Whoa. I forgot we were still involved in the CL for a second. More, after the jump:

The Shove Heard Round Naples

Get this: Napoli's manager, Walter Mazzarri, has been banned by UEFA for two matches after shoving Nilmar during Napoli's final group stage match with Villareal.

Henrique: still off to QPR?

São Paulo director, João Paulo de Jesus Lopes, says that the door has not been shut on forward Henrique's transfer to QPR. The Morumbi club say that contrary to earlier reports, Henrique has not been denied a UK work visa. "The truth is the visa wasn't turned down.

The El Clasico teams of Barcelona and Real Madrid have continued their battle for superiority at the top of the Spanish Primera Division this season, with both facing tricky fixtures over the next three weeks.

Valencia v Real Madrid

Valencia finished third last season and on their day have the ability to take on the big two; they host Madrid on Saturday 19th November at the Mestalla.

FELIZ MARTES!! The Champions League finally returns today and you'd better believe that Roberto Mancini loves David Silva as much as the Valencianos still do! There's nothing quite like some hair affection at a press conference and naturally, they picked David to face the Spanish media ahead of the City-Villarreal clash tonight.

There are those with a "superstitious" edge claiming that VILLAREAL has a "curse" on the Number 9 - forward - position. This has been heightened by the injury to ROSSI who has injured himself while training with the Italian National Team. This leaves Villareal without a true forward. The other two forwards in the side Marcos Ruben ( out 15 days ) & Nilmar ( knee operation out 2 months) have also

By FRANCO PANIZO

Jonathan Spector picked up an ankle injury over the weekend, but that won't stop him from attending the U.S. men's national team camp this week.

Spector is set to join head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and the rest of the U.S. team in South Florida on Monday as it gets ready to prepare for its Saturday friendly against Honduras, a source told SBI.

Villarreal have announced that striker Nilmar will undergo an operation on a right knee cyst on Tuesday in Barcelona.

No details were given about his expected recovery time, or whether he will be available for the trip to Getafe on October 15 after the international break.

The 27-year-old, who has scored two goals in four league appearances this season, was left out of the squad for Saturday's 2-2 draw with Real Zaragoza.

25.09.2011 - La suerte de Bielsa viene de cola. Estaba planteado: el partido con Villarreal era una plataforma de despegue, una final. Con un punto sobre 12 jugados no hay demasiado margen. Pero...
Abrió un partido cerrado el gol de Gabilondo (´44). Pero dos decisiones arbitrales impidieron la empresa victoriosa: un penal no cobrado a Amorebieta y una inexistente falta que dio paso al empate de Villarreal (Nilmar´53).

Villarreal picked up their first win of the new La Liga season on Tuesday night, beating Real Mallorca 2-0. Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar scored early in each half although the hosts could have scored even more as they enjoyed a return to form at El Madrigal.

On another night Rossi could have had a hat-trick but it mattered little as the Yellow Submarine ended a winless start to the season that had seen them second from bottom at kick-off.

Barcelona began their bid for a fourth consecutive La Liga title with a spellbinding 5-0 win against Villarreal at the Nou Camp.

Emerging star Thiago started the scoring in the 25th minute before Cesc Fabregas made it 2-0 on his league debut. Fellow newcomer Alexis Sanchez also marked his debut with a goal before Lionel Messi grabbed two for himself.

Barcelona began their bid for a fourth consecutive La Liga title with a spellbinding 5-0 win against Villarreal at the Nou Camp.

Emerging star Thiago started the scoring in the 25th minute before Cesc Fabregas made it 2-0 on his league debut. Fellow newcomer Alexis Sanchez also marked his debut with a goal before Lionel Messi grabbed two for himself.

Given our Anglocentric view of the footballing world, the pre-group stage UEFA Champions League qualifying playoffs have primarily been about Arsenal's challenging tie against Udinese. But there's more going on much much more, including some interesting 2nd leg matches today.

Here's the full schedule of today's and tomorrow's fixtures, from UEFA's site.

An 84th-minute goal from Hans Henrik Andreasen gave Odense an unlikely 1-0 win over Villarreal. The Danish side withstood heavy second-half pressure from Villarreal but held out for a memorable victory.

Odense started to game really well and created the best chances early on. First, Andreasen nodded just wide before more pressure nearly resulted in an own goal.

SPANISH FOOTBALL Club VILLAREAL travelled to Denmark to play their preliminary CHAMPIONS LEAGUE qualifier against ODENSE BK & finished with a surprising & "unjust" 1- 0 defeat result. The Danes started well & had their chances early but Villareal soon took over proceedings with some lovely touch Football & plenty of chances upfront - especially in the 2 half - with Rossi, Nilmar, cani & Valero

Appreciating the little things which create big things: Paulo Henrique's cheeky backheel.

• The clubs to watch in the summer. (SB Nation)
• The players to watch in the Copa America. (The Elastico)
• The inevitable comparison continues. (BBC)
• Football and advertising.

Segue o Link, para a matéria
El partido será una de las semifinales de la Copa Audi 2011. Además de Barça e Internacional dePorto Alegre, también la jugarán Bayern de Múnich y el AC Milan. El conjunto brasileño será, pues,el segundo rival azulgrana a la pretemporada 2011/12.
Los ‘colorados'
Históricamente el equipo de Porto Alegre ha sido un equipo bien conocido por laafición azulgrana.

Brazil coach Mano Menezes has finalized the 22 players that will be heading to Argentina for the Copa America. The announcement came directly after Brazil's 1-0 win over Romania in a friendly international at the Pacaembu on Tuesday night. From the 28 man squad that were included for the games against Holland and Romania out go Fábio and Jefferson (keepers), Henrique, Anderson and Thiago Neves (midfielders) and Leandro Damião and Nilmar (forwards).

