A Football Report

By Stefan Bienkowski

As Leo Messi continued to defy defenders, goalkeepers, logic or even the basic laws of the universe in the concluding scenes of this year by overcoming Gerd Muller’s record for the number of goals scored in a single calendar year, in a tantalising feat of self determination, an interesting situation arose. People celebrated the achievement then almost immediately questioned exactly what they were rejoicing.

For until the topic of ‘most goals scored in a calendar year’ had found itself at the heart of modern football’s overbearing gaze in late 2012, nobody had actually realised that the former German and Bayern Munich star had indeed managed such a feat.

Something’s not right here. Gerd Muller was no stranger to the World stage. In fact, he won fourteen trophies with Bayern Munich as well as conquering both the European Championships and the World Cup, so just how did nobody notice when he scored 85 goals in one calendar year?

Read More

By Darshan Joshi

Football is ofttimes accused of self-serving megalomania. These accusations aren’t necessarily baseless – while FIFA and it’s regional tributaries do give back, they do so somewhat disproportionately to their behemoth fiscal inflows (see here). It can be argued though, that once in a while, football contributes to economic improvement in a side effect capacity. World Cups and European Championships tend to, like the Olympics, engage workforces in bruising multi-year structural endeavours; upheavals of transportation systems and the erections of stadiums spring to mind, followed by bouts of anticipatory and in-tournament tourism.

Hotels pay taxes, as do the sole proprietors and brewers whose quarterly earnings are handsomely bloated by FIFA and/or UEFA action. Of course, these are merely the side effects of football’s competitive brainchildren. If domestic fiscal policy is aided by the right to host these events, football’s pockets are aided and then given a soothing massage by the gold-plated hands of a platitude of hulking multinationals.

On a microcosmic footballing level, we have clubs and players, also ofttimes accused of self-serving megalomania (at least there is a consistency in this sport). Many of these are privately owned, usually by a variety of tycoon (oil tycoons, sport tycoons, cyberspace tycoons, Wall Street tycoons, even chicken-farm tycoons – let’s call them the 1%). Once more, the reasons behind the neoteric ‘let’s-buy-a-football-club’ revolution are of the rapacious sort. There is money in football, and lots of it.

There is no money in Europe, though. Economies are shadowed by the doom of grotesque debt-to-GDP ratios, high unemployment, rising taxes and rousing interest rates. The future is murky.

Read More

Because we all like to have a laugh at the absurd transfer rumours coming out of the British press, let’s get those aside first. Here are the rumours for the 30th of May, 2010.

Absurdities: Jose, Cesc, Kaka, and Lamps all part of the ridiculousness!

Barcelona will step up their £50m pursuit of Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas if they can offload midfielder Yaya Toure. [News of the World]

But Mourinho is threatening to spark a debate in Spain by naming Fabregas as one of his transfer targets for Real. [Sunday Express]

Alright then. I know you’re all sick of hearing about Cesc, so let’s move past that.

Read More

By Mirko Corli (a proud Nerazzuri supporter)

David Bowie was right.
Last night was the time to be heroes, and José Mourinho and his lads definitely were.

David Bowie - “Heroes”

It has been a tough match, completely different from the first leg. In the San Siro Inter was powerful, with terrific counter attacking on the pitch, controlling the entire game, apart from the last 15 minutes.

In last night’s game Inter never was in control of the match. From the very beginning even before the sending off of Thiago Motta, the Nerazzurri were keen to play a defensive match. Everybody behind the ball line, and less counter attacking than ever. And that was the masterpiece. 

It was José Mourinho’s masterpiece, it was a masterpiece by every single player. Always in the game with the right focus on the ball, on the opponents, on the stadium.

Read More

By Dominic Vieira

Inter Milan vs Barcelona, 19:45 GMT, Semi-Final 1st leg

Tomorrow night, two of Europe’s strongest teams will battle out the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at the San Siro Stadium in Milan. Mourinho’s Inter Milan host Guardiola’s Barcelona in an encounter which captures all the greatness of a final.

The tie is a repeat of the earlier group stages matches as the two clubs were in Group F. Barcelona won the home match 2-0 and tied 0-0 in Milan.

Barcelona are travelling to Milan by bus due to the volcanic ash cloud which has vandalized European skies. Yesterday, the Catalan club travelled 634 kilometres to Cannes where they stayed over night. Today they will cover the remaining 351 kilometres to Italy and train at the stadium tonight.

Sergio Busquets was positive about the long bus ride as he told the club’s website: “Maybe spending so long together on a coach will bring us closer together and help us focus on beating Inter. It’s a long time on the road and we’re not really used to that, but with music and a film or two, I’m sure the trip won’t seem so long.”

Inter Milan are heading into this game with a high morale after a strong home 2-0 victory over arch-rivals Juventus on Friday. The win is the boost Nerazzurri needed especially as they have been under-performing in the Serie A recently. Mourinho’s men have to be considered favourites as they are playing on home soil and have an unstoppable defence. Barcelona are, for once, the underdogs and hopefully their weekend tie against city rivals Espanyol will not affect their approach and style.

