Chelsea vs Liverpool (4-4) UEFA Match Highlights

Watch the highlights below

Chelsea v Liverpool

Arsenal vs Villareal UEFA Champions LEague

Posted by Giri

Whats up in April? The "Ars"pective. (Arsenal Perspective. Sorry Bad PJ)Wow!! Its an absolutely mouth watering month to look forward to. I will hopefully buy my first car in the US. And then I will hopefully get my work visa. I know it was funny when I completed my Masters in Computer Science. But its funnier to think that I am working full-time as an Engineer.

Coming to the Ars-pective (haha....I like my jokes/pjs)Arsenal Vs Villareal - Gooners Vs The Yellow Submarine. Ya thats what they call Villareal. Looks a pretty easy match up on paper. But, as some of you may remember, it required a last-minute penalty save from Lehmann, Jens not Darren, in the 2006 CL semi final. Would be nice to have Pires back at our home ground. I am sure he will receive a great reception. When Henry used to score those countless goals, this man's contribution was often forgotten. But the avid/ hardcore arsenal supporters, which I must admit I was not in those times, will know that he was one of the most important of the "Arsenal Invincibles". RVP has been ruled out. Arshavin is cup-tied. So, that leaves us with Adebayor and probably Bendtner up-front. The mid-field should be, Fabri, Denilson, Nasri, Walcott. I think, however, Bendtner might make way for Alex Song. Back four should be Clichy, toure, gallas and Sagna. And Almunia between the sticks.

The players to watch out for in Villareal would be Pires, of course. Though he would be playing after being red-carded in his last Primera Liga outing. Giuseppe Rossi, the Man U reject will be keen to prove a point. John Dahl Tomasson, (I wish Bendtner starts playing half-as-good as his compatriot) is a natural Goal scorer. Even though age is running against the Dane, Arsenal will do well to keep this man in check. Marcos Senna, he was regular member the Euro-winning Spanish team. Joan Capdevilla, I think he is the captain, but more importantly, this defender has the uncanny ability to come forward and score crucial goals. Edmilson, I remember this guy's brilliant over-head kick in the 2002 world cup for Brazil.
My prediction (Villareal 1 - 2 Arsenal)

18th Apr- FA cup against Chelsea.
We should have Arshavin and RVP back for this one. I hope Arshavin/Nasri rapes Ashley Cole.
My prediction(Chelsea 0- 1 Arsenal)

15th Apr- CL Home Vs Villareal
I think we will give them a spanking at home if my first prediction is correct. If it is wrong, we will spank them even harder at home. LOL
My prediction(Arsenal 3- 0 Villareal)

21st Apr- EPL against Liverpool

Then Arsenal travel to Anfield (The is Wigan in between that). Playing in front of 'the kop' under lights is one of the most daunting prospects in football they say.

My prediction(Liverpool 1- 2 Arsenal)

29th Apr- Champions League ***CL semifinal Vs Man U
Wow.......Porto Vs Arsenal would be interesting. But there is a slight chance that Man U might make it to the semis. Wow!!That would be an intersting one. I hope Macheda gets red-carded, Ronaldo is injured and Vidic starts fighting with Rooney.
My prediction(Man U 0- 2 Arsenal)

***if Man U beats Porto

Five Sporting Wishes

Sports fans here are my 5 sporting wishes. I would love to do these in coming 5-10-15-20 years, I hope these moments would come much sooner.

1. Watching Formula one race in Monaco. I love street racing and Monaco is the best street circuit till now. Delhi is expected to have a track around the Janpath, but you know how much time it takes in India. But Monaco rules.

2. Watch the Wimbledon final, yes wimbledon not any another Grandslam tournament. 120 year old tournament has its own class and I would love to be at the centre court watching the final.

3. Emirates Stadium... Gunners home my favourite club and watching them play ManU at their home would be icing on the cake.

4. Match at Lords .. mecca of cricket. Though my interest in cricket is slowly dying but still sitting at the stands in Lords and watching arch rivals England take on Australia in the Ashes test would be great.

5. Fifa World Cup Final, i hope its between brazil and argentina.

I have written what are yours


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Istanbul to Athens!!

