Visca el Barça!

Not a treble, but an incredible season nonetheless! And what a way to end it off: A 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League Final! It was a match truly fit for a UEFA finale.

Tonight, football fans from all corners of the globe faced towards Wembley, the Mecca of the beautiful game. Barcelona vs Manchester United was the dream final, however only one team’s dreams could come true. Both sides tasted domestic league success this season which would be no mean consolation prize, however, a defeat for either team would prove a bitter pill to swallow having come so close to glory. Barcelona arrived as slight favourites having endured arguably the rockier road to London. While the Catalans survived stern challenges from Arsenal and Real Madrid en route to Wembley, United made short work of Chelsea and cruised to the final having humiliated German outfit Schalke in the semis. It seemed the smart money on this fixture would remain in the wallet!

Barcelona were rocked by the eleventh hour absence of Carles Puyol and Javier Mascherano was offered the opportunity to attempt to shore up the massive gap left by their talismanic captain. In the opening minutes Manchester were clearly on top as Barcelona failed to find their rhythm. Chicharito found himself through on goal twice in the opening ten minutes, however he was unable to beat the offside trap. The Catalans seemed vulnerable at the back, and numerous mix ups and route one efforts from the Mancs meant Valdes had to be at his most alert to rush off his line on a few occasions to keep his side in the game.

Messi was played through by Iniesta on 22 minutes, however, an epic tackle by Vidic denied the Balon d’or winner and as Rooney broke through on the counter, Mascherano snuffed out the counter attack. At this stage of the game Barcelona really settled into their rhythm and dominated possession. They knocked repeatedly on the Manchester door with good chances falling to Pedro and Villa but Ferguson’s troops continued to ride their luck. It was only a matter of time until the Blaugrana broke the deadlock, and Pedro was on hand to latch onto a Xavi through ball to send Van Der Sar the wrong way to rattle the net and take the lead. Their celebrations were short lived however as Rooney picked up an Abidal throw in to play a delightful one two with Carrick and then Giggs before powering a right footed shot beyond Valdes to tie the game. At the half time break Sir Alex was the more content of the two managers as Barça seemed incapable of capitalising on their numerous chances.

Barcelona resumed the second half in total control and Alves and Carrick were both awarded yellows for rash challenges. Messi proved yet again to have an ace up his sleeve and produced a trademark moment of magic on the hour mark by rifling a left footed thunderbolt from the edge of the area after some good work from Busquets in the box to win the ball back from the United defence to take the lead again. At 2-1 Barcelona were not content to sit on their lead and Villa was at hand ten minutes later to make it three with the most sublime of curling chips from the edge of the area to put the ball and the cup just beyond the reach of the helpless Van der Sar. Guardiola, sensing a two goal cushion, gave Puyol and Afellay a run out in the dying minutes, as the Catalans made United look like a pedestrian pub–side rather than Champions League title contenders.

It ended at 3-1, securing a second Champions League and a tenth title for Guardiola in a three year period. A buoyant Eric Abidal was offered the captain’s armband and given the chance to lift club football’s most coveted prize in a fairytale ending to a season that will live in his and many other football ball fans’ memory for decades to come.

Treble Season for Barca?

Seems very likely now, doesn't it? The recent 8 point lead on rivals Real Madrid in La Liga has catapulted Barcelona to possibly win the league this season, with only 8 games to go. Told you Mourinho couldn't change anything!

Today, Real Madrid played Tottenham in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals with a 4-0 win that gives them the edge for the second leg match next week. Surprisingly, Inter Milan lost a devastating 5-2 to Schalke 04, something I would have never predicted. Inter Milan has been doing very poorly lately and even lost to Serie A rivals AC Milan 3-0 last week. It would take a lot for Inter to still make it to the semi finals of the Champions League, in spite of winning it last year.

Tomorrow, Barcelona plays Shakhtar Donetsk, one match i'm looking forward to simply because it's going to be a thrashing defeat on Shakhtar's end. I'm certain Barcelona will make it to the finals of the Champions League this year. It is very likely that they will win the finals with the unprecedented amount of success they're having so far, breaking numerous long standing records along the way. And no, I don't believe in "jinxing" something. Only time will tell ...

All I have to say regarding the Spanish Cup finals in a few days amongst Barcelona & Real Madrid is that Barcelona never fails to step up to the plate, and delivers when it needs to most. I still remember the last El Clasico in which Barca won 5-0, it was a thing of beauty.

I'm anticipating that this is going to be another Treble Season for the red and blue like the one back in 08-09. Recent statistics show that of the 30 La Liga games the Blaugranas have played so far, they have won 26, tied 3, and have lost only 1 match against Hercules back in September, having scored 82 goals with Messi leading the top scorer of La Liga coupled alongside Ronaldo, each with 27 goals. They have an unbelievable record of going 28 games unbeaten this season, and it would be a shame for Barca not to win a Treble.

Vamanos Blaugranas!

Arsenal .. lucky

While preparations for the second leg match between FC Barcelona and Arsenal on March 8th are underway I would like to discuss my thoughts on the previous match they had and why Arsenal didn't deserve to win.

First off, I have nothing against Arsenal, in fact they are my favourite team in the Premier League, and that pure class 83rd min strike from Arshavin was a thing of beauty. Even though Barca was in a state of severe fatigue since it was during February, and some major players were missing from that match, that's still no excuse given the results. But, based on the given statistics it seemed more of a miracle that Arsenal actually pulled through with the win. Furthermore, Messi's headed goal wasn't offside and the fact that Arshavin intentionally got a hand ball near the end just adds up to the mere chances Arsenal had in order to win. To me it just seemed impossible for Barca to lose after the amount of success they were having this season.

