Champions of Champions

Tonight the first round of the Champions League proper starts, and we'll see the Premier League title winners head to Madrid to battle it out against the reigning La Liga champions. With the galaxy of stars on show, it's the stand-out match for tonight. 

After a poor start to the campaign, Mourinho's men are already 8 points behind rivals Barcelona, and after losing 1-0 away at Sevilla, he has openly criticised his Galacticos; 'they got what they deserved'. As well as questioning the commitment of individual players! You'd think a good performance in tonights match would get their season underway.

Manchester City on the other hand, may have Aguero back and playing, he's flown out with the team so Mancini obviously feels he can play some part tonight. It'll be interesting to see what formation the Italian will go with, after playing a couple of matches with 3-5-2 but more recently against Stoke, he reverted to the their familiar 4-2-3-1.

Potentially a few exciting head to heads are in store; Marcelo vs Maicon, Benzema vs Kompany, Casillas vs Hart and Yaya Toure vs the Madrid midfield!

Tomorrow there is a match that looks just as promising as Chelsea host Scudetto champions, Juventus. The Milan sides have seemingly weakened their teams, Inter have lost Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Cordoba, Forlan and Pazzini. Whilst A.C Milan have seen Ibrahimovic leave along with their centre half partnership of Silva and Nesta. A few midfield options have also exited San Siro; Seedorf, van Bommel, Gattuso and Aquilani.

Juve look to be going in the right direction though, extending their unbeaten league streak to 42 over the weekend. Although it didn't start all that well. They had gone into half time 1-0 down away at Genoa after resting a few first team players, they were lucky not to be losing by more than just one after the home side had failed to make their chances count. Inevitably the Old Lady were to make opportunities of their own, inducing the Genoa defence and after bringing Vucinic and Asamoah on (who both scored), they were able to maintain their streak which goes back to May 2011.

Chelsea are of course a completely different side to the trojans that reigned victorious just a few months ago! Losing Drogba has forced them to change their style of play, but with Hazard looking to be one of the signings of the summer, they'll undoubtedly cause the stern Italian defence problems.

Last night saw two fantastically supported clubs face each other, after a warm tribute to the 96 that lost their lives during the Hillsborough Disaster.

The match could not have begun more one-sided. Everton were passing the ball across the pitch in a way you wouldn't normally associate with the traditional English club. The fox in the box Jelavic almost started the match with a bang, but his goal was rightfully chalked off. The early pressure paid off though as Pienaar delightfully linked up with Baines to produce the opening goal of a cracking encounter!

Everton continued to dictate play with Mirallas having plenty of shots at goal.

The second half started in different fashion, Demba Ba was introduced and within 5 minutes he had found the back of the net, 1-1. Newcastle looked more comfortable with 4-4-2 as Cisse was extremely isolated in the first half, and Gutierrez switched to the left wing after looking lost in centre midfield. 

Momentum looked to have swung the Toffees way, but Fellaini's goal was given offside, altough replays shown it should've been given.

A moment of real sportsmanship was shown by 'keeper Steve Harper after he had rushed out of his goal to clear an under hit pass. Anichebe had caught him late and as the referee charged over to speak with the striker, Harper clearly signalled that the his opponent was playing for the ball - great honesty!

Back to the action and Anichebe appeared to have headed the ball over the line. Wrongly not given. Although Everton will feel hard done by, the play that followed was harsh on the Magpies when Ben Arfa was clipped he still had possession of the ball and they had men over as the referee blew for a foul.

After a few strong tackles and dramatic goings-on, Goodison was rocking again after a clinical finish from Anichebe put them ahead again. 2-1 with just a few minutes to go. Even us neutrals were begging for Moyes' side to hang on! It wasn't to be as Ba had got on the end of a flick on, Howard committed with a Schmeichel style frog splash as Ba shot beneath him to equalise in the 90th minute.

A few goals you might not have seen..

Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls vs. Columbus Crew)

Dusan Basta (Siena vs. Udinese)

Paul Konchesky (Wolves vs. Leicester)

Euro 2012: Who To Look Out For

Platini, van Basten, Klinsmann, Zidane, Ronaldo, Maldini, Figo and Henry have all played in the Final of the European Championships. There will be players who'll be out to put themselves amongst those names in this year's Euro's..

