Chelsea has been up and down over the last few years. In 2011 Carlo Ancelotti was fired as the club "only" made it to second place in the Premier League (the previous year he had led them to their first "Double"). For the start of the 2011-12 season Andre Villas-Boas became manager, and under him team performance dipped with a string of defeats.
Anything can happen in football, but money often is victorious. After 19 years Paris St. Germain again won the French League title after a 1-0 victory over Olympique Lyon (a team that dominated French football with seven league titles in a row until 2008). In 2012 the Qatar Investment Authority bought the stock majority in Paris St.
I usually find myself in cool places around the world to watch the FA Cup finals, but this year I found myself in an airplane, and was thus unable to watch a surprising final where Wigan Athletics won a surprising 1-0 victory over Manchester City. Wigan are fighting relegation from the Premier League and this victory is their first FA title ever!
Sir Alex Ferguson has announced his retirement as manager of Manchester United after 27 years at the end of this season. He took over in 1986 after a brief stint as Scottish national coach at a time when the club had not taken the English title since 1967. In the first years Manchester United didn't win the title, but steadily improving, Ferguson held on, taking the FA Cup in 1990, and the UEFA
With a 1-0 victory over Palermo Juventus won their second Italian Serie A title in a row. In spite of Napoli defeating Inter Milan 3-1, the runner-ups cannot catch up with Juventus. Great for Juventus, who are cementing their place back at the top of the Italian league after their disgraceful season in the lower Serie B league following the "Calciopoli" match fixing scandal.
I have not been able to watch Brøndby play the entire season, so it was perhaps in place that the match I watched was against the arch-rivals FC Copenhagen, in the match that could make the latter champions. 0-0 was enough to make the Copenhagen team champions with three rounds to go. Deservedly. In spite of the fact that I have not seen them play this season it was obvious that in spite of the
Without Lionel Messi Barcelona never seemed really to believe in a historic comeback from 0-4 down to Bayern Munich. And without Carles Puyol down in defense FC Barcelona looks like a pretty ordinary side. It must be time for some reflection and perhaps a new coach? Tito Vilanova simply is not cut out for leading the side.
Many people have been hoping for a Real Madrid-Barcelona CL final, but it seems that they will be wishing again. Last night Bayern Munich destroyed FC Barcelona, and today Borussia Dortmund was again superior to Real Madrid (they defeated them in the first round of this very same tournament) winning a resounding 4-1 victory against the Spaniards on a night when Robert Lewandowski became the first
With Bayern Munich's power demonstration tonight against FC Barcelona it is obvious that the German side is strong on all its position. But as the great team it is, they want to make sure that the best players come to the club, and today it was announced that Borussia Dortmund's young superstar Mario Gotze is to change to Bayern Munich next season.
I knew Bayern Munich was the best side of the four remaining in the CL. And I thought that Barcelona was the weakest side without a working Lionel Messi. But I never thought the difference would have been so large. 4-0! Bayern Munich disproved the Barcelona mantra that you need to have the ball to be the better team; the Germans just let the Catalonians pass the ball around, but without fantasy
Luis Suarez is surely not the best footballer ever, but the most stupid footballer ever, yes. That said, I would like to give him a helping hand, so I have some suggestions as excuses he can use to defend himself about his latest outrageous behavior: 10. "Ivanovic put his body into my mouth on purpose!
I must admit that I have not followed the Danish league in detail for ages. Living abroad, with plenty of work and with outstanding leagues to watch in South America, North America and Europe, the Danish league falls a bit in the background. And the fact that my favourite side, Brondby, has been at the bottom for a couple of years has not helped on the desire to follow the Danish "Super" league.
The 2012-13 Champions League semifinals will be as follows: Bayern Munich-FC Barcelona Real Madrid-Borussia Dortmund Both semifinals are bound to be great matches. But who are the best of the four teams? It is not Barcelona. They just pass the ball around, and without Messi their attacking prowess is unimpressive.
FC Barcelona "messied" themselves in the semifinal of the Champions League with 1-1 at home against a Paris St. Germain team that won some friends today, and surely deserved better than what happened today. The difference was Messi. Make no mistake; FC Barcelona are an outstanding side, but it is Messi that makes them outstanding, and I think that showed today.
Fantastic comeback by Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Malaga. In the 82nd minute Eliseu brought Malaga ahead 2-1 and it seemed the Germans were out. But in the 91st minute Marco Reus equalized, and one minute later Dortmund brought euphoria to Dortmund scoring the winner that puts the Germans in the semifinal.
