Archive for May, 2010

Barcelona and Real Madrid – Saviours or Destroyers of La Liga?

May 26, 2010 at 10:08 AM · Filed under BC First, Football, La Liga ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

La Liga is one of the football’s most exciting domestic leagues. So it is easy to see how the news of the indebtedness of the league in which footballing giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona play would make a football fan cringe.

According to a study carried out by Professor Jose Maria Gay of the University of Barcelona, it was revealed that La Liga’s debts have grown and at are at an all time high of  €3.53 billion (£3.03 billion) this year.

The study also revealed that of the 20 clubs that play in La Liga,  the  top two clubs in terms of exposure and income – Real Madrid and Barcelona – and the relegated Numacia made an operating profit.

The reason for this imbalance it seems are player wages, which are said to have made up  85% of the total operating cost of the clubs. In many clubs like Valencia, Sevilla and Atlético Madrid the outgoings on wages were way higher than the income.

The issue of  player wages driving clubs into debt becomes increasingly disturbing when you hear about Barcelona latest purchase of David Villa for £34.2 million and the anticipated signing of Cesc Fabregas for a similar amount, showing that the top clubs have no intention of curbing their spending.

Another fact adding to the imbalance is probably the fact that unlike English Premier League clubs who have a collective television deal with the broadcast income being divided equally among the 20 clubs depending on the number of  appearances and final league position, the Spanish clubs negotiate their own media deals. This once again means that top two – Barcelona and Real Madrid get the best deals. They were able to rake in Barcelona half of their incomes from media rights.

With more income coming in from media deals and exposure, the top two have much more spending power than the rest of the league. This in turn makes it possible for them to pay whatever it takes to bring the player they want to their club, raising the wage-rate higher for the entire league and thus pushing the others further into debt. It also makes the league lopsided, as was seen this season with Barcelona beating Real Madrid to La Liga title by three points, and Valencia finishing a distant third, 28 points behind the champions.

La Liga’s problems are further highlighted by the fact that Real Mallorca, a club which only narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League on the final day of the season and finished 5th in La Liga had to file for voluntary administration after failing to find buyer  to take on their €85m debt.

Jose Gay who feels the current model is unsustainable warns that the league would be in “death throes”. “Barça and Madrid will have to make an effort, sacrificing today so the league can flourish”, he added.

It looks like it is time Barcelona and Real Madrid sat down and watched Spiderman, the movie… ” with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Article first published as Spanish Game in Crisis as La Liga Debts Soar on Technorati.

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Mourinho’s Inter Milan Wins Champions League

May 23, 2010 at 12:10 PM · Filed under BC First, Champions League, Football ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0  to win the Champions League final, ending the club’s 45-year wait to regain Europe’s top prize. Argentnian striker Diego Milito scored both the goals for the Italian club in a game which was won by brilliant defending and individual magic. Today’s win makes Inter Milan the first Italian club to have won the Treble.

During the first half of the match, Bayern Munich controlled the game and were the better team. They kept possession and tested the Inter defense line time and again. The Germans, however failed to capitalize on their chances with shots from Ivica Olic and Arjen Robben and Hamit Altintop going astray.

In the 34th minute, Diego Milito headed a long ball clearance by the goalkeeper Julio Cesar to Sneidjer who then passed it back to the Argentine to put in the back of the net. The second half started in electric fashion with Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger finding himself in space 25 yards from goal but he chose to pass instead of shoot. During the rest of the game, Inter sat deep, defending splendidly and letting Bayern control possession.

In the 70th minute, Samuel Eto pass found Milito and Milito magic struck again with the Argentine adding to his goal tally with a sensational goal and effectively ending the contest.

Inter’s win makes Jose Mourinho’s famous quote about being the “Special One” truer than it has ever been before.No one predicted that Jose’s Inter Milan would become the Champions League holders this season let alone that they would beat the English champions Chelsea, the Spanish champions Barcelona and the German Champions Bayern Munich on the way. What makes the win even more special  for the Portuguese manager who had won the Champions League with Porto in 2005, is that he becomes only the third man to have ever won the Champions league with different clubs.

The Inter Milan manager achieved this feat by completely outplaying Bayern Munich who are managed by Mourinho’s mentor Louis Van Gaal. The duo had worked together in the 1990′s at FC Barcelona, where Mourinho started his career as a scout and an interpretor. This earned him the nickname of ‘The Translator’ with which Barcelona fans taunted him during the game. They were quickly silenced as Mourinho’s team knocked Barcelona out in the semi-finals to reach a first final since 1972.

