Top Christmas Football Deals - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The best part about holiday shopping is the amount of discounts you can find. It is very important to go around the market before buying something because you never know, you might find it for cheaper elsewhere.

Keeping that in mind, I looked around for quality presents with good discounts and picked, what I thought, were really good bargains.

El Clasico showdown, Old Firm derby and lots of Man City action in December - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

There's only one more month left in 2011, and it looks like the year will go out with a real bang from a football standpoint.

December features several must-see matches, with a few that will have title implications on top of deciding bragging rights between fierce rivals.

Manchester United prepare for an important few weeks ahead as the chase for silverware gets a little bit more significant with some key fixtures coming thick and fast as the busy Christmas period looms.

As well as the matter of playing catch-up with Manchester City's irrepressible Galacticos, the Red Devils are participating in the advanced stages of the Carling Cup and the small matter of completing qualification for the knock-out stages for the UEFA Champions League still needs to be done.

On the 11th of October of this calends, two teams full of what Juventini call Great Champions will convene in the once beautiful seaside city of Pescara to give an exhibition of football of the highest quality. Yes, contain your excitement, Italy will play against the famed galacticos of Northern Ireland in conditions that usually bring out the finest in Italian national teams, a game that doesn't matter to anyone, as not only have Italy qualified, but Northern Ireland have failed to.

Not only are the Red Bulls still alive, after powering their way to a 2-0 victory against the League leading Los Angeles Galaxy, but if they win their final two games (and depending on other results) a top of the East finish is not beyond the realm of possibility. Even if that doesn't happen, two more wins and RBNY winds up with 49 points, which is just two less than last season.

Good afternoon! With our team still fighting for its playoff life, it's another massive, must-win, fixture against the MLS "King of The Hill". Yes, it's time for RBNY to play against the model franchise that is the LA Galaxy. As you might recall, this Galaxy fixture was originally scheduled to take place on August 28th, but was rescheduled due to a hurricane.

Spanish giants Real Madrid come to Philadelphia tomorrow to brave the wrath of Christian Hernandez and the Philadelphia Union.

Madrid has an incredible history both as a soccer club and as a political institution. The club has won a record 31 league titles and 9 European/Champions League trophies.

Kia Joorabchian, part of Corinthians unsavoury MSI connection

All the stars point to a Carlos Tevez move to Corinthians. He wants to be closer to his daughters and the Brazilian club is familiar territory leading them to the championship in 2005. The most doubtful part is not how they could come up with £35m.

Ducky's Note: Presenting the 1,504th guest writer we have had on BFZ in what has been a very interesting off-season here. We have made more moves this transfer season than Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea combined, and Sai Adithya, very appropriately, is the latest Manc to join the circus we've got going on here.

Ducky's Note: Presenting the 1,504th guest writer we have had on BFZ in what has been a very interesting off-season here. We have made more moves this transfer season than Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea combined, and Sai Adithya, very appropriately, is the latest Manc to join the circus we've got going on here.

"Totally outlcassed"; "you just can't argue with that they're just too good!"; "we're the best of the rest, at least...". But a selection of the comments I have heard from Manchester United fans in the wake of their club's second capitulation to Barcelona's incomparable passing football in three years.

By Geoff Reid

It's been a very good UEFA Champions League season with a dream final for most fans, and neutral fans at that. You can also definitely say that from a marketing perspective, you couldn't have asked for a better final, maybe a Barcelona vs Real Madrid final arguably, but we already saw that in the semi finals.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will grace US pitches in July.
There have been a whole bunch of Premiership vs MLS fixtures announced for the summer, but US teams are set to face yet more quality European competition. Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona will both make the Stateside trip during their pre-season, and will face Major League Soccer opposition during the World Football Challenge.

Nuri Sahin: A Fantastic Signing in my opinion
So it's official. Nuri Sahin, formerly of Borussia Dortmund is now officially a Real Madrid player.

.

He is now the 3rd Bundesliga player to join Real Madrid in Florentino's 2nd stint at the Madrid presidency following Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil.

Nuri Sahin: A Fantastic Signing in my opinion
So it's official. Nuri Sahin, formerly of Borussia Dortmund is now officially a Real Madrid player.

.

He is now the 3rd Bundesliga player to join Real Madrid in Florentino's 2nd stint at the Madrid presidency following Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil.

Nuri Sahin: A Fantastic Signing in my opinion
So it's official. Nuri Sahin, formerly of Borussia Dortmund is now officially a Real Madrid player.

.

He is now the 3rd Bundesliga player to join Real Madrid in Florentino's 2nd stint at the Madrid presidency following Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil.

If Derby County have stuttered to another unconvincing season, prolonging Nigel Clough's honeymoon period to the lengthiest in history this side of Alex Ferguson (remember his poor start from the late eighties?), Saturday's defeat against Reading caught my attention for the performances of two galacticos.

David Beckham will have a chance to face off against former club Real Madrid when the Los Angeles Galaxy plays host to the Spanish powerhouse on July 16th at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The match is part of the summer World Football Challenge series featuring top international clubs and MLS clubs.

Manchester United practically confirmed their spot in the Champions League semifinal after picking up another victory in the semifinal match up against Schalke on Wednesday, despite the convincing results in the two leg, Sir Alex Ferguson is looking for every help he can get to beat Barcelona in Wembley.

There are several major reasons why a player disappoints:

1. He or she I'll use just "he" from here on, but these points apply equally to female athletes gets injured and has difficulty recovering.
2. He turns out to be older than many people had thought, that is, on the decline at an age when some other players are able to maintain peak performance.

The big news in Spain last night was the hamstring injury that would keep Cristiano Ronaldo out of contention for a fortnight, denting Real Madrid's continental and domestic campaigns.

Ronaldo scored a hat trick in a 7-0 demolition of Malaga, bringing his total tally this season to 38 goals.

David vs Goliath, or a Battle of Titans? Rarely has the now usual CL encounter between OL and Real seemed more balanced, or rather less unbalanced. In the past 3 Gerland encounters, Lyon were the obvious underdogs, Madrid and their Galacticos the archfavourite. It should have been a whitewash, Real über alles, yet.

Osasuna's Javier Camunas sent Real Madrid into a world of pain with a wonderfully placed strike that clipped the woodwork but fortunately went in (Robin Van Persie will have something to say about that). With this loss, Real are 7 points behind Barca and as Sid Lowe points out, the race for the title maybe all but over.

Real Madrid have had an initial bid for former strikerRuud Van Nistelrooy rejected by Hamburg.

Real boss Jose Mourinho wants Van Nistelrooy to bolster his ailing attacking options in a bid to claw back the four points they find themselves behind rivals Barcelona in La Liga at the moment.

One of the greatest goal in Champions League final history off the top of the head, anyway and one which, if memory serves, has maintained a spot high in the legacy definers known as YouTube compilations. The final between Real v Leverkusen was back when the Galacticos were more warning sign than Champions League punch line, and Zizou wouldn't have been able to pick Marco Materazzi out of a lineup.

Goals don't come much more comical than Mesut Ozil's goal against Atletico Madrid last night which ensured a 3-1 win for the Galacticos.