It's been 7 days since the beginning of the Dragon Year – and here we are 7 points ahead of Barca in the league table. Our 3-1 over Zaragoza and Barca's 0-0 (their first scoreless game in 15 matches) made sure of that. In a league where the margins of error between a league title or a bridesmaid finish is a hairline, 7 points is gold – it gives us that all-important precious margin for error: to account for that somewhat inevitable match that will see us drop points against a Levante, Sporting or.

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!

"Yeah we gotcha!" was what Benzema was probably singing to himself after he scored a peach of a goal from a cleverly-taken early free kick by Xabi Alonso AS's Alfredo Relano called last night's game vs. Valencia our worst game of the season and though it's easy to contest his statement with even worse Madrid performances so far this season (e.

Despite the String of Missed Chances especially in the first half, I would say that we generally played well last night.
Last season, when asked about who I'd like us to face in the Champions League on our way to the final, I asked for the following teams: Olympique Lyonnais, AS Roma, Bayern Munich and Arsenal – I would have asked for Liverpool or Juventus too if possible.

No, Real Madrid is NOT in Crisis. We are merely in a slump. 5 dropped points over 2 games against La Liga teams whose objective is to stave off relegation is proof of that. Maybe Jose Mourinho's sarcastic remarks prior to the Levante game about just wanting to stay up were taken seriously by the team: prompting them to play as if we were a team battling relegation.

There was Benze-cat, and now there's Cris Charming. Yuck.
.
"He's NOT handsome!" was my wife's instant reply when I read Cristiano's post-game comments to her. I can only suppose that this is what happens when you read out comments that epitomize the arrogance of an ex-Manchester United Player to a Liverpool fan.

I didn't know what to expect after the build up to this CRUCIAL Euro 2012 Qualifier against Cyprus. I also can't remember a more distracting week for the Sellecao. Meireles' injury doubts and transfer bonanza, Postiga's sudden transfer, and of course the Carvalho drama. Who knows where the [read more]

By Chris Wright

A few photos of AVB officially unveiling his new signings Oriol Romeu (who has been given the No. 6 shirt vacated by Ricky Carvalho two years ago) and Romelu Lukaku during a Press Conference at Cobham Training Ground earlier this afternoon...

Photos: PA

Talented.

• And no one likes him. (Dirty Tackle)
• The top goal-scoring mids. (The Best Eleven)
• An Englishman up north. (Blagul Football)
• The face of foot. (The Carvalho Peninsula)
• Looking into Ligue 1. (Guardian)
• And its future. (BBC)
• Beware the Cescyle.

Mais um jogo amistoso, foi disputado no dia 07/06/2011, na cidade de Moanda-GAB, onde jogaram as seleções do Gabão (59º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Gâmbia (103º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado.
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Helder Carvalho-ANG
O único gol do jogo, foi de Njogu Demba-Nyren, aos 32 minutos do segundo tempo, ele que é jogador do Notts County-ENG, que marcou seu terceiro gol pela seleção nacional.

This team got relegated last year.

• Like Miami drapes in the 80's. (Football Fashion)
• The right man. (The Carvalho Peninsula)
• Deciphering the lingo. (Surreal Football)
• Les Bleus get a varsity jacket. (Freshness Mag)
• Possible denial at work. (Serie Aaaargh)
• Atletico fans, possibly feeling scorned.

Real talent.

[101gg]

• Average EPL success. (The Best Eleven)
• On the home continent. (AFR)
• No need to watch. (The Carvalho Peninsula)
• Just a great summer all around in LL. (La Liga Loca)
• Wayne Rooney's bike in animation. (EPL Talk)
• No boom here.

I am in Philadelphia tonight for Real Madrid's third and final pre-season game in the U.S. The team has been training hard in California and they have flown 3,000 miles to a very warm Philadelphia for tonight's game.

More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for this game and the parking lots are full of Real Madrid fans with them all anticipating another convincing Real victory tonight.

(Summary is not available.)

Appreciating the little things which create big things: Paulo Henrique's cheeky backheel.

• The clubs to watch in the summer. (SB Nation)
• The players to watch in the Copa America. (The Elastico)
• The inevitable comparison continues. (BBC)
• Football and advertising.

• The tactics of the year gone by. (Football Further)
• Stockholm fire. (IBWM)
• The CL Final in revue. (The Carvalho Peninsula)
• Wrapping up the league. (La Liga Loca)
• The year ahead in calcio. (AFR)
• The Honigsteins. (Rafa Honigstein)
• They want YOU.

FC Barcelona booked their place in this year's Champions League final in Wembley with a 1-1 draw against their bitter rivals Real Madrid. The only draw back of what was a perfect night was the stupid goal we conceded. Pedro put Barca ahead early in the first half but Marcelo equalised for Real Madrid.

