All right everyone, listen up María Gonzalez was officially the Girl of the Hour at Raul's official "going away" party at the weekend and you'd better believe it! Schalke paid homage to their favourite Spanish striker at the Veltins Arena on Sunday, where he played his final match for the German side, but it was really Raul's 5-year-old daughter who stole the show with her ridiculously adorable outfit.

Dissecting the disappointment: 4 key reasons for Barcelona's failure this season is a post from: Just Football

The first thing to point out here is that this is no obituary piece.

Barcelona are not in crisis, this is not intended to imply that Barça are a crumbling empire or spent force (let's see what Pep Guardiola decides regarding his future first) and this is not meant to be an overly critical sharpening of the knives.

I have woken up with such a strange feeling this morning and I haven't felt like this before a game in a long, long time. In around 12 hours from now, the Champions League semi final second leg kicks off at Nou Camp and Chelsea are 90 minutes away from our second final. That's how it stands at the moment anyway.

You may recall some months ago that Corinthians locked Adriano in a hotel and gorged him on nothing but cardio and salads, like some footballer foie gras, but with the intent of treating the fatness and the liver. This, much like most of Adriano's career, didn't work and he was released from his contract with Corinthians recently.

Brazilian big lad Adriano is threatening legal action against Corinthians after claims he was kept prisoner on a physical conditioning programme. OTP presumers he's referring to the hotel house arrest we told you about in February, unless they've locked him up again since then. In a TV interview, he said: "I will take [legal] action.

Morning again Chelsea fans! Don't worry, it is still true, we beat Barcelona 1-0 last night.
The reason I am writing this post is because I want to show you something. Now, I don't know how many of you people had seen my scouting report of Barcelona and their weaknesses?

Estadísticas del Chelsea
Estadísticas del Barcelona
Estadísticas de la Champions League 2012
El Barcelona fue incapaz de superar el muro defensivo que el Chelsea levantó en Stamford Bridge y perdió 1-0 en la ida de la semifinal de la Champions League por un solitario gol del marfileño Didier Drogba en el descuento del primer tiempo.

A brilliant counter attacking goal at the very end of the first half is standing strong between Barcelona and the Champions League final in Munich after Chelsea secured a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge tonight. It was kind of a harsh and unlucky night with players wasting gilt edged chances, hitting the post on a couple of occasion and on all other occasion the Chelsea defense standing strong.

Tonight's Champions League fixture between Barcelona and AC Milan will be the litmus test for both Pep Guardiola and Massimiliano Allegri as they prepare the team's for what is probably the biggest game of the season.

Milan captain Ambrosini has revealed that they won't man mark Barca's Argentine forward Lionel Messi.

TweetFormer Brazilian international Adriano has accepted a two Month pay-as-you-play contract at Wigan as he looks to resurect his interest in the sport. The explosive striker was released by his former employees Corinthian in March of this year who claimed that the player didn't have the 'Patience' or 'drive' to stay fit.

TweetFormer Brazilian international Adriano has accepted a two Month pay-as-you-play contract at Wigan as he looks to resurect his interest in the sport. The explosive striker was released by his former employees Corinthian in March of this year who claimed that the player didn't have the 'Patience' or 'drive' to stay fit.

Fábio Coentrão é apenas o caso mais recente de um futebolista "apanhado" a fumar. O internacional português do Real Madrid não é o primeiro, nem será certamente o último. Lembro-me bem do meu espanto quando, ainda puto, vi (salvo erro) Marinho e Emílio Peixe, então no Sporting, a fumarem descontraídamente vários cigarros num programa de "apanhados" na televisão.

FC Barcelona notched up five consecutive victory in the league for the first time in the 2011-12 season with a 2-0 victory at Sevilla. First half goals from Xavi Hernandez and Lionel Messi, which may go down as one of the contender of "Goal of the Season" were enough to see a tricky fixture with against a side we always struggle.

13.03.2012 - "No final da tarde desta segunda-feira, dia 12, a diretoria do Sport Club Corinthians Paulista e o atacante Adriano decidiram, em comum acordo, encerrar o contrato de trabalho entre as duas partes, que era válido até junho próximo.
Passo seguinte, os representantes do atleta e o departamento jurídico do clube negociarão os detalhes do distrato.

