Milito’s two seals Europe for Inter Milan.

After more than four decades, FC Internazionale Milano were crowned European champions for the third time thanks to a goal in each half by forward Diego Milito. The result also completed their treble after there previous triumph in domestic circuit. Courtesy to FC Bayern München who were out classed by Jose Mourinho‘s men at the Santaigo Bernrbeu, Madrid, Spain. The result also bring cheers to Inter neighbours AC Milan who will be competing in next year’s UEFA Champions league after Inter managed to secure four places from Serie A from the coming season.

Both the sides came here to win the trebles after their sucesses in the domestic season but only one had to be victorious. The stadium was packed to capacity and the atmosphere was as always electricfying. Inter dominated the possession and in the 35th minute Milito struck for his first when he cushioned header off a long punt forward from Júlio César allows Sneijder to send him clear of the Bayern defence and he lofts the ball over the advancing Jörg Butt. The teams went into the break with teh Italians leading. 

Second half saw substitutions from both the sides. Bayern brought Miroslav Klose in place of Hamit Altıntop to futher enhance the strike but it seems like everything was going against the Bvarians. In the 70th minute Milito does it again, this time collecting Samuel Eto’o‘s pass on the break and beating Daniel Van Buyten on the edge of the area before shooting in high at the far corner beyond Butt’s reach. It was 2 for Inter and Bayern was left thinking. The score line remained the same till the end much to the delight of the Inter players, coach, supporter and management.

After their sucessive triumphs in the 60s this one is welcomes. The big credit of the win goes to their coach Jose Mourinho who is famous with his tactics at every situation. One can even say he has learned from his mentors at different club. But the growing speculations of his departure to the same ground where the final was played may well halt the celebrations at the San Siro.  

Bayern Munich Vs Inter Milan for Cup no. 3.

Finally the wait is over for the biggest match of the season. It is the champions League final between the two giants of Europe. Italian champions Inter Milan who recently completed their double are up against Bayern Munich who also finished with a double at Santaigo Bernebau, home to Spanish power house Real Madrid. It was a tough way to the final for both the teams beating several top teams in their way to Madrid.

Both teams are chasing trebles, having also won their league and domestic cup competitions. Bayern and Inter are both seeking a return to continental glory. The Bavarians are looking for their fifth European title, having last won in
2001 in a penalty shootout over Valencia. It was the club’s first European
Cup in 25 years, but they stumbled a bit after that, failing to advance past the
quarterfinals and once missing out on the top European club
competition entirely. For Inter Milan, this is the thier first European Cup final since they
won at home way, way
back in 1965. For Jose Mourinho the Estadio
Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid, will be having some personal matters where he is widely rumored to be taking over later in the summer. and facing his old mentor further spice up the proceedings. Jose Mourinho said some days ago that the Champions League is a bigger competition than the World
Cup. “This game is the most important in the world,” said 47-year-old Mourinho.

Bayern winger Franck Ribery and Inter midfielder Thiago Motta are suspended but otherwise both coaches largely have full squads to choose. Inter will be exploiting the pace of Sneijderand Samuel Eto’o and Bayern looking to Arjen Robben to wreak havoc as he cuts in from the right.

Its an action packed night. The match will be starting at 2045 Hours CET. Don’t miss it!!!

Fulham takes on Atletico Madrid for the Europa League trophy.

After weeks of hardwork, the glory is finally waiting for either Fulham FC or Atletico Madrid for one of the most prestigious event in Europe. The inagural UEFA Europa League final between two teams will be taking place in just few hours in Hamburg, Germany and there is plenty to look for. Being the first of the big finals preceeding the champions league much is happening at both ends.

For Fulham this is a dream come true as being their first major final in the clubs 131 years history and also the expectations of the barmy army which is pretty much behing the only English club in Europe. The other English club Liverpool were knocked out by spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the semi finals. The news from the Fulham camp is that their fierce striker Bobby Zamora has recovered from his Achilles tendon problem and is expected to play. So is Damien Duff, who is fast recovering from a leg injury. Other than that the whites are all ready for the big night. The Spanish must be making plans to stop Danny Murphy & Co.