While the never-ending cricket season continues, the football season is coming to an end. Manchester United have regained the coveted Premier League. The FA cup final promises to be a cracker. While United will be looking to add insult to injury on Chelsea, Maurinho will be looking for his first FA cup win in probably his last attempt as rumors say that the Porugese is on his way out of Stamford Bridge.





Meanwhile in Spain its getting too close,

CLUBS P W D L F A GD PTS
Barcelona 33 19 8 6 63 29 34 65
Real Madrid 33 19 6 8 51 31 20 63
Sevilla 33 18 7 8 57 31 26 61
Valencia 33 18 5 10 47 32 15 59

The Catalans' superior goal difference means that, they can afford to drop a couple of points and yet retain the La Liga title.

But I have not yet talked about the big one. (Ab ek phata hua, Dk se bhi zyada) All galis, roads, flights, trains lead to Athens (Desi- remember last year's bet on Liverpool/Lyon. Probably you should have betted on them this year) But, to me Milan are the favorites. No, not the revenge factor.



I just feel they are a much better side. Gattuso and Pirlo will do Gerrard what they did to United's Ronaldo. The back four looks solid despite the average age touching the 33-34 mark. Inzaghi and Gilardino are taking the chances when they come in spite of being not-so spectacular. I think till now, the players I have mentioned, Liverpool have an answer. If you have Pirlo we have Gerrard, if you have Gattuso we have Alonso, if you have Maldini we have Risse, if you have Inzaghi we have Crouch. But I think you might have guessed by now, Liverpool wont have answer to the question if you have KAKA!!






Its the old hindi cricket commentator's comment 'Inki jitni tareef ki jaye utna hi cum hoga'!! I know, there will be some Liverpool fans who wont agree to what I am saying. But, I think we should wait for the 23 night now before further discussions. Anyway, while its hard for the two teams to provide us the same drama which they did two years back, even if its 10% as exciting, it should be fun. It does promise to be an absolute cracker.

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Rooney, Kaka! Kaka, Rooney!

The fight for European supremacy continues as Milan took on Man U in England in the first leg of UEFA Champions league’s first semifinal last night. Manchester united, injury struck and card struck came on without Gary Neville, Ferdinand and Vidic and Evra and Heinze took the defensive responsibilities. Milan knew that they just have to hold the fort in this match and with all the injuries and cards ManU will have a tough task in the next leg.

Saurabh, anand and dk decided to run a parallel game of scrabble as the referee blew the whistle, we set the board and got ready and then came the noise, GOAL, already. Five minutes in the game, and a Ronaldo head gets the ball behind the bars. Controversial though, whether it should have been a Dida own goal, who in attempt to keep the ball away from heading Heinze touches the ball in the net. Manchester united one up.

I am always on the losing side when Saurabh takes on scrabble, but it was my lucky dayJ, Saurabh was already angry on Man U’s pass-it-long tactics as I made progress. And suddenly we discovered God, Kaka, making the defence realize that they lack some players, single handedly took one to the brink and finished it beautifully. 22 minutes in the game and its open yet again. Saurabh happy, anand happy and Vivek gets up.

Kaka makes his presence felt again and doesn’t take long to do the same, 15 minutes later, on again he dodges the defenders, leaving Heinze and Evra colliding, one on one with Van Der Sar makes it 2-1, beautiful goal!! On away ground Milan is leading inside the first half and scrabble lays secluded in some corner of our room, poor game!

Soon with a carry over yellow card already, Evra gets himself booked, making the Milan visit next week a tourist bonanza as Milan pushes them. Half time changes, discussions, strategies happen and Man U strikes back in 59^th minute. Rooney gets it for his team making the score 2-2, game on! (I am winning a scrabble game for the first time, yo yo yo)

A yellow to Kaka, one to Giggs, one to new kid Bonera, the game looks all set to go winnerless, Rooney gets the crowd erupted by hitting one in injury time, and I have won my first game J and Manchester united pulls this game back from behind leaving behind the Kaka-embarrassment to strike a claim for the European championship.

Is it going to be a complete Chelsea Vs Man U season everywhere, let’s find out tonight!

