In a record breaking performance, Barcelona has once again been crowned as the La Liga champions of Spain. They edged their ace rivals Real Madrid to win the Spanish league by beating Valladolid 4-0 during their last match of the season. Barcelona recorded 99 points during the season and this is an all time record. Putting behind their Champions league failure they showed tremendous character to win the league title.
Barcelona looked all set to retain their La Liga title as they defeated Deportivo Coruna 3-0 in their home match on Wednesday. Bojan Krkic, Yaya Toure and Pedro fired a goal each to ensure their team had an easy walk on the park. Barcelona had ensured a three point table top lead by defeating Real Madrid 2-0 on Saturday and their win against Deportivo Coruna means they now stand six points clear of the next best team in the La Liga table.
Continue reading Barcelona moves towards retaining La Liga title
The first leg semi-final of the Champions League proved to be a thrilling encounter between Inter Milan and Barcelona. The match that took place on Tuesday saw Inter Milan emerge victorious as the match finished with a score of 3-1 in their favor. Pedro had given Barcelona a great start but his good work was soon spoiled by Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and Maicon of Inter Milan as Barcelona conceded their first two- goal margin loss under their manager Pep Guardiola.
Continue reading Inter Milan stuns Barcelona in Champions League semi finals
The current champions Barcelona finished with a 1-1 draw against Stuttgart in the Champions League clash. Stuttgart took the lead in the match with the help of the header by Brazilian striker Cacau but Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Barcelona leveled the score with a crucial goal. The draw means that Stuttgart now has the difficult task of scoring in the Camp Nou if they are to reach the quarterfinals.
Continue reading Champions Barcelona held a draw by Stuttgart
The Champions league witnessed match between Chelsea and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. UEFA has received delegate’s and referee’s report. Not only this, they are also in the process of collecting additional evidence so that they can decide on the disciplinary action against Chelsea. The result will be declared next week. While the London club faces the charge of being unable to control its players, the four Chelsea players are charged individually for pestering Norwegian referee Tom Henning Overbo and for comments post match.
Player Diddier Drogba argued with the referee in tunnel and on the pitch. He is likely to face the sternest action. When fourth penalty appeal was turned down by the referee, Michael Ballack ran 40 yards to confront with him. He was given a yellow card for the same. Skipper John Terry criticized Overbo and will be charged for this. The fourth player is Chelsea full-back José Bosingwa. He is convicted of calling the referee a thief who was bought. Jose has no doubt apologized for commenting like this.
The controlling body might ban Drogba to play some matches. However, they will be taking video evidences for their decision. Referee Overbo is out of England after the match is not commenting anything on the incident as asked by UEFA. Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink tried to question referee’s decision but was of no use. The UEFA spokesman said “We never comment on the performance of the referee.” We all are waiting for a fair decision from UEFA’s general secretary David Taylor as we all believe that the chaotic scenes have disgraced Champions League.
On 19 July 2003, Barcelona acquired Ronaldinho from Paris Saint German beating out Manchester United. An interesting fact to note is that Barca had their sights set on David Beckham who signed with rivals, Real Madrid. After that he began an amazing career with many ups as well as downs. In 145 games/ appearances he amassed 70 goals. The gifted play maker elevated the game of Barca as well as his own. Among his many other awards, he has been named the FIFA Player of the Year, twice in 2004 and 2005.
When a person thought about Barcelona, Ronaldinho was the first player that came to mind. Maybe captain, Carlos Puyol, entered some people’s minds however the fantastic play maker is hard to resist. When Barca started signing and selling players, Ronaldinho’s name was attached to almost all the rumors out there. Now that he is truly gone, a new Barcelona must find a replacement or change the way that they play. Barcelona has brought in many talented players that some could say are ‘dinho’s replacements. However, are these players future World Players of the Year? I think these players have some big shoes to fill. Here are the possible replacements:
Out of the list above, 3 players are incumbents and 4 are new comers. The list is a very solid one and any manager would love to fill an attacking midfield position with one of them.
