again showed why they are classed by some as the greatest ever team. The Catalan outfit were classed as clear favourites by the bookmakers, with many even offering money-back offers if the Spanish side won, and with that it came as no surprise as they coasted to a 3-1 victory over Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola’s side were in control from the start and while they were pegged back to 1-1 after taking an early lead, a stunning second half display saw Barcelona lift the Champions League trophy for a second time in three years.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed his opponents were the greatest side he’s ever face and after that statement, you just have to wonder who is going to stop them. With such a nucleus of young talent, there is surely more to come from this and from the neutral’s perspective that is a fantastic prospect. Luckily for them, manager Guardiola has already confirmed his commitment for the future, which should allow for even more success.

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Posted in Barcelona, Champions League, Man U

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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Premier League, La Liga and Serie A updates

October 3rd, 2009

Manchester United faced their first draw this season at the hands of Sunderland at Old Trafford. Sunderland opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Bent amazed Foster with his one touch bolt into the bottom left corner of the goal post. Second half saw an attacking United side. In the 51st minute Nani’s cross was curled in by a Berbatov scissor kick. Jones scored in the 58th minute giving back Sunderland their lead.

The match could have easily ended as United’s second loss this season if it was not for Anton Ferdinand’s own goal in the injury time of second half. Portsmouth scored their first points this season with a 0-1 away win over Wolves.

Tottenham Hotspurs came from behind twice in  match against Bolton Wanderers to register a 2-2 away draw. Burnley defeated Birmingham 2-1 in a match where two newly promoted clubs contested. Hull City kept their last week’s 1-6 drubbing  at the hands of Liverpool aside by registering a 2-1 home win over Wigan Athletic.

I don’t remember when was the last time Barelona had a 1-0 win at Camp Nou. Tonight they registered a 1-0 victory over Almeria. Tenerife were defeated 0-1 at home at the hands of Deportivo La Coruna whereas Atletico Madrid registered a 2 – 1 home win against Zaragoza.

Inter Milan were saved from humiliation when Sneijder scored the winner in the last minute of the home match against Udinese and gave the angry fans something to cheer for. The win took Inter to the top of the table with 16 points and a point clear to second placed Sampdoria who play their game tomorrow against Parma at home. Bari drew 0-0 against Catania, much to the home fans frustration as their team was unable to take the maximum points.

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Posted in Barcelona, Birmingham City, Bolton, Burnley, Football Post Match Review, Football Results, Hull City, Inter Milan, Italian Serie A, Man U, Portsmouth, Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Spanish Primera Liga, Sunderland, Tottenham

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Match Day 2 Champions League – Groups E, F, G, H

September 29th, 2009

Liverpool faced defeat for the first time in eleven Champions League group stage matches against Italian club Fiorentina. Liverpool were humiliated away from home by two first half goals from Fiorentina’s 19 year old striker, Stevan Jovetić. Liverpool also failed to score for the first time in 24 Champions League matches.

Champions Barcelona continues their unbeaten run this season in all competitions. They defeated Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 at Camp Nou, Messi and Rodriguez getting their names on the score sheet for the night.

Italian giants Inter Milan, drew for the second consecutive match in the competition, this time against Russian club Rubin Kazan. The match saw Stankovic equalizing in the 27th minute and his team mate Balotelli getting a second yellow, which left Inter with 10 men in the 60th minute.

Arsenal defeated Olypiakos 2-0 at the Emirates stadium. The first half of the match saw no goal but Persie showed his scoring skills in the 78th minute. 6 minutes later Arshavin added another, though the referee missed seeing that he was offside.

Sevilla scored 4 goals for the night against Scottish side Rangers. The match ended 4-1 as Novo pulled one back in the dying minutes of the match. AZ Alkmaar drew 1-1 at home against Standard Liege. Traore scored in the last minute to steal a point from the match for Standard Liege.

Lyon scored 4 goals for the night against Debreceen who were playing in front of home fans. Unirea Urziceni managed to draw 1-1 against Stuttgart.

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Posted in Arsenal, Articles, Barcelona, Champions League, Football Post Match Review, Football Results, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Rangers

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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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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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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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Barcelona UEFA Super Cup 2009 winners

August 29th, 2009

The Super Cup is played between the winners of the Champions League, and Europa League, respectively. This time it was Barcelona who was playing against Shakhtar Donetsk in Monaco at the Stade Louis II. The match was won by Barcelona in the 115th minute when Messi displayed his footballing prowess and set substitute Pedro up to net the winner. Throughout the match, Shakhtar tried hard but their efforts were not enough to trouble the newly crowned European Champions.

The champions themselves gave a lackluster performance in front of a enthusiastic crowd which stood at 17,000. Fans were disappointed as they had hoped for a few goals from the Catalan giants. Barcelona’s new £60m striker who replaced Eto’ was seen exasperated most of the times. Zlatan Ibrahimovich didn’t look happy with the pitch, and kept falling to the ground a lot. Barcelona surely missed their playmaker Iniesta, who is out due to injury. They kept losing possession due to inefficient passing.

Messi thought that he should have gotten a penalty just before half time when his curling free kick touched the defenders arm, but Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere refused to budge to Barca’s appeals and moved on with the game.

Henry had one or two shots but the Shakhtar keeper was on his toes all night. The stipulated 90 minutes were over, and the match entered extra time. The match seemed to be heading for a penalty shootout as both teams were not looking to take chances but 22 year old Spain’s rising star winger, Pedro had some different ideas, and scored in the 115th minute, helping his coach since the last 14 months lift his 5th trophy for the club.

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Posted in Barcelona, Champions League

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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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