TGIF, amigos!! Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the Selecao who are training hard to face the Dutch tomorrow (vai, vai vai!!) Under the watchful eye of Mano Menezes, the squad was divided into two groups (wearing red and grey vests) and played against each other at the Serra Dourada.

Here's Villarreal/Brazil striker Nilmar and his wife, Laura with their fofo daughter!! / (Obrigada Beatriz!)

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Here we go again! Mano Menezes has finally unveiled his 28-man Sassy Seleção for friendly matches against Netherlands and Romania on the 4th and 7th of June (Thank God they left good ol' Felipe Melo out this time!) You know what this means, don't you?

Mano Menezes looking for success before the Copa America

Mano Menezes has called up 28 players for the friendly internationals versus the Netherlands on June 4th and Romania 3 days later.
The Brazilians will take on the Dutch in the estádio Pacaembu in São Paulo. The Romania will be in the city of Goiânia and the estádio Serra Dourada.

Villarreal have progressed to the Europa League semi-finals after dispatching Dutch side FC Twente ruthlessly 8-2 on aggregate, setting up a mouthwatering tie against newly crowned Portuguese champions Porto. Juan Carlos Garrido's team are on the up; they sit fourth in the La Liga standings and are on the verge of competing in the Champions League again, a competition they reached the last four in back in 2005-06.

For fans looking for close, exciting ties, this weeks Champions League ties were a bit of a disappointment with three of the four quarter-finals essentially over after the first leg. Unfortunately, the Europa League quarter-finals tonight followed a similar path as Villarreal, Porto and Benfica all enjoyed impressive first-leg leads, while Braga secured an away goal at Dynamo Kiev.

Neymar alongside Mano Menezes

Brazil face Scotland in Arsenal's Emirates stadium on Sunday with coach Mano Menezes hoping to end a run of defeats. 1-0 losses to Argentina and France have meant recalls for some of the more experienced players who last turned out for Brazil in the World Cup in South Africa.

Having watched the Bayer Leverkusen v Villarreal match which ended 3-2 to Villarreal there was one player that really stood out.

It was not Giuseppe Rossi but his strike partner Nilmar. He came on as a substitute in the 68th minute and scored in the 70th with a neat turn and finish.

Bayer Leverkusen vs Villarreal Europa League Round of 16- 10 March 2011- 10/3/11- 18.00 UK kick off Final score:- Leverkusen 2-3 Villarreal ( Kadlec, Castro/ Rossi, Nilmar*2) Nilmar grabs a late winner as Villarreal beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 in Germany in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie.

Lúcio, Maico and Elano back in the fold for the Scotland game

Brazil coach Mano Menezes has called up 23 players for the international friendly against Scotland on March 27th in Arsenal's Emirates stadium.
Three players that appeared for Brazil in last year's World Cup make a return as Menezes opts for experience with Maicon, Lúcio and Elano.

Villarreal left Naples with a draw against Napoli, and have a great chance to progress to the last-16 of the Europa League.

Chances were few and far between in a match that had been billed as boasting two of Europe's more attacking sides. For Napoli in-form forwards Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi struggled to get into the game, with the former having one effort disallowed for offside and both denied by good stops from Diego Lopez.

Liverpool are once again being linked with a move for French international midfielder Blaise Matuidi.
The Times reported last week that the St Etienne player was being targeted as Liverpool struggle to agree a fee for Charlie Adam, with an €8 million move mooted.
Director of Football strategy at Anfield, Damien Comolli, is a known admirer of the player after holding a similar position at the Ligue 1 club.

Real Madrid's new loan signing Emmanuel Adebayor is hoping to make his Liga debut away to Osasuna on Sunday while La Liga leaders Barcelona could have full back Dani Alves back in time for the trip to Hercules on Saturday.

Alves is training again after recovering from a torn muscle while Barca captain Carles Puyol and winger Jeffren are doubts for the match against the only team to have beaten them in the league this season.

The Palau Reíal Major in Barcelona was the home for counts of Barcelona and later the Kings of Aragon.

Espanyol's surprising start has not only stretched to this juncture of the season but has also improved from a club that only garnered points at home to a team that can win the tough matches away from home.

Here are the scoring leaders in La Liga at the halfway point of the season (penalties in parentheses):

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, 22 (5)
2. Lionel Messi, Barcelona, 18 (1)
3. David Villa, Barcelona, 14
4. Fernando Llorente, Athletic Bilbao, 11
5. Pedro Rodriguez, Barcelona, 10
6. Nilmar, Villarreal, 10
7. David Trezeguet, Hercules, 9 (1)
8. Giuseppe Rossi, Villarreal, 9 (3)
9. Frederic Kanoute, Sevilla, 8 (2)
10. Sergio Aguero, Atletico Madrid, 7
11. Pablo Osvaldo, Espanyol, 7 (1)
12. Nelson Valdez, Hercules, 7
13. Gonzalo Higuain, Real Madrid, 7
14. Diego Castro, Sporting Gijon, 7 (4)
15. Aritz Aduriz, Valencia, 7

MADRID, Spain — Cristiano Ronaldo scored a sensational hat-trick as Real Madrid twice came from behind to defeat Villarreal 4-2 on Sunday to maintain their perfect home record and close to within two points of leaders Barcelona. Portuguese star Ronaldo took his season's tally to 22 league goals with strikes in the eighth, 44th and [.

After a short winter-break La Liga action resumes this week with the possible return of one football's biggest starts.

Kaka has been out for five months since having surgery on his left knee but he has been practicing with his Real Madrid teammates and could make his return to Real in the Madrid derby Monday against Getafe, or perhaps in the King´s Cup on Thursday.