For Atletico Madrid the best plan will be to attack. With Diego Forlan, Jose Antonio Reyes and Sergio Aguero at the front, getting the ball past the net will not be easy. Their defence is a cause of concern with nothing much of a star power in it. Atletico‘s manager Quique Sanchez Flores must be hoping to over come the dissapointment faced in the domestic league with no special break through and conceeding 52 goals. One outside positive for the Spanish side will be the German crowd support which will be behind them as Fulham  beat Hamburger SV to reach the final, Fulham may even have to listen to lown jeers from the Hamburg Arena spectators. 

The match will start at 2045 Hours CET.

Defending champions tastes huge defeat while Bayern edges past Lyon.

Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan stalled defending champions Barcelona‘s easy run by beating them 3-1 at San Siro leaving the Spaniards with huge uphill task in the return leg at Nou Camp. While in the other match, German giants Bayern Munich narrowly won against French side Olympique Lyonnais by a sole Arjen Robben goal in the second half. One can say that the long bus journey may have made a huge impact on the visiting team with both the visitors loosing in the two matches.

Barcelona must have been watch the sucess run of their former striker Saumuel Eto’o at Inter and also the tactics of the most popular coach Jose Mourinho. The match started with a full house at San SIro. It was Barcelona who shocked the home crowd when it broke the dead lock in the 19th minute when Maxwell surges away down the left and Inter allow him too much time and space to reach the byline. Then he cuts the ball back to the speeding Pedro Rodríguez, who calmly fires a low finish past Júlio César from 12 metres. But the joy was short lived. Just 10 minutes later Inter equalised through Wesley Sneijder when he got the ball from Diego Milito in space on the left and the Dutch midfielder drives it low past the Barca goalkeeper from 15 metres. The teams went to the break with all square at 1-1.

In the second half, just three minutes after the re-start Inter took the lead for the first time in the match when Diego Milito is again the provider as he charges deep into the area and clips the pass inside to Maicon, who takes a quick touch before carving his finish across the goalkeeper from close range. And just at the hour mark Inter made it 3-1 when Diego Milito nodded past the keeper after Wesley Sneijder‘s header was misguided for the goal. With only one positive that is the sole away goal, Barcelona need to win this by 2-0 or by a minimum margin of 4-1 if they themselves concede a goal.

In the match at thw Allianz Arena, Munich a solo second half goal by Arjen Robben took the home side to a narrow victory in the first leg. He fired in a speculative effort from 25 metres that swerves viciously and wrong-foots Hugo Lloris. All that happened after Franck Ribéry and Jérémy Toulalan had been sent off. As told by the Lyon coach, the match is not over yet as Stade de Gerland has a lot to be seen with players fress from the off the field problems.

Arsenal face the champions Barcelona, United-Bayern re-run in the champions league quarter finals.

 

After some exciting action and some huge upsets the champions league now steps into the last-8 stage featuring some of the best team in Europe. The fixtures for the much awaited quarter finals were finally declared in Nyon, Switzerland. 1999 champions Manchester United have been put up against that year’s runners up Bayern Munich. Some old memories will definitely come in mind and Bayern will be hoping not to have a repeat of that night.

Another thing to note in the quarters is that the presence of two French clubs, FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique Lyonnais. Although they have been scheduled to play each other but this as shown the increasing dominance of French clubs. Lyon everyone knows had pulled a cracked after getting past Real Madrid to reach here.

The other English powerhouse Arsenal will be hosting defending champions Barcelona in the match to watch. Wenger is confident to take this one away but playing in Nou Camp is a different experience altogether.

CSKA Moscow will be celebrating their first ever entry to this level and the first Russian club in 17 years to reach this stage but they are up against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan who comfortable defeated Chelsea to enter the last-8.

 The complete quarter finals fixture list:

All matches to start at 2045 Hours GMT.

First Leg

 30^th March 2010

Olympique Lyonnais Vs FC Girondins de Bordeaux           Venue: Stade de Gerland, Lyon 

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United             Venue: Fußball Arena München, Munich

31^st March 2010

Barcelona Vs Arsenal      Venue: Emirates Stadium, London

CSKA Moscow Vs Inter Milan  Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan

Second Leg

6^th April 2010

Barcelona Vs Arsenal      Venue:  Nou Camp, Barcelona

CSKA Moscow Vs Inter Milan      Venue: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

7^th April 2010

Olympique Lyonnais Vs FC Girondins de Bordeaux           Venue: Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United      Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

Chelsea’s £100 million plan for summer after champions league defeat.

