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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

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 2 Champions League – Groups A and B

September 30th, 2009

The big match of the day in Group A saw Italian giants Juventus visiting their German counterparts Bayern Munich for a group encounter at Allianz Arena, Munich. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, frustrating the 69,000 fans inside the Arena.

The second match of the group was being played in France between Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa. This match too was heading towards a 0-0 draw when Ciani headed a winner in the 83rd minute from Sertic’s corner. Maccabi midfielder, Baram Kayal was red carded in the 88th minute for a foul on Tremoulinas. The results left Bayern Munich top the group with 4 points followed by Bordeaux with same points.

Manchester United came from a goal behind against German champions Wolfsburg to register their second consecutive win in the competition. United who were playing at Old Trafford went behind in the 56th minute when Evra found himself short to defend a volley in the box which was eventually headed home by 23 year old Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko. This was Dzeko’s first goal in the competition.

Probably the goal made Wolfsburg lose concentration as they gave away free kick just outside the box within two minutes of going ahead. Ryan Giggs took charge and saw his deflected free kick ending as an equalizer and giving Giggs his 25th Champions League goal. Carrick’s curl from the edge of the box in the 78th minute gave United the 3 points for the night. The other match in group B saw CSKA Moscow defeating Besiktas 2-1 in Moscow. Manchester United top the group table with 6 points followed by Wolfsburg with 3 points.

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Posted in Champions League, Football Post Match Review, Football Results, General, Man U

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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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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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Final Playoffs for Champions League Season 2009-10

August 28th, 2009

Danish club F.C. Copenhagen was visiting Cyprus to play against APOEL FC with a one goal advantage from the first leg. The home seemed to be in a hurry to nullify the first leg score and Kamil Kosowski scored the first goal in the 2nd minute. In the 18th minute APOEL FC were awarded a penalty, which 32 year old Chrysostomous Michail converted into a goal. The home fans were already singing and dancing as they saw their side qualifying the group stage of the top European competition. But F.C. Copenhagen is a strong and experienced side.

Four minutes later 24 year old Senegalese Dame Ndoye pulled one back for F.C. Copenhagen. The score was again 2-2 on aggregate but according to the away goals rule, F.C. Copenhagen was going to qualify. Home support proved motivating for APOEL FC and home hero Chrysostomous Michail netted his second for the night in the 41st minute. Somehow APOEL FC defended all attempts from F.C. Copenhagen, and pulled through the 90 minutes and in doing so joined the elite group of teams that qualified for the Champions League.

German VfB Stuttgart had no trouble in holding Romanian club FC Timişoara. The score from the first leg being 2-0, a draw was enough for the German club to qualify and that is what Markus Babbel’s side did on Wednesday night.
Portugese club, Sporting Lisbon visited Italian side ACF Fiorentina. Each team had scored two goals in the first leg; ACF Fiorentina’s job was just to make sure that the Portugal club did not score any goal. This was not to be the case as in the 35th minute João Moutinho converted a free kick much to the shock of home fans.

Sporting deserved to lead as they were playing better but football is not a game where a team playing a better game always wins. Substitute Stevan Jovetic scored in the 54th minute, and that was enough to send the home team into the group stage according to the away goals rule.

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Posted in Champions League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A

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Champions League Playoffs – Wednesday night

August 28th, 2009

Wednesday night playoffs saw the final five teams joining 27 teams from Europe in the elite competition. The five teams that joined were Olympiacos FC, APOEL FC, Arsenal FC, VfB Stuttgartt and ACF Fiorentina. The first match saw Greek giants Olympiacos FC visiting Moldovian club FC Sheriff with a two goal advantage from the first leg. The Greeks looked comfortable throughout the match and were awarded with a goal in the 82nd minute. Kostas Mitroglou scored the only goal of the match and the match ended 0-1 to the Greek visitors. Olympiacos FC won the playoffs with a 3-0 aggregate score and qualified for the group stage of the Champions League.

In London, at the Emirates stadium, Scottish side Celtic had to score at least three goals to qualify for the group stage. Their hopes of qualifying were tarnished when Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto González awarded a penalty to the visitors when Eduardo dived in the penalty area. Television replays clearly showed that the Celtic keeper Artur Boruc had made no contact with Eduardo and he had dived unnecessarily. Eduardo converted the penalty and at half time the score was 1-0.

Eight minutes into the second half Eboue scored another one for Arsenal. Nothing was heading Celtic’s way and soon Arshavin scored the third of the night for Arsenal in the 74th minute. The night was looking gloomy for Celtic but they got a consolation goal in the injury period. Massimo Donati scored a stunner from nowhere with a cross from Andreas Hinkel.

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Posted in Arsenal, Celtic, Champions League, Scottish Premier League

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Champions’ league nearing the end of play offs

August 26th, 2009

Tuesday night saw some old and new faces enter the Champions League qualifying stage. In Hungary, in the city of Debrecen, local club Debreceni VSC was about to enter the history books. Beating Bulgarian club Levski Sofia 2-0 on the night and a 4-1 aggregate over two legs, Debreceni VSC made a place for themselves in the group stages. In doing so, they became the first Hungarian club in fourteen years to qualify for the Champions’ League group stage. The last Hungarian team to do so was Ferencvrosi in the 1995/96 season. The first goal was scored by Jozsef Varga in the 13th minute, and the second was scored by Gergely Rudolf in the 35th minute to give them a strong lead early in the game.

The final match of the night was between Belgian club R.S.C. Anderlecht and French giants Olympique Lyonnais also known as Lyon. The first leg ended in a thumping 5-1 win for Lyon and as such, the second leg was expected to be no different. Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez scored three goals on the night, thus spoiling the home team’s dream of qualifying for the group stages.

In a matter of fifteen minutes Lisandro Lopez scored his hat-trick.  All the goals came in the first half. There was nothing much to admire in the second half except for the penalty awarded to R.S.C. Anderlecht in the 51st minute. The spot kick was successfully converted by Matias Suarez, another young Argentinian. Over the two legs the Lyon defeated R.S.C. Anderlecht by an astonishing 8-2.

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Champions League Play offs Second Leg

August 26th, 2009

Spanish club Atletico de Madrid defeated Greek club Panathinaikos by 2-0 and now lead with a 5-2 aggregate. It didn’t take long for the first goal to come. In the 3rd minute Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vyntra put the ball through his own net. Their chances of winning were shattered when Djibril Cisse was shown a red card. The Greeks continued creating chances, and even came close to scoring on one or two occasions. However, any trail that could lead to a historical comeback was cleared in the 82nd minute when Sergio Aguero scored for Atletico.

Another match between Israeli club, Maccabi Haifa and Austrian club SV Salzburg was won by Maccabi Haifa in some style. The final score for the night being 3-0 for the Israeli side with goals from Vladimer Dvalishvili, Eyal Golsa and Mohammed Gadir in the 32nd minute, 57th minute and 90th minute respectively. Over the two legs Maccabi Haifa won 5-1.

The match between FC Zürich from Switzerland and FK Ventspils from Latvia went to the wire. Both teams started well by scoring a goal each in under 10 minutes. The first goal was scored in the 6th minute by Johan Vonlanthen. The feat didn’t last long and FK Ventspils replied soon as Igor Tigirlas scored within two minutes. The match was slow but pulsating as the home team was losing on the away goals rule as the first leg ended in a 0-0 draw. In the 90th minute Almen Abdi scored a winner and made sure that his team qualified for the group stage of the most prestigious European competition.

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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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