Thirteen of the top twenty Nations in the World will be competing in Poland and Ukraine, so plenty of talent on display. Aside from the already established world-class players, here's a few who you might not be so familiar with and who I think could do well..

Igor Akinfeev - Goalkeeper (Russia) 

The Russian stopper who has over fifty caps to his name, impressive as he's only 26. Akinfeev has been linked to Arsenal and Chelsea in recent times, but a transfer would appear unlikely as he's ruled himself out of a move away (not surprising seeing as he's been at CSKA Moscow since the age of 5), as well as Petr Cech signing a new contract. Here's a great reaction save from Russia's number one.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos - Defence (Greece)

A young Greek defender who helped Schalke 04 to a 3rd place finish in the Bundesliga this season. Having turned 20 earlier this year, he's managed eight caps for Greece, along with three goals (the latest coming in a 1-0 away win vs. Armenia in a warm-up fixture). Good going for a centre half, especially as internationally, managers tend to go with more experienced defenders.

Mats Hummels - Defence (Germany)

Another centre half from the Bundesliga. He has accumulated almost 100 appearances for Borussia Dortmund and is only 23. His side won the Bundesliga this year, keeping the attacking prowess such as; Gomez, Huntelaar, Pizarro and Podolski at bay. For all the attacking threat the German National team have, their side needs stability in defence, so with Neuer behind him and Khedira and Schweinsteiger protecting him, Hummels has great back up.

Christian Eriksen - Midfield (Denmark) 

With Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, Mesut Ozil of Germany and Wesley Sneijder of Holland being in the same group, a playmaker for the Danish comes courtesy of Eriksen. Rumours of a move to Arsenal and Manchester Utd have been spoken of, and a good showing this summer could spark interest from even more of Europe's biggest clubs. He won the Eredivisie with Ajax this season getting seventeen assists and seven goals from thirty three appearances. It appears he has good skills too!





Marco Reus - Midfield (Germany)

Eighteen goals and nine assists in thirty two Bundesliga appearances. The 23 year old has had a great season with Monchengladbach, who managed to finish fourth. Reus won't be with them for next seasons European campaign, as at the start of 2012 the youngster signed a contract with current champions, Dortmund. Although Ozil, Muller and Podolski look to be ahead of him in the pecking order, he'll be sure to make the most of his time on the pitch. Here's the standout goal from the season just gone!

Robert Lewandowski - Forward (Poland)

The Polish International has scored 29 goals in 40 appearances for Borussia Dortmund in domestic competitions, finishing 3rd top scorer behind goal machines Huntelaar and Gomez in the Bundesliga. With Russia, Czech Republic and Greece in the same group, the co-hosts will fancy their chances of progressing. Especially as their top striker scores goals like this in their 4-0 friendly win vs. Andorra.





Olivier Giroud - Forward (France)

Ligue 1's top scorer as he fired Montpellier to the title. He may not be guaranteed to start every game seeing as Karim Benzema is in the squad, but you can bet when he gets game time, he will give defenders trouble and be a real nuisance. Just as France were losing 2-1 to Iceland, on the hour mark Giroud came on and got two assists to help his team to victory. His chemistry with Ribery could influence Laurent Blanc's decision.

Mourinho Commits

How different do things look over in Spain now compared to how they did this time last year?

At the end of last season Barcelona had just won the Champions League, alongside retaining the domestic league title! Now with Madrid winning La Liga whilst breaking records, as well as Guardiola stepping down from his post with the Catalan club, you'd be forgiven for saying Real Madrid could dominate for years to come...

Rewind a year more to the end of the 2009-2010 season, when Mourinho had just clinched the treble with Inter Milan, and Barcelona had won La Liga whilst accumulating one loss the entire season. Imagine Mourinho sitting down at his desk as he contemplated overturning the Spanish giants, who's team had six of the eleven starting players as part of the World Cup winning side in the Final. Seven if you include David Villa who had made his way to Nou Camp after Spain's glorious summer. Javier Mascherano also joined the squad the same transfer window.

For the 2010-2011 season, Madrid had actually been top of the table up until they lost... to Barcelona... 5-0.

