The trouble with making jokes about potential disasters is that when they come true, you're torn between the urge to shout 'I told you so' and, depending on your social stereotype, the urge to cry / pray / drink / blow yourself up.

At Manchester United, by no means are we near any financial disasters, but that will be the talk of the town after United backed out of the Adem Ljajic deal.

Rumours persist that Real Madrid striker Ruud Van Nistlelrooy is heading out of Spain and may be on his way to Liverpool.
The former Man Utd striker, now 33, has said to his advisors that he wants to move to Anfield as back-up to injury hit Fernando Torres.
The Dutchman is way down the pecking order at the Bernabeu with the arrival of Ronaldo, Benzema and Kaka and the established Raul and Higuain.

(L'insolita gara di palleggi)
Un noto videgioco. Ed uno spot per pubblicizzarlo. Fin qui nulla di strano, ma a rendere tutto curioso, e anche indredibile, è stata la scelta di far cimentare campioni del calcio in una gara di palleggi...bendati!. Il difensore della Juventus e dalla Nazionale, Chiellini ne realizza uno, Schweinsteiger e Mandanda appena due, Benzema segna a fatica cinque sul tabellino.

David Villa wins the award for best X-mas this La Liga season because he is looking to have a very bright future no matter where that might be. I talk about it a lot and I think it is one of the most important La Liga stories that will unfold over the next few transfer windows, but is Valencia going to go the route of a fire sale or will the top four squad find a way to maintain their current roster and competitive level?

For all of England's confidence, bravado and gusto in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2010, this evening promises to be a very tense time for English football.

Although England have been seeded with the "elite" teams of the world, today's drawing for the group stages for the World Cup still represents a nervous crossroads scenario for England players and their fans who have done so well to get this far.

The title is decided in Brazil and Japan, red cards and fighting, Champions League news and trouble in The Europa League all feature in this week's the good, the bad and the ugly section of the podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

photo credit: Crystian Cruz

The knockout stage of the Champion's League was drawn the other day and now we've got some clubs with big, fat smiles on their faces while others can already feel the doom and gloom of an impending loss to a VERY powerful club.

Internazionale drew Chelsea in a crapper that is going to sting all the way until the 90 minutes ends on the field.

This week was full of massive games, every major league had at least two gigantic clashes, providing for spectacular footy for all us fans to watch.
Barcelona-Real Madrid EL CLASICO


An extremely important game for both teams, Real Madrid wanted to solidify their lead over Barcelona, while the Blaugrana wanted to catch up to Los Blancos.

No, don't get too excited. It won't happen before South Africa, and it may not happen ever but Goal.com is reporting that the FFF are trying to woo Blanc to replace Raymond after World Cup 2010 (when Domenech's contract is up). But will Blanc agree, particularly after he was passed up for the position in 2004 for Domenech?

Después de ver el entretenido Valencia-Real Madrid de hoy, no he podido evitar la tentación de hacer unos breves apuntes sobre lo que me parece más interesante de lo que llevamos de liga en estos dos equipos.
- Garay decía al acabar el partido que el Madrid va encontrando poco a poco su identidad.

The unexpected news that Arsene Wenger has declared he will try to sign a striker in January must have floored most Arsenal fans. The Frenchman doesn't usually make any claims let alone buys in the transfer window.

Even if Robin Van Persie wasn't out for the season, I still really felt Arsenal had to buy.

This weekend we felt the bitter pill of defeat.

We havent felt that one for a while and personally i feel it wasnt deserved.

First lets get one point straight. Both teams had their moments. As i predicted Higuain was vicious.

I would have prefered a draw. Neither team deserved to win or lose on the day.

Real Madrid

All Real Madrid wants for X-mas is for the gifts to keep on coming. And can you blame Florentino and the gang. He has already signed Ronaldo, Kaka, and Benzema and now that star defensive force Pepe is out indefinitely, the buying should continue. Lets face it.

I think that it is fair to say that if Van Persie had not got injured we would be top of the league right now; well, I feel confident that every Arsenal supporter would agree with that, perhaps there is the odd misguided Chav who might try and differ but what do they know?

A great debate followed as to whether the squad had what is takes to compensate for the loss and go on to win the league.

It's only days away from the opening of the transfer window a time when much cash will be splashed and many sides will be re-shaped and benches re-inforced. Because there can be some major impact signings, I am waiting to analyze the match-ups in the Champions League Round of 16 and the Europa League Round of 32 until after the transfer window closes.