The #ChampionsLeague delivered 2 delicious games as 3 heavyweights of European football (#Barcelona #PSG #ManchesterCity) and an ever-improving #Roma side put on absolutely delightful performances for the neutrals today! Paris showed why they are now one of the favorites in this competition as they beat Barcelona 3-2 even without the #Zlatan, who was injured for today’s game. The game was played at a fabulous pace and the technical abilities of both teams was on show in spades. As a side note, #Xavi is now the most capped player in the CL with 142 appearances, if you so care.

This new Roma side are showing that they belong amongst the heavyweights as they came from behind to hold Man City 1-1 at the #Etihad (not many teams leave that Stadium with their dignity intact) thanks to an absolutely delightful chipped goal by the 38 year old legend that is #FrancescoTotti putting the Italians into 2nd spot behind #BayernMunich who came away with a scrappy 1-0 win against #CSKA in Moscow earlier. City will need to win many of their remaining games to entertain hopes of graduating from this group of death.

#Ajax pulled off a 1-1 draw with #APOEL to keep them in 3rd (there is just no way they can qualify over Paris and Barcelona, unfortunately); #Schalke salvage a 1-1 at home against #Maribor, while #Chelsea get an important road victory against #Sporting in a group that hasn’t had any team break out yet.

The continuing slump that #AtleticBilbao find themselves in goes on with another defeat in this group stage beaten 1-2 at #BATEBorisov, leaving them bottom of Group H as #Porto stay top with a 2-2 draw away at #Shakhtar.

What can #Arsenal do against the Turks from Galata tomorrow?

Read More

After scoring a peach of a goal to set #ManchesterUnited 1-0 up at home against #WestHam, #Rooney, now Captain of United, did as only he can – lashed out at #Downing in a completely harmless position on the pitch, with plenty of United defenders in position, to get himself sent off just as United were looking comfortable in their 2-1 lead (#RVP scored his customary goal). After that it was heart-stopping for the United fans and their defense as they kept WestHam out to sneak to a welcome 2-1 win. It shouldn’t have been this way. United were cruising in this game and surprise surprise, their makeshift defense with young debutant #PaddyMcNair were holding out rather well. Rooney isn’t the best player on this team anymore. He isn’t a young petulant starlet anymore. He’s the Captain of the side and over the past 3-4 games he’s been trying to get himself sent off, finally succeeding today, just as United’s “easy” run of games comes to an end and they now play the top 5 over the next weeks. Talk about making a difficult situation worse. Well done Captain Stupid!

In stark contrast, the classy #Chelsea strolled past #Villa 3-0 with goals from #Oscar #Willian and the guaranteed goal of #DiegoCosta as they show why their current position at the top of the table is where they deserve to be at the end of the season, unless the equally classy bunch from #ManchesterCity have their say in all this as they come away with a 4-2 win at #HullCity – a place many teams will go and stumble up at. #Dzeko continues to dazzle with 2 goals.

The dream run for #Koeman and his ‘rebuilt’ #Southampton team continues with a hard fought 2-1 win over #QPR and a 2nd place on the #EPL table, while a stunning last gasp strike from #Jagielka of all people give #Everton a 1-1 draw at #Liverpool in the Merseyside derby after a beautifully struck #Gerrard free-kick had put the reds up.

Over in the #Bundesliga the gap at the top widens for mighty #Bayern as their 2-0 win over #Cologne combined with yet another loss for #Dortmund, this time at #Schalke leaves them 7 points clear of the yellow and blacks just 6 games int the season. One-horse-race again?

And finally, another burst of goals from #Cristiano (this time only 2 – he’s clearly off his game!!) gives #RealMadrid a 2-0 win at #Villareal. Not quite sure what the guy has to do to earn a little more respect for his results on the field!

Read More

Love him or hate him, there are few players as hungry (and able) to score goals as the incredible engine that is #CristianoRonaldo as a consecutive hat-trick (actually 4 goals today) gave #RealMadrid a big 5-1 win over lowly #Elche. Over in the #Bundesliga normal service was restored as mighty #Bayern hit surprise league leaders (atleast until they were destroyed by the Bavarians) #Paderborn for 4 unanswered goals, while over in the #SerieA struggling #ACMilan had #FernandoTorres to thank for a 2-2 draw at #Empoli.

The drama though was reserved for the much maligned #CapitalOneCup, where #Arsenal and #Wenger’s woes were compounded as they were knocked out 1-2 by a fabulous #Southampton; #Everton were thrashed by #Swansea 3-0; #Sunderland fell 1-2 to #Stoke and in the game of the day, #Liverpool beat #Middlesbrough 14-13 (yup, you read that right) in a penalty shootout after a last-minute-of-extra-time equalizer by Middlesbrough gave them a 2-2 after normal play.