It has been a season of personal vindication for the outspoken Portuguese who has a very frosty relationship with the Italian media and has often admitted to not being happy in Italy. Many reports link him with a move to Real Madrid. It seems almost perfect that his final victory at Inter Milan should come at the Bernabeu, Real’s home stadium.

The final whistle saw a warm hug between the protege and the professor as Mourinho went on to celebrate with his team and lift the trophy, Louis Van Gaal waved impassively at the supporters.

Article first published as Mourinho Fires Inter Milan to Champions League Glory on Technorati.

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Cesc Fabregas to Leave Arsenal for Barcelona

May 19, 2010 at 12:28 AM · Filed under EPL, Football ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Arsenal’s season had started with such promise. The free scoring Gunners had the added advantage of being maturer than they had been in the past and in many games put up a fight when the going got tough. Unfortunately, the season ended in the same fashion as the last, in disappointment. Arsenal were unlucky enough to have drawn Barcelona in the Champions League knock-out stages and were given a master-class in football by the La Liga Champions in their 4-1 loss at the Nou Camp. Just like their Champions League dream died, Arsenal’s title ambitions also fizzled out leaving them third on the league table behind champions Chelsea and second place, Manchester United.

With the north London club failing to add to their trophy cabinet this season, fans must have felt that the worst disappointments of the season were behind them. Unfortunately, the  the final blow was to be dealt by their captain Cesc Fabregas who told  his father figure and mentor Arsene Wenger in a face-to-face meeting that he wants to quit Arsenal and rejoin Barcelona. Cesc had joined Arsenal as a 16-year old from Barcelona’s youth teams where he had played alongside Lionel Messi and has enjoyed the privilege of captaincy and  a demi-god status at Arsenal.

It couldn’t have been easy for the mid-fielder to tell the man he feels he owes his career to that he no longer wanted to stay at the club. A decision that stems, it seems  from the fear of losing out on the higher accolades since Arsenal haven’t come any closer to winning in Europe or in the domestic league in the last few seasons. Barcelona on the other hand are a team on fire. They are the reigning La Liga champions and Champions League winners (till March 28). Barcelona’s manager Pep Guardiola has already proven that his success in his first season at the club was not a fluke and that he knows how to build a champion team.

Arsene Wenger, it is believed, took the news calmly and asked the 23-year old Spaniard to stay for one more season but Fabregas has his heart set on returning home to Barcelona this summer. It is believed that Barcelona would be willing to offer £30m for Fabregas who was signed for nothing by Arsenal in 2003.  Arsenal however, would be looking for more than £40m for the player who they consider irreplaceble and undoubtedly one of the world’s best midfielders. Reports from Barcelona have also suggested that Yaya Touré could be used as a makeweight in the deal.

Fabregas has already said that he wants his future decided before the World Cup and unfortunately for Arsenal fans, it it seems that his belief Arsene Wenger’s vision has suffered a few knocks over the years while his belief in Pep Guardiola’s ability to win silverware is minty fresh.

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Germany Fears Realised: Ballack Out of the World Cup

May 18, 2010 at 10:18 PM · Filed under BC First, Chelsea, Chelsea FC, FA Cup, Football, World Cup ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Germany’s worst  fears were realised when it was announced that their captain Michael Ballack will miss this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. He was hurt in the FA cup final between Premier League Champions Chelsea, the club he plays for and Portsmouth when a late tackle by Kevin-Prince Boateng caught his ankle. A scan in Munich on Monday revealed torn  ligaments in Ballack’s right ankle  putting him out of action for at least eight weeks. Michael Ballack has already won 98 caps and scored 42 goals for Germany.  This year would have been his fourth and probably the last appearance in a World Cup.

Michael Ballack feels that Kevin-Prince Boateng tried to hurt him intentionally and that the referee, Chris Foy should have shown him a red card instead of a yellow.  Ballack who was very worried about his injury said, “I have seen [the tackle] on TV and to say it was not on purpose means you have to be a friend of Boateng.”

Kevin-Prince Boateng recently snubbed Germany to play for Ghana and with the two teams meeting in the group stages, Boateng had been dubbed by the German Media as ‘ Public Enemy No. 1″.  The new Ghanaian player has been accused of tackling Ballack to prevent him from meeting the Black Stars at the World Cup. The Portsmouth player however has vehemently denied the allegation and apologized for the reckless tackle.

Boateng’s tackle on Ballack did not look premeditated but it has emerged that the two have a history of not getting along and Boateng could have been holding a grudge against Ballack for a remark  the German captain allegedly made four years ago during a game when both  played in the German Bundesliga.

