Dortmund’s form this season has been exceptional. In the early autumn, many people thought that perhaps they would start to fade away by now, but they’ve in fact managed to do the complete opposite. Incredibly, they now find themselves 11 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen in second, and rather comically, 17 points ahead of the supposedly mighty Bayern Munich. Dortmund’s dominant position hasn’t been down to the poor performances of their rivals though – after all, Leverkusen have only lost twice all season – but because of their own ruthlessly consistent displays. They have dropped points in just one of their previous 14 games (a 1-1 draw with the ever-stubborn Hoffenheim), and as a result, you could be forgiven for thinking they have already wrapped the league title up. To compare them to Europe’s other leading clubs at present; they have a points-per-match average of 2.69, whilst Arsenal average 2 points and Lille average just 1.82. The only side who can actually match Dortmund in the major leagues are Barcelona, who average 2.7 points per game.

They comfortably have the best defensive and attacking records in the Bundesliga, and yet their forwards are some way off Theofanis Gekas’ tally of 12 goals. This only serves to demonstrate Dortmund’s collective strength though – Shinji Kagawa and Lucas Barrios both have 8 goals to their names, but Dortmund are not reliant or one or two exceptional sources of talent to keep them at the top of the pile. Instead, they have a young, hungry, vibrant squad who are willing to work for each other, and tackle any obstacle in their path as a single, united entity. The talent is of course there, in the form of Kagawa, Barrios, Nuri Sahin, Neven Subotic, Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski, to name a small collection, but as Bayern and Schalke are currently proving (for all the wrong reasons), talent is nothing without the right mentality.

The Black & Yellow’s manager, Jürgen Klopp, has got the defence looking beautiful in its shape and form – a site that should have any aspiring young coach jotting down notes – particularly the way they effortlessly narrow up and switch to a back five whenever they come under any sustained pressure. Three defenders will form an unusually narrow back three, a winger and a full back become wing backs and the midfielders plug any additional holes, which makes trying to pick them apart an unenviable task. This defensive wall has provided them with the base point to play what has actually proven to be extremely entertaining counter attacking football, reminiscent of Manchester United’s counter attacking play in the 2007/08 season.

This return to form will be a massive relief to the loyal Dortmund following, who pack out the stunning Westfalenstadion through both the good and the bad times. In the past, these supporters have seen their side win six league titles, a Champions League, a Cup Winners’ Cup and an Intercontinental Cup. Perhaps they are now finally on the cusp of once again bringing some silverware home, and who knows, maybe in the not-too-distant future they will be able to replicate the one night they have never forgotten. On 28^th May 1997 – they beat Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League final. Playing at the Olympiastadion, which was then the home of their rivals, Bayern Munich, Dortmund overcame a Juve side absolutely packed full of star names; Zidane, Deschamps, Boksic, Di Livio and the emerging Del Piero. Two Karl-Heinz Riedle goals and a decisive second half Lars Ricken strike provided the underdogs with their first European Cup, and it was hoped that the success would continue. Unfortunately though, they have won just one major trophy since then (the league title in the 01-02 season) and hadn’t looked like winning any more until this season. In recent years, they have been cursed by financial difficulties, numerous coaches have come in and failed to redirect the sinking ship, but now, finally, they might just live up to their potential.

If ever this current, promising Dortmund side does need to look for encouragement, they only have to look back to this legendary night in Munich.

I thought I would share with you some of the articles that have caught my eye over the past couple of days:

• Kartik of Major League Soccer Talk argues that Landon Donovan’s trial with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich is a good move for the player.
• Kudos to Werder Bremen for taking a tough stance on extremist fans
• Congrats to Rubin Kazan – Russian Premier League champs
• How FourFourTwo selected their Top 100 players on the planet.
• Some bad news for one of my favourite players, Owen Hargreaves, the England international and Manchester United midfielder whose season is done and speculation is that his career may be in jeopardy as well.
• Juan Arango of La Liga Talk covers the historic Copa del Rey defeat suffered by Real Madrid at the hands of Real Unión, a Segunda B (third division) side. What is it with Spanish Primera teams losing to Segunada B teams this year? There are more second legs to come today but unless they have a massive turnaround Villarreal will go out at the hands of Club Polideportivo Ejido, who won the first leg 5-0.
• Not helping his case at all, Real Madrid boss Bernd Schuster said he had “no idea” why his team leaked 6 goals over two legs to a third division side.
• This article is a bit older but Sid Lowe of the Guardian wrote a nice piece on how Pep Guardiola has Barcelona looking like champions again.