Read More

By Dominic Vieira

Many faces will be absent at the World Cup this summer, take a look at the top 20 players who will not be participating at the World Cup.

20. Andrey Arshavin

The little Russian who stole the show at EURO 2008 looked certain to be a part of the World Cup under the reign of Russia’s Dutch manager, the great Guus Hiddink. However, Slovenia upset Arshavin’s highly-touted side in the World Cup playoff. The Arsenal man has been in great form this season, and it is disappointing to see that a player and a team that both play with such style will not be present in South Africa. At least Arsene Wenger must be happy, if that counts for anything.

19. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)

The Barcelona striker will be one of the stars absent this summer as his beloved Sweden failed to qualify for the competition. Zlatan is one of the most exciting players to watch, his creativity and uniqueness will certainly be missed.

18. Michael Owen (England)

It was highly unlikely that Owen was going to be selected by Fabio Capello. Nonetheless, a hamstring injury during the League Cup Final in February destroyed his hopes of making his fourth World Cup.

Read More

They say form is temporary, class is permanent. While I’m not going to go as far as to say that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is no longer a world-class player, he certainly is, I think we can all agree that he hasn’t been in the best form lately. In fact, he has been no where near as good as we all expect from Barcelona’s replacement for Samuel Eto’o. Above is footage of Ibra wasting chance after chance in a recent game against Real Zaragoza; can you really tell me this is the same Zlatan that won Inter Milan the Scudetto last year?    

Anyway, the Sweden international suffered a calf injury whilst warming-up for Saturday’s Primera Division clash with Athletic Bilbao and, after being replaced in the line-up by Bojan Krkic, underwent initial tests this evening. Bojan went on to score two goals against Atletico Bilbao (Barça won 4-1, highlights after the jump). I know that Ibra scored two goals against Arsenal, but I think it is fair to say that he wasted another half-dozen golden chances in the first half at the Emirates.

Confidence is necessary for a player to succeed at the highest levels, and I really think the Swede needs to take some time to regain faith in himself. So while Ibra will merely be a spectator when Barça welcome Arsenal to the Nou Camp, either Thierry Henry or Bojan will replace him and play the prominent role in attack. Is that really a bad thing for Barcelona? I, for one, think this is the best thing that the Blaugrana could ask for.

Read More

By Andy Jones

Tonight we see two giants of the beautiful game clash and by bea-u-ti-ful I mean the two teams who play the most easy on the eye football, they set the standard for which other teams should aspire to play like so it’s no surprise that fans and neutrals alike are looking forward to this match in apprehension. Arsenal has asked it’s fan to wear all the red and white they can and to create a thunderous atmosphere at the Emirates, while the return of club legend Henry is certainly going to cause some noise, we just have to hope the football is going to live up to its billing.

All eyes tonight will be on Messi, he has the world at his feet. Quite Literally. He has to be considered one of the greatest ever and yet he is still improving. Expect some mazy runs and wonderful skills from him, he has the explosive pace to leave the Arsenal defence looking like it’s standing still, the only player who may keep up with him is Clichy who will definitely have his hands full and probably won’t be bombing down the wing to support the attack as much as he is use to. But with all the focus on how the Arsenal defence will handle Messi, Ibra & co, no one has really looked at a rather slow Barça back line, Dani Alves has pace, but is just like Clichy, prone to charging forward on the attack and players like Arshavin will love the hole he leaves.

Midfield will also come under close scrutiny, with Iniesta already ruled out and Cesc facing late fitness tests. This is where the game will be won and lost in my opinion, if either team gets into their passing rhythm, then the other will find it alot harder to get in the game. Expect Song and Keita in both teams to be working damn hard to break up play, they will be alot more important than people think. However, Arsenal will need Cesc for this game. No matter how well Nasri played against Porto, Cesc is what really makes Arsenal tick and without him it changes the whole dynamics of the game.

Finally, my guess on the final score, this is of course influenced by the fact I’m an Arsenal fan. I won’t deny it (plus I feel my fellow AFR writer Dominic was rather tough on my team) I think Arsenal could win this! We are at home, Barcelona are not as attacking away from the Nou Camp. Either way I think it will be a close game as long as the Arsenal defence keep their concentration or Messi will make them pay. I would like to say if Arsenal win, it will be 2-1, but I can see a 2-2 draw, I think it will be a lot harder for Barcelona to win here in London. Either way I am looking forward to this game like a kid looks forward to Christmas, let’s hope we see a truly amazing game.

Read More

Totti kicks off a new year row with Mauro Zarate. [Off The Post]

Arsenal sign 16-year-old Brazilian Wellington Silva for £5m, too bad he can’t join until he turns 18. [Never Captain Nicky Butt]

Ibrahimovic stamp on Godin in 1-1 draw with Villarreal. [Dirty Tackle]

Transfer talk: Kenwyne Jones, David Bentley, Patrick Vieira… [The Spoiler]

Materazzi’s World Cup Plans. [DT]

CR9’s disgraceful act of simulation is a joke. [Youtube]

All 50 of Torres’ Premier League goals [Youtube]