By Eric Beard

Doesn't vehement hatred get kind of boring after a while? I mean, sure, if you want to let a little schadenfreude and anger out a couple of times a year, that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their fair share of irrational fandom. Maybe I'm not as creative as the Spanish press and [insert name of your Superclub]'s fans, but hatred gets kind of circular after a while.

Iker Casillas played down divisions between the Spanish and Portuguese players in the Real Madrid team after Sunday's win against Athletic Bilbao saying:

"We can't start losing our minds and pointing the finger at each other. Whistles are really aimed at all of us. We must all be united, team and fans alike.

Instead of a preview, I thought I'd look at some classic Arsenal matches against this week's opponents. And when those opponents are Man Utd, there's a lot of games to choose from. So, rather than one game, I thought I'd look at a whole season: 2004-2005. That year, we played United in three games that can genuinely be described as epic (we also opened the season by beating them in the Charity Shield).

None of today's matches are necessarily must-see; but if you must watch some football, here's what we recommend:

Saturday, Jan 21

England, Norwich-Chelsea (7:30amET ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com): Norwich (and Swansea) have attracted attention as newly-promoted sides that have fought their way into the top half the table.

None of today's matches are necessarily must-see; but if you must watch some football, here's what we recommend:

Saturday, Jan 21

Chelsea's new Catalonian Makélelé?

England, Norwich-Chelsea (7:30amET ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com): Norwich (and Swansea) have attracted attention as newly-promoted sides that have fought their way into the top half the table.

By Alan Duffy

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Chelsea Premier League 17th December 2011

After excellent wins against Valencia in the Champions League and Manchester City in the Premier League, Chelsea were brought back down to earth with a bump at the DW Stadium against a Wigan side who fully deserved a share of the points.

Best Selling Football Shirts - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Sales of football gear derive a large amount of the profits football clubs make. International tournaments like the World Cup and the European Championship give national teams a chance to boost their merchandise sales as well.

By Chris Wright

Chelsea will wade into their final group stage game against Valencia in a fortnight's time needing a win or a goalless draw (because the Spaniards thrashed Genk 7-0) at Stamford Bridge to avoid being farted from the Champions League at the first hurdle ('knocked out' in technical terms) after being pipped at the death by Bayer Leverkusen in Germany last night.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE continued tonight with two SPANISH FOOTBALL Clubs involved in Group duties & with positive outcomes. Here is a short summary of events, the final results & the scorers. Roberto Soldado VALENCIA CF needed to win its Group E match against GENK to keep alive its qualifying hopes & they did things in smashing fashion.

Roberto Soldado grabbed three first-half goals to help Valencia thrash Genk 7-0 in a crucial result that kept alive the Spaniards' hopes of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Jonas Goncalves got an early opener before Soldado's solo show gave Valencia a 4-0 lead before the interval.

By Chris Wright

Down the hatch

Two goals from the excellent Edinson Cavani were enough for Napoli to see off Man City in the Stadio San Paolo, thus leaving the Premier League leaders teetering on the brink of first-round elimination.

It now looks for all the world like City will be dropping out and playing Thursday night football in the Europa League as of next year, that is unless they manage a win over Bayern Munich and Villarreal take a point or three off Napoli in the last round of group games.

Don't be fooled by England's win over Spain the visitors would have won that game 99 times out of 100

Congratulations to Fabio Capello for guiding England to a win over the best team in the world. But surrendering 71 per cent of possession to the opposition when you are playing at home and then snatching a goal from a set-piece can't be the way forward.

Kyle Walker started his first game for England at Wembley last night and arguably sealed the second man of the match award for Tottenham players in two international games.

After Scott Parker shone against the Spaniards, Walker adopted that old footballing cliché of showing ‘maturity beyond his years' as he battles for a place in the squad and maybe even a starting berth at Euro 2012.

By Alan Duffy

Spain are in meltdown! Del Bosque out! Well, not really. Although you wouldn't put that kind of reaction past the UK tabloids if it were England.

The world champions found themselves two goals down in their friendly in Costa Rica, with Arsenal striker Joel Campbell, currently on loan in France, netting a superb second.

