UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League Round-of-16: Team Prospects after First-Leg Matches

 February 27, 2015   R K Gupta

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During February 17-25, 2015, 8 round-of-16 first-leg matches were played in different European venues. Playing at home at Lviv on February 17, FC Shakhtar held visitors Bayern Munich to a goalless draw and made the second-leg match crucial for both teams. On the same day, PSG staged a second-half revival to draw against Chelsea FC […]

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UEFA Champions League

Football Fans’ Speculations Begin as UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 Draw Are Announced

 December 23, 2014   R K Gupta

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The beauty of UEFA Champions League is inherent in expectations. The die-hard football fans think far ahead into future and they just don’t mind waiting for months and months on end. Apart from World Cup Finals that take place every four years, UEFA Champions League final, every year, is also awaited like a baby to […]

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Shakhtar Donetsk

Brazilian boys help Shakhtar Donetsk to progress in Champions League

 December 11, 2014   John Welsh

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After the conclusion of the group matches in the 2014-15 Champions League competition, it is apparent that the Western European football teams are dominating once again to the detriment of their Eastern counterparts. Four qualifying teams from Germany plus three apiece from Spain and England underline the strength of the Premier League, Bundesliga and La […]

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Manchester City chamipions league 2014

Late Champions League drama offers Manchester City a lifeline

 November 26, 2014   John Welsh

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It has often been quoted that fine margins can settle the outcome of football matches and tournaments with Tuesday evenings contests in Champions League Group E proving no exception. Bayern Munich had already clinched the group ahead of the fifth set of matches with CSKA Moscow, Roma and Manchester City vying for the second qualifying […]

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Europa League

Slovan Bratislava may yet claim an unwelcome statistic in Europa League

 November 7, 2014   John Welsh

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Amid all the high profile matches in this week’s Champions and Europa League encounters, there was one game in Group I of the latter competition which was both symbolic in terms of the occasion and which also completed another chapter in a fairly disastrous set of European fixtures for the beaten team. The meeting between […]

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Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba proves that there is still life in his ageing legs as Chelsea draw at Old Trafford

 October 27, 2014   John Welsh

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In the 2012 UEFA Champions League cup final, Didier Drogba headed home a Chelsea corner in the final minutes to equalise an earlier Bayern Munich goal to force the game into extra-time. Drogba had been first to react to a ball arriving at the near post as he out-jumped the opposing defence. Chelsea subsequently won […]

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Bayern Munich

Roma must refocus after being exposed by a ruthless Bayern Munich team

 October 22, 2014   John Welsh

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When Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup Semi-Final, it was described as an awesome attacking performance against a woeful defence. The Germans were 5-0 ahead at half-time in that match and just three months later, Bayern Munich replicated the display of the national team by winning a Champions League tie 7-1 at […]

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UEFA

UEFA Champions’ League Group-Stage Preview

 September 16, 2014   Paranjoy Goswami

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The race for the grandest prize in European football, the UEFA Champions’ League gets underway this week. Here we take a quick look at all the 32 teams in the 8 groups as we try to figure out what to expect in the coming months of the tournament.   Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos […]

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Falcao

Falcao loan deal demonstrates a means of manipulating Financial Fair Play Rules

 September 3, 2014   John Welsh

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As the European football leagues pause for the international break, it allows some time to reflect on another transfer window in which the rich clubs have once again spent extravagant sums of money on players. As the closure of the window approached on September 1st, the impending transfer of one player in particular seemed to […]

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Celtic

Celtic lifeline disguises the decline in Scottish club football

 August 9, 2014   John Welsh

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When Celtic slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Legia Warsaw in the second leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie at Murrrayfield, it epitomised the recent slump in Scottish football especially as Celtic lost the first leg by a resounding 4-1 scoreline. Only two years previously, a capacity crowd at Parkhead had […]

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