Champions League Talk

Analysis of the Champions League

Entries Tagged as 'barcelona'

Champions League Matchday 5 Preview

November 25th, 2008 · Comments · arsenal, as roma, atletico madrid, barcelona, bayern munich, bordeaux, celtic, cfr 1907 cluj, champions league group stage, chelsea, dynamo kyiv, fc basel, fc porto, fc zenit st petersburg, fenerbahce, fiorentina, internazionale, liverpool, manchester united, psv eindhoven, shakhtar donetsk, sporting club de portugal, steven gerrard, villarreal

There are some pivotal battles to be fought in the upcoming Matchday and while some groups look to have clear patterns emerging, others could go down to the wire. Let’s take a whirlwind tour of the current state of the groups along with my speculations on the ties on Matchday 5.
Group A
A win for Chelsea […]

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Champions League News Roundup

November 12th, 2008 · Comments · barcelona, bayern munich, bundesliga, manchester united, owen hargreaves, real madrid, villarreal

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 […]

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Champions League Matchday 4 — Tuesday Preview

November 4th, 2008 · Comments · Anorthosis Famagusta FC, PSV, Roma, atletico madrid, barcelona, bordeaux, cfr 1907 cluj, champions league, champions league group stage, chelsea, fc basel, fc basel 1893, internazionale, liverpool, marseille, psv eindhoven, shakhtar donetsk, sporting club de portugal, sporting lisbon, werder bremen

Matchday 4 should be a pivotal one as many groups may well be decided once the games are completed. Who needs a win and who can afford to slip? Let’s take a look at Tuesday’s games.
Group A
Roma need to win at home against Chelsea but that is looking to be a tall order considering the […]

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Strachan right to back United

October 23rd, 2008 · Comments · SPL, arsenal, barcelona, celtic fc, champions league group stage, champions league talk, chelsea, english premier league, inter milan, liverpool, real madrid, scottish premier league

After seeing his team well and truly played off the park Celtic manager Gordon Strachan honoured United as being the best side his Scottish champions had ever faced in Europe. That is some accolade when you consider that the Bhoys have played AC Milan and Barcelona in recent years. However are United still […]

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At The Turn: Who Needs to Win

October 21st, 2008 · Comments · Anorthosis Famagusta FC, Roma, as roma, barcelona, bayern munich, celtic fc, champions league group stage, chelsea, dynamo kyiv, espn, fc porto, juventus, liverpool, lyon, manchester united, real madrid, shakhtar donetsk, sporting lisbon, uefa cup

To use a golf analogy, the teams in the group stage of the Champions League make the turn today and tomorrow with the completion of the first three games of the group stage. And while it’s early, for some teams, it’s make-or-break time.
Group by group, here’s an analysis of who needs to win:
Group A:
ROMA Needs […]

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Friday Five: Wembley to Host 2011 Champions League Final, Thierry Henry Unhappy

September 26th, 2008 · Comments · barcelona, champions league, champions league final, cska sofia, everton, liverpool, real madrid

In a new experiment, I am going to try a weekly wrap-up of news stories that caught my eye but that I don’t think require pages of analysis as I am prone to doing
So, here they are, concise and hopefully interesting.

UEFA are expected to formally confirm in December that Wembley will host the […]

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Champions League Group C Preview

September 15th, 2008 · Comments · UEFA, Uncategorized, barcelona, champions league, champions league group stage, fc basel, fc basel 1893, shakhtar donetsk, shaktar donetsk, sporting club de portugal, sporting lisbon

FC Basel 1893
How They Got Here:Basel beat Vitoria de Guimaraes (also known as Vitoria SC) 2-1 on aggregate in the third round of qualifying. Basel won the Swiss League last season.
Star Performer: MF Benjamin Huggel. An experienced member of the Swiss national squad, Huggel is a strong presence in central midfield. In his first […]

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Champions League Group Stage Draw Results

August 28th, 2008 · Comments · arsenal, as roma, atletico madrid, barcelona, bayern munich, champions league, champions league group stage, chelsea

I’ll have more analysis and comments later but for now just a quick update on the results of today’s drawing. Some of the groupings, as in past seasons, was almost a bit too predictable but there are some interesting matchups ahead (Real Madrid - Juventus springs to mind as does Manchester United - Celtic and […]

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Transfer Market Update - AC Milan’s Bargain And Manchester United’s Hypocrisy

July 23rd, 2008 · Comments · ac milan, arsenal, barcelona, chelsea, manchester united, transfers, uefa cup

It’s hard to label any transfer deal that costs 21 million Euros a bargain but considering the numbers that have been thrown around this summer, Ronaldinho’s move to AC Milan looks to be cheap. The former two-time World Player of the Year (2004, 2005) signed a three-year contract at the San Siro after enduring a […]

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Transfer Deals: Barcelona Sign Alves, Deco Off To Chelsea

July 4th, 2008 · Comments · barcelona, chelsea, transfers

After a long wait FC Barcelona have finally made official the signing of right-back Dani Alves from Sevilla. Alves, who can play on the right of defence or midfield, joined Sevilla from Bahia for less than one million euros in 2003 and was an outstanding player as they won back-to-back UEFA Cups in 2006 and […]

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