In the end, I question a lot of the decisions made this season. The biggest decision I would have to criticize is Gio Dos Santos‘ departure. By selling him, Barca sold off a potential replacement for ‘dinho. I thought at such a young age, Gio has shown immense talent and has truly proved himself on the field. Another decisions that is arguable, is letting Deco walk. While his sights were set on a return with Chelsea coach Felipe Scolari, he has played with Barca for four years, so he surely does have something in him for the Catalan side. Alas, that obviously did not change his decision. So Now that the Ronaldinho era for Barca has ended, we shall see a new, revamped side. One that does not need a single play-maker but relies on many different play-makers. I am very hopeful for both parties and wish the very best for my two favorites in Europe, Barcelona and AC Milan. Farwell ‘dinho and thanks for the memories.
The Ronaldinho era in the Camp Nou has come to an end. Barca’s play-maker will now be playing at the San Siro. This is a very happy moment for me and for all fans of AC!
The Low-Down:
Analysis:
Ronaldinho is now the eighth new comer to join Milan. They have been really busy and they should be. While they are one of the top teams of the Serie A, they finished in 5th place. That means that they will not be playing in the Champion’s League this year, instead they will compete for the UEFA Cup. All in all, not bad, but for a premier club like this, the best is expected of them.
‘dinho should fit in nicely with a team that already has quite a few Brazilians. Digao, Kaka, Dida, Emerson, and the young Alexandre Pato will now be his teammates, so adjusting will not be that hard. Also, Gianluca Zambrotta came over on a free transfer. He has played in the spotlight of the Camp Nou and being at the top of La Liga, so the San Siro should not be any different. I think he will do very well here.
AC Milan’s Other Additions:
A fine pick up for the Rossoneri and something that I will really look forward to.
Totally unbelievable. A team that dominated its group competition in the group of death falls to Russia. My money was on Holland but it is not so. Igor Akinfeev played a good game only giving up one goal to the offensive happy Dutch who scored 4 goals on both Italy and France. Russia truly pulled off an upset and a miracle on the pitch today, which should be both applauded and mourned for. Applauded that the youngest team in the tournament beat the favorite team for the match. Mourning Dutch fans because they were so sure.
Future: Tomorrow Italy plays Spain to decide who will play Russia. Now this will be the game of the quarters. I liked watching Germany and Portugal but I will enjoy watching Spain and Italy do battle. Maybe it is because two of my favorite teams-Barcelona and AC Milan-are Spanish and Italian teams, respectively.
Two Quick Hits:
Turkey defeated Croatia in penalties. They went 0-0 into extra time and scored one goal apiece in extra time.
Game Summary: I am most pleased with the end result. As I said this would be a good game. No team had a clear advantage over the other which makes it an exciting game. The penalties are always the best and that’s when I was on my feet.
Russia and Netherlands Tomorrow: The power of Holland will be seen tomorrow as they face a talented but young goalkeeper in Igor Akinfeev. I have probably “worn-out” my like for him by now but I have high hopes.
Other News:
Today, the Euro 2008 Quarter-Finals have started.
Germany beat Portugal today. While the Portugese side did very well in taking the champions title for their group, Germany snapped up their hopes for 08. The game got very exciting in the last minutes as Portugal scored a goal to make the final score 3-2.
Future Fixtures:
Tomorrow- Croatia vs. Turkey: I like this game. The heroics of Turkey in their win against Petr Cech and the Czech Republic proved to the world that they are here to play. However, they did trail in that game which is a weakness. At the same time, Croatia did win all of their group games defeating Germany in the process. Once again, I like this game.
Saturday- Holland vs. Russia: In short, miracles may happen, but Holland hasn’t shown very many weaknesses. I like the competition and level of play Igor Akinfeev will be up against but I don’t like his chances. The power of the Oranje will prove to be too much for Russia on this day.
Sunday- Spain vs. Italy: This will be another good game. Power vs. Power. Class vs. Class. What better game than this that pits two top class keepers against one another(Casillas v. Buffon). The defensive corps each possess. The midfield so chalked full of talent. And the strikers to finish. This is truly the game that I will watch.
Transfer Rumors:
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