It's no wonder why Pepe is nicknamed "The Butcher."

The Real Madrid defender, who is either known for physical play or malicious attacks on his opponents depending on who you talk to, could face disciplinary action for deliberately stomping on Lionel Messi's hand during yesterday's Clasico.

When the draw for the group stages of the Champions League was done a couple of months ago everybody expected Group D to be a clear path to the next stage for Manchester United and Benfica. The tables however turned last night when minnows Basel clinched the last qualification spot in Group C.

By CALEB SONNELAND

With his contract set to expire at the turn of the year, David Beckham is allegedly in talks with Ligue 1's Paris Saint-Germain, according to the clubs sporting director Leonardo.

The 36-year-old was a staple in the LA Galaxy midfield this year and played a massive part in the team's successful campaign toward a MLS Cup.

Europe's premier footballing competition the Champions League resumes today with fixtures that could mark the end of the journey for 16 teams. All teams will be left with one group match after this round of fixtures however, many will not want to take any chances on their qualification to the next round.

Bulat Chagaev, high chieftain of formerly respectable Swiss club, now punchline, Neuchatel Xamax, has permeated and skyrocketed to the top of the Batshit Crazy Football Owners Top Ten, formerly inhabited by such sane representatives as Becali, Zamparini, etc. So much so that you're not living life unless running his name through a Google News search at least once a week.

Every so often events conspire to make us question whether there is indeed some footballing god directing proceedings from, somewhere. After UEFA's initial decision to remove Swiss club FC Sion from the Europa League, the club they had previously beaten on aggregate in the final playoff round that club being Celtic FC were awarded their place in Group I in their stead.

FC Sion is a small club from a small Swiss town, one which only harbors under 30,000 inhabitants. And yet, they seem to be single-handedly taking on and defeating UEFA in perhaps the fall's most intriguin football sideshow outside of Who Wants A Beckham? (PSG is, yes, the perfect fit.)

After being booted from Europe by UEFA for fielding ineligible playesr, they've gone to court to take them on, and in the process, beat them.

European football's governing body UEFA has decided against allowing Swiss club FC Sion back into the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League, thus maintaining Glasgow Celtic's place in Group I of the competition which begins this Thursday.

FC Sion qualified for this season's competition following an aggregate victory against the Scottish giants in the Play-Off round but were subsequently expelled following a protest from the Parkhead club who claimed that a number of the Swiss club's players were ineligible.

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.

That, friends, is the face of insanity.

Neuchatel Xamax, a smallish Swiss club in a town of under 33,000, has quickly taken the headline storm which makes Maurizio Zamparini's Palermo look the picture of tenure and sanity.

On the opening day, they gave up three goals. The keeper was canned immediately.

Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax have sacked goalkeeper Rodrigo Galatto after signing the South American stopper last week.

Galatto endured a nightmare debut as his team lost 3-0 to FC Luzern and was consequently sacked by the club.

A host of European clubs including Liverpool have been put on alert after Swiss club Basel put a £15m valuation on star player Xherdan Shaqiri, talkSPORT has reported.
The football site claims the 19-year-old winger could have been available for as little as £5m back in January but his club will now be demanding three times that amount.

ZURICH, Switzerland The Swiss club Grasshoppers says it must leave Zurich after 125 years because talks with authorities over rent and operating costs have broken down. The 27-time champions are exploring stadium-sharing options next season with clubs in Aarau and Emmen. Club officials say the city has refused to reduce annual rent at Letzigrund [.