As intriguing as the current edition of the Champions League may be, there’s a chance the 2009-2010 tournament could be one of the strangest, parity-rich events in football history. Seems someone has taken the snow globe that is European football, given it a good shake and the flakes aren’t landing where people expect.

The tables in Germany, Holland, Portugal and even Italy don’t resemble what we’ve come to expect as status quo, and as a result, the trickle-down to next year’s Champions League could be  fascinating.  Not only could you have some very fresh names, faces and kits in the fray, but they’ll be usurping some very established entities, including a couple of past champions.

Starting in Italy, where Inter Milan is in the lead with 24 points, you’ve got a gaggle of teams behind Mourinho’s men that includes Napoli, Udinese and Genoa, all within four points of the top, and all within at least a shot of getting into the qualifying rounds. And standing on the outside looking in would be Juventus, Roma and Fiorentina, three teams that are in the hunt in this year’s Champions League.

Not even England is immune to this phenomenon. Despite the Big Four of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United being entrenched as the top four, Hull City had a prominent spot near the top of the table for much of the opening weeks, and they’re still within reach in sixth position with 20 points, only one shy of the top four.

The best story might be in Germany, where Hoffenheim has been at the tippity-top of the Bundesliga alone until this weekend. Hoffenheim may be in there for the duration; it’s won five in a row and now shares the lead with Bayer Leverkeusen. Bayern Munich is charging hard and it will be tremendous to watch if Hoffenheim can find a way to hang on.

Az Alkamaar, meanwhile, took over the lead in the Dutch Eredivisie and has the lone automatic Champions League group stage spot right now. Behind AZ? Well, sure, Ajax is there, but so is NAC Breda and Groningen. Breda and Ajax are tied on points with Az, and Groningen two points out.

In Portugal, if things ended today, F.C. Porto and Sporting would be OUT altogether. OUT. Sporting, which has already earned a spot in the knockout round, is five points out, and Porto’s miserable start has it even further back. Leixoes is in the lead. Who? Leixoes. Nacional da Madeira is three out and Maritimo five back. Benfica is the lone giant in the top three. And Benfica is somewhat woeful as far as big clubs go.

It’s early, but it’s fun to look ahead and acknowledge what these minnows are doing. The longer it goes like this, the more fun it becomes. And perhaps next August, you just might seeing a Champions League draw with clubs such as Hoffenheim, Az Alkamaar and Leixoes joining Inter, Chelsea and Barcelona in Pot 1. Now how much fun would that be?

With World Cup qualifying on, its been a little slow for UEFA club competition news but here are some stories around the web that I thought you’d find interesting.

• ESPN Soccernet details the problems at Fenerbahce
• Bundesliga Talk has posted a quick update on every club in the league
• Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter for the Times, offers 10 ways football can ride out the credit crunch
• The Daily Mail reports that Real Madrid are planning to make Carlos Tevez in January
• Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri says that Xabi Alonso was passed over as they felt he was ‘too slow’ ; the article also suggests that Ranieri may be out and replaced with Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez

A few quick injury notes before I sign off. Expect to hear more coaches complain about fixture congestion, etc