Super-rich Real Madrid usually wreak havoc in the transfer periods with their ability to acquire almost any footballer they have their eye on, and Arsenal are just at risk of losing star players to them as any other team. The Spaniards have been linked with Robin Van Persie, Andrey Arshavin and even Cesc Fabregas in [.

Time to sing "Everything you own in the box to the left!" to Diego Forlan because Uruguay have officially reaffirmed their commitment to their new national hero (handball and all), Luis SuaaaRez!

Of course, it's hard to ignore his four goals against Chi-le-le over the weekend but the Italians can sit down and relax because he won't be featuring against them tonight in the Italy-Uruguay international friendly.

There are only two thoughts that may be going through your head : "Are Spain trying to be National Yearbook Photo Kings?" or "I'd die to be Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica's president) right now!" Either way, the Spaniards are relieved that the Costa Ricans are still in love with them despite their 0-1 loss to England over the weekend.

During the build up to England's friendly meeting with World Cup and Euro Champions Spain on Saturday, references were being made to how many goals Spain would score and how the English fans would see how badly the current National team compares with the best in the world, and I have to admit, that I was one of those doubters.

Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has mocked England by suggesting that the only way the Three Lions could score against his Spain side was from a set piece and that the visitors dominated throughout the 90 minutes at Wembley on Saturday evening.

World champions Spain lost 1-0 after Frank Lampard got at the end of a free-kick sequence to nod home the only goal of the match.

By Eric Beard. Trying something new. Responses and reactions welcome.

Tom (thinking): Oh my... Where on earth am I? London, still? God I hope so. WHAT. A. NIGHT. After the clock struck midnight though, bam! I can't remember a thing! Remember the match perfectly though.

Plucked from obscurity: Alan Bald, Darlei Santos and Airton Michellon

Spanish club Malaga have announced the signings of three 17-year-olds from Juventude.
Alan Bald, Darlei Santos and Airton Michellon impressed the Spaniards during the Copa Cotif L'Alcúdia in August when the Brazilian club made it all the way to final before losing to Valencia.

Wembley 'special' for Premier League's Anglo-Spaniards

Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina says playing at Wembley on Saturday evening would be particularly 'special' for the Premier League's Spanish contingent.

View the full story here: BBC

A news article on 2011-11-10 15:01:55 from: BBC

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

Since Arsene Wenger's team managed to reach the Champions League final in the 2005-2006 season and went head to head with Barcelona, the Catalan club seemed to have always been the Gunner's executioner. And while the Spaniards went on to win another two Champions League trophies after that final, Arsenal was always stopped in their [.

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Liverpool's Luis Suarez make 23-man shortlist for 2011 Fifa Ballon d'Or

An impressive number of seven Spaniards are in contention to win the prestigious individual trophy, while three Germans are in the race to scoop up the award

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-11-01 07:35:00 from: Goal

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

As the race for spots in the knock-out round intensifies, we take a look at the crucial fixtures which are likely to decide who will be advancing and who will be exiting Europe's premier club competition.

Highly-flying Manchester City will be looking to book their advancement to the next stage when they travel to Italy on 22nd November.

By Chris Wright

Bob Mancini was the first to admit that Man City were 'lucky' to register their first ever Champions League victory over Villarreal yesterday evening, with substitute Sergio Aguero's 94th minute goal plundering a come-from-behind win over the Spaniards at the death thus snaring a vital three-point haul that puts City back in the running to emerge from Group A, despite things looking a little bleak as the clock ticked over to '93:00′ at the Etihad last night.

By Chris Wright

Bob Mancini was the first to admit that Man City were 'lucky' to register their first ever Champions League victory over Villarreal yesterday evening, with substitute Sergio Aguero's 94th minute goal plundering a come-from-behind win over the Spaniards at the death thus snaring a vital three-point haul that puts City back in the running to emerge from Group A, despite things looking a little bleak as the clock ticked over to '93:00′ at the Etihad last night.

