It can be done! For years it has seemed that it was impossible to take possession of a football away from Barcelona star Xavi. But last night his team-mate Sergio Busquets gave a masterclass in how to nick the ball from the midfield magician. Europe's elite will have been watching closely as Busquets managed to [.

Following on from the news broken by Wrighty7 that the former Newell's Old Boys has agreed a 5 year contract with the Ashburton Grove team AA has gained exclusive access to an interview conducted with the pocket sized maestro and his agent Jorge Mendes explaining the reasons for his departure from the team newly sponsored by the Al Thani family of Qatar.

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First things first.. Here's wishing a super happy new year to Gooners world over! 2010 was an exciting year to be a Gooner..

For me the year can be summed up under the following 5 pointers -

• Horrific injury to Ramsey (proving the -'ve football teams play against us)
• Comeback against Barca (proving our resolute)
• Wenger staying defiant despite getting jeered by the Old Trafford faithful (proving his faith in the ‘Arsenal Way')
• Standing ovation for Dudu at the Emirates (proving our class)
• Win against Chelsea (proving our belief)

That apart, there have been several moment which made us gasp in despair, jump in joy & go beserk in ecstasy.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the headline grabber with three of the goals but the bigger story was Kaka scoring his first goal after returning from an eight month injury layoff. Jose Mourinho celebrated in his usual over the top style which led to this bit of agitprop by Cani. The Villareal midfielder was punished with a red card.

Image via Nacional.hr

Oh, these pro-creating, earth-populating footballers, they just never stop.

Shakhtar Donetsk homie Eduardo and his wife Andrea have confirmed that they are expecting a second child in March 2011. The couple already have a six-year-old daughter, Lorena.

Dudu gave a statement to a telly station in Croatia about the baby's impending arrival, and added a cryptic, "It most likely will be a boy.

FC Barcelona Beat Real betis 5-0 in Copa Del Rey Quarter Final first Leg

The newly crowned FIFA-Balon D'Or World Player of Year, Lionel Messi celebrated his scuccess in grand style scoring a hat-trick in the first leg of Copa Del Rey quarter final clash against Real Betis. The scoreline would give us an impression of a very easy outing, but it wasn't that easy.

A lot of people were frustrated and riled (choose your favourite adjectives) over the result at Ipswich. I can understand it because that's just how I felt. Even though I try to ensure I don't have unrealistic expectations there are times when it's difficult to accept a performance. Wednesday night was a classic example.

I am not only a football fan but I also enjoy reading a good magazine and looking at beautiful women. You can do that also in this month's edition of FHM, featuring Nicole Scherzinger. Yeah, I'm sure you know her, but you can also find a lot of other great articles. Find out more about that here: http://www.

By Ollie Irish

Serial shit-stirrer Johan Cruyff says Barcelona would be nuts not to consider selling Dani Alves to Manchester City.

Alves is contracted at Barca until the summer of 2012 but is stalling on a contract extension as Barca refuse to meet his hefty wage demands.

There have been highs and lows in 2010, and despite my negativity at times overall I would definitely say that progress has been made. Probably the best moment of 2010 was spanking Chelsea recently 3-1, while the worst moments must include the dismal recent surrender to the Spuds and the poor home performance against Barca in the CL.

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First things first.. Here's wishing a super happy new year to Gooners world over! 2010 was an exciting year to be a Gooner..

For me the year can be summed up under the following 5 pointers -

• Horrific injury to Ramsey (proving the -'ve football teams play against us)
• Comeback against Barca (proving our resolute)
• Wenger staying defiant despite getting jeered by the Old Trafford faithful (proving his faith in the ‘Arsenal Way')
• Standing ovation for Dudu at the Emirates (proving our class)
• Win against Chelsea (proving our belief)

That apart, there have been several moment which made us gasp in despair, jump in joy & go beserk in ecstasy.

Barcelona 2-1 Levante ( Pedro*2/ Christian Stuani) Nou Camp, Barcelona- January 2011 Two second half goals from Pedro gave Barcelona a winning start to 2011 as they beat Levante at the Nou Camp. Levante did pull one back through Christian Stuani, but Barca held on for the win. Barcelona vs Levante 1-0 ( Pedro goal [.

BARCELONA, Spain Pedro Rodriquez scored twice as Barcelona made heavy weather of beating promoted Levante 2-1 to move five points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday. The champions, with 46 points from 17 matches, pulled away from second-placed Real Madrid which visits local rivals Getafe on Monday.

By Ollie Irish

This is supposedly a first look at Barcelona's next away shirt (source: El Mundo Deportivo), made by Nike and complete with Qatar Foundation sponsor's logo on the chest. You might think it's for goalkeeper Victor Valdes, who has been the man in the black in recent seasons, but no, it's for the outfield players: Messi, Xavi and co.

Deportivo La Coruña and holders Sevilla moved into the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey on a night when Josep Guardiola saw his Barcelona squeak through on away goals.

Having been frustrated by Athletic Bilbao in a goalless first leg two weeks ago, Barcelona once again found their opponents difficult to break down.

