As a fan of Barcelona I was thinking the other day about the club's rich history as well as their successes in the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona have won the UEFA Champions League three times in their history with two coming in the last four years which is extremely impressive.

It got me thinking; which Champions League winning side was better?

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Ronald Koeman's AZ managed to salvage a point in this tough home fixture against Feyenoord.

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0-1 Cisse

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The 4-1 thumping of Alkmaar in midweek was an immensely satisfying affair, a triumph of footballing philosophy over the defensive nous of coaches such as Ronald Koeman, and yet another demonstration that this Arsenal team is serious about combining footballing beauty with tangible success.

But prior the the match, there was a definite sense of relaxation amongst the fans, as if the game really didn't matter, so assured was our progress regardless of the result.

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I don't think we'll win the Champions League this season. I'm sorry to break the news to you. But we're not doing too shabby in the Europa League and you have to start somewhere... Dembele tries... AZ Alkmaar is a club and a team in trouble. Replacing Van Gaal by Ronald Koeman Click to continue reading...

It was just one of those nights. Kind of like the home wins over Sevilla or Slavia Prague match in 2007. Arsenal came off 3-nil win over Spurs at the weekend, in which they had never really hit 3rd gear, and rode that 3rd gear for much of the Champions League match with AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday evening.

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by JAMES CURTIS Ronald Koeman and his trusted staff accommodated the away dug-out last night wearing long black trench coats, black ties and matching leather gloves. As Arsenal pounded the Alkmaar goal one of his grey-haired men scribbled notes into small black book. It was like watching a scene from The Untouchables.

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Samir: Let it go Fab, they can't help it if they're that bad

Ok. I'll admit if you think that's lame but that pretty much sums up the match doesn't it. Andrey Arshavin had a blast as Arsenal met (thrash) Alkmaar in the Champions League encounter last night. Qualification is not mathematically secured yet but it would take a miraculous set of results for Arsenal not to go through.

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Lots of purring in the papers this morning after the glorious Gunners hammered AZ Alkmaar 4-1 with some exquisite football to take us to the brink of the last 16 in the Champions League.

In the Sun this morning, Arsene Wenger says he has his best-ever strike force. He said: "We've never had as many options on the creative side.

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Arsenal 4 AZ Akmaar 1

Ronald Koeman's freaky run against Arsenal and English teams in general was abruptly brought to an end. It could have been a lot worse had Arsene decided to keep a Fabregas keen to get his hatrick as well as the stand in goal creating machine in Arshavin.

Barely three minutes had gone when a few one touch passes led to Van Persie firing just wide across goal.

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Right then, football tonight against Alkmaar and I really hope they're just plain old AZ tonight and not the typical Ronald Koeman AZzzzzzzzz.

Every time we play a Koeman side it's inevitably a truly dire spectacle. A tedious, coma inducing draw of some kind and I could really do without that tonight.

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That was disappointing! Letting an inferior team equalize to force a draw at the dead brings back painful memory for a lot of Arsenal supporters.
Ronald Koeman did what he said to the press: his team maintained ball possession against Arsenal and actually had slightly more possession overall in the match. Click to continue reading...

A late goal from David Mendes Da Silva earned AZ Alkmaar the share of the spoils as Arsenal relinquished two points they could have done without dropping.
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AZ Alkmaar entered the game promising to expose the Arsenal weaknesses they had amassed from watching the Gunners' 6-2 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers but it took until the 93rd minute for the Dutch Champions to finally retreat from their shells and revealed a chink in Arsenal's armour of which everybody already knew.

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In form Gunners make short trip to face ailing Dutch side AZ.

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Arsenal are without Czech star Tomas Rosicky (knee) and striker Theo Walcott for the Champions League visit to AZ.

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Remember Reyes or Cygan?

The European journey continues tonight for Arsenal against the champions of Dutch Eredivise, AZ Alkmaar. This is the first of back-to-back fixtures against the Ronald Koeman's team. Koeman who was at Arsenal's 6-2 thrashing of Blackburn, said that he saw some weakness in Arsenal's game during that game and will look to exploit it.

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Evidence, if any were needed, that God is indeed a Gooner came tonight in Monaco when Arsene Wenger's sidde were handed a dream Champions League draw.

The Gunners will face AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Standard Liege in Group H of the Champions League and must be very confident of proceeding.

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As has been well documented over the past few seasons, Valencia CF have seen better days. A dismal 10th place finish in 2008 was followed by a respectable, but still disappointing 6th place finish in 2009. On the field, a love hate relationship with David Villa, spats with Quique Sánchez Flores, the epic flop of one Ronald Koeman and a resignation by former club president Juan Soler have turned Valencia into a real life telenovela, minus the beautiful Spanish debutantes.

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Ronald Koeman debuts as AZ coach with a cup! AZ won the 14th edition of the Johan Cruyff Trophee in the Amsterdam Arena, against cup winner Heerenveen. This is the first time AZ won the JC cup. Koeman's team led 3-0 after 30 minutes of play, goals by Aussie Brett Holman, Click to continue reading...

Every pre-season tournament feels that their event is that bit special, no-one likes to think that their prestigious event is simply a glorified training session interrupted by masses of substitutions to take away from the little meaning that the games actually carry.