The story goes, Boateng  had just scored his first goal for Hertha [Berlin]. Hertha Berlin’s next match was against Bayern Munich and Boateng got into an argument with Michael Ballack. Ballack it is alleged said to him, ‘You’ve scored one goal, and you think you are the best’.

Boateng’s defenders however, argue that his decision to play for Ghana instead of  Germany is the reason that the German press is so critical of him.

While German Coach Joachim Loew was shocked and feels Ballack’s absence was a ‘severe blow’ for the team’s prospects. Ballack’s agent threatened to to sue Boateng for setting out to intentionally injure the German captain; Michael Ballack , who has won the English Premier League title and the FA Cup playing for Chelsea this year was ‘angry’ but was also philosophical.  “It’s football and you have to live with it,” he said.

Article first published as Germany’s Fears Realised: Ballack out of the Soccer World Cup on Technorati.

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Fabio Capello Surprises Yet Again!

May 11, 2010 at 9:31 PM · Filed under BC First, Football, World Cup ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fabio Capello certainly has been busy this week. First he shocked us by announcing himself as the co-founder of ‘Capello Index’ alongside Chicco Merighi, the founder of an online gambling company goaltipwin.com. The ‘Capello Index’ is a way of rating player’s performance out of a 100 based on analysis provided by England manager. The points awarded depend on the area of the pitch that the player competed in as well as the importance of the match.’

Fabio then went to to horrify us by endorsing a site which intended to use the ‘Capello Index’ to provide performance data on all players within two hours of games ending.  The idea of Capello’s analysis of matches being made public and the perception of many that the England manager was rating players immediately after matches would definitely undermine England’s World Cup campaign.

Fabio however feels that the site was a great way to provide detailed analyses to the fans and insisted that his interest was in football and that it had nothing to do with cashing in as many people seemed to feel.

Thankfully, the FA has decided to postpone the launch of the ‘Capello Index’ till after the World Cup. (Disaster averted…phew!)

And now the England manager has surprised us with his provisional 30-man England squad which doesn’t not include Manchester United’s Owen Hargreaves and Fulham striker Bobby Zamora despite wide-spread speculation about the duo’s inclusion. He has however included Manchester City’s injured midfielder Gareth Barry. Sunderland’s Darren Bent, West Ham United’s Scott Parker are also named in the squad. With doubts about Rio Ferdinand, Jolean Lescott and Wes Brown being ruled out through injury, Fabio Capello has called on Ledley King  along with Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher to the 30-man squad. The squad includes two uncapped players in Andy Johnson and Tottenham’s Michael Dawson. Chelsea’s Joe Cole who had been struggling to get back from injury the entire season at his club and has not been involved for England since September 2008 win over Croatia also made the provisional squad. Other players who were mentioned but did not make it in to the provisional squad include Phil Jagielka, Gary Neville, Stewart Downing, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Carlton Cole.

This provisional squad however, is just that, provisional. Players not included don’t necessarily miss out on South Africa. The final 23-man squad is to be announced by Fabio after the second of the two friendlies i.e. against Japan in Graz on May 30.  Fabio Capello has the option to make changes to those injured and the replacements do not need to be from the original 30.

England’s 30 Man Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green. (Hart has had a great season but surely he’s too young! We seriously need keepers!)

Defenders

Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock. (Carragher back from retirement…!!!)

Midfielders

Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.(Super Frank!)

Forwards

Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney. (Hope DB keeps up his league form… Heskey… really?)

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Dunga Announces Brazil Squad: No Ronaldinho!

May 11, 2010 at 8:23 PM · Filed under Football, World Cup ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Brazil's Ronaldo and Ronaldinho reduced to spectators by Dunga

The Brazilian manager Carlos Dunga has announced his 23-man squad for the World Cup in South Africa.  Eventhough it was widely anticipated that Dunga would not include the AC Milan star Ronaldinho in his team. It still doesn’t fail to shock fans that  the FIFA World Player of the Year for 2004 and 2005  is not going to be in South Africa, despite him being in great form for his club. I guess Dunga probably felt Ronaldinho was past his prime at 30 to add a second World Cup crown to the one he won in 2002.

He probably felt similarly about the Corinthians duo, the 37-year old  left-winger Carlos Roberto and 33-year old striker, Ronaldo. However, what is surprising is that the Flamenco striker Adriano is also not a part of Dunga’s squad.

