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At 40 years of age Pep Guardiola has already implemented himself into one of the greatest coaches in modern history. 29 years his senior Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who sat in the opposite dugout at Wembley on Saturday night, conceded his Manchester United team were inferior to the young pretender's Blaugrana who put on arguably, the most beautiful 90 minutes of football in a European Cup Final.

Samuel Eto'o finished off what has been a brilliant year for him by scoring two goals as Inter beat Palermo 3-1 to win the Italian Cup final.

Eto'o's 36th goal of the season gave Inter the lead in the 26th minute. Thiago Motta won the ball while being brought down by Hernandez; Sneijder picked it up and, seeing Eto'o's run, slid a delightful pass in behind the defence for Samuel to latch onto, bear down on goal and sidefoot past Sirigu into the far corner.

It was brief, but for half an hour Atlante were living the dream. They took full advantage of the one opportunity they had, but it was only a matter of time before Barcelona, with all of their stars, would retake the advantage. Three goals from Busquets, Messi, and then Pedro secured the win for the European champions.

Burnley may have stolen quite a few headlines yesterday after securing a long-awaited promotion to the Barclays Premier League. However, Burnley's promotion really shouldn't be a newsflash to anyone, as the former Championship outfit already impressed big time during a dream run in the Carling Cup, which saw them eliminate Chelsea and Arsenal en route to a thrilling semifinal against Tottenham.

Since Manchester United's memorable 1998-99 season, no club has since laid claim to the proper "treble" in subsequent outings ("treble" being defined as the rightful champions of the UEFA Champions' League, domestic league title and domestic cup competition).

While Liverpool fans had reason to celebrate three titles two seasons later, references to this accomplishment as a "treble" is noted with a disclaimer that said treble is really a "cup" treble (the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup).

A week ago I asked you, the readers, if Chelsea needed to sign a short-term replacement for Essien. A hefty 44 percent of you said we should ink free agent Stephen Appiah if he were interested. Some 43 percent of you said we need not delve into the market.

Well, neither of you got your wish.

Both sides of the Clásico Regiomontano experienced different emotions during the weekend. CONCACAF club champions Monterrey were knocked out of the FIFA Club World Cup by Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol, 4-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes. Reysol took the lead through their star midfielder Leander Domingues, but the Rayados equalized through Humberto Suazo five minutes later.

The matchup between the champions of CONCACAF and CAF has resulted once again in an African victory. TP Mazembe of DR Congo defeated Pachuca 1-0, the lone goal scored by Mbenza Bedi in the 20th minute. Pachuca had just seen Damián Manso's shot hit the inside of the post and roll across the goalline without going in, and then witnessed Mazembe score just seconds later.

CONCACAF club champions Pachuca are making final preparations in Abu Dhabi for their opening match in the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup against African club champions TP Mazembe on Saturday. Of the 23 players named in the final roster, three of them are American players -- Marco Vidal, Hérculez Gómez, and Francisco Torres.

CONCACAF club champions Atlante finished fourth at this year's FIFA Club World Cup, losing 4-3 on penalties to Asian champions Pohang Steelers after a 1-1 draw. From reading the press reports, Atlante were unlucky not to win in normal time, as they hit the woodwork at least three times (all by Gabriel Pereyra).

CONCACAF club champions Atlante advanced to the semis of the FIFA Club World Cup after defeating Auckland City 3-0 this morning. I didn't watch the match, but from match reports that I've read from Mexican and Argentine newspapers it was a comfortable victory for the Potros. Atlante will now play Barcelona one semifinal, and Korea's Pohang Steelers will play Estudiantes La Plata in the other.

The announcement of the draw for the FIFA Club World Cup was actually last week, but got buried in my run-up to the first leg of the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff. Atlante, the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League winners, received a beneficial draw when they were paired with the winners of the Al Ahli (UAE) - Auckland City (New Zealand) match.

The FIFA Club World Cup, better known as the expanded Intercontinental Cup, concluded with Manchester United lifting the trophy after defeating Liga de Quito 1-0. Wayne Rooney settled the final with a well-taken strike in the 73rd minute. I had an early morning flight so I wasn't able to watch the match, but from reading the press reports it appeared that Man U were the better side despite the expulsion of Vidic.

Manchester United advanced to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup by virtue of their 5-3 victory over Asian champions Gamba Osaka. It was 2-0 to United at halftime, but six goals were scored in the final 15 minutes -- and four in five minutes! United were always going to win, but Gamba kept on battling, and the crowd definitely got their money's worth.

Pachuca's dream of advancing to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup fell short at the last hurdle when they lost 2-0 to LDU de Quito early this morning. Claudio Bieler and Luis Bolaños scored for the South American champions in the opening half hour. I haven't been able to watch the entire match, but from watching match highlights and reading match reports and interviews it appears that Liga deserved their win.

CONCACAF champions Monterrey landed in Japan this morning in advance of their match against the winner of Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol and Oceania champions Auckland City. Monterrey have the slightly easier path to the finals as they would face South American champions Santos in the semifinal instead of Barcelona, but of course they would have to get past the survivor of the preliminary round first.

Pachuca get their big chance to advance to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup when they face South American champions Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito on Wednesday night (Japan time). The match kicks off at 0330 Arizona time (GMT -7), so if you're staying up late on the West Coast, can't sleep, or are getting ready to go to work on the East Coast you can watch it on Fox Soccer Channel.

I haven't made any posts on the FIFA World Club Championship, partly because I'm not able to watch the games as much as I used to, and partly because the matches aren't that interesting until the final. I saw a rebroadcast of Adelaide United vs. Waitakere United, and Adelaide took a long time to defeat a side that was very limited.