A less eventful day in the office.

So we had the first leg of the second pairing of AC Milan v.s. Barcelona and Marseille v.s. Bayern. In the former, Barca dominated possession in Italy with 62% of ball control to AC's 38%. They also had more than double the opportunities and a healthy lead in attacks. Despite these statistics, Milan were able to stay in the game conceding nothing. However, in their efforts to keep the ball out of their own net the Italians forgot to score goals of their own. Sure, away goals would be good in Barcelona but I'm sure they would have preferred to at least bring something with them into the 2nd leg. Meanwhile, in France, Bayern seized the day. Mario Gomez was once more on form for the Germans as he slotted home in the 44th minute to crack Marseille's resistance just before the half. The fact that Bayern ended up being the ones to take the lead and hold onto it is quite impressive as Marseille actually had the better of the opportunities though Bayern were the more offensively aggressive. Arjen Robben proved himself once more as he struck in the 69th minute to really dig Marseille's grave. Make sure to grab some of the second legs! They should be explosive!

Champions League Quarter-Final update.

Hello! Well the first legs have been played and the favorites were victorious in both accounts! Benfica were edged at home in Portugal by Chelsea 0-1 after Saloman Kalou connected with a brilliant ball from FernandoTorres and guided it past Benfica's goalkeeper Artur and into the back of the net. Meanwhile, Real Madrid probably crushed the dreams of the Cypriots as they demolished APOEL in Cyprus 0-3. Once again, the 2nd half saw the difference made as Karim Benzema headed home a sweet cross from Kaka to put a crack in APOEL's determination. Kaka proceeded to further widen the wound - scoring in the 82nd minute after Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo play some nice football to get into position. APOEL then tried to come at least one back but instead conceded at the other end after Cristiano Ronaldo passed to Mesut Ozil who found Karim Benzema in the center. 0-3 for Real Madrid and the Semi-Finals will see Chelsea and Madrid going at it for a place in the Final at Bayern. Look for it!

Champions League Quarter-Finals!

Here is a look at the coming week's Champions League action! As it is the Quarter-Finals, anything can happen with the likes of Benfica and APOEL Nicosia still in the competition. So what about the line-ups? Well, on Tuesday we get a taste of the Portuguese and English representatives left in the tournament: Benfica v.s. Chelsea! While Chelsea are coming off of upsetting Napoli's 3-1 lead, the Blues are also coming off of a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur domestically. As such, they will have to be very good against Benfica with the Lisbon side unbeaten at home in European competition. Also on Tuesday, the Cinderella story of this year's tournament, APOEL Nicosia face Spanish giants Real Madrid in a test of how legitimate the Cypriot's giant-slayer status is. At home in Cyprus, APOEL have only felt the sting of defeat once during this European campaign while winning the majority of other times. With that in mind, Real Madrid are coming off of a 5-1 demolition of Real Sociedad domestically which doesn't bode well for APOEL. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, France's representative Marseille will face the firepower of the last German representative Bayern Munich. Despite the fact that Marseille have struggled domestically, they have proved themselves time and again on the European stage as they marched to this point. With the scalp of Inter Milan the latest addition to their collection of victories this season, who is to say whether or not they will give Bayern Munich a similar treatment? Keep in mind though that the French side will be without two influential players in the coming leg: Steve Mandanda - goalkeeper - and Souleymane Diawara in defense. That is potentially devastating under any circumstances but the fact that Mario Gomez has been on such great form definitely exasperates things. Franck Ribery probably wouldn't mind putting a couple of goals into the back of the net of his old club either! Last but certainly not least we have the match-up of the powerhouses: AC Milan v.s. Barcelona. The fact that they already sparred in the Group Stage where Barcelona arguably got the better of the Italians (5-4 on aggregate) may offer some read into the game but neither side will let it end at that. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will surely be hoping for some retribution against the club that off-loaded him. However, AC will be lacking the skills of the following players: Mark Van Bommel, Antonio Cassano, Gennaro Gattuso, and potentially Alexandre Pato and Thiago Silva. Last analysis: AC Milan will have to fight very hard not to get knocked-out. Enjoy the games and look for the recaps!

Brilliant domestic action!