It seems age is working not only against the older player but also the younger ones since two of Brazil’s rising-stars Alexandre Pato  and Neymar are also staying home.  Alexandre Pato who has been in great form for AC Milan. It comes as a great surprise especially when clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool are said to be battling over signing the 20-year old wonder-kid. Infact it is quite shocking that Dunga has planned to leave out a lot of big names of the past and the future.

Most of the 23-man squad remains the same as the one in the qualifying campaign with addition of the  Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, Cruzeiro veteran Gilberto and surprisingly, Wolfsburg striker Grafite.

So the Brazil squad has no Ronaldo, no Adriano, no Pato, no Roberto Carlos, no Neymar and (most heartbreakingly) no Ronaldinho. That certainly doesn’t sound right. Could Pato have lost the plot already?

For the fans it has been one heart breaking news after another with the likes of  David Beckham missing out due to injury and Fernando Torres and now even Wayne Rooney struggling to be fit in time, there comes the news of the redoubtable Ronaldinho being left out! Here is hoping there are no more such shocks in the days to come.

Brazil’s 23-man Squad

Goalkeepers

Julio Cesar, Heurlho Gomes, Alexander Doni

Defenders

Maicon, Daniel Alves, Gilberto, Michel Bastos, Lucio, Juan, Luisao, Thiago Silva

Midfielders

Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Kaka, Julio Baptista, Josue, Kleberson, Elano, Ramires,

Forwards

Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Nilmar and Grafite

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Come On Chelsea: Blue is the Colour!

May 9, 2010 at 2:38 PM · Filed under Chelsea, Chelsea FC, English Premier League, EPL, Football ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the final day of the Premier League season and our destiny is still in our own hands. All we need to do is win against Wigan today and bring the premier league trophy back where it belongs in Stamford Bridge. A lot of people seem to think that Chelsea have already won the title (some of my non-football crazy but very adorable  friends have already congratulated me!)  and that the Wigan game is a mere formality but I shudder at the memory of that terrible day earlier in the season when Wigan made beating us look so simple.  I know, that back then we lost only because we were foolishly complacent and that this game has too much riding on it for our players to be silly and that they will be a 100%  motivated to win. The flip side of a game being so important to one side is, that usually it isn’t very important to the other side. Wigan have absolutely nothing riding on this game so they will just want to come out there and play and will enjoy the fact that they have the opportunity to change the complexion of the entire season.

Chelsea stayed top of the table for most weeks and Carlo Ancelotti believes that Chelsea deserve the title saying it would be ” a tragedy, a disaster” if Chelsea fail to win. He did warn the players against complacency saying, “I don’t want to say the title is our destiny. It’s our aim to win. We’ve done a fantastic job, but we’ve still got one game to go. We have to do our best and play at the same level as in the last game. Until now, we’ve deserved to stay at the top of the list. It would be a tragedy if we lost the last game after nine months of such a good, fantastic job. Every day. It would be a tragedy, a disaster.”

Florent Malouda who was named ‘Player’s Player Of the Season’ said it would be the worst blow of his career if Chelsea were to lose today. He added, “We know Wigan will not give up against us, but our chance of winning the title should be big enough to overcome any obstacle placed in front of us.”

Wigan have beaten Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool for the first time this season but lets not forget that we are playing at home and that Wigan haven’t won in their last 5 away games. Chelsea on the other hand have won 16 of our 18 home games and scored 60 goals. If we score another 3 goals , we will break the record for the most home goals in a season!

It has been a very crazy season for us, with the off-field allegations about John Terry and Ashley Cole, but the brilliant Blues really seem to have come out of it stronger. Didier Drogba feels that the scandals actually helped the team to come together and really make a push for the double. Lets pray that we won’t need a similar scandal to unite the team next season but hopefully we’ll continue in this season’s tradition of  scoring 7 goals against 3 different teams.

Chelsea midfielder extraordinaire, ‘Super’ Frank Lampard  described the season perfectly as a ‘mad‘ one, and ranks it as his best campaign ever especially is Chelsea do the double. No one does it better than Lamps, even when it comes to summing up Chelsea’s season finale, “I guess it might be a bit like having a winning lottery ticket and waiting for someone to tell you you’ve won to make it real.”

Well, guess what my wonderful True Blues…. we are gonna win this thing….and then we going to go and do what only 6 teams have manged to do in premier league history … we are going to win the FA Cup and do the double!  Lets paint this town BLUE!  ktbffh

PS: I just hope Chelsea don’t get too nervous.  I am sure they won’t, besides I think I am nervous enough for everyone!

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