Former Inter Milan striker Adriano has been left clubless after Corinthians terminated his contract. The South American giants revealed that they were forced to take such actions after the striker failed to show enough commitment towards returning to full fitness.

Adriano who's career has been dogged by alcoholism, depression and weight problems could most likely retire after this latest setback.

By Chris Wright

For the three of you that haven't seen it yet; what we have here is Luiz Adriano's one-yard crap bucket of a stinker of a howling miss, which came just minutes after the Brazilian 'striker' came on for Shakthar Donetsk during their 2-1 win over Illichevits in the Ukrainian league on Saturday evening.

15.02.2012 - Demasiado lejos quedó el 2006, cuando Adriano – ya consagrado en Europa – formaba parte de una temible línea brasileña junto a Ronaldo, Kaká y Ronaldinho que, incluso, promovió alguna comparación con scrachts de 1982 o 1970.
Después de repetidos desplantes y desavenencias con distintos entrenadores (que ya no equiparaba con su juego), Inter lo cede y vuelve a sus pagos para vestir la camiseta del Sao Paulo (fines de diciembre 2007).

It's Champions League week again, and what else can you really say apart from "Bienvenidos, Barca?!" Nothing like European football after that two month hiatus.... gracias a Deus!

Messi and co' landed in Leverkusen yesterday and went straight into a training session ahead of tonight's match against Bayer.

AAAAHHHHHHHH I AM ARTUR BORUC AND THIS IS A LIST OF THINGS THAT MADE ME ANGRY THIS WEEK:

1. GET OUT OF MY WAY -- WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME???!??!?!?!? WHY!?!?!?!?!

2. ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC SLAPPING PEOPLE -- IS IT STILL THE YEAR 1992 WHEN MEN WOULD SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES WITH A SLAP AND A DUEL WHILE MC HAMMER'S "2 LEGIT 2 QUIT" PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND?

Photo: Nick Waters

Philadelphia Union

Porfirio Lopez describes what he will bring to the Union: "Having a winning mentality is the most important thing in soccer. I'm going to try to bring my experiences and positive attitude into the group. Without a doubt, winning championships is the priority.

World's worst room service Corinthians are keeping their biggest star (literally) under house arrest in a bid to halt the seemingly unstoppable expansion of his waistline. Former Inter Milan star Adriano is being kept under lock and key at a hotel after the club decided to show tough love to their striker to help his [.

Adriano is both one of the most gifted strikers of his generation and one of the most disappointing, ballooning to Ronaldo's late-career playing weight right smack in the middle of his prime, among other, non-gravitational-field-related issues (drinking, partying, shooting people, etc). Now at Corinthians and fresh off an Achilles injury and platter of Happy Meals, he's back in trouble for being fat.

Having mastered the art of kicking teammates, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now moved on to slapping opponents. Zlatan was sent off in the 64th minute of Milan's 0-0 draw against Napoli for reaching around teammate Antonio Nocerino to slap Salvatore Aronica in the face. If the slap is ruled to be a violent gesture, then Ibra will have to serve a three-match ban.

FC Barcelona could have handed over the Liga title to Real Madrid unofficially after drawing away at 17th placed Villareal. The lead at the top of the summit is seven points which could be too much for our boys to climb. Already with a very depleted side, we weren't helped by Guardiola's decision making all night.

Real Madrid bounced back from their midweek Copa del Rey defeat to Barcelona with a comeback 4-1 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao that kept them five points clear at the top of the Primera Division.

In-form Athletic had threatened to add to Madrid's misery following their 2-1 home loss to Barca in the first leg of their cup quarter-final tie when Fernando Llorente gave them an early lead.

Lionel Messi scored his first away hat-trick of the season to give Barca a comfortable 4-1 victory over Malaga. The match wasn't as comfortable as the score-line suggest. In the first half Malaga had some serious chances and ended as 1-0. Rondon scored the consolation goal for Malaga.