Things are not going right at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea’s loss to Inter Milan in the Champions league last week. Many English dailies has reported that the club’s boss Roman Abramovich has plans to spend around £100 million($150 million) this summer to revamp the squad. He was reported to be unhappy after the blues exit from Europe and has pointed out key problems with the manager Carlo Ancelotti and the staff.

 

The first on the list of summer plan is Liverpool’s striker Fernando Torres who has been the top scorer at Anfield, while his injury has kept him out for most of the season, his form in the World Cup will be closely watched. 

 

Next in line is the Bayern Munich’s star midfielder Franck Ribery and Atletico Madrid’s striker Sergio Agüero. Things may not be easy to get both of them to Stamford Bridge as in the case of Ribery many clubs likeManchester United, Arsenal etc are following him and the big news is that his present employers Bayern has confirmed that they will not be extending his contract after the end of the season and review will only be done after the World Cup.

 

For Sergio Agüero, Real Madrid have him in sight for next year signing as part of there new signing for summer as they are also eager to get back after the Champions league debacle. Here also Real is not the only club to grab him as Manchester United and Chelsea are already in the queue for him. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his long term interest in the Argentine.

With the blues’ management’s above desires, current Chelsea players like Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Paulo Ferreiraand Juliano Belletti may be put under the axe by Ancelotti to raise the bank balance and make way for “better” players for the next season.

Overview of other football leagues elsewhere.

Spanish La Liga 

 

Real Madrid are at the top of the table with goal difference over last year’s champions Barcelona. Both of them are at 65 points after 26 matches. After going some distance form the top two Valencia is at third position with 47 points and Seville completes the top four with 44 points. And with just a point gap between them and the fouth places Seville, Mallorca and Deportivo la Coruna follows at fifth and sixth places respectively. Real Madrid after bowing out of the chamions league will be putting all the efforts in La liga to get the silverware.

Bundesliga

 

After 26 matches, Bayern Munich with 56 points is leading with a narrow lead of two points over rivals FC Schale 04. 2002-03 champions league finalist Bayer Leverkusen is third with 53 points which enable them in the one and only champions league qualifying position. Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV completes the last two spots for the final entry into Europe as of now. Stefan Kiebling of Leverkusen is the top scorer with 16 goals this season. Bayer‘s coach is reliverd after their recent 4-2 victory over Hamburger SV. He states “I think the team improved a lot in the second half. They were more calm and precise and deserved to win the game. We showed the right reaction and the players deserve credit for that.”

Italian Serie A

 

 

After  28 games, Inter Milan is leading with only a point in front of AC Milan who are currently second with 58 points. AS Roma is third five points below and Palermo is fourth with a distant 7 points gap. Juventus and Sampdoria are trailing at fifth and sixth with a point seperating them. Serie A title is wide open after Inter Milan suffered a shock 1-3 defeat in the hands of Catania in the last match. More trouble for AC Milan is the injury to  David Beckham which will take around 4 months to heal making him unavailable for the rest of the season and probably the World Cup later in June.

Rooney’s demolition of Milan continued. Real Madrid exit Europe…

Two goals from Wayne Rooney followed by one each from Park andFletcher completed a 4-0 drubbing of A C Milan in the champions league pre-quarters at Old Trafford. Also in a major upset in Europe nine times European champions Real Madrid crashed out of this year’s campaign after losing on the aggregate score of 1-2 againstOlympique Lyonnais over the two legs as they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home in Santaigo Bernabéu.

 

It was a perfect night for the Red Devils, who were already up 3-2 from the 1^st leg and now playing in front of here home crowd. United got the early lead in the 13^th minute whenNeville gave a wonderful cross from the right which found Wayne Rooney in the Milanpenalty area, who headed past Christian Abbiati making the aggregate 4-2. United’s second came just after the half time when Nani’s great run from the left cleared half of the Milandefence and then passed a brilliant ball to free Wayne Rooney in the centre who grabbed the ball and shot past Abbiati for his second. Just at the hour mark J S Park tripled the home side’s lead when he scored a great goal of a very narrow angle from the right and things were finally wrapped up by Darren Fletcher in the 88^th minute who made it 4-0 whenRafael’s long ball found him and he sweetly headed it past the keeper.

