Last year, I examined how each year's UEFA Champions League final would've looked if the old format
of only the league champions (plus the holders) was in place. The switch was made in 1997-98, and
Manchester United was the first non-champion to win the competition a season. The post can be found
here.
Anytime a video (about anything, really) begins with music from Sigur Rós, you can
assume it will be either amazing or horribly pretentious. In this case, the former is justified.
The Republic of Cyprus has a population of about one million people.
It's that time of the year. We've reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and it's time
to award Super Bonus Points to clubs that made it this far. Super Bonus Points are the largest
rankings modification that we make and the results will be obvious below, especially when you see a
club that is in fifth place in its domestic league sitting at sixth place in the overall rankings.
Spotted after Real Madrid's mauling of APOEL at the Bernabeu on Tuesdaywednesdaywhenever,
Cristiano Ronaldo being temporarily put out by a particularly unflattering caricature of him held
aloft by an autograph-hunting fan...
To be fair, it's not nearly the most harrowing depiction of Ronaldo we've ever seen, with that
title firmly belonging to a float at the 2009 Portugal Carnaval.
As Cristiano Ronaldo signed autographs (for journalists?) at the Santiago Bernabeu after Real
Madrid finished off APOEL to advance to the Champions League semifinals, one fan held out a
monsterish caricature for him to sign. For someone as concerned with his physical appearance as
Ronaldo is, this was quite the shock.
Real Madrid will face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the Champions League as they
professionally took care of business tonight against APOEL, winning 5-2 on the night.
RealMadridandBarcelonamoved a step closer towards the very first "El Clasico" Champions League
Final this week by comfortably winning their Quarter Final ties against APOEL and AC Milan
respectively. RealMadridovercame their Cypriot opponents 8-2 on aggregate, winning away 3-0 before
ending APOEL's fairytale jounrey 5-2 at the Bernabeu, while defending champions,Barcelona, who were
held to a goalless draw inMilanlast week finished offMilanat Nou Camp, winning 3-1.
APOEL's heroic Champions League run came to it's inevitable conclusion in the Bernabeu last
night, with Real Madrid adding to their comfortable 3-0 first-leg tally by blitzing their Cypriot
opponents on their own patch with a five-goal flurry several of which were bordering on indecently
beautiful.
Real Madrid's second-leg 5-2 pulverising of APOEL at the Bernabeu produced some absolutely
beautiful goals (we'll have more on those later) and an impromptu trip to the dentist for Paulo
Jorge who had two of his teeth knocked out during a hefty collision with teammate William.
The best moments came in the 67th minute and the 82nd minute when Gustavo Manduca and Esteban
Solari scored Apoel's goals. At the Santiago Bernabeu no less! Real played real spoilsports to this
David slayed Goliath story as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace with Kaka, Callejon, and Angel Di
Maria adding to the tally.
REAL MADRID CF cruised into the semi finals of CHAMPIONS LEAGUE after defeating tonight 5 - 2 APOEL
(8-2 agg). The Spanish Football Club will meet German team Bayern Munich in a top level semis clash
not to be missed. Kaka scores for Real Madrid Real Madrid gave Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Ozil a rest
& started with Varane, Altintop, Sahin & Granero.
Real Madrid vs APOEL 5-2 Champions League Highlights 2012 Ronaldo Kaka Callejon Manduca Goals
Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Real Madrid vs APOEL 5-2 Champions League Highlights 2012 Ronaldo Kaka Callejon Manduca Goals Video
is a post from Soccer Blogger.
(Warning: Video shows a man pulling teeth out of his head.)
Real Madrid beat APOEL Nicosia 5-2 in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal to
advance by a comfortable 8-2 margin. Though the Man of the Match award surely went to a Real
player, the most hardcore footballer of the day honor goes to APOEL defender Paulo Jorge.
Despite all of the strife surrounding Chelsea this season, the Blues are a result away from
another trip to the UEFA Champions League semifinals.