Incredible.

Read More

After the child-like defensive displays from the pretenders for the #EPL title race, heavyweights #Chelsea and #ManchesterCity put on an absolute masterclass in how 2 of the most fearsome attacks in Europe (#Costa #Fabregas #Aguero #Dzeko #Yaya #Silva #Hazard) can be kept under control for all 90 minutes of a game (Hey #LVG, 45 minutes of excellence ain’t good enough)

And amongst that defensive masterclass, one man stood head and shoulders above anyone else as #Kompany kept the dangerous #Costa at bay.

City were unlucky to go down to 10 men and when they went down to a #Schurrle goal, few teams would have the ability to come back and equalize against this tight Chelsea defense, especially from a last gasp #FrankLampard goal against the club he loves so dearly. Fairy tales have all sorts of story-lines, don’t they?

#Everton were upset 3-1 by #CrystalPalace to complete an EPL weekend, which seems to suggest little in terms of what the top half of the table is going to look like, aside from Chelsea and City!

In the #SerieA another #Tevez goal to win it for #Juventus at #ACMilan and a 2-0 win for #Roma mean that the 2-horse race at the top between the two continues, while the useless #Benitez continues to ruin #Napoli in yet another loss, this time to #Udinese.

Read More

The #LVG Galactico era has given exactly what the summer purchases would suggest – an attacking force that is irresistible to watch and a defense that is impossible to watch as #ManchesterUnited lost away to #LeicesterCity after leading 3-1 with goals from #RVP #Herrera and the incredible #DiMaria. In defense though, they were probably even more stunning as an incredibly impressive Leicester sliced through them in a 20-minute session to score 4 goals.

To be fair, it was at 3-1 that referee Clattenberg didn’t blow for a blatant foul on #Rafael but such is the United right back’s continuing immaturity that he instantly got up and fouled the industrious #Verdy in the box. From there on it was just pandemonium in defense and Leicester scored 4, including 1 that was again, an obvious foul on young #Blackett, resulting in him fouling the player in the box and getting sent off.

There’s a lot to learn from United today – they will score a ton of goals, they will concede far too many, referees can turn a game on it’s head and the #EPL is a beautiful leveler  – just about any team can beat any team in the top flight and this season is going to be one helluva roller-coaster!

And just to prove that point, #Spurs went ahead and lost at home 0-1 to #WestBrom. What will #City and #Chelsea produce?

Read More

When #Arsenal put 3 past an in-form #AstonVilla away from home at the feet of the much maligned #Özil and the goal-shy #Welbeck.

When an otherwise struggling #Newcastle show some fight to come back from 2 goals down to tie it up with #HullCity.

When last year’s high-flyers #Liverpool continue a free-fall with yet another defeat, this time a 3-1 away to #WestHamUnited.

When this summers biggest sellers in all of Europe #Southampton continue their winning ways with a 1-0 away win at in-form #Swansea.

When mighty #Bayern can’t score against #Hamburg for a 0-0 draw.

When the beautiful #Dortmund lose 0-2 to #Klopp’s old side #Mainz.

When #AtleticoMadrid are held 2-2 by #Granada at home.

When #Championship leaders #Forest are held 0-0.

It’s a Saturday of surprises. Just one team spoiled the trend for today’s European games, the galacticos of #RealMadrid – when #CristianoRonaldo scores a hat-trick; #Bale scores a brace; #James scores a beautiful curler and #Chicharito opens his account with a delightful double, it’s just not that surprising really as #DeportivoLaCaruna are destroyed 2-8!

Read More

Mighty #BayernMunich squeaked to a last gasp 1-0 win over #ManchesterCity thanks to a rare #JeromeBoateng strike but this was by no means an easy game for the Bavarians at home. This City side has come a long way since their first appearance in the #ChampionsLeague a little while ago. Both teams had great chances and should have scored earlier, with both #Lewandowski and #Müller missing open net sitters – not something you hear often! While both these teams remain favorites to go through, #Roma clearly has other plans with a scintillating 5-1 thrashing of #CSKAMoscow. This group might just go to the wire after all.

