Champions League

First Two Teams in UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals Decided

 March 13, 2014   R K Gupta

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With their return leg matches completed, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich have registered their entries into the last eight of the UEFA Champions League. On March 11, 2014, while the Spanish side defeated Italian club AC Milan, Bayern Munich got the better of English club Arsenal. The 55000-capacity Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid came alive […]

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UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League Updates

 February 20, 2014   R K Gupta

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There were four engrossing encounters in UEFA Champions League on February 18 & 19, 2014, when first legs games for round-of-16 games were played at different venues across Europe. Incidentally, all matches were away games for the winners. On Tuesday night, Paris Saint-Germain had an overwhelming victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0 at Leverkusen. On […]

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Mourinho Chelsea

Mourinho mind games hide Chelsea title ambitions

 February 4, 2014   John Welsh

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By beating Manchester City 1-0 on Monday evening, Chelsea became only the second team to win beat Manuel Pellegrini’s outfit at the Etihad Stadium this season, the other being European and World Club champions Bayern Munich. For manager Jose Mourinho, the Premier League title race is now becoming as much about mind games as the […]

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Athletic Bilbao

Resurgent Bilbao upset Barcelona in new San Mames

 December 2, 2013   John Welsh

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Since the new San Mames Barria stadium opened for business in September, Athletic Bilbao have not lost a football match on home soil. The stadium has been built alongside the old ground on a prominent hill overlooking the river which flows through the Spanish city. Many bars and cafes line the roads leading to the […]

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Cristiano Ronaldo during World Cup Play-off match

UEFA World Cup Play-off drama may affect moral at club level

 November 21, 2013   John Welsh

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Following a dramatic night of World Cup play-off action in Europe, four teams emerged to join the nine group winners as UEFA representatives in the 2014 summer tournament to be staged in Brazil. The victories of Greece and Croatia were perhaps fairly predictable but for the other two ties, the impact may not just affect […]

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UEFA World Cup

UEFA World Cup play-offs contrast with qualification elsewhere

 November 17, 2013   John Welsh

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As the main football leagues in Europe have a free weekend with international football taking centre stage, World Cup qualification suddenly becomes thrust into the spotlight. For those countries involved in the UEFA procedure, it is a fairly routine method with nine group winners and the victors of four play-off matches between the eight best […]

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Gareth Bale

Journey of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid

 September 25, 2013   R K Gupta

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Six years ago, in 2007, Tottenham Hotspur struck a 10 million euro transfer deal with Southampton to get a little known 18-year old footballer going by the name Gareth Frank Bale. No one took any notice. The year 2007 belonged to the superstars like the Brazilian Kaka, Argentinian Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo. Other […]

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ticket to brazil 2014 football world cup

UEFA World Cup groups reveal the stronger European teams

 September 11, 2013   John Welsh

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With the final set of fixtures earmarked for October, the UEFA World Cup qualifying groups are rapidly gathering shape as the stronger European teams build seemingly impregnable leads at the head of their tables. Although Spain need to win their remaining two home fixtures to qualify, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy are also reinforcing their […]

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uefa champions league-2013

Champions and Europe League draws provide fascinating clashes

 August 31, 2013   John Welsh

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The draws have now been completed for both the Champions and Europa League group stages and as per usual there is the apparent ‘Group of Death’ and those where two clear favourites are emerging for qualification to the next knockout phase. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea appear to have a fairly easy passage in Group E with […]

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