If Chelsea are able to make their 1-0 lead against Benfica stand up at Stamford Bridge, a berth
in the semifinal against Barcelona -- in what would be a rematch of the classic, yet controversial,
2009 semifinal -- will be on tap.
Barcelona beat Milan 3-1 in yet another controversial Camp Nou Champions League result, while
Bayern finished off Olympique Marseille with another 2-0 victory, for an aggregate score of
4-0.
Wednesday, April 4 (both kickoffs at 2:45pmET):
Chelsea vs Benfica:Â The match to watch on Wednesday.
In the tunnel before the Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between APOEL and Real
Madrid this week, Real captain Iker Casillas apparently had a nuisance inside his nose. After
clearing up whatever the problem was, he went about his business and, a few moments later, decided
to tenderly wipe the hand that was just knuckle deep in his nostril on the face of the young mascot
next to him.
HERCULEZ! (see below) Nine goals in seven games! Smashing!
dN
Today Jurgen Klinsmann sent out a Twitter letting Herc know that he is paying attention. Why
doesn't he just pick up the phone.
-@J_Klinsmann : Another goal for @herculezg, who keeps finding the net.
Real Madrid earned an easy victory at APOEL and Chelsea got a crucial away goal in the UEFA
Champions League on Tuesday, March 28, 2012. Below is a recap of all the matches.
Results
APOEL 0-3 Real Madrid
Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea Scores Away Goal
Salomon Kalou scored a 75th minute goal to get Chelsea a very important lead heading into the
second leg.
As the prophecy foretold, Real Madrid yomped to a 3-0 first-leg victory over
APOEL in Cyprus last night; Benzema grabbing a brace (after spluffing one clean over the bar from
roughly 30cm out) and the excellent Kaka posting home t'other.
Ci sono voluti ben 75 minuti, e i cambi azzeccati di Mourinho (Kakà e Marcelo per Higuain e
Coentrao) per piegare la resistenza della volenterosa formazione cipriota dell'Apoel, chiusa in
difesa in una resistenza ad oltranza. Il Real fatica ma poi dilaga e, con il 3 a 0 rimediato a
Nicosia, nell'andata dei quarti diContinua a leggere .
Important wins for both Chelsea and Real Madrid last night as both clubs took a giant step
towards the semi finals after win over Benfica and APOEL Nicosia respectfully.
Of course the biggest result of the biggest result of the night was Madrid's 3-0 win over APOEL.
The win make it very hard for APOEL to move onto the last four especially with a return leg at the
Bernabeu in two weeks time.
Full marks to Apoel for keeping Real Madrid at bay for 74 minutes. But once they were breached,
they gave away two more goals in quick succession. Benzema scored twice after missing an absolute
howler and Kaka added to the tally. The Brazilian provided the spark needed to break Apoel's highly
organized defense by creating Benzema's first goal.
Real Madrid set half of their foot in the semifinal after picking up a 3-0 away victory over
APOEL on Tuesday and Los Blancos' coach, Jose Mourinho simply feeling a lot of joy with the result,
which didn't actually arrived easily.
Mourinho revealed that the Cyprus' side were holding on courageously and adding that his
substitute players were simply the key for Madrid's success on dismantling the home team's strong
defensive effort on that match.
Real Madrid's awareness over the strength of their opponents in the Champions League, APOEL
Nicosia, reaps its reward as they shut down the Cyprus representatives 3-0 with Karim Benzema
bagging a brace, while Ricardo Kaka adding another one.
It wasn't actually a ride in the park for Los Blancos, although the were totally dominating the
match, but the goals didn't arrive until the last 15 minutes into the game.