There has been a ton of action this weekend and obviously a recap is required! First off, I'd like to talk about Scotland where Celtic had an opportunity to wrap-up the league title in extraordinary fashion against their cross-town rivals Rangers. Instead, they were almost destroyed as the home side struck early, in the 11th minute, to get the visitors started off on the wrong foot. Sone Aluko was the man who gave Rangers that lead. Then, in the 29th minute Cha Du-Ri acted foolishly and was handed a red card. Victor Wanyama saw a similar fate in the 57th minute to put Celtic down two men! It's a wonder Rangers didn't score more honestly but nevertheless, in the 72nd minute they found their 2nd through Andrew Little. Ranger's 3rd came just 5 minutes later as Lee Wallace slotted home to great acclaim. Carlos Bocanegra was sent off for Rangers in the 88th which was abruptly followed by Scott Brown converting from the penalty spot. Thomas Rogne then struck in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half to make it 3-2 but it was to no avail: Celtic had let the hand get out of hand and allowed Rangers to register the 3 points. Looking at the table, that is significant as 3rd place Motherwell are now just 3 behind Rangers while Dundee United hold 4th precariously with 46 points. St. Johnstone have a game in hand though and could easily move from 5th to 4th. Celtic are in 1st and untouchable with 75 points. Down in England, Manchester City and United are level on 70 points though United have a game in hand. That is after Manchester City were held 1-1 by an impressive home Stoke side this weekend. Peter Crouch was the man who actually gave Stoke the lead in the 59th minute after an uneventful 1st half. Yaya Toure eventually leveled for City in the 76th minute but the fact that they couldn't outdo the 12th-place side doesn't bode well for the title contenders. Down in 3rd, Arsenal have only 58 points, essentially leaving the two Manchester sides to fight for the title. Having said that, Arsenal are definitely being challenged by Tottenham (4th) who are just 3 points behind the Gunners. 5th-place Chelsea are level with Newcastle after the Blues finished 0-0 against Spurs while Newcastle defeated West Brom 1-3 thanks to goals from Papiss Demba Cisse on either side of Hatem Ben Afra's 12th minute strike. Shane Long did bring West Brom one back in the 52nd but the game really was up after the 1st half. Over to Germany now where Dortmund maintained themselves at the top of the table with a 1-6 drubbing of Koln. Bayern, who are 2nd just 5 points behind the leaders with 57 weren't quite as successful at home against Hannover but they got the result - edging their guests 2-1 in a close contest thanks to goals from Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez beating out Didier Ya Konan's 74th minute goal for Hannover. As such, Schalke are 4 points behind the Bavarians in 3rd after their by-the-book 2-0 victory over Leverkusen thanks to a pair of goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Monchengladbach are still in 4th despite getting edged by Hoffenheim at home on Saturday. Leverkusen and Bremen are tied for 5th with 40 points apiece. Over in the Netherlands, AZ Alkmaar were able to maintain their lead over the table for another weekend after edging RKC 1-0 thanks to Johann Berg Gudmundsson's 49th minute strike. Just a point behind them though are Ajax who handily defeated PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in their match Sunday. That result allowed Twente to leap-frog them into 3rd after Twente drew 1-1 with Den Haag despite going down in the 6th minute. PSV are in 4th though while Feyenoord are level with them at 51 points. On to Portugal now where Porto have reclaimed their top-of-the-table position after drawing with Pacos Ferreira despite the fact that Pacos Ferreira players scored all of the goals! 2nd position Benfica had a bye week this week though they'll be looking forward to going on from this point - just a point behind their rivals. Braga have actually managed to infiltrate the top 3 and have secured their position with 55 points despite not playing this weekend. As such, that allowed Sporting of Lisbon to 'catch-up' in 4th with only 44 points. Braga do have a game in hand though. Maritimo are actually challenging the lions of Lisbon as they are only 2 points behind them in 5th. East in Spain, Real Madrid were able to keep 6 points between themselves and their rivals Barcelona this weekend as the Catalans have 69 to Madrid's 75 (Madrid faced Real Sociedad in Madrid and won 5-1 while Barcelona traveled to Mallorca and won 0-2). Valencia and Malaga are the two tied for 3rd with 47 points each as Levante are 3 points below them both, in 5th. Last but certainly not least, AC Milan have strengthened their position at the top of Serie A with 63 points from 29 matches to 2nd-place Juventus' 59. Having said that, Juve's 2-0 victory over Inter Milan on Sunday was far more impressive than AC's 2-1 victory over Roma. Martin Caceres and Alessandro Del Piero were the men of the match in Turin as they struck in the 57th and 71st minutes respectively while AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck both of their goals, in the 53rd minute from the penalty spot and in the 83rd minute from the field. Pablo Osvaldo had actually given the visiting Romans the lead in the 44th minute but to no avail. Lazio are 8 points behind Juventus in 3rd with 51 points while Napoli aren't too far off with 48 points. 5th position Udinese also have 48 points. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Europa League Quarter-Finals!