• Celtic have been dealt a blow with the news that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is set to miss key games in both the SPL and the Champions League. Vennegoor of Hesselink looks certain to sit out Tuesday’s much-anticipated Champions League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
• Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is set to miss the club’s next three matches through injury. Torres strained a hamstring during Spain’s 2-1 win over Belgium and is expected to be out of action for 10 days. The Reds might also be without Dutch winger Ryan Babel, who sustained an ankle injury after a clash with Blackburn Rovers’ winger Morten Gamst Pedersen in the world Cup qualifier against Norway.
• Villarreal midfielder Sebastián Eguren will be out of action for up to five weeks after tearing his left hamstring during Uruguay’s World Cup qualifying loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
• FC Shakhtar Donetsk have lost defender Ilsinho for the rest of the year and striker Luiz Adriano until November, with the UEFA Champions League Group C visit of Sporting Clube de Portugal looming next Wednesday.
• Real Madrid full-back Miguel Torres has been ruled out for about three weeks after tests confirmed he suffered a tear to his left thigh muscle during the Spain Under-21s’ victory over Switzerland in Lorca on Tuesday.
• Arsenal were hit heavily as William Gallas (hamstring) and Bacary Sagna (knee) suffered knocks while playing for France and Nicklas Bendtner (ankle) was injured representing Denmark. The trio will miss the trip to Fenerbahce, while Cesc Fàbregas (broken nose), Robin van Persie (muscle strain) and Johan Djourou (concussion) are awaiting tests on their ailments.

Now that the Champions League final has passed and I’ve had a bit of a break, it’s time for me to get back to work and start monitoring the transfer market. I’ve decided to not post much about rumours, though I will be posting a few articles, as there is already so much written on speculation. I’m going to stick to talking about the deals that actually do take place and this article will take a look at a few of the moves that have already taken place by clubs confirmed to be either in the Champions League or UEFA Cup for next season.

Rafael Benitez has begun his summer overhaul of the Reds’ underperforming squad by bringing in Switzerland right-back Philipp Degen on a free transfer. The Switzerland international defender will move to Anfield on July 1st when his current deal with the German club Borussia Dortmund ends. The move for the 25-year-old may spell the end of the line for Steve Finnan as Degen will likely share the right-back spot with Alvaro Arbeloa.

Degen only made 11 starts this past season as he was bumped from the lineup by the emergence of Antonio Rukavina. Rafa speaking to Liverpool FC’s official website summed up the move this way: “Sometimes you can find these players on the market. When you find a player like him who costs no money it means you can use money for improving other parts of the squad.” Could Finnan be sold to raise transfer funds? We’ll have to wait and see.

On to Spain where Real Madrid have signed Argentine centre-back Ezequiel Garay from Racing Santander. The 21-year-old Argentine, who is recovering from a knee injury, is reported to have cost Real in the region of 10 million Euros. He has played well at Racing since joining from Newell’s Old Boys in the 2005-06 season. He is a quick, decisive defender with a powerful shot from free kicks and penalties. Garay, who many sources say could remain on loan at Racing for another season, was linked with a possible move to Barcelona earlier this year.

Staying with Spain for a bit, Villarreal have signed Brazilian midfielder Edmilson on a two-year contract. The 31-year-old helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup and helped Barcelona win the Champions League two years ago. He fell out of favour at the Nou Camp this season and made only five starts. He will join Villareal on July 1st as his Barcelona contract expires in June.

Barca have made their first signing of the summer by paying the 14 million Euro release clause in Seydou Keita’s contract at Sevilla to take him to the Camp Nou. Keita has signed a four year contract, with a release clause reported to be as high as 90 million Euros. The 28-year-old Mali international becomes the first signing of the Josep Guardiola era at the Camp Nou and is expected to replace Deco. Keita is primarily a defensive midfielder but is regarded as one of the most skillful African-born central midfielders for his passing, control, vision, and shooting skills.

Moving over to Italy, it was announced that both Cafu and Serginho will leave AC Milan at the end of the season. Last season’s European champions are letting the pair go after deciding to bring in fresh blood following a poor campaign, with Barcelona defender Gianluca Zambrotta reported to be one of their main targets. A former World Cup winner Cafu, 37, will return to Brazil but is unsure if he will retire.

Cafu told reporters “I have had five marvelous years in which I have managed to win everything. The moment has arrived to leave. It is sad and hard but I knew sooner or later the time would come to go home, to return to Brazil. I don’t know if I’ll still play when I’m in Brazil.”

Cafu, who joined AC from Roma in 2003, has won a Scudetto, Champions League, two European Super Cups and a Club World Cup among other honours in his five seasons at the San Siro.

Also leaving is fellow Brazillian Serginho, who joined the club in 1999 from Sao Paulo. He has had problems returning to form after suffering a back problem two years ago and will also be heading home to Brazil. Legendary Milan captain Paolo Maldini, 39, is expected to stay at the San Siro for another season with a final decision due soon.