Image source : UEFA

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A Prelude to Glory!

UEFA Champions League Semi Finals!!!!

Tonight Manchester United hosts Milan and tomorrow Liverpool goes to Chelsea's Home . Just before the semis, people speak:

"We're not far from winning the Champions League, even if it's not this season then next," the striker told uefa.com. "The team is getting more experience. We don't give up and we will win it." – Drogba

“We have enough quality but you can say that about all four teams in the semi-finals – everyone has to be at their best and show it on the pitch," – Sir Alex Ferguson

"They play wonderful football, especially here, so what happened against Roma will have no impact on our dressing room and how we approach the game. I'm proud to be here and be captain of my team. We're motivated by the fact we want to win the Champions League, which has been our main aim throughout this season. We have always been a leading club in Europe, and Italy, over the last 20 years and we want to show why."- Maldini

Source : UEFA

Embarrassment, Pride, Despair, Boomerang.....

....Roma, ManU, Valencia, Chelsea respectively.
UEFA Champions league Quarter finals second leg, a lot of curiosity and expectations and an exaggerated result in the match that we were lucky to see, courtesy ten sports. After losing 2-1 in Italy last week, Manchester United had different plans and they never would have expected them to work so blissfully, we all make guesses and nobody could have guessed that the scoreline would be as strange as 7-1. Carrick began the assault with a great strike from outside the box, followed by goals from rooney, smith and ronaldo. Suddenly the scoreline read 4-0 and the 'who reaches the semis' excitement almost died and it was visible that Romans knew it. The second half was no different and ManU continued to haul Roma, as Carrick and Ronaldo completed braces and score was 6-0 with some time to full time left. A cross from Totti and a good first touch from De Rossi displaced that lone zero to one, but there was no reason for a smile, forget the celebrations. Substitute Evra joined the list of Goal scorers and made Roma players feel as bad as they could and the final whistle finally blew at 7-1 and ManU are through to the semis.







And, Chelsea! Boy, they are having some time. Conceding an away goal in their home match against Valencia(1-1) they certainly were under some pressure last night and Morientes made things tougher by helping Valencia draw first blood and the aggregate became 2-1 Valencia leading. And when Chelsea came back from the half time snacks (the world has all the rights to know what pills Jose has for metamorphism), and early in second half Shevy pulls one back and its even-stevens in the quarter finals. And when it looks like a great stage for an normal time stale mate followed by extra time and perhaps penalty shootouts Essien wraps it up by a traditional 90th minute Chelsea goal, toggling the last Spanish team out of the champion’s league and booking a place in semis for themselves.

And the English authority over European football redefined last night!

Will India Win the Cup: Facts Say So

My dear friend sandy gave the following facts regarding chances of India winning the cup.

Trivia - 1

Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later India won the world Cup!!!

Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later will India win the world Cup?????


Trivia -2

1982 Football World Cup won by Italy
1983 Cricket World Cup won by India

2006 Football World Cup won by Italy
2007 Cricket World Cup: INDIA???

Let me add on more

Year Finalists
96 Sri Lanka
99 Pakistan
03 India
07 Bangladesh ??

These trivia don't help friends. In the last world cup there were much more like these almost guaranteeing us a victory with some 20 years facts funda.

Lets hope India perform best :)

and proves the above 2 facts correct

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Why do people like Chelsea and jose?