So it has been a long road but we are one step closer to the Final! Here are the match-ups of the Quarter-Final round of the Europa League: First off, the Netherlands' AZ Alkmaar face the talented side from Valencia, Spain. FC Schalke 04 of Germany also have Spanish competition, against giant-killers Atheltic Club. Sporting Lisbon's match with FC Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine should also be a fascinating fixture. Last but not least, Club Athletico de Madrid face Germany's Hannover! Predictions for who will make it to the Semi-Finals? I can see Valencia making it to the next round as they really do have too much favoring themselves. Schalke should be able to defeat Athletic Club in their face-off while Sporting will be heavily tested by Metalist but should prove successful. Finally, Athletico de Madrid should defeat Hannover.

Champions League surprises.

It was quite the amazing day of football today as Marseille faced off against Inter Milan while Bayern had to deal with Basel. In the first of these two thrilling match-ups Marseille held on to their 1-0 aggregate lead over the Italian giants Inter through the 1st half and well past the hour mark as they only allowed their 1st goal in the 75th minute. Diego Milito was the man to score it for Inter too which ensured a fantastic final 25 minutes. It is worth noting though, that Marseille's Steve Mandanda, their goalkeeper, was cautioned in the 68th minute, potentially throwing off his game. He proceeded to be red carded in the 3rd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half to really abandon his team after Brandao's goal had given Marseille a 1-2 advantage. Giampaolo Pazzini's 6th minute of stoppage time goal in the 2nd half just wasn't enough as the Italians must bow out and the French side advance to the Quarter-Finals for the first time since they won the Champions League in 1993. Meanwhile, over in Germany Bayern totally had their way with the visiting Swiss side Basel who did well for themselves at home but couldn't put anything together in Bavaria. Compared to Bayern's 16 shots on target, Basel had just 1. But what about the goals themselves? Well, Arjen Robben struck early in the 1st half, in the 11th minute to be precise, to equalize the German titans with the side from Basel. Thomas Muller was able to make it 2-0 - 2-1 on aggregate - in the 42nd minute. Just 2 minutes later, Mario Gomez scored the first of his record-equaling 4 goals before striking again in the 2nd half in the 50th, 61st, and 67th minutes. Watching the game, you really had to feel for the Swiss side: they had quite literally no teeth and 41% of ball possession. Arjen Robben struck in the 81st minute to give Bayern a record Quarter-Final qualifying scoreline of 7-0 (7-1 on aggregate). Hope you enjoyed the matches and are looking forward to the next round!

Europa League 3/8/12.

It was quite the day of upsets today in the Europa League as Sporting Lisbon registered a 1-0 home victory against a big-budget Manchester City side. Xandao's 51st minute back-heel ball may just help the Portuguese side on their way to the next round. Despite the seemingly overwhelming talent gap between the Premier League leaders and the languishing Portuguese side, the English side had no real advantage though they were able to launch 51 attacks to Sporting's 39. Meanwhile, Metalist and Olympiacos had a similarly heated bout with the visiting Greek side actually managing to pull a win out of the hat thanks to David Fuster's 50th minute strike and comprehensive defending through-out the match. The Ukrainians sure made Balazs Megyeri, the Olympiacos goalie, work though! They had the better of the chances as well as more than 20 more attacks. On now to Spain where Atletico Madrid got off to a good start in their match with Turkish side Besiktas: Eduardo Salvio struck Atletico's first two goals in the 24th and 27th minutes before Adrian Lopez made it 3-0 in the 37th minute. The Turkish visitors didn't take it lying down though, Simao brought them one back in the 53rd minute to make it more of a competitive 2nd leg. Twente's hosting of Schalke 04 in the Netherlands was another surprise for the day as the small Dutch side battled clinically and took full advantage of Joel Matip's red card offense with Luuk de Jong putting away the penalty kick that followed in the 61st. It was a match of relatively few chances! Probably the hugest upset of the day though, was Manchester United's 2-3 loss to visiting Athletic of Spain. Coming back from 1-0 down after Wayne Rooney scored in the 22nd minute, Athletic proceeded to score three of their own before Rooney struck once more, in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half. Back to the goals though! Fernando Llorente was the man who equalized - deservedly - for the Spaniards just before half-time in the 44th minute. Oscar de Marcos then made it 1-2 for Athletic in the 71st minute - volleying low and hard into the bottom right corner of the net. Athletic's 3rd came from Iker Muniain in the 90th minute after he collected de Marcos's powerful shot that was hit away and directed it back into the net. Rooney was then granted a penalty which he dutifully converted in the 2nd minute of stoppage time to make it 2-3. Standard Liege and Hannover tied 2-2 in their bout in Belgium. AZ Alkmaar and Udinese finished 2-0 with goals in the 2nd half winning it for the home side. Last but not least, Valencia and PSV finished 4-2! Sorry for the rush! Gotta go!