APOEL vs Real Madrid 0-3 Champions League Highlights 2012 Goals Kaka Benzema Video is a post
from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
APOEL vs Real Madrid 0-3 Champions League Highlights 2012 Goals Kaka Benzema Video is a post from
Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter APOEL vs Real Madrid 2012 ( APOEL Real VIDEO
BELOW) Final score and result:- APOEL vs Real Madrid 0-3 ( Kaka, Karim Benzema*2) Neo GSP Stadium-
27 March, 2012- Champions League [.
It took awhile but Chelsea and Real Madrid both scored late to take leads back home.
Chelsea won away in Europe for the first time in 13 months when Salomon Kalou scored late in the
second half to give the Blues a 1-0 win against Benfica. The home side had the majority of
possession and registered 25 shots but didn't create many real chances.
Another round of European action, another round of predictification. I have to say that we were
pretty proud of our Champions League Round of Sixteen predictions, where we were able to pick seven
out of eight. We told you that APOEL would beat Lyon and that Marseille would beat Inter Milan.
Did anyone watch the USA U-23 match last night? Ugly stuff, that. Almost puts a damper on the
spirits after this past weekend's New England Revolution win. Predictably, Monday passed
uneventfully in the Revs' world, but the beautiful game marches on, and so does the news! For that
reason, we continue with the Rounds.
The Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaampions!!! League gets back under way tonight, with the
first-legs of the quarter-finals all due to be played out over the course of the next two nights.
We thought we'd have a little shufty at proceedings and make a few bold predictions.
Chelsea Must Dig Deep To Repel Barcelona - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Ahead of Barcelona v Chelsea in the Champions League tomorrow night, we looks at the importance
of Petr Cech and the Chelsea defence in keeping out Barcelona and Lionel Messi.
Â
Chelsea Must Dig Deep to Repel Barcelona
According to Castrol EDGE Performance analysis, Petr Cech could be the key if Chelsea are to
spring a surprise and resist Barcelona's attacking advances in next week's Champions League
semi-final second leg.
Here we are again with your all of your weekend action. Once again, the schedule is a little light,
but there are some potentially great matches to be played, just as there always are.
There is one matchup this weekend featuring a pair of WCR Top 25 Clubs. As fate would have it, it's
not being televised, but it will be available on your computer on ESPN3.
2012/13 FC Porto Home Shirt - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
The 2011/12 season was a good one for Porto as they soared to victory in the Portuguese Liga but
their European performance was somewhat average. Outdone by APOEL and Zenit St. Petersburg in the
UEFA Champions League and lost to Sporting in the Round of 32 of the Europa League.
30.04.2012 - Con gol de Lisandro López (´29), Olympique de Lyon venció
(1-0) al Quevilly en el Stade de France y se llevó (por 5º vez) la Copa de Francia (jugada
desde 1918).
No son los mejores dÃas del Lyon y quizás de ahà devenga la exaltación de los festejos por una
Copa que llega como consuelo en una temporada que no lo tuvo en la lucha por la Ligue 1, fue
eliminado de Champions en octavos de final (Apoel Nicosia de Chipre) y cayó en la final de la Copa
de la Liga (Marsella 0-1).
I woke up this morning wanting the ‘D' Word to stand for ‘Defense' – as it was in my opinion,
the main talking point to last night's match vs. Valencia. Having read some of the comments from
the liveblog at RMFB (and what some Madrid fans are saying), perhaps another ‘D' Word should be
added into the mix: disappointment – Madridisimo's collective disappointment for the result (an
obvious one) and my personal disappointment for their nitpicky reaction to the game.
UEFA Champions League on Fox Soccer: Chelsea - Benfica at 2:30pm with Chelsea leading 1-0 and Real
Madrid - APOEL at 5pm (2:30pm on Fox Soccer Plus and some Fox Sport regional networks) with Real
leading 3-0. CONCACAF Champions League semifinal second-legs on Fox Soccer and TeleFutura: Satos
Laguna - Toronto at 8pm with the series tied 1-1 and UNAM Pumas - Monterrrey at 10pm with Monterrey
leading 3-0.