The blog could also have been like “Why do people hate Chelsea?”, but for many of the so- called "regulars at the EPL", the question is unanswerable, very instinctive, visceral, something that is as trivial vis a' vis the process of breathing itself. Whenever a newcomer(a viewer that is) starts to feel the heat of the premiership, the natural instincts drive his loyalty towards the stronger teams having good players. For me, an Indian by origin, who had all the options to choose from, chose to be a partisan of Manchester United F.C. only because it had the great names like David Beckham,Ruud Van Nistelrooy and the legendry Roy Keane. Manchester United is not a team that was built in a day. ManU like other great teams has a history to be proud of. It took a couple of months for the interest to metamorphose into passion.
The most challenging part vis a' vis managing a football team is to build the team. Manchester United, Arsenal,etc. are already have elite ranked players. The job of managers of the teams who come in place of the relegated teams are perhaps the most difficult. They are not rich clubs. Perhaps their full year’s tranfer budget is less than a week’s wage budget of a rich team like Chelsea. Managing such teams is a challenge. Even teams like ManU and Arsenal have budget restraints.
Ever since Chelsea was bought by Roman Abramovich for 60 million pounds in 2003, the clubs fortune has changed. The club’s gaffer has invested over 300 million dollars and has incurred losses of 100 million dollars to the club. As far as Mr. Abramovich is concerned, it is no more than buying his children peanuts on a hang out. So forget the fact that Jose Mourinho is no businessman. The prodigal gaffer has time n’ time again created new records in the transfer market. The Andriy Shevchenko transfer has topped all EPL records at 30 million pounds. No other manager in the world will pay 30 million pounds for a 29 year old striker. Then again, with Ricardo Carvalho -27 million dollars, Essien- 24 million pounds, etc. and there are records still to be broken. There is nothing in the transfer market that money cannot buy, for everything else there is Mr. Roman Abramovich.
The real fans of football want to watch good football. We want to watch players who have a talent to develop into world class players. But what happens when a talent goes in a team where it is not recognised.Chelsea, undoubtedly, has one of the most deadliest squads in the world. But in the process what it is doing is keeping talented players away from the field. An epitome of the same is Shaun Wright Phillips. One of the main reasons of his exclusion from the England world cup squad is because Sir Sven Goran didnt have enough of his on field performances to look at.
Having the world’s best coaches to teach the world’s best talents, having the world’s best scouts to find the world’s best raw talents.Keeping world class players at every position and for also for the back up positions of the team doesnt test the manager’s skills.All you have to do is let them out in the field and there is always a very low probability that they’ ll loose. Even a ten year old can manage a team like that.
So where does Jose Mourinho come in…??? The prodigal gaffer!!!All in all, for a team like Chelsea,whose wage budget exceeds many team’s transfer budget,it is not the manager but the perennial river Moolah flowing that manages and wins matches.

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World after UEFA Matchday 7 - II

Day - 2

A day of spreading immense respect, of gamesmanship talks, of sharing honours, a day of 3 draws and 1 win.

Lyon, ah my favourites, played a respectful draw against host Roma. Roma had problems, extended ones, when they go to France, along with their passports they will be carrying a lot of yellow cards, 8 in all shown to Italians in this match, while the frenchmen got 3. Tough task for Roma to book a birth in the quarters, lets see, all eyes on Totti!

And now THE match of this weekend, lived up all the hype and the defenders face an early exit, Riise and Bellamy (hey, were these the boys last weekend, ahh..shh) shot two painful bullets after Deco gave Barca a great start by putting one behind the net early on. Now, with a lose at home they travel to England, trouble trouble and more trouble, Barca, missing you badly! (Barca 1-2 Liverpool)

Jose's boys must have been looking for a victory, but a decent 1-1 draw gives them relief and atleast no gittery scares, what they need to do is get their act together in next match and move to the next stage, the team that's dying to be European champion, for once, for god's sake, once! (Porto 1-1 Chelsea)

And, the current Italian Champions take on a good Spanish side in Italy, and ends up accepting two away goals from them. A 2-2 draw, which sees Valencia almost through to the quarterfinals, unless Inter comes up with something amazing at Valencia home and Viera's injury adds to the wounds. Crespo, boy, come up with a beauty. (Inter 2-2 Valencia)

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World after UEFA Matchday 7 - I

Matchday 7, first leg, teams travelling around the europe and eight pretty close matches, I don't say this, this stats speak, 1 draw of the opening day and 3 on the following, and the victories also of just single goal margin. Platform is pretty well laid for the first week of february encounters. Lets have a brief look at the matches.

