The battle between the two GQs resumes

Transfer windows are always silly season but they pale in comparison to the sort of collective psychosis and paranoia engendered by El Clasico.

The hysteria before tomorrow's Copa De Rey semi-final first leg has gems like if Mourinho plays Pepe in the midfield then Real has a winning record in the Clasicos.

AC Milan were the better attacking team and should have been deserving winners but the crossbar came to Inter's rescue. Soccer is cruel. Javier Zanetti proving at the age of 38 years he has a full tank of gas busts down the right and then diagonals all the way towards the direction of Diego Milito.

The achilles tendon: A vital "push off" that helps in a change of position

When does one go from saying that a single instance is happenstance, two is a coincidence, to three or more is a bloody epidemic? Add ankle injury to the list of eventualities an Arsenal player must face including taxes, lack of titles, departure, and death.

England overcame World War II buoyed by the bulldog spirit of Winston Churchill, the perfect choice for a war time leader. Yet, it was Clement Atlee who was voted to rebuild an England recovering from the war's aftermath and the decline of empire. 50 years later these two men rank in the list of greatest leaders.

Rennes midfielder Yann M'Vila has been linked with Arsenal

Arsene Wenger might finally bring in a late cavalry charge to add quality to the midfield.

Yann M'Vila the highly rated holding midfielder from Rennes is a £15million target, although there are reports of Rennes denying any such link.

Emmanuel Frimpong is a unit: Now he needs a bit more control

It's hard to believe we're just three matches old and already Arsenal wears the scars of a full season. The weak of heart need not apply because we really do not how this will all end. A spectacular supernova implosion or a gradual decline into a red dwarf?

I for one welcome the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. Full disclosure, Fabregas is my favourite player at Arsenal and wear his no 4 jersey proudly to all the matches. You will find fewer fans more bereft when he leaves. And yet, there is a sense of overwhelming relief when he finally signs on the dotted line which brings this whole exhausting and none too edifying saga to closure.

The latest offer tabled for £33m for Cesc Fabregas has been rejected by Arsenal. The actual amount was £28m with over £5m in variables. That figure comes from bonuses based on appearances made and titles won. This is still about £7m short of the price the Gunners are demanding for Fabregas. They are also clear they want a clean deal without backloaded payments.

FC Porto reports Andre Villas-Boas has resigned. The check for €15m needed for his buyout appears to be in the mail. Chelsea should announce his hiring in the next few days.

Will AVB's first locker room gesture be to embrace John Terry? You've to get in good with the Chelsea captain otherwise as Jose Mourinho found out things can get quite sticky.

Every data point (pass, cross, offside, out of play etc) mapped in these two hemispheres (one for each half) between Man Utd and Barca in the Champions League finals.

Simon Kuper's fascinating article in the FT about how the data revolution is slowly changing the face of soccer. There might be a time when quants will emerge from their gray shadows and take their rightful place on the cover of Four Four Two.

The world's oldest football competition will be sponsored for the next three years by the "King of Beers". The competition is to be grandiosely re-branded as the FA Cup with Budweiser.

The FA of course gets some serious business. For the more finicky it's a measure of the beer's quality when the Budweiser ads generate more buzz than the taste.

Today was Judgment Day according to Harold Camping, the evangelist loon who proclaimed this day the Earth would be "raptured" and only the chosen few would survive.

Which means if you're a Man Utd fan you're safe.

Simon Kuper's new book "The Football Men" tries to take us beyond what we know of the football superstars on TV and media.

Some insights. Most of them glorify their family turning it into a warm cocoon which is a reaction from a later life governed by mercantilism and ulterior motives.

Joe 'Jaws' Jordan: His bark worse than his bite?

Joe Jordan pulled out the oldest trick in the playbook winding up Gennaro Gattuso. He might have indeed called the Milan midfielder '"f****** Italian b******'".

But Gattuso defending his actions as a response to racism borders on the comical.

The real Ronaldo, the player called O Fenomeno retired a day ago. In a nutmeg, he was brilliant. You could have had three legs and he would have found a way between each of them. He brought immense beauty to the game. Enjoy.

As for the present Brazilian team something tells me their swansong days will be hard to replicate.

It took Arsenal an hour to break the frustrating logjam. But in the end Nicklas Bendtner, Laurent Kosicielny, and Cesc Fabregas booked the Gunners to their first Carling Cup final since 2007 and a shot at their first silverware since the 2005 FA Cup. The first half was marked by Robin Van Persie's solitary attempt which struck his mortal enemy, the woodwork (this must be his umpteenth time he's hit either the upright or the crossbar).

The English cricket team will not look like this when they return home

This is a magnificent victory. It is cricket and as such has no place on a blog about soccer/football but for those growing up around that game like we did in India or elsewhere in the cricket playing world - the Aussies were damn near invincible for aeons.

If Edin Dzeko is by any remote chance reading this blog, I implore him not to come to City because he'll become a castaway in Roberto Mancini's grind scheme of things.

City came to the Emirates not to play but to salvage a point which they did by parking the bus. Mind numbingly formulaic and efficient.