One thing I am certain of however is that when Arsenal arrives in Camp Nou in 7 days, it will result in an entirely different outcome as the energy and sheer madness that Barca fans bring with them will ultimately end with the demise of the Emirates.

El Clásico!

What a match - One that will go down in history between bitter rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Barcelona's brilliant performance on Monday was absolutely mesmerizing, to the point that I literally had my jaw dropped by the 90th+ minute. Vamanos Blaugranas! 5-0 in favour of Barca.

Not only is the result so astonishing, but the fact that Real Madrid's perfect winning streak during la liga was finally broken, and Barcelona took over the leader-board as headed by Barca's great coach, Pep Guardiola. In my opinion, Guardiola has done so much in his young career, he has the potential to be the greatest coach Barca has ever had. Much better than Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho.

However, as always, there was some great controversy to be handled during the match in Camp Nou. First of all, when Cristiano Ronaldo (aka; the greatest poser to have ever lived, over hyped, and one who has no respect for the beautiful game) had the audacity to push Pep Guradiola, in order to get the ball for a throw in. Second of all, when Sergio Ramos deliberately tackled Lionel Messi, and later on continued to shove fellow national team mate captain Carles Puyol in the face to finally get a red card. (Not to mention he got a red card from his previous match along with Xabi Alonso). All I can say is that Real Madrid played a very dirty game, while Barcelona's performance was simply breathtaking (Over 600 passes made!).

.. Yes, this is biased. So what?

Here are some of the highlights of the game (I recommend for any avid fan to watch the entire match):



Barça, Barça, Barça !

World Cup 2010

IN PAUL WE TRUST

Well, it's over - Spain deserved it.
South Africa was a great host, but it was a horrid world cup. Which proves my point why nothing compares to Champions League glory.
Let's just hope Brazil 2014 will do futbol justice.

World Cup Predictions

School is over and summer has begun - life is good.

Note: This post is mainly to organize my predictions for the World Cup.

Top 16

Group A

Uruguay & Mexico (Already confirmed - very disappointing for France)

Group B

Argentina & South Korea (Pretty obvious)

Group C

USA & England (Hopefully)

Group D

Germany & Ghana (Ghana is one African nation with a good chance of advancing)

Group E

Netherlands & Japan (Netherlands has a good shot to take it all)

Group F

Italy & Paraguay (I'm not very fond of Italy)

Group G

Brazil & Portugal (Tough group and a sad loss for Ivory Coast)

Group H

Spain & Chile (Poor performance from Spain thus far)

Therefore, the top 16 teams are:

1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Chile
4. England
5. Germany
6. Ghana
7. Italy
8. Japan
9. Mexico
10. Netherlands
11. Paraguay
12. Portugal
13. South Korea
14. Spain
15. Uruguay
16. USA

Quarter Finalists

• Argentina (Eliminating Mexico)
• Brazil
• England (Capella will ruin England)
• Germany
• Japan
• South Korea (Eliminating Uruguay)
• Spain
• Netherlands

Semi Finalists

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Germany
• Spain

Finalists

• Argenina
• Brazil

2010 World Cup Winner: Argentina, even though Maradona has no idea what he is doing.

You might have noticed I changed my finalists from Argentina & Spain to Argentina & Brazil. Simply put, after Spain's poor performance in several matches, I don't have much hope for them advancing through to finals, though they do have the potential. Brazil, however, has stepped up to the plate and has delivered quite a show for each match. I could be dead wrong, but for now lets enjoy the beautiful game.

Overall, this world cup hasn't been good, and i'm quite sad for the African nations.
Rating: 6.5/10

Let's just hope this isn't another World Cup like that of the 1990's in Italy.

Null

Just turned 17 recently and thought I should update my blog.
~ One year closer to the sweet release of death.

Currently, i'm very busy with school & soccer, so perhaps I won't be posting anything for a while in order to compensate for exam downtime.

The world cup has kicked off to a rather 'shaky' start, but exciting nonetheless.

I would usually convey a long discussion on my predictions and such, but i'll just get to the point as i'm going against a tight deadline.

Argentina & Spain.

I'll provide 'why' following exams ...

~Cheerios

Champions League Finals 2010 & Missing World Cup Stars

If you know me, you would know I am a major football fanatic - on & off the field. I also enjoy American football, however, it is football season now, and the 2010 FIFA world cup is just around the corner. Excited?

Today was the final match of the UEFA Champions League between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Though I am not a great fan of either clubs, I was rooting for Inter Milan mainly because it took them another 45 years to make the finals, which was quite inspirational.

The match was spectacular, and in the end Inter Milan won 2-0 as Jose Mourinho wrote his name into the history books as Diego Milito inspired Inter Milan to Champions League glory against Bayern Munich at Bernabeu stadium. The MVP of the game is no doubt Diego Milito, whom scored both goals, and with several other assists throughout the game. I believe the main reason why Inter Milan won was of their great defense system, rivaling that of Bayern Munich's strong offensive - the secret weapon being Arjen Robben.


Inter Milan celebrate their first European Cup victory since 1965

A classic rivalry and great match up. For more visit here.

World Cup 2010

If you are a fan of football, you would know by now that a number of great players will not be attending the 2010 games. Some of them being:

• Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Brazil)
• David Beckham (England)
• Michael Ballack (Germany)
• Adriano Ribeiro (Brazil)

This is very disappointing, as my favourite player (Ronaldinho) will not be able to go even though he is at his prime.

I'm not sure how great this years world cup will be, but i'll remain optimistic nonetheless.

Therefore, I am now certain Argentina will be a top contender to win this years world cup. Why? Lionel Messi of course! I could be wrong though.

On an unrelated note, Nike has made yet another spectacular commercial for this special occasion. Enjoy:

I hope to post regular thoughts & opinions on the World Cup 2010 matches when it begins on June 11th. Stay tuned!