Day - 1

Celtic hosts European giants Milan, and share honours on their home ground, Celtic is an unpredictably good team strengthened by players like Nakamura and Naylor and they were able to keep Milan devoid of any outside success that they were hoping, but life will not be easy for the scottish when to travel to Milan. No prizes for guessing, my money on Milan. (Celtic 0-0 Milan)

Gunners, love you hate you. Being an avid Indian cricket fan, Arsenal has to be my favourite club, it's so much like Indian cricket team, too unpredictable for their ability. PSV, lost their last game and came back strongly to beat the previous year finalists just to keep their hopes on, but remember, I said unpredictable, and at home gunners can be demoralizingly brutal, PSV wants a draw, Let's see. Ah, 60-40 Arsenal! (PSV 1-0 Arsenal)

History and Revenge, Controversies and Chaos, game on! Lille home, Giggs dido and Manchester United continues the 20 year celebration of great manager-giri. Life seems to be difficult for the French club after losing their backyard encounter. And if Lille plays this years quarter final, book a DVD of Manchester United - Lille 7th Mar match already, because it will be a miracle.(Lille 0-1 Man U)

And finally the match we Indian could see live (Thank you so much Ten Sports), Two historic European champions ( Read UEFA retrospect articles) and a expectedly fan treat on plate. The match started and it started raining goals! Raul, then Lucio equalizes, then Raul again (lucky he, it should have been Helguera's) making it 2-1 and then Rudd van taking it to a comfortable 3-1, and it says only 34 minutes, and when it looked like a landslide, Van bommel appeared and made the scene look different a late goal and the scoreline says 3-2. A real victory but with 2 away goals makes Bayern happy, they just need to get a 1-0 victory when real visits them. Wearing a cannavaro t-shirt right now, but I think it will be Bayern to proceed. (Real 3-2 Bayern).

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UEFA Champion's League Schedule

Analysis, Criticism, Predictions, Teams, Coaches, Practices, Transfers, Rivalries, Away Goals, Fans, Articles and another hundred kinds of blah blah, the game is back and those 90 minutes which matter the most. So all those critics, experts Shhhhhhhh, sit back, grab your beer cans and watch the action. And ask your secretaries to schedule your meetings accordingly!

Matches on 20 Feb and 7 March

Celtic - Milan

PSV - Arsenal

Lille - Man. United

Real Madrid - Bayern

---------------------------

Matches on 21 Feb and 6 Mar

Roma - Lyon

Barcelona - Liverpool

Porto - Chelsea

Internazionale - Valencia

Who's getting your support?

UEFA Champion's League in Retrospect- Episode III

Clubs D'Honneur

Bayern Munich

The Bundesliga giants have been the next most respectable side if looked statistically. Winning the tournament 4 times, and three of them coming in consecutive years 1973-74, 74-75, 75-76 thanks to the greats Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness, Gerd Müller and free kick specialist Franz Roth. They helped Bayern to end the long awaited first title. The fourth title came late in 2000-01 where they beat Valencia in a nail biting 5-4 penalty shootouts, and “king kahn” holding nerves till the very end. This year they look a formidable side, and in spite of the domestic problems within the team and within the league, the team looks to give Real Madrid a run for their money when they play in the first knockout match next week.

Ajax Amsterdam

This club from Holland joins Bayern with a tally of four European championships in hand winning in 1970-71 and then consecutively in 1971-72 and 1972-73 beating Panathinaikos, Inter and yet unlucky Juventus and the star of this era was Johan Cruyff aka Pythagoras In Boots. A comeback in 1994-95 and another title for them, but after that they were not able to impress their fans back home. This year they are fighting it out in the UEFA cup with their home rivals PSV play Arsenal in the knockouts.

Teams that have won twice: -
Benfica, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, FC Porto, Inter.
Teams that have won once: -
Celtic, Hamburg, Staeaua, Marseille, Feyenoord, Aston Villa, PSV, Red Star, Borussia Dortmund.

Image Source : wikipedia

UEFA Champion's League in Retrospect- Episode II

Clubs D'Honneur

Liverpool

When we talk about passion, when we talk about die hard rooters of a club, when we talk about the complete English football time line and the giant, we talk about Liverpool. The most impressive English club in the European championship would be none other than The reds who have been crowned the European champions five times, only behind Real Madrid and AC Milan.