 

Olympique Lyonnais had a one goal lead before coming to Madrid for the return leg but one thing they knew was that playing at Santaigo Bernabéu in front of 1,00,000+ Real fans is not easy. Cristaino Ronaldo put the home side in the front in the 6^th minute when Guti’s ball found him and after controlling it he shot past the goal keeper making the home side coming at par. The situation was getting tense and the proceedings were referring to extra time but just 15 minutes from time Miralem Pjanić one -on -one with Lisandro ended upPjanic scoring from close range to put Lyon in aggregate lead again. With no serious attempts on goal the final scoreline remained the same, making it worst for Madrid come true and for Lyon, the prized place in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier event.

Manchester United eyes champions league quarters but Real has a task to perform.

After going top of the premier league, Manchester United will hoping to make it to the next round of the UEFA Champions Leaguewhen they will be facing Italian giants A C Milan for the return leg at Old Trafford. In the first leg United beat the home side 3-1 to take the crucial lead. In the other match of the day, Real Madrid will be hosting Olympique Lyonnais for their return leg and this time around Real needs to get early into the game to prove that the 0-1shock defeat in the first leg was just luck for the French side.

 

Manchester United has not always got the better over the Italians as when they met last time around they were routed 0-3 at San Siro after winning 3-2 at home in the semi finals of 2007. But as the proceedings have gone Manchester United are looking all fired up for the night. The defence seems to be getting better and better with Rio-Vidic standing like a wall and Nani, Valencia in good form in the mid field. Paul Scholes will be all fired up
after his scoring century of goals in the league in the last match.

The big talking point at OT is home coming of former United captain David Beckham who is on loan to Milan. His time at United was full of news which included wrong reasons and private life and problems with Sir Alex. So the kind of reception he receives will be worth seeing.

 

In the other match at Santaigo Bernebue, Real Madrid will be determined to get past Lyonwith the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul & Co. According to Portuguese winger statement on the official website he said “We need
to go out there to win and must begin the match thinking that we are going to score. Lyon didn’t concede any goals against us, but I hope Wednesday is a different story. We know it’s hard, but it is possible. We will do everything we can from the very first to very last minute.” 
Both the matches will be starting at 2045 Hours GMT on 10^thMarch.

1-2-3 by Owen takes United to the next round in style.

Hat-trick by Manchester United’s no. 7 Michael Owen against VfL Wolfsburg made it sure that his team reached the next round of the champions league in style by being the group leaders. With the result Wolfsburg are out of this year’s champions leaguebut they have earned a place in the Europa League, a competition lower than the champions league. In the other match PFC CSKA Moscow joined Manchester Unitedafter defeating Besiktas JK 2-1 to progress into the knockout stage.

Going with a second string team to Germany, as most of the players were injured, Sir Alex would have been delighted to see his team win in style with a special thanks to Michael Owen who showed a glimpse of his footballing skills of the past. After having the most of the possession, which is a regular for the red devils, the first goal took nearly the half when Michael Owen headed past goalkeeper Diego Benaglio with a perfect cross by Nani from the left corner. The teams went into the break with United leading at half time.

Second half saw the home side coming back into the match when Dzeko leveled in the 55th minute with a similar type of circumstances as that of United’s first goal, Marcel Schäfer being the architect for this one. Owen’s second came through a brilliant foot work by Gabriel Obertan who kept the defenders wondering and in the end giving a simple cross to him for an easy finish at the goal. Owen finally wrapped up the proceedings in the trade mark time for United, i.e. 90th minute with a brilliant solo shot over the goal keeper’s head. Final score Manchester United 3,Wolfsburg 1.
With the brilliant night at the VfL Wolfsburg arena, the focus now shifts to the next round where Manchester Unitedwill up against one of the giants of Europe next year.
Results of other matches are:
Group A: Juventus 1-4 FC Bayern München
Maccabi Haifa FC 0-1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Group C: FC Zürich 1-1 AC Milan
Olympique de Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid CF
Group D: Chelsea FC 2-2 APOEL FC
Club Atlético de Madrid 0-3 FC Porto