With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

Lyon's 2-1 Champions League victory at Anfield on Tuesday night sparked mass hysteria amongst the Liverpool faithful. While almost everyone points the finger at the absence of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in recent weeks, even more people are blaming manager Rafa Benitez. There is no doubt about it: people are calling for Rafa Benitez's head.

The title to this article might suggest that I am providing some late coverage on Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner's recent car accident while driving to practice in his Aston Martin. In reality, though, this article is written in vehement defense of the player, who has certainly had more than his fair share of critics, to put it bluntly.

Barcelona may be the treble winners last season. In addition, they may also be the side with arguably the most potent attack in Europe, comprising of the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, Bojan Krkic, and FIFA World Player of the Year hopeful Lionel Messi. On top of that, they also possess one of the most powerful midfield combinations in the continent in the form of Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.

They call him Mr. Chelsea, and Blues skipper John Terry certainly lived up to that billing when he recently decided to take control of the financial aspect of the women's football team at Stamford Bridge. The economy certainly hit the Chelsea ladies very hard as a significant portion of their funding from previous years was slashed this season.

Patrice Evra has told reporters of the pain that him and his United teammates are feeling following their 2-0 loss to rivals Liverpool. United were defeated by a Fernando Torres goal, and a late David N'gog goal added salt to United's wounds.

"Normally when United play we create at least five or six clear chances, but we only had the one when Valencia hit the crossbar.

Patience is a virtue, and for two of the Premier League's best players, that patience has finally paid off. The crazy thing about it all? These two players are on the same team! And the lucky team is Sunderland.

It was just last season that Sunderland were in the heat of the relegation battle.

Beyond the nation's borders, Italian football has certainly faded into the background in recent years. A devastating match-fixing scandal in 2006 bitterly overshadowed the country's World Cup triumph that year while the domestic league has clearly become a one-horse race ever since. Reigning champions Inter Milan have shown no signs of a slip up in the Serie A for the last three seasons and that trend continued with their strong start to the current season as well.

Wolves will host Aston Villa this week at the Molineux this Saturday on ESPN2 (for all of you US viewers) in what should prove to be a hard fought match between two local rivals. This big derby match-up will aim to please a near-capacity crowd that will be flooding into the Molineux.

Team News:

• Manager Mick McCarthy will be hoping his team shuts down Richard Dunne as he tried to sign him over the summer.