If Madrid was the flavor of the late fifties then Liverpool were the rulers in late seventies and early eighties with likes of Keegan and his replacement Dalgish, Paisley and Kennedy. They won in 1976-77,1977-78,1980-81 and 1983-84. But after that victory came late, too late. There is no doubts that this was the time of the Reds, they saw all these victories and they welcomed Stevie on 30 may 1980, who eventually (and currently) turned out to be the spearhead of the pool attack, driven by his control over the complete pitch, Liverpool won the 2004-2005 beating Milan in an unforgettable final.

Come 2007 and they fight the defending champions FC Barcelona for a quarter final berth. It’s a beautiful example of a complete fusion of agony and pleasure for the football lovers all over as they see their favorite teams fight out in the knockout stage just to see a good team exit early. Very much the match of this stage, Barca Vs Pool!

AC Milan

La liga team already in, English football supremacy also discovered, another league that would complete the trilogy is Italian Serie A and the team is meeelaan! AC Milan have been the European champions six times. They’ve played quite too many finals, as may as 10 and were there fighting it out with Liverpool two years back. They were the champions in 1962-63, 1968-69, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1993-94, 2002-03 beating Benfica, Ajax, Steaua Bucuresti, Benfica again, Barcelona and Juventus respectively.

The Rossoneris have dominated the game for a lot of time in their part of the world and have been the Italian bosses most of the time overcoming threats from home rivals Inter, and league rival Juventus and Roma. Driven by the forces of Marco van Basten, Massaro, Shevchenko, Maldini, Rijkaard during their times in the complete timeline, the Milan fans have been delighted time and time again by phenomenal display of modern day football.

Come 2006-07 and Milan see controversies, the match fixing scandal, Shevchenko moving to Chelsea, Dida’s injury, the aggressive Milan crowd and the fan fiasco. They have had a torrid time. They take on Scottish team Celtic in the initial knockout stages, and with Kaka’s reverent presence this gate should not be a difficult one to cross. At least the fans feel so and they go meeelaan meeelaan again!

There is More to follow!

TrackBack: UEFA Champion's League in Retrospect- Episode I

UEFA Champion's League in Retrospect- Episode I

The biggest extravaganza of club football is all set to come back after seeing most part of the winter through and now spring welcomes yet another season of this great game featuring the extraordinary heroes of the European football world fighting it out against rivals for the glorious UEFA Champions League trophy.

So, to get in the mood of this soon approaching gigantic fest, let’s play some of the tapes in rewind mode and let nostalgia strike us point blank.

Clubs D'Honneur

Real Madrid

When the European championship started in 1955, it were the Spanish champions Real Madrid who took control straightaway, and took it again and again and so on, making the league so very predictable. Beating Stade de Reims Champagne, AC Fiorentina, Milan AC, Stade de Reims Champagne, Eintracht Frankfurt in years starting from 1955-56 respectively, they proved the European world their authority of football supremacy. They were rested off the top place for next 5 years by collective efforts from Benfica(1960-61 and 1961-62), Inter(1963-64,1964-65) and Milan(1962-1963), but real was still a danger as they were the runner ups in two of these five non-real victories.

And then came a draught, a long 31 years draught, and they were deprived off their favorite title time and time again, the seventh title came as late as 1997-98 where they overcome the Juventus scare to lift the cup. The time it took to move from seven to eight and then eight to nine was not as long as it was from six to seven. Zidane got in those books which usually refrain from mentioning the greatest and Real won their eighth title in 1999-2000 and the next in 2001-2002.

This year, boosted by Nistelroy and Cannavaro managing their respective department, Real is a side to look for, but, ah, there are a lots of ifs and buts. A good side to watch at times, can surprise with disappointments at times, but too unpredictable to keep away. Playing another UCL legends Bayern in their initial knockout games, game on is all my senses predict right now!

Keep watching the space for Episode II

Technorati tags: Football, UEFA, Real Madrid

Mourinho Quotes

Ok.......this is my first post.....these are 10 best mourinho's quotes of 2005.....

Give me a couple of days......I will write something original.......


We'll start with a gentle introduction to this year's most controversial
titbits, and a few lines from the outspoken coach in January on his
respect for the ageing Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson.

"Maybe when I turn 60 and have been managing in the same league for 20
years and have the respect of everybody I will have the power to speak to
people and make them tremble a little bit."

