It is one of the biggest rivalries in all of Spanish football.  But this season Atletico Madrid will receive more punishment for fans involvement in the derby then the 3-2 loss the reeling club has already suffered. In the second half of the match Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini was struck in the side of the face by an object flung from the stands.

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In honour of today's Algeria vs Egypt showdown in Sudan, had planned on putting together a Top 10 Biggest International Rivalries post. But halfway through I realized it wasn't a great idea. Your own national team's rivalry will always feel bigger than anyone else's, so why include some in a Top 10 but not others?

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England and Argentina have one of the most intense rivalries in world football, surely the only classical cross-continental footballing rivalry. Being two of the most passionate footballing nations in the world, and much more closely associated than many know (indeed, the English brought football to Argentina in the 19th century! Click to continue reading...

This week the Premier League rejected a proposal by the Bolton chairman to include Celtic and Rangers in a two-tiered Premier League with the Guardian saying that 14 clubs voted against it.
There are two ideas here that want to handle separately. First is the Celtic and Rangers problem. Clearly, they have outgrown the SPL and its financial limitation, chiefly television rights fees. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea had an unbelievable win over the weekend in a key match against Manchester United. In fact it was like one of those over-the-top, cheesy type of sports movie rivalries between the two best teams in the league facing off for first place. And the Blues made every right move they needed to in order to guarantee that success at the most critical of moments.

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Columbus needs a big game from Robbie Rogers at Rio Tinto Stadium. (Getty Images)

While last night's game in Seattle got the playoffs started with a 0-0 bang, the rest of the playoff clubs get ready to join the Dynamo and Sounders in the fun. One series kicks off tomorrow night while the other two wait it out for Sunday.

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Tottenham Hotspur

Position: 4th, 6-1-3 (19 points, +7 goal differential)

Recent Form: LWDWL

Away Form: 3-1-1

Last Meeting: Tottenham 0-Arsenal 0 (2/8/09)

It's here. The North London derby.

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Salt Lake v. Chivas USA
Salt Lake OWES the Eastern Conference. And oh by the way, they've been playing better than anyone actually in the Eastern Conference. They didn't back in to the playoffs either, like last year's Western Conference champs. This isn't out of the realm of possibility. Click to continue reading...

We should have known all along that it would come down to this. The Fire and the Revolution, facing off in the playoff's for the eighth team in the Fire's 12 year history. It's one of the biggest rivalries in the league, sure to be full of nastiness and with no room spared for niceties.

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This has been a fantastic weekend to hate somebody and wish him ill almost everywhere around the world. As Daryl pointed out earlier, this weekend's fixture calendar was overflowing with big derbies and heated rivalries including three different flavored clasicos, inter-city and intercontinental matches. Click to continue reading...

France doesn't have a lot of local rivalries like England for example, since Lyon-Saint Etienne and Lille-Lens do not really portray all the elements of the derby. However, this country has a derby between Olympique Marseille and Paris Saint Germain, a fierce rivalry that doesn't go such a long way.

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One fixture will dominate the weekend in Argentina in terms of the international attention, but although it probably pushes Liverpool vs Manchester United into second place on the list of Really Big Rivalries in the football world this weekend, River Plate vs Boca Juniors won't mean anything at either end of the table this time. Click to continue reading...

Well this is the year of new rivalries in LA Liga. And that is simply because of all the talent that has just entered Spain's top tier of football. We already got to see Ibrahimovic battle against Barcelona and next up is Kaka verses his old squad, AC Milan.Â

Both sides of the battle are in interesting positions at the moment.

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EFW Oktoberfest 2009 has arrived
"Sometimes I feel like throwing my hand up in the air" sang Candi Staton in her hit tune 'You Got The Love'. Well, we know just how the Statonmeister felt because we feel like doing the same right here, right now. Lord, we just don't care - owing to the fact that the EFW team are going on an EFW - just how we like it. Click to continue reading...

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho has stoked up old rivalries with former Premier League adversaries Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez, claiming he has to win trophies to keep his job.
The former Chelsea manager, speaking about the pressures of managing in Serie A, drew less than complimentary comparisons to the recent records of the Arsenal and Liverpool managers, saying:
"[Arsene] Wenger has been Arsenal's coach for 15 years but he hasn't won even a Carling Cup for six years. Click to continue reading...

As regular readers of this site will be aware, Manchester City supporters turning up at Eastlands last week for their Monday night Premier League match against West Ham United might have been somewhat surprised to see a clutch of people outside their ground with collection tins. These collectors weren't, to the probable disappointment of the home crowd, Manchester United supporters having a whip-round after the collapse of the Glazer empire, rather they were supporters of Blue Square North club Hyde United, who were desperately collecting money to stave off a winding up order brought against them by HMRC.

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Arsene Wenger might think the Scots are still influential in Europe, but he's about the only person left who does. It being October, it must be just about time for Scottish football pundits to do their usual soul-searching, surveying the wreckage of another failed qualification campaign for the national team, while both the Old Firm sit bottom of the European groups and all the various other qualifying round defeats are already forgotten along with most of the names of the East European teams who inflicted them.

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Rangers faced Celtic in the "Old Firm" on Sunday, October 4, 2009 which is one of the biggest rivalries in all of Europe. Here's a full recap of the match along with video highlights.