This leg of our European tour starts in France where Bordeaux revived their Ligue 1 title hopes when Pierre Ducasse’s stunning 25-metre strike in stoppage time earned them a 2-1 win at Olympique Marseille on the weekend. Second-placed Bordeaux, on 71 points with two games left, are two points behind leaders and six-times champions Olympique Lyon, who drew 0-0 at Nice on Saturday. Marseille now sit fourth, two points behind Nancy, who hold the qualifying spot for the Champions League third preliminary round following their 3-0 thrashing of strugglers Racing Strasbourg on Saturday. St Etienne stay fifth, four points adrift of fourth-placed Marseille with Lille a further point behind.

On to Germany, where there were some mid-week games and of importance was Werder Bremen winning 1-0 at Hamburger SV despite finishing with nine men. The win clinches a top-three finish for Werder, and at least a place in the Champions League qualifiers, for themselves and Schalke 04. Hamburg and VfB Stuttgart are in fourth and fifth on 51 points, meaning the best they can now hope for is qualification for the UEFA Cup. Bayer Leverkusen, who were beaten 2-1 at home by Hertha Berlin on Wednesday, remain in sixth place on 48 points.

Next we stop off in Romania and say congratulations to CFR Cluj, from the city of Cluj-Napoca, who were crowned Romanian champions for the first time on Wednesday after a 1-0 win over Universitatea Cluj. CFR finished on 76 points, one point ahead of Steaua Bucharest who ended their campaign with a 5-0 rout of Gloria Buzau. CFR Cluj becomes the first team outside of Bucharest to win Liga I in 17 years. A penalty 15 minutes into the second half from Manuel Riccardo Cadu, after Brazilian Correia Edvan had fouled Argentine substitute striker Diego Ruiz, handed CFR victory. Unfortunately it was not all happy times as riot police had to fire tear gas to disperse Universitatea fans who attempted to attack CFR supporters. A special congrats to Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld after leaving Norwegian club Rosenborg BK.

In Bulgaria, CSKA Sofia claimed their 31st Bulgarian league title finishing well ahead of Levski and Lokomotiv Sofia, both of whom will take part in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. CSKA Sofia are entered into the 3rd Qualifying Round. CSKA had a truly dominant season allowing only 9 goals in 28 matches while scoring 50 times.

In Serbia, Partizan Belgrade recently won their 10th national cup with a 3-0 rout of second division neighbours Zemun thanks to a hat-trick by Senegalese striker Lamine Diarra. Zemun could become the first third-division Serbian side to play in Europe as they are four points adrift of safety with as many matches remaining in the second tier but they will qualify for the UEFA Cup if league leaders Partizan complete the double. They are currently 3 points up on last year’s champions FK Crvena Zvezda. The winner of the league is entered into the Champions League Second Qualifying Round, while the runner-up is in the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round.

The champions of Croatian football are once again Dinamo Zagreb, who won the league title last month with six games to spare. They will enter the competition at the very first qualifying round of the Champions League while runners-up Hajduk Split will be entered into UEFA Cup qualifying.

In the Czech Republic, Sparta Prague are closing in on their 35th league title but dropped valuable points at the weekend after a 2-0 loss to FC Brno. That allowed their bitter city foes Slavia Prague to come within a point after a win over Olomouc. With two games left Slavia’s title challenge is back on after leading the table through much of the early season then faltering in form. In recent weeks Sparta and Slavia have taken turns faltering which has made the run-in quite exciting and unpredictable. Whoever wins the league will get a place in the Third Qualifying Round while the runner-up starts in the Second Qualifying Round.

Next door we check in on the Slovakian Corgon Liga where FC Artmedia Petržalka (FC Artmedia Bratislava) can now claim their first ever league and cup double after taking home the Slovakian Cup (Slovenský Pohár) by defeating FC Spartak Trnava 1-0 in Zilina. Artmedia are sitting six points ahead of second-place side MSK Zilina in the league.