Which are the best soccer teams or leagues in the world? Of course we can see which teams win more matches, and for leagues, UEFA's league coefficient allows us to answer that question with a fair amount of precision. Less systematic but popular ways of determining league or team quality involves looking at international head-to-head competition, or evaluating which leagues attract the best players and managers.

FC Barcelona increased the lead at the top of the table to five points with a 4-0 win at Deportivo. Villa, Lionel Messi, Iniesta and Pedro all got into the score sheet on a very wet and cold night. Real Madrid has teh chance to reduce the lead back to two when they face third placed Villareal tommorrow night.

On the day the news broke, I was filled with unreasoning anger. If you asked me articulate why I was so mad, I would have had trouble, which is really not very good going for someone trained to make well reasoned arguments.
There's been a lot of link spilled on the topic already, whether in support of the Qatar Foundation deal or in opposition to it.

By Ollie Irish

Back yesterday from a long weekend in Barcelona. Didn't get to see them dismantle Malaga (though I did watch it on the tellybox, and could only marvel at a) Barca's imperious ball control, not to mention their workrate, which is often underrated, and b) the Sky Sports commentators' relentless stream of Barca sycophancy – in the light of a), this is understandable I suppose.

Artists renderings of the new Houston Dynamo grounds. Looks like they might get shovels in the ground this month.

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Cleaning up a little MLS business:

You might remember about two months ago I wrote about Barcelona as potential MLS All-Star opposition.

In a way, that's exactly what Barca have done. As ball boy, trainee, player, captain and now coach, they've shaped the skinny kid from a small town into the charming, well-spoken man in a sharp suit he is today.
In recent years, everyone from players, club management, Catalan politicians, entertainers of all stripes and Jose Mourinho have called him the perfect manager for Barca.

Hunting with a CatHow fitting was it that before I last Sunday's 2am (Singapore Time) match between Real Madrid and Villarreal, I had been watching a documentary at Nat Geo about the pack hunting methods of mountain lions. The documentary showed their different methods (Ambush, Blitz and Seige) to take down various prey that included a Zebra, some form of Antelope and even a full grown Giraffe!

This should have been posted last Friday but got lost in the shuffle. What do you think is going on in Greasano's head as he looks to his left and sees six little cules pose for the Ballon d'Or dream team of 2010? On the last La Liga Weekly podcast, A New Year And Copa del Rey Beginning there was some discussion on David Villa not being part of the Barca wolf pack as he was officially.

Today, both teams that I have supported in the Asian Cup Quarter Final lost, yet, I was very happy. For the first time, I watch so much competitive and excellent Asian Cup. In the past, we used to watch only few good games in the Asian Cup. Today, seems will enjoy many games.
Japan beat Qatar after a wonderful game with five beautiful goals.

MADRID, Spain — Champions Barcelona went seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish first division on Saturday as goals from Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta sealed a 3-0 home win over Racing Santander. Barcelona had lost 3-1 to Real Betis in their midweek Kings Cup match although [.

Barcelona equalled their club record of 14 successive Liga victories with a 3-0 triumph against Racing Santander on a night when Luís Fabiano starred for Sevilla at home to Levante.

Barca's 28-match unbeaten run in all competitions came to end when they lost the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final to Real Betis in midweek, were ahead inside 90 seconds through Pedro's sixth goal of 2011.

Karim Benzema rescued Real Madrid as they enjoyed a 1-0 victory over Real Mallorca. Espanyol boosted their hopes of a place in next season's Champions League as they came from a goal down to beat Getafe 3-1 in Madrid. Villarreal climbed to third place with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Real Sociedad.

This was probably Benzema's most decisive Real Madrid goal to date.
.So it seems we are heading for a period of stretched resources for Real Madrid. Given our knack for early exits in the Copa Del Rey in the last few seasons (coupled with the ridiculous justification of ‘it helps with our La Liga campaign), we now find ourselves playing a game every 3 days for the month of January.

The play station amazing team, or the "Barca of Asia" as Metsu called them, had a deserved victory over South Korea in one of the most entertaining and high quality football in Asia. The Japanese first goal was a very special one. They tied 1-1 at first half. Then, played extra time. South Korea scored in the 120th minute the equalizer.

BARCELONA, Spain — Karim Benzema led Real Madrid to a 1-0 win at Sevilla before Barcelona rolled over Almeria 5-0 in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday. Benzema, the much-questioned France striker, answered his critics with a valuable away goal in the 17th minute of the first-leg match at Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

FC Barcelona clinically destroyed fellow Spanish La Liga side Almeria 5-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Nou Camp on Wednesday. FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the 9th minute and added a second in the 16th. David Villa and Pedro Rodriguez notched goals [.

Real Madrid's La Liga title hopes suffered a huge blow with a surprise 1-0 defeat at Osasuna on Sunday which left Jose Mourinho's side seven points adrift of leaders Barcelona.

Javier Camunas broke the deadlock with a shot off the post in the 62nd minute of a typically bruising battle at the Reyno de Navarra stadium.

Yesterday I almost could not believe my eyes while watching the Asian Cup final of Japan vs. Australia. I was very happy to see the big leaps that Asian Football did in the last decade. It was one of those games that we say "the winner deserved victory and the loser didn't serve the defeat".
In the past, I always criticized Asian Football, and argued that 4.