A goal from Sergio Ramos was enough to gave Real Madrid a slender 1-0 win against city rivals Getafe to maintain their seven-point lead over title rivals Barcelona at the top of the Spanish Liga.

The visitors dominated possession but created few clear-cut opportunities and the match was eventually settled by Ramos's 18th-minute goal, the Spanish international defender meeting Mesut Özil's corner with a flying header that powered into the top right coner.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, the comedy club which welcomes every single one of you Futbolitinos! Of course, for the newbies, Crackovia is the best football sketch show from Catalonia (you'd be hard pressed to find a better one).

Nadal won again against Federer in the Australian Open semi-final this morning. The comparison between the psychological advantage Nadal has over Federer with how the Blaugrana consistently defeat the Merengue is an intriguing one.

In his past clubs Mourinho always had the solution to win the psychological game.

Nadal won again against Federer in the Australian Open semi-final this morning. The comparison between the psychological advantage Nadal has over Federer with how the Blaugrana consistently defeat the Merengue is an intriguing one.

In his past clubs Mourinho always had the solution to win the psychological game.

Real Madrid 4 Athletic Bilbao 1

Welcome to La Liga Lunes! As you may know, Mourinho's formidable Los Blancos defeated Bilbao 4-1 last night, despite Llorente's opening goal in the 13th minute. Unfortunately, the Portuguese was also at the receiving end of jeers from the Madridista crowd, who were allegedly annoyed that he wasn't able to pin down Barcelona earlier in the week.

Yet another Clasico is upon us, infact the fourth of this season and the first of 2012. When it was confirmed that this years Copa Del Rey will see both Barca and Madrid taking on one another, the reaction of both set of fans were classic. For the fiirst time in history they all greeted with a collective sigh of "Not Again, Lord".

Barcelona have won like 15 trophies in the past 3 or 4 seasons. All of them came under Guardiola.Even though he has done no work to get Barcelona to this stage (or at best, he has done very little work as in my opinion Cryuff and Rijkaard were major contributors to the current status of [...]

Messi celebrates second goal against Osasuna in Copa del Rey (Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)

Barcelona kicked off 2012 the way they finished 2011: with goals.

On the back of a 4-0 FIFA Club World Cup Championship victory over Santos and a 9-0 demolition of C.E. L'Hospitalet to wrap up a memorable 2011, Barcelona returned to action without missing a beat, defeating Osasuna 4-0 at the Camp Nou in their first match of the new year.

04.12.2012 - Pep Guardiola descata hablar de su renovación y entonces, a través de la prensa, surgió el nombre de Marcelo Bielsa como una buena opción de sustitución.
"Me parece que sí, tiene capacidad, no tengo ninguna duda sobre eso, pero hay más (candidatos)", dice Pep, "ya sabéis la opinión que tengo sobre él, cuando jugamos en Liga nos enviamos muchos besos a través de los medios.

2011 has gone past us and we all are looking forward to the new year, 2012 with hope. The past year was something like a rollercoaster ride - the financial turbulence, a slew of nature's fury at various parts of world, the fight for democracy at other parts all made it a wonderful ride.

2011 has been incredibly hectic in the world of football, and who better to tell you this than the personalities themselves?! From Zlatan Ibrahimovic's infamous autobiography outburst to Pele's never ending self-praises (groans all around), Ronaldo taking a jab back at opposition fans to the rise of women's football in Japan, there was really no shortage of entertaining quotes this year.

Just a bit of gossip from the Spanish Sports papers that I thought you may want to know. Apparently, the hottest "rooster" in Brazil, SANTOS dancing star NEYMAR, expressed his true desires after being danced around by the FC BARCELONA chant & mantra in yesterdays "FIFA Clubs World Cup Final". Neymar Rumour has it that Neymar whispered into the ear of Barcelona Coach Guardiola, when they had

FC Barcelona were crowned the 2011 World Club Champions following a brilliant 4-0 victory against South American Champions Santos. The battle between the Champiosn of Europe and Champiosn of South America were a mismatch with Barca controlling the proceedings for the majority of match.