We watched Wednesday's Clásico in its entirety with spirited company at WoodworkBK. We had the sense then that Barcelona slowly took control after the early goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, and that Pepe was terrible. Watch this extended highlight clip, which should reinforce the conclusions that (a) Barcelona completely dominated after about the 25′ mark, and (b) Pepe was a complete embarrassment and not only for the already-infamous Messi hand stamp:

Real Madrid v Barcelona by vynylr

Acting!

Big football star has a disastrous off-pitch incident involving gun play in which a woman is shot (non-fatal, of course). Victim initially tells police the footballer fired the gun.

After a few days the victim changes her story and suddenly, she's the one who fired the gun.

And what exactly are you thinking?

According to the description (good luck getting a universally accepted tally on this stat), guess who's currently leading Big Europe in assists this season? Yup.

It's pretty unfair when he's surrounded by that type of talent, given the fact that rolling one onto the boot of a teammate is like rolling Adriano into a buffet he's very unlikely to fluff his chance.

Uh-oh Adriano, what have you gotten yourself into this time? It seems trouble never stops following the Corinthians player, who has sadly fallen out of favour with many Brazilian fans because of his attitude. This time, however, the circumstances are in his favour.

AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi could be on his way out of the San Siro according to Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani. The 38 year old veteran striker has failed to make an impact in Allegri's squad this season and with the impending arrival of Carlos Tevez next month, Inzaghi's chances of playing look dimmer and dimmer.

Former Inter Milan and As Roma striker Adriano is once again making headlines for the wrong reasons. The 29 year old who has struggled with an alcohol addiction for most of his professional career, was allegedly involved in an early Friday morning shooting that left a young female injured.

Now, here is where the story gets interesting.

Neymar oh Neymar, você esqueceu o seu ... concealer?!! (did you forget your concealer?) Oh never mind all that make-up, tomorrow is the World Club Cup final between Santos and Barcelona. With all that hype surrounding Neymar in recent days (oh come on, you guys are late to the party!

Barcelona will be without striker David Villa for at least 6 moinths after the striker broke his leg in Barcelona's 4-0 rout over Al-Sadd in the World Club Cup semi-finals today. There was no dirt in the tackle which seen Villa unleash a shot under pressure from a defender before both took a tumble and Villa immediately signalled to the bench he was injured, eventually being stretchered off with his side leading 1-0 thanks to a major blooper from the opposing keeper let in adriano for his first of two goals.

Barcelona have set up a dream FIFA Club World Cup final against Santos by defeating Al-Sadd 4-0 today. The Barca victory though was dampered by the broken leg to striker David Villa, that will keep the Barca striker out of action for around six months.

The Villa's injury aside, this was more like a training exercise for Barcelona as Al-Sadd is not in the same class.

Barcelona have set up a dream FIFA Club World Cup final against Santos by defeating Al-Sadd 4-0 today. The Barca victory though was dampered by the broken leg to striker David Villa, that will keep the Barca striker out of action for around six months.

The Villa's injury aside, this was more like a training exercise for Barcelona as Al-Sadd is not in the same class.

Barcelona eases past Saudi Arabian club Al Sadd as Adriano scores a brace in the first half taking advantage of some shoddy defending. Seydou Keita and Maxwell rounded off the tally in the second half.

Barca's entry into the finals was not without a price as David Villa broke his leg and could face up to six months off the field making him a serious doubt for the Euro campaign.

A contendere al Santos il Mondiale per Club 2011, in una finale che si annuncia emozionante, e che vedr la supersfida tra Neymar e Messi, sar il Barcellona di Guardiola, vittorioso con un perentorio 4 a 0 con l'Al Sadd, Campione d'Asia in carica nella seconda semifinale che si è disputata questa mattina.

They say good things come to those who are patient and Milan are very much practicing this line of thought at the moment. After having reached an agreement with Manchester City's Carlos Tevez for a loan move in January, the Italian champions are yet to agree on the deal with his English employers. But, Adriano [.

Big news today from the defending Spanish and European champions that Andres Iniesta will miss the huge champions league tie with AC Milan on Wednesday with a thigh injury.

A statement on the club's website confirmed that the midfielder will not travel to Italy as "a precaution", joining the suspended Dani Alves and injured duo Adriano and Ibrahim Afellay on the sidelines.