Atletico have not won at the Bernabeu in 10 years. The last time October 30th, 1999 when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink with his brace and Jose Mari won a now historic victory. Sergio Aguero was 11 years old.

Hasselbaink was virtually unstoppable and so was Joan Capdevila, now at Villareal.

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This is something I saw at Kopblog, posted by a true fan who did a very good research. Â Maybe some of us might see what's it is like for Rafa and how brilliant he has been for us.
2004/05
£2m - Josemi: peanuts and was moved on in a swap for Kromkamp 18 months later
£1.5m - Antonio Nunez: part of the Michael Owen deal and filled a gap for a while. Click to continue reading...

On the eve of this season, Liverpool manager Rafa Bentiez bemoaned his side's lack of financial power. However, an analysis of the spending habits of the ‘Big Four' since his appointment in June 2004 shows that the Spaniard has outspent Sir Alex Ferguson by £80m. Furthermore, when money raised through player sales is taken into account, Benitez' net spending dwarves Ferguson's by £95m and only Chelsea have spent more on player recruitment during the same five-year period. Click to continue reading...

"There is a massive difference in money but we have better fans than United."

I don't know whether I'd describe the difference as 'massive', but yes, Rafael Benitez has spent more money than Sir Alex Ferguson.

Money
Liverpool
2004/2005
In:
Djibril Cisse £14m
Xabi Alonso £10.

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The biggest debate in the Premiership right now.

Has Rafa made mistakes? Yes, many. It was a huge mistake hawking Alonso in that cheap and tawdry fashion. Rafa does have a reputation of giving short shrift to the personal touch. His use of Benayoun, a creative and clever spark is an after thought.

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Photo courtesy of izalldos

Tuesday and Wednesday brought about Match Day 2 in the UEFA Champions League, and the four representatives from Spain had interesting ties that helped shape their respective groups. On Tuesday, Sevilla FC visited Rangers FC at the Ibrox Stadium, where the European night atmosphere is second to none, buoying their beloved Gers, and FC Barcelona hosted FK Dynamo Kyiv at the Camp Nou, where both teams headed into this clash with undefeated records in both league and in Europe.

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• Fabulouso and his teammates Konko, Adriano and Kanouté all netted in goals that enabled Sevilla to down Rangers 4-1 last night. Yes, Gattuso would be cheesed off, but they did it in Glasgow... so there are no excuses.
• The Messiah and Pedro Rodriguez both scored for Barca in their 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.

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Good money after bad?

Over 700 Ashes tickets still available Click Here to Buy!

Since his arrival at Anfield in the summer of 2004, Rafael Benitez has proven himself as one of the best tacticians around, winning the Champions League in his first season and turning Liverpool FC into a prominent European force.

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Grenoble v Marseille
Originally uploaded by toksuede Me encontre en el grupo de Futblog esta fotografia, me gusto mucho esta perspectiva de la entrada al pasto en el partido frances Grenoble vs Marseille.
El Olympique de Marsella, vigente subcampeón le gano 2-0 al Grenoble en uno de los partidos del sábado 08/08/09 de la primera jornada del campeonato frances donde el vigente campeón es el Girondins de Burdeos. Click to continue reading...

Why do I care about the Golden Boot? What does it matter to me as a lover of a club? The Golden Boot doesn't guarantee titles (eh, Mr Anelka?) or even European placement (eh, Mr Phillips?) It is glory for the individual in a collective endeavor and should be a mere footnote to the supporter who hungers for team glory.

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Bordeaux took advantage of Lyon's problems last season and they managed to pip Marseille to the Ligue 1 title. That was a big success for Les Girondins led by Laurent Blanc from the bench and Yoann Gourcuff from the pitch. These two were the reasons behind team's success, although they had big help from Gourcuff's teammates.

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After narrowly missing out on Ligue 1 title last season, Marseille look determined to make things right. After Lucho, Diawara, M'Bia and Edouard Cisse, OM officials have announced the signings of Fernando Morientes and Fabrice Abriel. Morientes joins the club on free transfer from Valencia, while midfielder Abriel comes from Lorient for €2.

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Cristiano Ronaldo will sport the number 9 at Real. He mentioned that he wants to emulate Alfredo Di Stefano, the legend who wore the same number. This is a noticeable turnaround from his timorous debut at Man Utd where he initially refused to wear the number 7 jersey as it belonged to George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham because it would invite unwanted comparisons to these greats.

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Di Stefano uses his trophies to carry water to his drought stricken village

The player most associated with Real's glittering success turned 83 years old yesterday but he has competition from the most expensive signing in football history.

Ronaldo, who was signed from Manchester United for 80 million pounds (C$152 million), was quoted as telling sports daily Marca on Sunday:

"Some day I would like to have a winning record similar to Alfredo di Stefano.

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So just who is playing in the July 4 South American all-stars verses a Rest of the World team at the exhibition game?

Even the game organizers are still trying to figure that one out it appears.

And it's not just Blanco who is either not coming or remains a question mark. For instance, Brazilian great Roberto Carlos is still listed as participating on the Coliseum Web site as I write this.

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1. AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi has said the Serie A club is open to offers for Andrea Pirlo, amid speculation the Italy midfielder could join former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.(BBC)
2. Hull boss Phil Brown has confirmed he is interested in bringing Michael Owen to the KC Stadium, after the striker confirmed today that he is leaving Newcastle (Independent)
3. Click to continue reading...