GOODWILL

But whatever seasonal goodwill was left over from last year's festive
period, it did not last long, and only a few days later, Mourinho was on
the attack after Chelsea's Carling Cup semi final encounter with United.

"People want a storm but there isn't one. I respect Sir Alex a lot because
he's a great manager, but he must follow the procedure.

"This is nothing against Sir Alex whatsoever. After the game on Wednesday
we were together in my office and we spoke and drank wine. Unfortunately
it was a very bad bottle of wine and he was complaining, so when we go to
Old Trafford for the second leg, on my birthday, I will take a beautiful
bottle of Portuguese wine."

Moving into February, the former Porto coach had some choice words about
the inclement English weather after a rain-soaked meeting with Blackburn.

"During the afternoon it rained only in this stadium - our kitman saw it.
There must be a micro-climate here. The pitch was like a swimming pool."

BANKRUPT

Mourinho's success at Stamford Bridge owes plenty to millionaire owner
Roman Abramovich, and the boss is fully aware of the limits of his role,
as he pointed out in the month of March.

"If he helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I
had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt!"

Having been left to his own devices on the training ground, Mourinho
succeeded in bringing the Premiership trophy to Stamford Bridge in May,
and came out with this scary premonition.

"This is the start of a process not the end. I want more for me and Chelsea."

EUROPEAN SHORTCOMINGS

But Mourinho could not work his magic in Europe as well, and Chelsea
crashed out of the Champions League in the semi finals. So well be it.

Technorati tags: Football, UEFA, Chelsea

sports review -part1

This is my first Blog...last few days were quite interesting for the whole sports fraternity.India's awesome performance in South Africa,England faces reality test in Australia,Asif-Shoib once again proving true an old saying "Every law has a flaw", Barca facing the test of the season so early in the season and lastly Sania Mirza creating more headlines than the whole Asian games contingent.
Starting with our national obsession(mine too) Cricket, i just keep on wondering wat the hell has happened...last season we were chasing everything...and now we are not even batting our full quota of overs and suddently an image flashes in front of my eyes of Yuvraj singh gettin bowled by Dwayne Bravo slower full toss.I still feel that defeat is hurting us..even after so many other defeats..The Greatness Of The Character is How u bounce back from a setback and I think we just lag in that department...coming to greatness aussies show us why they r considered as best in the business ...that ashes defeat hurts them and hurts them badly...they just galloped the England In the first Test and then stage a remarkable comeback to win 2nd test too...

so lets leave it here for now...today night its barca vs Bremen and i have a gut feeling that those people who will be watching this match live(not me offcourse) will be in for some great piece of Footballing action.

Ballon D'Or - The big European 50

The 50 nominees and their positions in the recent fight for Ballon D'Or according to the number of votes they got:

1. Cannavaro (Italy/Real Madrid) 173
2. Buffon (Italy/Juventus) 124
3. Henry (France/Arsenal) 121
4. Ronaldinho (Brazil/Barcelona) 73
5. Zidane (France) 71
6. Eto'o (Cameroon/Barcellona) 67
7. Klose (Germany/Werder) 29
8. Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea) 25
9. Pirlo (Italy/Milan) 17
10 Lehmann (Germany/Arsenal) 13
11 Deco (Portugal/Barcelona) 11
Kakà (Brazil/Milan) 11
13 Ribery (France/Marseille) 9
14 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Man Utd), 5
Gattuso (Italy/Milan), 5
Vieira (France/Inter) 5
17 Lampard (England/Chelsea), 3
Podolski (Germany/Bayern), 3
Puyol (Spain/Barcelona) 3
20 Juninho Pernambucano (Brazil/Lyon), 2
Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), 2
Terry (England/Chelsea), 2
Toni (Italy/Fiorentina) 2
Zambrotta (Italy/Barcelona) 2
25 Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich) 1
Villa (Spain/Valencia) 1

UCL Matchday Five Group E-H

Group E:-

Real Madrid 2 - 2 Lyon Steaua
Steaua 1 - 1 Dynamo Kyiv

The group leaders Real and Lyon had a chance to make a point, but both the teams cancelled out each other with the scoreline 2-2, and Lyon looks all set to lead the group, continuing their superb run this season in the French league back home and in UCL as well. Real have been a little unpredictable this season, but has a lot more promise this year than the last one.