The other Germans #Schalke fought back to a super valuable 1-1 tie with an in-form #Chelsea side at #StamfordBridge thanks to a superbly taken goal by #Huntelaar – He’s #RVP’s poor cousin 😉 For much of the 2nd half the Germans looked the better team and a draw is the minimum they should have got from this game, throwing this group wide open after #SportingLisbon and #Maribor drew 1-1 after a #Nani goal (There’s a lot of ex-United players from their disastrous 2013 campaign playing in the CL, as ironic as that is)

Little #Ajax had a similar game to Schalke as they came from a goal behind to tie with mighty #PSG 1-1 in Amsterdam. It’s unlikely that they can make their way out of this group with #Barcelona (all they did was squeak past #APOELNicosia thanks to a #Pique goal at the #NouCamp) and PSG still favourites to make it a close 1-2.

#Porto had the result of the day with a 6-0 hammering of #BATE as the other 2 contenders for the top 2 spot #AthleticBilbao and #Shakhtar drew 0-0 in Spain. Their head-to-head games will decide the 2 that go through because all of them will whip poor BATE.

Read More

#Arsenal were lucky to come away with just a 2-0 defeat at the fabulous #BorussiaDortmund in their first groups stage game of the #ChampionsLeague. Dortmund could have easily had 3-4 more and showed electric pace with 2 very well taken goals by their relatively new and brand new strikers, #Aubemeyang (his speed is unbelievable) and #Immobile (That’s what a promising young striker looks like!). Unlike #DannyWelbeck who in the meantime showed exactly why #ManchesterUnited sold him so happily – he’s a rubbish finisher. Who cares whether he runs, tackles and hustles if he can’t score? That’s his primary job. He missed 3 sitters today and that critical one against #City over the weekend. To be fair to him, the rest of the team, aside from #Sanchez were also mediocre at best.

#RealMadrid continued where they left off in the CL last season by thrashing #Basel 5-1 at home, with goals from their 4 big stars #Ronaldo #Bale #Benzema and #James. Fellow Spaniards #Atletico couldn’t continue their weekend form and were upset 3-2 at #Olympiakos; #Juventus powered by 2 goals from #Tevez beat #Malmo; #Liverpool returned to the CL with a struggling last minute 2-1 win over minnows #Ludogarets of Bulgaria; #Benfica continue to show that they are a #Europa team and not more as they lose 0-2 at home to #Zenit; #Monaco (who cares about them post #Falcao and #James departurs, right?) snuck a 1-0 home win against #Leverkusen and the Turks from #Galatasaray salvaged a last gasp 1-1 draw in Istanbul against lowly #Anderlecht.

What can #ManchesterCity do against the mighty #Bayern tomorrow?

Read More

The #RedDevils finally got their season underway with a 4-0 win against a rubbish #QPR side (they will get relegated this season) powered entirely by their new Galactico #AngelDiMaria, who created, scored or had a hand in all of the 4 goals, much like he did in that Argentina game against Germany last week, begging the question: Why would #RealMadrid let their best performer from last season go for what looks like a relatively cheap price of £59 million now. Watching them struggle against #Atleti yesterday makes that question a lot more relevant!

Today’s win for #ManchesterUnited was an equal split between very good attacking play combined with absolutely rubbish performances by the boys from Queens Park. The new signings on show today besides the fantastic DiMaria – #Blind (he was superb) #Rojo (He didn’t have much to do) #Herrera (Not his first game but he played very well) #Falcao (On for just a short while but showed fantastic movement) make United a very good side again but it’s too early to celebrate for United fans – this was not a good test for the brittle defense and games against the better #EPL sides (not just #Chelsea and #City but the #Swansea #Everton #Villa #Arsenal #Liverpool) will be much more accurate representations of how the £150 million in summer spending really looks.

For now, a good start.

Read More

And yet again, #DiegoSimeone and his relative-no-name battlers at #AtleticoMadrid put one over the #Galacticos of #RealMadrid as they beat them 2-1 at the #SantiagoBernabéu in what will be one of many Madrid derbies this season. #Ronaldo looked lively after recovering from his knee injury and #JamesRodriguez showed flashes of brilliance but #Atleti were complete and solid, like they always are and won on the back of a brilliantly taken #Turan winner. Atleti won’t hand over their well-earned title from last season easily!

#Liverpool in the meantime continue their post-#Suarez hangover with a shock 0-1 loss at home to an #AstonVilla side that is now just 2 points behind run-away leaders #Chelsea, showing just how difficult playing in the #EPL is. You just cannot take any team for granted – home or away!

Over in the #SerieA both title-hopefuls #Juventus and #Roma continue their winning ways after a 2-0 for Juve against #Udinese and a 1-0 for the Romans at #Empoli.

What can the ‘new’ #ManchesterUnited do tomorrow with so many of the top 4 contenders dropping points?

Read More