Tutto pronto allo stadio Santiago Bernabeu per questa serata di semifinale di Champions league, in cui ad andare in scena c'è il "Clasico" di Spagna, dopo che ieri il Manchester ha gi parzialmente conquistato la qualificazione alla finale grazie alla vittoria per due a zero sul campo dello Schalke.

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid will have to do some lineup shuffling ahead of today's UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg (2:45 p.m., FX) at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Barcelona, which received word on Tuesday that Carles Puyol would be available, will be without midfield maestro Andres Iniesta, who has a calf strain.

23.04.2011 - Entonado y flamante campeón, el Real Madrid volvió a Mestalla para golear (3-6) al Valencia con goles de Higuaín (´31, ´42 y ´53), Benzema (´23) y Kaká (´39 y ´62) y un equipo alternativo que sólo dejó en campo a Carvalho y Casillas.
El plan B de Mourinho funcionó y, si bien el triunfo es de mínima utilidad matemática en la Liga, significa un golpe emotivo y una más que importante presencia para la inminente semifinal de Champions (vs Barcelona).

Carlo Ancelotti is making headlines this morning after his pre match press conference ahead of Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge tonight because of one thing in particular and that's his comment made of the squad he was left with this season.
Of course as you can imagine with the focus of the questions about his future Carlo has explained that we haven't had the best of seasons because we never had players of enough quality to cover when we had our mid-season crisis.

Mais um jogo da CHAN 2011, foi realizado no dia 15/02/2011, na cidade de Hilal-SUD, no Hilal Stadium, onde jogaram as seleões de Ruanda (135º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção de Angola (107º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
2006Kigali 08/10/2005 RWA0:1 (0:0)ANG Second stage2006Luanda 05/09/2004 ANG1:0 (0:0)RWA Second stage
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Mohamedou Mal Souley-CAM
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Mugiraneza Jean Baptiste, aos 18 minutos do primeiro tempo, ele que é jogador de Ruanda.

Before the AC Milan away game I wrote a piece entitled How To Beat AC Milan. Today I'll do the same for tonight's opponents Real Madrid. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending whether you enjoy my 1000 word updates this won't take very long because the simple answer is we can't.

David Luiz arrived during the media scuffle of Torres' transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea. All the back pages concentrated on Torres, but Luiz's arrival at Stamford Bridge in January looks to be an excellent piece of business by Chelsea.

Admittedly, before Luiz arrived in England, I knew of him and knew he was a very promising young defender but I had only seen him play a handful of times.

David Luiz arrived during the media scuffle of Torres' transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea. All the back pages concentrated on Torres, but Luiz's arrival at Stamford Bridge in January looks to be an excellent piece of business by Chelsea.

Admittedly, before Luiz arrived in England, I knew of him and knew he was a very promising young defender but I had only seen him play a handful of times.

Valentine's Day Irony.
How ironic is it that it had to be the man who has declared Jose Mourinho public enemy no.1 in the Spanish Coaching Community who would gift Mourinho such a lovely pre-Valentine's Day Gift. Marca's cover last Sunday said it all: a gift of 2 La Liga points from Sporting Gijon Coach and Super-Mario lookalike Manuel Preciado to Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho.

In reviewing the outcome of Real Madrid's 2-0 victory against Sevilla, Sid Lowe in his recent podcasts last week as well as in his guest spots at Real Madrid TV cleverly pointed out how Real Madrid had essentially ruined their streak of binary-code-like scorelines for the past few games.

Getting into final day in the transfer market, Premier League clubs made some surprising record breaking deal that no one would actually expect could happen this season.

Among the teams that reinforced heavily this January, Chelsea are practically the one that made the headline with the sensational swoop they made for Fernando Torres and David Luiz.

Roman Abramovich has stunned the football world once again as he did over 8 years ago tonight and has made his and Chelsea's intentions clear. There were those of us that called into question his commitment to the Chelsea cause at some stages of this season and I am happy to admit that I was one of them.

Jack Lang writes an excellent blog on Brazilian football called Snap Kaka and Pop! You can follow him on Twitter @Snap_Kaka_Pop ... Naturally, his favourite goal is by a famous Brazilian ...

Barcelona need a goal. Oleguer, that rare Marxist of a utility player, lumps the ball forward.

As Andrea Lazzari looks set to follow ex-boss Allegri to Milan, Qasa Alom explains why this might be a bad move for all parties concerned. Highly rated managers often have a tendency of taking former players with them to bigger clubs; Jose Mourinho took a fleet of players with him to Chelsea after winning the Champions League and subsequently brought R.

Carlo Ancelotti yesterday when asked about Chelsea's form and the fact that we let the likes of Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco and Carvalho go last summer, responded by stating he doesn't regret the decision at all and insisted the clubs youth policy is working.
He said:

"I always thought that this was a good squad, I thought this at the start of the season.