Villa lost for season during Club World Cup victory of Al-Saad (Photo: AP Photo)

When is a victory considered a loss?

Barcelona's 4-0 demolition of Qatar's Al-Sadd Sports Club advanced Barcelona to the Club World Cup Championship against Santos, but the victory came at one hell of a price.

Guardiola: Villa is NOT leaving for Chelsea or Liverpool

Barca boss dismisses speculation over the future of the Spain striker

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-14 12:08:50 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The title of the Spanish Sports paper says it all : "Barcelona puts Guaje on the market" VILLA FOR SALE. A SPANISH FOOTBALL Bombshell? Madrid media propaganda? Destabilizing tactics from Madrid? Interested party testing the waters? The players sending an S.O.S messaje? Bullshit? Truth? One cannot also doubt that the newspaper looks to sell & get some "free marketing" ( as here ), but.

STARTERS
The Bundesliga will go on its winter break one more round of games this weekend.
dN
France Football magazine has named Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema the French Player of the Year.
DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS
du Nord at the Controls - all new music mix for Tue Dec 13, 2011
TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS
The USA U23/Olympic team training camp.

Karim Benzema's record making goal was not enough to keep Madrid's impressive home record intact as Los Blancos suffered a 3-1 home defeat to arch rivals Barcelona last night.

The win saw the Catalans pip Madrid into first place although both clubs remain level on 37 points.

Signore e signori, amiche ed amici, mettetevi comodi, non prendete impegni se li avete e se li avete presi rimandateli, stasera c'è Real-Barcellona. A Madrid, nel tempio del Bernabeu va in scena il "Clasico" della Liga spagnola numero 216. Dopo l'uscita anticipata delle cugine di Manchester dalla Champions, Real e Barca si giocano la loroContinua a leggere .

Kenny Dalglish is one of Liverpool's most successful managers, and is one of only three managers to win the league with two different teams. Liverpool fans would almost certainly argue that the King is a World Class manager, but former Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Robbie Savage is not so sure.

Young FC BARCELONA player ISAAC CUENCA is considered a bit of a "Football Freestyle" expert. There are videos on the web that shows the Football juggling skills of the "kid" in his neighbourhood with his mates. Couple of days back Cuenca showed his stuff at training to a few World Champions & FC Barcelona team-mates.

Alexis looks to continue form against Levante (Photo: JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

On Saturday FC Barcelona look to get back on track following their suprising loss to Getafe last weekend. Though they put up an impressive performance mid-week against Rayo Vallecano winning easily 4-0 it will be imporant to keep the momentum rolling going into a midweek Champions League match up against BATE Borisov followed by the monsterous clash against Real Madrid.

After beating Milan 3-2 at the San Siro on Wednesday, i certainly was not expecting Defending European and Spanish League champions Barcelona to lose to Getafe.

If anything, i expected them to reduce the points margin on leaders Real Madrid who were themselves facing a tough opponent in Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Alla scala del calcio, alias lo stadio Meazza di Milano, è andato in scena il calcio allo stato puro: di fronte Milan e Barcellona, cioè dieci coppe dei campioni in due con un superiorit rossonera di successi (ben 7 a 3) non sostenuta ieri sera con una superiorit sul campo dove i rossoneri di AllegriContinua a leggere .

Nella serata che ci regaler le grandi emozioni della supersfida tra Ibra e Messi, tra Milan e Barcellona, partiamo però, in ordine cronologico, dal big match della Bay Arena tra il Leverkusen e il Chelsea. Due punti li dividono in classifica, con i londinesi primi a 8 e le "aspirine" seconde a 6. I BluesContinua a leggere .

Many Football observers have made the popular comment that Spanish Football Club FC BARCELONA is from another planet, making reference to the teams form of touch Football, non-stop titles & incredible "extra-terrestrial" players. I think that the comment is very relevant & even picturesque in describing what is possibly the "Greatest Football Team in History" in terms of what the popular Football

For the past two to three weeks, this story has been the most followed in footballing circle, especially related to La Liga. We heard about how Villa feels that he is being hard done by Messi, we also heard about Liverpool and Chelsea already waiting to land the unsettled Spanish national hero and the story goes on.