Rangers edge Celtic 2-1 in Old Firm Video Highlights

(Recap courtesy of http://www.

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Rangers host Celtic on Sunday, October 4, 2009 in another edition of the Old Firm. It's one of the most heatest rivalries in all of Europe with over 350 matches played. Rangers hold the advantage overall in total wins but its still very close. Who will win on Sunday? Can Rangers pick up points on Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic?

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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez knows that Sunday's crucial meeting with Chelsea can contribute towards the outcome of the Premier League title race.
The Reds travel to London to take on their fierce rivals in determined mood as they aim to respond to critics who have already questioned their 2009/10 credentials. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to TGIF, and this week there are some milestones to celebrate, the odd champagne cork to pop, and also a growing realisation that eventually this team will deliver no matter how ugly the play may look. In this special week of all weeks at Arsenal Football Club, let us take the time to acknowledge Arsene Wenger's achievements and enjoy a degree of unity without bad mouthing the Frenchman.

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Barney Ronay nails the epidemic of moral outrage that's sweeping through English football, leaving broken syringes scattered over the pillaged Red Cross stations in its wake:

Perhaps it might be more useful to wonder why we're so angry. My theory is that the Premier League has become a bit like one of those Pandora's Box-themed disaster/horror movies where the avaricious and hubristic white-coated scientists unwittingly release the rapacious virus into the atmosphere.

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Major League Soccer has plenty of great rivalries, from Chivas USA-Los Angeles Galaxy, to FC Dallas-Houston, to Chicago-D.C. United, but a new one is on the horizon and could become the league's marquee match-up before long.

When the Philadelphia Union begins play in 2010, it will set up shop within two hours of D.

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When Two Tribes Go To War Rivalries are never made, they're born. Born in fire more often than not, but like a fire they can tend to die down after a while if they aren't stoked often enough. They can even go out all together, but as long as the ash remains, fresh kindling can always re-ignite it.

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The rumblings are starting. Â The city of Manchester is all aflitter about the dramatic ending of the derby between Man City and Man Utd. Â With in-town rivalries like this someone is bound to cry foul no matter the score, and it appears this weekend's derby is no exception.

Officials take alot of heat during games when there are sensitive calls, but these seem odd and troubling.

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Rio Ferdinand reckons the fact Carlos Tevez chose to join City over Liverpool proves that the scousers are our bigger rivals.

"The fact Carlos Tevez went to City speaks volumes about the rivalries between Manchester United and both Manchester City and Liverpool," said Rio. "Carlos said he wanted to respect the fans by not joining Liverpool.

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In addition to being the Chicago Red Stars President and CEO, I am also an owner of the team...and I am a Red Stars fan. None of that needs to be mutually exclusive.

In the Red Stars case, thousands are fans of the club, hundreds are supporters and only a select few are actual owners. While that is true, it is my goal to have the role of Red Stars fan equate virtually to the role of  Red Stars owner for all Red Stars fans.

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You know, as Interlulls go this is right up there with the most tedious we've ever had.

I think in these circumstances it's only right and proper that we try and blame someone for the fact we're so very very bored. Blatter, Platini, meh. Easy targets. You need to look deeper than that. The people who created UEFA and FIFA.

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The very first World Cup final took place in Montevideo's Estadio Monumental, specially built for the World Cup. he home team of Uruguay and Argentina both made it to the final after winning 6-1 over Yugoslavia and the United States respectively, and the stage was set to one of the biggest rivalries in football: the countries that had also played for Olympic gold in 1928 (when Uruguay won), and Click to continue reading...

Except for the UEFA Champions League final in Rome, no match this calendar year will be bigger, yet you've probably only tangentially heard that Brazil is going to Argentina this weekend for World Cup qualifying.
"That's cool," you might say (you don't mind if I quote you, do you). Click to continue reading...

It's one of the fiercest rivalries in world football. Two giants of the game who have never seen eye to eye, don't like each other and cause a heated atmosphere whenever they meet. No, not Argentina and Brazil; but Diego Maradona and Pelé. Click to continue reading...

It doesn't get much better than Manchester United vs Arsenal, arguably one of the biggest rivalries in the entire world and by far the most prestigious match to the new campaign. Arsenal has gotten off to an exceptional start this year, dominating Celtic, Everton, and Portsmouth with goals galore and from unusual sources, such as William Gallas, their leading goal scorer.

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Football is much more than just a sport. It is nothing without its history and traditions, its routine and habits, or its passion and drama. The sport establishes its roots over an area much wider than the field of play, an art form which - across much of the world at least - has spilled over to dominate mainstream culture.

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Fans ran on to the pitch during the match.

This last week English football headlines have been marred by violence and hooliganism. I do not know if it was coincidence but the same week that I watched Green Street Hooligans http://www.warnervideo.com/greenstreethooligans/ for the second time (brilliant movie by the way), there was violence in the Carling Cup match between West Ham and Millwall.

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The mere idea of a West Ham and Milwall fixture sounds violent. Both clubs, especially Milwall, have had a reputation for supporter violence. And there are few rivalries in English football as intense as the one between these two East London clubs. The fact that meetings are rare now that Milwall now plays two divisions below West Ham made last night's League Cup match all the more tense. Click to continue reading...