In Turkey, Galatasaray held off the challenge of rivals, and this year’s surprise package in the Champions League, Fenerbahçe. Shabani Nonda led the way for Galatasaray with 14 goals after his transfer from A.S. Roma. Nonda also had a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers before moving permanently away from Italy. The real strength of the team was at the back as they only allowed 23 goals in 33 games in a league that can be quite high-scoring. The backline was bolstered by the emergence of Emre Güngör who pushed former Liverpool defender Rigobert Song to the substitutes bench in the second half of the season. The 23-year-old was rumoured to be sought after by Fenerbahce but he ended up signing with Galatasaray and they will hope to keep hold of him for a few seasons.

Finally we stop in Greece, where the Super League was won by Olympiacos finishing ahead of AEK Athens by a mere two points. Caretaker manager José Segura has done an admirable job guiding the team to the title after Takis Lemonis was fired for sub-par league performances despite a strong run in the Champions League. A special attaboy to Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski who finished fourth in the Greek league scoring with 14 goals from 21 appearances for AC Skoda Xanthi.

Schalke 04 dismissed coach Mirko Slomka on Sunday, a day after the club suffered a 5-1 defeat at Werder Bremen. The team had recently been eliminated from the Champions League after a 2-0 on aggregate to Barcelona and the defeat against Werder saw them slip from second to third in the Bundesliga.

Slomka, 40, joined the Royal Blues as assistant coach to Ralf Rangnick on 4 October 2004, took charge of the club on 4 January 2006. Slomka had suffered speculation throughout this season that he would be replaced even though he had one of the better records in the league. Last season he guided Schalke to second place and in 2006 he led them to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. The club also sacked Slomka’s assistant coach Nestor El Maestro.

Schalke general manager Andreas Müller told the club’s official website:

“Over recent weeks I, too, have moved towards thinking it is right to part company with Mirko at the end of the season. But after yesterday’s game at Werder Bremen I came to the decision to take this step. A situation has arisen that I am convinced would have had a very negative effect on the team over the next few weeks and thus put our remaining objective for the season, that of qualifying for the Champions League, at risk. That’s why we have taken this sudden decision. Mirko has done a good job for us, as is documented by the success on the pitch. But over the course of this season we have gained the impression that the team has not progressed in footballing terms. We have therefore come to the opinion that this could be better achieved with a new coach.”

A key factor in the dismissal is said to have been unrest among the players. Schalke central defender and captain Marcelo Bordon was one of many to voice disapproval of Slomka’s repeated line-up changes. That the coach hadn’t even settled on a clear formation was another problem, as was the fact that good performances were often rewarded with spots on the bench next time around while out-of-form stars kept being picked. An example for that was Danish international striker Soren Larsen being overlooked or substituted for underperforming Kevin Kuryani. Larsen went public with his complaint a week ago.

I watched the Werder – Schalke game Saturday morning and I was shocked to see Werder put up 5 on the Königsblauen as they had been on a five-game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga run prior to Saturday’s match. What was even more shocking was that Schalke were only able to score a lone goal in reply. The match was very open and was one of the more entertaining games I’ve watched this season.

Schalke have some excellent players in the squad like keeper Manuel Neuer, Christian Pander (who scored a thundering goal against England on his Germany debut), Fabian Ernst and Kevin Kuryani to name just a few. Schalke is one of the most popular football teams in Germany and their fans are hungry for a league title. Their last win was way back in 1958 though they have claimed the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) as recently as 2002. It will be interesting to see who the club brings in long term to try and improve on their current position.

Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder have been given temporary control of first team affairs starting with a home game against Energie Cottbus on Tuesday. The duo were both part of the famous 1997 Uefa Cup winning side that surprised everybody by beating Inter Milan in the final on penalties. Büskens has been coaching Schalke’s reserve team since 2005 in the Westfalen Oberliga. He played 257 times for the Königsblauen and twice won the German Cup to go with the Uefa Cup triumph. Youri Mulder played for Schalke between 1993 and 2002 winning nine Dutch caps in the process. He had been recently working as a TV football expert for Dutch channel NOS.

Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that Schalke has three candidates for one of the most coveted jobs in the Bundesliga: Eric Gerets (Olympique Marseille), Fred Rutten (Twente Enschede) and Dick Advocaat (Zenit St. Petersburg). The last is the most intriguing as Schalke 04 and FC Zenit Saint Petersburg signed a partnership agreement to work closely on improving football-related issues.