Getting the balance and mix right for your event is no easy task with a multitude of glamour friendlies going on in throughout the football world each hoping that theirs has some sort of competitive edge.

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AZ coach Ronald Koeman banned international Demy de Zeeuw from the group. The message is clear: AZ doesn't want to be screwed with! It was a message to De Zeeuw, who seemed defocused and unmotivated, but also to Ajax. The message to Ajax is: if you want him, you have to Click to continue reading...

Rijkard and Ahmet Turgut back in 2003 when he was the coach of Barca....
Galatasaray appointed Dutch technical director Frank Rijkaard as their new coach.
The club stated on its website on Friday that they agreed with former Barcelona coach Rijkaard to replace Bulent Korkmaz, according to the report. Click to continue reading...

Rijkard and Ahmet Turgut back in 2003 when he was the coach of Barca....
Galatasaray appointed Dutch technical director Frank Rijkaard as their new coach.
The club stated on its website on Friday that they agreed with former Barcelona coach Rijkaard to replace Bulent Korkmaz, according to the report. Click to continue reading...

It's no surprise that coaching changes are typically swift. The selection for the sidelines can impact everything that happens throughout the summer - from the market to the board room to the staff individual player training on holiday. So you don't mess around. But this year's been excessively swift. Click to continue reading...

Cup Winners Cup 1991: Manchester United 2 - 1 Barcelona

After the ban on English clubs competing in Europe, the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam was United's opportunity to end a 23-year European trophy drought. Johan Cruyff's great Barca side - who were to win their first European Cup at Wembley a year later - were without goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta and key midfielder Guillermo Amor through suspension and star striker Hristo Stoichkov through injury.

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According to the Daily Mail, Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has decided to resign and is now being linked with Sunderland.

Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman, and Slavan Bilic are also being linked with the open coaching position.

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I think we've got the basics about Bayern Munich's new coach covered now and when you feel ready to plunge in medias res, you can head over to the Bayern Munich Offside and join a lively discussion about his philosophy, control freakishness, tactics, player sales and signings etc.

If you feel overwhelmed but still underinformed by the above soup ad, then here is what else there is to know about the Iron Tulip:

- He's Dutch.

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Goalkeepers are a special breed. The sole guardian of the sticks - they live and die by their mistakes. Because of the cut-throat, merciless world that goalkeepers inhibit they are often remembered for the right and sometimes, wrong reasons.

One shotstopper destined to go down in history is Spanish legend Andoni Zubizarreta.

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Sí, yo sé. El fin de semana juega la selección. Pero supongo que habrá algunas personas, yo incluída, que quieren saber que harán los demás equipos en estos días de receso por la fecha FIFA. América Las Águilas harán una  mini gira por Estados Unidos. Jesús Ramírez decidió que, al no poder contar con siete de sus [. Click to continue reading...

Sí, yo sé. El fin de semana juega la selección. Pero supongo que habrá algunas personas, yo incluída, que quieren saber que harán los demás equipos en estos días de receso por la fecha FIFA. América Las Águilas harán una  mini gira por Estados Unidos. Jesús Ramírez decidió que, al no poder contar con siete de sus [. Click to continue reading...

La situación del guardameta en el conjunto che era ya insostenible. Por lo tanto, tanto jugador como club han llegado al acuerdo de una disvinculación mutua, por lo que el contrato que tenía el cancerbero con los valencianistas hasta el 30 de junio de 2010 queda roto. Timo Hildebrand, quién llegase el año pasado procedente del [. Click to continue reading...

Todos sabemos que las horas de Efrían Flores como Director Técnico de las Chivas están contadas, ésta temporada fue un rotundo fracaso para ellos, primero no calificar en la liguilla del fútbol mexicano y segundo, en la Copa Sudamericana están heridos de muerte ya que en el juego de "ida" en casa contra el club [. Click to continue reading...

Todos sabemos que las horas de Efrían Flores como Director Técnico de las Chivas están contadas, ésta temporada fue un rotundo fracaso para ellos, primero no calificar en la liguilla del fútbol mexicano y segundo, en la Copa Sudamericana están heridos de muerte ya que en el juego de "ida" en casa contra el club [. Click to continue reading...

On this week's show we take a look back at the fantastic Barcelona side of the early 1990s under Johan Cruyff's management, the Dream Team. We also: Review the football news in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Introduce a new football expression in English for Football rent a car bulgaria And continue the predictions battle in the predictions [. Click to continue reading...

One of the hottest European prospects is to be unleashed onto Liverpool when they play PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League clash on Wednesday.
The player in question is Ibrahim Afellay, a Dutchman of Moroccan descent who has been with the Dutch champions for the past five seasons. Click to continue reading...

So tomorrow it's a match against Malaga at La Rosaleda Stadium in southern Spain.

Sorry, but I don't know anything about Malaga.

I know they just came up from the 2nd Division.
I know former Valencia striker Salva Ballesta sits bench there and Uruguayan striker Dario Silva scored bucket loads for them.

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I never knew how hard it would be to keep this up for 30 straight days!
Alas, I've made my readers a promise, so on I chug.

Today's big news is ... umm ... there's really not much to say.

We all know about Silva's operation. Godspeed.
We have word that Valencia haven't elected a team captain yet.

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