By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major Correspondents
What if the Champions League final were treated with the same reverence as the Super Bowl... Here are ten phenomena guaranteed to occur.
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Ducky's Note: Starting with this post, and hopefully not dying a premature death, BigFourZa will feature interviews with other football fans from around the world under the 'Fanboyism' section. The topics will range from match previews, reviews, transfer discussions, referee rants and a lot more.

Liverpool's depressing 2-1 defeat to AC Milan in the 2007 Champions League final was hard to take for players and fans alike, and Daniel Agger has revealed that he still feels the heartache of losing such an important game.Rafa Benitez inexplicably picked Bolo Zenden and Jermain Pennant ahead of the (arguably) more deserving Craig Bellamy and Peter Crouch that night, and I think that even

UEFA has revealed the new visual identity for the 2012 UEFA Champions League final in Munich on 19 May based on German Expressionism and the city's modern architecture.

Players are people. If you prick them, they bleed. Despite a professional existence that involves getting kicked, not all are invincible shoulder-goal-popping memes. They have feelings. If they sit on the bench for not scoring goals, then their confidence dips and they score less goals. It's a brutal cycle.

City are proving to be a strong contender for the Premier League title this season and one player who has been instrumental in the Club's unbeaten run and fantastic form is Yaya Toure.

Toure who joined City last summer after a misunderstanding with his former club FC Barcelona,has proved to be one of the club's most important signings with the 28 year old defensive midfielder going on to become a key player in Mancini's line up.

It was 1-1, in the final ten minutes of the match, and Didier Drogba was clearly fouled in the Bayer Leverkusen penalty area. Chelsea ought to have been awarded a penalty. Chelsea should have won 2-1 in Germany. The obvious penalty was not awarded, Chelsea proceeded to concede a late goal. Chelsea lost.

Remember Alex, protect the left side

13th of September 2011 seemed like such a long ago now. Both Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund were really struggling at that time. A little over 2 months since both teams played out a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park and pretty much everything happened in between these 2 games.

Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed speculation that Manchester United will entertain a high-profile bid from Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala for Dimitar Berbatov and insists that the Bulgarian's limited playing time is due to the exceptional consistency of Javier Hernandez.

Ferguson has hinted that United will actually offer Berbatov, who was signed from Tottenham Hotspur as United's record signing in 2008, an extension to stay on at Old Trafford for another year.

Edwin Van der Sar, one of the greatest Manchester United goalkeepers in the club's history, has said that if his old club are going to be able to defeat Barcelona then they need to change their style of play in midfield. Van der Sar has said his old team need 'to have more touches, be a little less direct, and more intricate in their play' if they are to challenge, get closer and eventually beat Barcelona.

Major League Soccer will be guaranteed at least one team in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals, but from which country will it be? Today's CONCACAF Champions League knockout round draw set up two inter-league ties: the all-MLS one and the all-Mexican League series between Morelia and Monterrey.

Will – review

Soccer has thrown up few films of value, and this picture by an American director and writer is among the worst. An 11-year-old Liverpool FC fanatic living in a Catholic orphanage is reunited with his football-crazy dad (Damian Lewis), who promises him a trip to see his team play in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In this week's review section, minnows on the brink, how to reach a final and not make friends, and Leeds humbled at home. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below, or highlighted in blue.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

A season removed from a surprising run to the 2010 Champions League Final, Bayern Munich are looking like the team to beat this time around.

Mario Gomez netted a hat trick as Bayern Munich rolled to an impressive 3-2 victory over Napoli. The German striker opened the scoring by finishing off a pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 17th minute.

We briefly started the My Favourite Match season during the summer with my own personal selection of the 1984 European Championship semi-final between France and Portugal. This morning it's back, with Andrew Harding recalling a 4-2 win which, as a seven year-old, came to define his relationship with the London club.

The 2011 Winning Ugly Radio Champions League Final is set, who will reign supreme over all of the Winning Ugly universe? Find out in the Season Four Finale, coming in December!

Kuyt Wants Silverware

Kuyt has recently spoke of his desire to win silverware and end his trophy drought with Liverpool, it has been well documented that Kuyt is nearing breaking an unwanted record as the Dutchman has now played 250 games without winning a single trophy.

Carling Cup matters to Liverpool after Europe blow, says Dirk Kuyt

• 'We're desperate to win silverware and taking it very seriously' • Forward says Liverpool have to be more ruthless against Stoke Dirk Kuyt believes failure to qualify for Europe has placed added significance on the Carling Cup at Liverpool this season and the Dutchman says his first trophy since joining the club in 2006 is long overdue.

Anyone who was at Old Trafford on Sunday to see Manchester City annihilate their neighbours or who watched the highlights on MOTD2 would have seen the same thing. United fans streaming out of a ground a full 20 minutes before the end. Yes, their outplayed team were 3-0 down but so what? By the time the sixth goal had been hammered in by Edin Dzeko, most of the stadium was about a quarter full.

After several speculation occurred regarding his future, Manchester United's Mexican star, Javier "Chicarito Hernandez" finally gets all things cleared up after the Red Devils finally confirmed that the youngster has signed a five year deal with the club.

The Mexico international striker reveals his joy with the contract renewal stating how his currently living his dream by already playing as a regular at the Red Devils despite only been there for a year.

Two weeks after his agent revealed that a new five year deal had been agreed, Manchester United have announced that Javier Hernandez has extended his contract with the club.