Group F:-

Benfica 3 - 1 FC Copenhagen
Celtic 1 - 0 Manchester United


The group is open, thank you Manchester United, first going down to Copenhagen and then to celtic this weekend. Now Celtic is through to the last 16 with 9 points and with the same number Man U play benfica in a virtual knockout encounter, and powered by a 3-1 victory, Benfica will not be an easy team to beat for sir ferguson's boys. But, if Man u can play like they have been playing in the English premier league, and pull at least a draw in the last match, they will be through. Still, group F open for surprises.

Group G:-

CSKA Moscow 0 - 2 FC Porto
Arsenal 3 - 1 Hamburger SV

Group G has always stayed at the top of "My Favourite Group" for a long time now, Arsenal - 10, Porto - 10, CSKA - 8 and we cant wait for the Arsenal Vs Porto match. There are a lot of permutations and combinations for this match day and my favourite one is Arsenal Vs Porto share a point and CSKA win, putting all three on 11 points, there are a lot more possibilities and all three teams can go through. This is the real roller coaster group, and Arsenal has given its fans(includes me) a lot of surprises all the summers(bitter ones), and we want them to SCORE now, please. CSKA finally saw the ball going behind their nets while Arsenal came back from going 1-0 down to Hamburg to finally win the match.

Group H:-

AEK Athens 1 - 0 AC Milan
Lille 2 - 2 Anderlecht

Milan are through to the second stage, in spite of their loss to AEK, but this victory has opened up the fight for the second spot from the group, with Lille not winning against Anderlecht the point difference is just 1, and Lille and AEK are playing away games against Milan and Anderlecht respectively, and looking at the forms and the oppositions my money is on AEK, but still you never know.

So, the wait for 5Th and 6Th December is long, can't wait for Arsenal Vs Porto , Barcelona Vs Bremen and Man U Vs Benfica. Too many and too heavy people are trying to get through the narrow door, and that sounds fun for those who sit back home on their comfortable couches and watch this tussle of the European sumos.

UCL Matchday Five Group A-D

And it doesn't get better than this, five match days over and one to go and still a lot of speculation, there is no better anti-climax that we could have seen than this. Surprises, followed by more surprises and we all can not wait for the first week of December where the group stages lock. Lets look at Match day five. The first four groups:-

Group A:
Levski Sofia 0 - 2 Barcelona
Werder Bremen 1 - 0 Chelsea

This was a must win for Barca, and they did so, in spite of all the injuries few crucial players were nurturing. But, to their surprise Chelsea went down to Bremen, leaving the group open again. Even if Chelsea lose to Sofia, they'll be through, so its like a knockout match for Bremen and Barca on the final match day. A draw can see Bremen toggling the defending champions down.

Group B:
Spartak Moscow 2 - 2 Bayern Munich
Inter Milan 1 - 0 Sporting Lisbon

Bayern through, Inter through(thank you, Crespo). Who gets the top spot. Inter came back strongly in the group stages and Bayern moved downhill, they play each other in the next encounter to decide the boss of group B.

Group C:
Bordeaux 3 - 1 Galatasaray
Liverpool 2 - 0 PSV Eindhoven

The group was locked in the last match day, pride game for all the four sides. Liverpool and Eindhoven fought for supremacy and Bourdaux and Galatasaray fought for respect. Liverpool, currently leading the group, will most certainly be the group headers.

Group D:
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 0 AS Roma
Valencia 2 - 0 Olympiakos Piraeus

Who would have thought that after scoring 6 goals in a serie A match Roma would go down to Shakhtar in a crucial match. Roma at 7 and shakhtar at 5 will have to fight it out for the second place from this group. Valencia sit pretty at 13, and in spite their loss to sevilla this weekend in the la liga encounter, they were strong enough to walk though olymiakos easily. Valencia and Roma meet in the last match and this gives a lot of hope to Shakhtar, but even if valencia wins, Shakhtar still need to win against Olympiakos.