The former Spain international striker Fernando Morientes is a free agent having left Valencia. According to a report in the British broadsheet The Independent, Premier League outfit Fulham are keeping tabs on Fernando Morientes. The 33-year-old is available on a free transfer this summer having left Primera Division side Valencia at the end of the 2008-09 campaign. Click to continue reading...

North Korea is the newest and latest team to clinch a World Cup bid.
Hopefully all the nuclear testing hasn't made them a super team. And if that is the case, hopefully the USMNT doesn't get grouped with them.
Let's do some links:

• Bayern might not sell Ribery. [ESPN]
• Barca is playing Chivas in San Fran.

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Florentino Pérez doesn't do things by halves. Neither do Real Madrid.

For most clubs, a season finishing second only to a magisterial Barcelona side in La Liga, and suffering an (admittedly humiliating) exit in the Champions League to a side as well-equipped as Liverpool would register as decent.

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May seem a bit far-fetched and have no basis in truth but there is a rumor going around that former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker, Fernando Morientes, may be making his way to Colorado. A fomer European Footballer of the Year, no less. I don't know about that but I do know that there will be another striker on his way to DSG Park in the not too distant future and it does appear that he will be from outside the MLS. Click to continue reading...

No sabría decir si fuimos el primer medio mexicano en hablar de la posible llegada del "Moro" Morientes al futbol mexicano, pero por lo menos uno de los primeros sí, y ahora se sabe que la directiva del Puebla estaría en conversaciones por ficharlo.
Y es que Francisco Bernat, socio mayoritario de los Camoteros, ya tuvo conversaciones con Ginés Carvajal, representante del delantero español, para mostrar su interés. Click to continue reading...

The main headline on Tribal Football MLS reads this....
MLS chiefs are seeking talks with off contract Valencia centre-forward Fernando Morientes.
The former European Player of the Year is ready to quit Spain to continue his career and has turned down offers from Greece and Turkey. Click to continue reading...

Inició el famoso y único draft de jugadores del futbol mexicano, la estufa delfutbol esta bien caliente. Los dueños y promotores están reunidos en Cancún para negociar e intercambiar jugadores.

Las transferencias y movimientos mas importantes hasta ahora son:

• El portero argentino Federico Vilar buscado por el Cruz Azul finalmente se queda en el Atlante, se queda supuestamente por amor a la camiseta, pero más bien para poder jugar el Mundial de Clubes y entrenar mejor en Cancún que en la Noria.

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Inició el famoso y único draft de jugadores del futbol mexicano, la estufa del futbol esta bien caliente. Los dueños y promotores están reunidos en Cancún para negociar e intercambiar jugadores.

Las transferencias y movimientos mas importantes hasta ahora son:

• El portero argentino Federico Vilar buscado por el Cruz Azul finalmente se queda en el Atlante, supuestamente por amor a la camiseta, pero más bien para poder jugar el Mundial de Clubes y entrenar mejor en Cancún que en la Noria.

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The Italian international fullback that Liverpool bought from Udinese last summer maybe heading back to Serie A soon. Andrea Dossena failed to live up to his expectation in English league are pondering a move to Juventus but Rafa Benitez hopes he'll stay for another season according to Dossena's agent, Roberto La Florio.

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And just like that, the season ends.

Today's it's the 38th and final match of the season, a home game against Athletic Bilbao.

A point and we're in Europe's second tier competition, the UEFA Europa League. A loss and we could conceivably be out of Europe all together.

Call me crazy, but I'm not all that excited about being in the Europa League.

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The end of May is always a sad time for football fans.

Seasons end, fans either lament what could have been or rejoice in what was (see: Barcelona) and players start to pack their bags for other teams.

While speculation escalates over the economic and sporting future of Valencia CF, two players said their goodbyes to the club and the fans yesterday.

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It was the summer of 2006 when Calum Woods decided his career needed a new direction. For a boy who had grown up in the shadow of Anfield, leaving Liverpool the city was almost as hard as leaving Liverpool FC.
At one point, the Melwood training ground rivalled John Lennon Airport for departures. Click to continue reading...

Alex Ferguson will be singing the praises of Manchester City today after Liverpool stuttered, spluttered and failed to find the winning goal they needed to have any chance of winning the title. From a fantastic position before Christmas, Liverpool have thrown point after point away to allow Manchester United to catch them up, draw level [. Click to continue reading...

Our friends MLS en Espanol first broke this story back on November 27th but more information has come to light. Tribal Football is reporting that Seattle Sounders FC are interested in the center forward:

Seattle Sounders are being linked with Valencia centre-forward Fernando Morientes.

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Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred... these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these "old timers" a chance they are still [. Click to continue reading...

Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred... these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these "old timers" a chance to prove they [. Click to continue reading...

Breaking news from our friends of MLS en Espanol!
Here is the email they just sent us...
Good morning guys,
I just posted this "exclusive news" about Fernando Morientes on my blog. There is also a video I found on youtube (great goals!)
My friend from Agoge Sports (a sport marketing agency) sent me an e-mail telling me that the MLS and Morientes's agent are discussing the possibility of bringing him to the league next season. Click to continue reading...

A decent win today against a pretty poor Maritimo side in the opening leg of the first round of the UEFA Cup, 1-0 on a goal by Fernando Morientes.

The 32-year old striker evaded numerous challenges from the Maritimo defense after just 12 minutes to fire home. Morientes was part of a physically imposing forward line on the night, paired with Serbian Nikola Zigic.

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Former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes has today admitted he would be interested in a move to Tottenham, if they were to approach him. The Valencia front man left the Premier League two years ago after spending just a season at Anfield, where he struggled to reproduce his best form. Click to continue reading...