Archive for August, 2009
Has the Champions League final ever been staged at the stadium of one of the finalists?
For instance, how would it have been if Real Madrid were to make it to the 2010 Champions League final?
ANSWER:
Real Madrid beat Fiorentina in the 1956-57 final at the Santiago Bernabeu 2-0
Inter Milan beat Benfica at San Siro in the 1964-65 final 1-0
So I see no particular problem in Real Madrid playing Barça at Santiago Bernabéu on the 22nd May – and losing, of course!
Champions League Final 1999
This was one of the best Champions League finals of all time.
It was played in Barcelona – I’d been offered tickets but couldn’t go because I had to give the final English class to a group of examinees for Cambridge University’s FCE exam.
I gave my class but had a telly on (with the sound turned down) in the corner of the room.
When the class finished Bayern were 1-nil up and the janitor wouldn’t let me stay to watch the end of the game.
I got back to my local in Barcelona and everyone started shaking my hand and congratulating me – I thought they were taking the piss until I saw the Sports Round-Up. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
First the great Teddy Sheringham and then Solskaer from a Beckham corner – both of them had come on as subs and they had to leave it till extra time.
One of the best nights ever and my Spanish mates wouldn’t let me pay for a single drink.
BRILLIANT!!!!
Duration : 0:7:0
Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Highlights 2009
REAL MADRID VS BORUSSIA DORTMUND 5-0 HIGHLIGHTS 2009
Duration : 0:4:13
FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Spanish Super Cup 23-8-09
This was a pretty comfortable win for Barça -Messi 2 goals and Bojan 1 goal. They’d won the first leg 2-1 and Athletic had to play in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League against Tromso.
Caparrós knew where his priorities lay and gave his big guns a night off. All merit to Barça though and Athletic qualified, by the way.
FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao 3-0 Spanish Super Cup 23/8-09
Duration : 0:7:26
Champions League Anthem
This is a great little video of all the Champions League Winners up until 2006. So Barça are the last winners to be crowned Kings of Europe both in the video (2006) and in real time (2009).
It also shows the full lyrics of the Champions League Anthem, where the choir sings in a mixture of English, German and French.
That’s why we Spaniards and our Italian cousins didn’t understand the words. I think we should have a Champions League Anthem in Spanish and Italian – after all, we win it a lot more often than the French and the Germans!!!!
Duration : 0:3:3
Real Madrid 3 – 2 Deportivo 08-29-09
26′ Raúl 1-0
30′ Riki 1-1
35” Ronaldo ” Penalti ” 2-1
47′ Valerón 2-2
61′ Lass Diarra 3-2
The highlights of the very first game of the Primera Liga 2009-10 in which, despite all their superstars, Real Madrid struggle to take the points from Deportivo de La Coruña.
Not surprising really – it’s early days yet for the New Galacticos and the players really haven’t had time to automate their game. Cristiano Ronaldo shows a few flashes of talent and little more and Kaká definitely looks like he’s going to be the key player if Real Madrid expect to compete on an equal level with Barcelona.
Duration : 0:6:31
FC Barcelona vs Manchester City 0-1 Joan Gamper 19-08-09
The highlights of Manchester City’s 0-1 victory over Barcelona in the club’s Joan Gamper pre-season trophy.
It wasn’t a fantastic game because Barça were much less worried about winning than city were. The Blaugrana had already competed in the Spanish SuperCup and were thinking ahead to the European one and the start of La Liga, so Pep continued with his experiments and used a lot of the reserve and youth players. Most of the theoretical first team had a bit of a run about and Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his debut without much luck. Barça still played like Barça and the result was of little importance.
For City, however, after investing so much money, beating the reigning European Champions gave them a definite moral boost and I’m sure Mark Hughes smiled to himself when he thought of his unsuccessful period at Camp Nou under Terry Venables back in the late 1980s.
Duration : 0:3:41
Primera Liga 2009-10 – Week One
Spain’s fabulous Primera Liga kicked off the 2009-10 season this weekend.