Champions League Round of 16 continued!

Well today was a record setter in terms of football. I'd like to begin with Cypriot side APOEL's match with Lyon. Gustavo Manduca had a fantastic match early on, giving APOEL the vital goal in the 9th minute in their tie with French giants Lyon in Cyprus before succumbing to a 2nd yellow in the 115th minute of extra time. His initial card was unfortunate as it was handed out after some boisterous celebrations. Nevertheless, APOEL held their nerve through-out normal time and extra time before claiming victory in the penalty shoot-out! APOEL's Ailton started things on the right foot - scoring as Kim Kallstrom did for Lyon. Nuno Morais and Lisandro likewise did for APOEL and Lyon respectively. Nektarios Alexandrou and Bafetimbi Gomis similarly struck for their respective sides. And so, going into the 4th kick Dionisios Chiotis randomly seemed to turn on: he first saved Alexandre Lacazette's shot before denying Michel Bastos on the 5th shot. Since Ivan Trickovski was able to convert his 4th shot, Chiotis' 5th save sealed the deal for the Cypriots as they proceeded to celebrate their fantastic achievement. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Spain, Barcelona faced Bayer Leverkusen in their 2nd leg fixture honestly needing a couple goals to go through scot-free. Good Lord did they achieve that goal! With 63% of possession and 19 attempts to Bayer's 7, Barcelona looked confident winners statistically. Then add the score line to that tally: 7-1! That's right, an aggregate score of 10-2 for Barca! Lionel Messi got the ball rolling for the Catalan side with his shot in the 25th minute. He maintained Barca's momentum single handedly as he rolled the ball into the left corner of the net after connecting with Andres Iniesta's pass. So with the score line 2-0 at the half, Bayer may have given up as they realized who they were playing: probably the best team in the world today. Messi went on to complete his hat-trick in the 49th minute after collecting a lob ball from Cesc Fabregas - Messi then rolled the ball along and chipped the ball into the goal beautifully. The debutante on the Barcelona side, Tello, then made his presence felt after coming on from the bench: running down the right flank, he pulled in and was able to get the ball into the net from quite the angle with the side of his foot. That was in the 55th minute of the match. Messi then tacked on his 4th, Barca's 5th, after Bayer's goalkeeper Bernd Leno who, admittedly, was having a bad 2nd half after a decent 1st allowed the ball to slip through his grip and provided the Argentine maestro with a wide open net. This 5th came in the 58th minute to much acclaim. Tello then struck his 2nd goal on his debut in the 62nd minute after Bayer's Leno slipped up once more: providing the Spaniard just enough space to clip the ball under the keeper's body. With the score line at 6-0, one may have expected Barca to give the hapless German side a rest; however, Messi must not have gotten the message as he slotted home a Champions League record 5th goal to make it 7-0 in the 84th minute. Leverkusen did get a bit of joy though: Simon Rolfes and Karim Bellarabi played a nice one-two through the Barca defense before Bellarabi blasted the ball into the net: 7-1. Hope you enjoyed the matches and make sure to catch some of tomorrow's games!

Champions League Round of 16: 2nd leg.

What a great set of games we had today! Benfica overtook Zenit's lead to make it an aggregate score line of 4-3 at the final reckoning. In the return leg in Lisbon, Portugal Benfica scored goals late in each half to comprehensively grab victory from their stout Russian competition. Maxi Pereira scored the Eagle's 1st goal in the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 1st half while Nelson Oliveira struck home in the 3rd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half to make it 2-0 to the home side. The victory puts Benfica into the Quarter-Final round for the first time since 2006! Meanwhile, between the two Champions League heavyweights Arsenal and AC Milan there was no love lost with Arsenal scoring 3 goals in the 1st half yet still losing out to Milan's 4-0 1st leg lead. Laurent Koscielny led the charge with his 7th minute goal before Tomas Rosicky added the Gunners' 2nd in the 26th minute. Captain Robin Van Persie then scored from the penalty spot in the 43rd to make it 3-0 before the half. Despite this though, Milan's terrible 1st half display didn't cost them qualification! They had 53% of possession and 10 attempts that were off target. Wenger's side deserve to be proud of their display; however each and every one of them will be wishing they had performed that way in the Italian leg! Enjoy tomorrow's action!