SPANISH SPORTS daily "AS" has published that FC BARCELONA Coach Guardiola sent over to London a "confidant" to watch TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS & Welsh International GARETH BALE do his stuff down the left flank in his last Premier League game. Gareth Bale Barça Coach Guardiola likes the ways of Bale & sees the 22 year old as a possible substitute for Frenchmen Eric Abidal who is currently negotiating

David Villa Linked With Liverpool

Liverpool have been linked with a shock move for Spanish International David Villa by Spanish radio station Cadena SER,the rumors suggest that Liverpool made contact with Villa's agent after the striker reportedly fell out with Lionel Messi.

By Chris Wright

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has written a book and, from the sound of the quotes that have been drip-dripping for the past few days, it's exactly the kind of book that you'd expect namely, 300 pages documenting his innate greatness and comprehensively listing all the people he wants to kick into the middle of next week.

I love it. Adriano Galliani is getting on in years but has again showed that he has not lost his ability to be ironic and funny at the same time. Talking to Gazzetta Dello Sport, our charismatic director said, "It's a good job that Ibra did fight with Guardiola. "If that wasn't the case then [...]

08.11.2011 - Antes y después del partidazo que protagonizaron el Athletic Bilbao (de Marcelo Bielsa) y el Barcelona (de Pep Guardiola) (2-2), no pocos medios tomaron la oportunidad para trazar (y publicar) semblanzas ideológicas y futbolísticas entre ambos entrenadores (de los más reputados en el ámbito internacional) e incluso volar a encontrar el mejor entrenador del mundo (1).

... and whinier than ever.
So, Ibrahimovic wrote a book in which he cries about how mean Mr. Pep bullied his existence and shattered his dreams. Because, you know, we can't expect him to be over it over a year later. Well I'm here to pick his whining apart quote by quote... starting from where he begins by pointing fingers at Messi (oh, this is going to be fun):
"Playing at Barca was a childhood dream and I was walking on air.

202 goals con il Barcellona, a soli 24 anni. Messi continua a battere record su record e, con la tripletta messa a segno ieri sera nel 4 a 0 di Plzen, contro i cechi del Victoria, che ha spedito matematicamente i blaugrana di Guardiola agli ottavi, supera i 200 goals con la maglia dei catalani [...

Changing Future Roles In Response To The Silva Footballing Age - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

If there was a certain area in which Manchester City beat Manchester United so assuredly last weekend, in one of the massive premier league results of recent times, it was the wings.

Where Ashley Young and Nani played the typical winger role, taking on Manchester City's fullbacks, trying to win those one on one battles, Manchester City's wingers, James Milner and David Silva, made a point of winning the game elsewhere certainly their involvement in the vital goals that pushed the Sky Blues clear of United was a mastery of movement rather then setting out to burn fullbacks.

I'm sure you have heard that Robbie Savage is doing Strictly Come Dancing this year, you may have even tuned in to watch him flopping about. Well the footballer-cum-pundit decided to provide some unique half-time entertainment for the fans at the Madejski stadium on Tuesday night... We all know Savage was a twat when he [.

Barcelona's most successful manager of all time Pep Guardiola has Arsenal in his sights after admitting that there is very little more that he can do for the Catalan club. He would of course enjoy a new challenge, but would he really be a suitable replacement for Arsene Wenger if he does leave the Emirates [.

Una charla enriquecedora entre Fernando Trueba, cineasta español y Guardiola, entrenador de fútbol.

Titulada "Conversaciones sobre el futuro" hablan de sus pasiones, inquietudes, realidades.

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FC Barcelona made to the top of La Liga with a hard fought 1-0 win against Sporting Gijon. This incidently was the first away victory of the Catalan side this season in the league. Right now we are tied with Levante, who beat Betis at the top of the table. Barcelona is on the top due to their goal difference which is a whooping 19 goals.

Lionel Messi became Barcelona's second highest ever goalscorer after he netted twice during his sides 5-0 demolition of BATE Borisov. "There is simply no stopping him"; "Messi the record-breaker" were just some of the standout headlines gleaming across the official Barcelona website. And who can disagree?