With Champions League winners FC Barcelona preparing to slug it out with Real Madrid’s New Galacticos, we were are set for a thrilling season.
It’s very early days yet, so conclusions are difficult to come to. Mostly predictable with a couple of eyebrow raisers.
Real Madrid 3 Deportivo 2
Zaragoza 1 Tenerife 0
Valencia 2 Sevilla 0
Athletic Bilbao 1 Espanyol 0
Malaga 3 Atletico Madrid 0
Mallorca 2 Xerez 0
Osasuna 1 Villarreal 1
Racing Santander 1 Getafe 4
Almeria 0 Valladolid 0
Barcelona 3 Sporting Gijon 0
PRIMERA LIGA WEEK ONE BLOW BY BLOW
Real Madrid 3 Deportivo 2
As all the bars round our way haven’t signed up for the new football channels yet. I had to listen to this on the radio. A pretty disappointing game by all accounts. Depor equalised in the first minute of the second half and I was quite looking forward to winding up my merengue mates, but the Blancos managed to scrape an unconvincing win.
Zaragoza 1 Tenerife 0
I quite enjoyed the twenty minutes I saw of this, but its difficult to draw any conclusions as they’re both recently promoted.
Valencia 2 Sevilla 0
A serious upset for Sevilla but I expect them to bounce back. When it comes to Valencia, one never knows what to expect. Kanoute’s sending around half-time was crucial.
Athletic Bilbao 1 Espanyol 0
Having already played the Spanish SuperCup and a couple of Europa League games, Athletic are more ‘rodado’ than Espanyol. I expect some good things from both these sides in 2009-10.
Malaga 3 Atletico Madrid 0
Now this is a real turn up for the books but Malaga had a good season in 08-09 so I’m not surprised – I’ve been fancying them for some time, as a matter of fact. On the other hand, Atletico are in the Champions League so the Colchoneros are going to be feeling pretty downtrodden.
Mallorca 2 Xerez 0
Very early days yet but I think Xerez are going to have difficulties in the top tier. They had a player sent off and everything fell apart.
Osasuna 1 Villarreal 1
Good result for Osasuna and Camacho sounded pretty chuffed on the radio. Senna got injured – Villarreal lost it – par for the course.
Racing Santander 1 Getafe 4
A great win for the unpredictable Getafe (Real Madrid’s B Team!) – an excellent hat-trick from Soldado.
Almeria 0 Valladolid 0
Insanely dull, apart from a five minute spell in the middle of the second half when the ball just wouldn’t go in for Almeria. Hugo Sanchez will be hopping mad, because Valladolid look like a candidate for relegation.
Barcelona 3 Sporting Gijon 0
Well, Barça start as they mean to go on by beating Sporting 3-nil. Goals from Keita, Bojan and the first one from Ibrahimovic. Very nice to see a forward line made up of Ibrahimovic, Bojan and Pedro for the first time – Barça’s youth system is just amazing!
International Break
This happens every season and drives me nuts every season – there’s one Liga game and then an immediate break for internationals. I like international football but I’ve been Liga-less for three months so it’s pretty frustrating. Grrrrrrrrr!
Barcelona – Shakhtar Donetsk 1:0 UEFA Super Cup 28-09-2009
It’s the name that goes on the trophy that counts but this was a pretty frustrating game until a 115th-minute goal from substitute Pedro Rodríguez (isn’t he a promising player?) finally ended the resistance of FC Shakhtar Donetsk and gave FC Barcelona a third UEFA Super Cup triumph in Monaco.
It was also the first time that we got a proper look at Chygrynskiy. I must admit, I wasn’t at all convinced but it must have been strange playing the last game for Shaktar knowing he’d be a Barça player the next day.
CLICK HERE FOR FC BARCELONA TICKETS – ALL LIGA AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GAMES AVAILABLE!
cup
Duration : 0:5:43
Peace Cup 2009