"Playing for Manchester United has been a dream come true for me," he said. "I never expected my first year to go so well and I'm delighted to commit my future to United.

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester United
I just saw a good match, maybe not as good as I was hoping, but all in all a good watch. United started with a team that was almost unrecognizable, with Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck. It seems that after last year's Champions League final, Ferguson is trying to bring some fresh blood to his first eleven, and today was a perfect example for that if you look at the substitutes bench where he left Rooney, Nani, Anderson and Hernandez between others.

By January of last season, Dimitar Berbatov had scored more hattricks for Manchester United than Wayne Rooney had goals, as we chased down that historic 19th title. Berbatov ended the season the league's top scorer with 20 goals and United knocked the scousers off their perch.

After failing to fully justify his massive price tag in the first two seasons it was great to see our Bulgarian play such a vital role in such a massive season for the club.

The image is burnt into your memory. Lionel Messi kicking a microphone after scoring against Van Der Sar, David Villa curling into the top corner, and watching Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez sit on the pitch in utter despair while Abidal lifts the giant trophy. Yes, the Champions League final may just have been 4 [.

This week's show is the second qualifier for the WUR 2011 Champions League Final. Who will join Ped in the final? Vying for the second spot is Brian "Hollywood" Bentley, Chris Ballard and Amanda. CSRN MEDIA PLAYER

This week's show is the second qualifier for the WUR 2011 Champions League Final. Who will join Ped in the final? Vying for the second spot is Brian "Hollywood" Bentley, Chris Ballard and Amanda. CSRN MEDIA PLAYER

Episode 132: "Flowers for Algernon"2011 Winning Ugly Champions League Qualifier
Host: Scott Bornstein
Panel: Brian Bentley, Amanda, Chris Ballard
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This week's show is the second qualifier for the WUR 2011 Champions League Final.

The Danish Superliga, wonderfully noncompetitive though it may be, is not quite the Champions League final. That said, Soren Berg's goal itself is no less spectacular than Zizou's swinging peg against Leverkusen some years back.

Though it doesn't have quite the same grace. That Zizou was something else.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has confessed that everyone at the club is desperate for the UEFA Champions League crown after seeing Europe's ultimate prize evade the Blues throughout their history.

Lampard scored the equalizer to make it 1-1 before Chelsea's penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final played in Moscow before witnessing his side knocked out of the competition by the Red Devils once again last season.

By Azeem Banatwalla

Last season was strange for Manchester United fans. It began with the traditional sluggish start that follows most World Cup summers. A ton of draws and unconvincing displays led many pundits and even more fans to write off United's chances when they were nine points off the pace in October.

Episode 129: "Scott is Bald, Large and In Charge"
Host: Scott Bornstein
Panel: Mark Fishkin, Zach Woosley, Ped McPartland
DOWNLOAD Episode 12932-Bit (Small File)96-Bit (Large File)
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The 2011 edition of the Winning Ugly Champions League begins with the first of three qualifiers.

Well, I am not much of a transfer speculation/discussion guy but today's game and a highly unrealistic transfer rumour about a Nasri-Tevez swap got me thinking.

First, let me just mention why I don't see any sense in the swap deal with Tevez. The Argentinean is a world-class player but I don't see him fitting into the Arsenal style.

It you asked someone to compare the performances of Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov last season you would struggle to believe they both score the same amount of league goals.

Tevez was seen as the driving force behind City's successful quest for Champions League football while Berbatov became something of a maligned figure, especially in the shadow of the sprightly figure of Javier Hernandez, the new darling of the Stretford End.

The mainstream football media are convinced that there is a ‘new Mourinho' at Chelsea. Although I'm inclined to agree, I'm not entirely sure who this ‘new Mourinho' actually is.

Of course, to even ask who this ‘new Mourinho' is implies a form, a Mourinho, from whom to begin. José Mourinho was a Chelsea manager, young, Portuguese, poached from Porto after a blistering season domestically and in Europe, who was expected to grasp a small but ambitious club by the horns and haul it that final step which it couldn't take under its previous (Italian) coach.

Like most American fans, my joy of European football is mostly experienced via my television set. So when I heard that the poor person's version of the Champions League Final was coming to the U.S., I jumped at the chance (as did 81,806 other fans)...
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It might not have been the Champions League Final but Manchester United and Barcelona faced off in Washington DC on Saturday as part of the World Football Challenge. Manchester United won the game, here are some of the sites and sounds from the game.
The scarfs are hung All types of jerseys where on display, even Afellay Game was part of the World Football Challenge
Manchester United and Barcelona take the fieldTeams ready for battle

Nine weeks after meeting in the Champions League final, Manchester United and Barcelona played each other again, this time it
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The UEFA Champions League final won by Barcelona over Manchester United feels like it was just yesterday, but the reality is an off-season has come and almost gone as the two European giants prepare to do battle in today's marquee match-up.

The New York Red Bulls are in London for the Emirates Cup, meaning a pair of friendlies on consecutive days, starting with a match against Paris St.

Although they didn't get an official invite from the White House (sections of the British press are rubbing their hands in glee over this story!), the Barcelona boys have continued to lend their hands to another good cause : the fight against polio with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jasper Juinen/Getty images(Bleacher Report) In the build up to Saturday's UEFA Champions League final Landon Donovan said that Lionel Messi "plays like I would against 15-year olds." By the end of the match many would agree with him and continue to believe that Messi truly has the skills to possibly be one of, if not the greatest ever.