Could Spain's second XI beat England? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

While watching David Silva and Spain dismantle a dogged and compact Scotland on Wednesday, it struck me: this was hardly Spain's best outfit and they were dominating.

Silva cemented his bona fides as one of the top half-dozen players in world football and Spain, with a team featuring second-choice players like Thiago Alcantara, Jordi Alba and Santi Cazorla, passed Scotland into an uneasy submission.

Image via sports.ru

You all remember Yulia Voronin, right? She of the tracksuit that will never die? Of course you do.

Mrs. Voronin, whose husband Andriy formerly played for Liverpool and currently plays for Dynamo Moscow, has given a truly spectacular interview to a Russian sports site.

By JOEY SAMUEL

During the qualifying process for the 2010 World Cup, France put on a number of disappointing performances and was forced to get in through the playoff round. On Tuesday, Les Bleus made sure that wouldn't happen again.

A Samir Nasri penalty in the 78th minute rescued a 1-1 draw for France against Bosnia-Herzegovina, allowing France to remain in first place in Group D and seal a place in EURO 2012.

SPAIN defeated the CZECH REPUBLIC 0 - 2 in their Group I Euro 2012 qualifier match in Prague. The Spaniards have already qualified & the Czech side needed a positive result to secure the Groups second place, however they will be disappointed with their performance tonight. Juan Mata The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM dominated most of the match with their usual style of touch Football which caused the

In a little under an hour we take on the impressive Valencia and this is no easy game by any stretch of the imagination!. Valencia are doing well in La Liga and will want to make an impression in this one so Chelsea need to be at their very best to first of all cope with the Spaniards, then to get hold of possession and start to dictate play.

Ah, would you just look at THAT! If it isn't Chelsea's resident Spaniards in Valencia wearing Los Che's traditional colours, Orange! You can't get any cheesier than that in a strangely endearing way, of course. Anyway, Juan Mata is all set to face his former side tonight when Valencia host Chelsea at the Mestalla.

The transfer rumours don't stop when the window closes – they merely slow down. This morning there have been a number of stories appearing, but the most interesting of these concerns Valencia midfielder Ever Banega.

As the Modric rumours continue, so will the suggestions of possible replacements, but Banega looks to be one of the better players to be linked with a move to Spurs.

Ryan Fredericks, Tom Carroll and Harry Kane all got their first taste of senior Spurs action in the recent Europa Cup tie against Hearts, but they were outshone last night by new Spanish arrivals Cristian Ceballos and Yago Falque.

Tottenham travelled to Northamptonshire to take on Kettering in a testimonial for their Senegalese striker Jean-Paul Marna and came from behind twice to win the game 5-4.

Move aside Nando Torres... it's time for Sevilla's homeboy, Alvaro Negredo, to take over La Seleccion! Yes, he has picked up a couple of Sunday Senor accolades here, and you should smear your face with black grease (ala Granada's dirty Cascamorras festival) if you've not heard of Negredo!

Excellent day at the track - Motorbike track - for SPANISH SPORTS with Spaniards proclaiming themselves winners in all three categories of the SAN MARINO MOTO GP. San Marino GP podium 2011 Current Spanish World Champ JORGE LORENZO put in a great race to win & cut back a few points in the World title table against Australian Casey Stoner.

Spain holds the World Cup and the European Championships, beating the Dutch for the World Cup roughly one year ago. (And does it count that Spain thumped the team that thumped the Dutch in '08? No? Okay.) Since that time, the Spaniards have gone 5-0-0 in real, actual international matches.

This just in: we did a deal for a highly-touted Spaniard in under four days. What's more? We didn't overpay for his services. Me likey.

Welcome to The Bridge, Juanito.

Let me see if I can track the genesis of this one. On Wednesday of last week, news broke that we were in pole position to get Mata from the clutches of Arsenal and Tottenham.

Yes, it may have been "just a friendly," but anytime you can claim a victory over the reigning world and European champions, it is something worthy of getting excited over. Italy's 2-1 win at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari over Spain may not count in terms of any competition, but for new coach Cesare Prandelli this win brings a smile to his face and hope to fans of the Azzurri.