This was during the same time of the season where in the league, Barca had won sixteen matches in a row as well as remaining unbeaten for thirty one! During this spell, Messi bagged his second hat-trick of the season and 100th La Liga goal when his side beat Almeria 8-0 away from home. Barcelona went on to win La Liga as well as the Champions League. The press couldn't conjure up enough superlatives for this team. They revolutionised football. Their style of play was second to none. Guardiola had notched up thirteen trophies during his three years at the club by this point. Unstoppable.

Barcelona added Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas to add depth to their already star-studded squad for the new campaign. The first Clasico match of 2011-2012 (that came mid-December) finished as a 3-1 win for Barca at the Bernabeu. After this they went on to win the World Club Championship in Japan. Was this their downfall? A long gruelling season followed by a World Cup, straight into the new season. Where other clubs in Spain were having a Christmas break, Barca were jetting across the globe in the quest for another trophy. No matter how you see it, it's the way the Galactico's responded to the set back that is so impressive. From the twenty two league games that followed the loss in El Clasico they went unbeaten, winning nineteen and drawing three. Finishing the season on one hundred points, a league record. All this as Messi scored a ridiculous amount of goals!

Looking back at Mourinho's time so far you try to pick out specific players and say who was most influential. Obviously, Ronaldo getting a goal a game goes a long way, but without his team mates he is nothing. You just have to watch them and see how disciplined they are defensively. They're almost robotic the way they get players behind the ball whilst maintaining pressure when they lose possession. Ozil, Khedira and Di Maria seem to have proven their worth after Mourinho had brought them in during his first transfer window. Perhaps it's the way he's changed the players who were already at the club that was vital. Sergio Ramos to centre half. Marcelo becoming a better all round full back. Benzema moving to Madrid looked a bad move until he had found a new gained confidence.

Just when Barcelona looked to be on top of the world with their never ending passing and free flowing football. Thankfully Mourinho was at hand to create a great derby war. The Portuguese manager obviously feels as though he can accomplish more with his club. As if knocking Barcelona off their perch wasn't a great achievement in itself!

Ruthless Roman

With Di Matteo doing more than just 'holding the fort', it would not come as a surprise if the Italian was given the job permanently. But Abramovich is ruthless. Very ruthless.

Avram Grant guided Chelsea to the League Cup Final and more memorably, a Champions League Final in the 2007/2008 season. His first game came just a few days after Jose Mourinho had parted company with The Blues towards the end of September '07, it was a 2-0 loss against eventual champions, Manchester United. Grant then took his side on a sixteen match unbeaten streak, thumping Sven-Goran Eriksson's newly-ambitious Manchester City, 6-0. During December of 2007 he was rewarded with a 4 year contract. At the end of the season he was sacked despite finishing just two points behind the title winners and losing the Champions League Final on penalties.

Scolari began the 2008/2009 season for Chelsea but his time at the club wasn't as successful as he would have liked, being sacked in February after dropping off the pace in the race for the title. The Brazilian was the first World Cup winning manager to take charge of a Premier League club, so where you'd expect other owners would have more patience, his departure was another example of Abramovich's short fuse.

Guus Hiddink was appointed temporary manager and only lost once in his time at the helm even after playing Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Barcelona twice. His side won the F.A Cup and although there was overwhelming support and seemingly, majority of the fans pleading for him to stay on, he stuck to his word and returned to his post with the Russian National side.

Next up was Carlo Ancelotti who's team was a force in his first season (2009/2010), with Drogba grabbing the Golden Boot Award with 29 goals. They ended the season monumentally with a crushing victory over Wigan. 8-0 was the scoreline with Cech, Terry and Cole keeping a clean sheet, Malouda and Lampard providing Drogba with the ammunition to ensure all three points were going their way. This capped the season brilliantly as they had performed so well throughout.
His second season wasn't as impressive as they had finished with 15 less points and a goal difference of +36, compared with +71 for their previous campaign. Subsequently Ancelotti was sacked.

Andre Villas-Boas, a young Portuguese with supreme success in his homeland, but unknown here in the UK - familiar story? Before winning the treble in Portugal he had actually been working under Mourinho at Chelsea as a scout, so he knew the club well. At the beginning of March he was sacked after a win percentage of less than 50%.

Who is likely to take over for next season? Fabio Capello. The former England boss has indicated he very much wants to manage a team in the Premier League: "England would be very interesting for me because I know very well the teams and the players". He knows the English players at the club from his time with the National side and because he has built up contacts over the years you feel he would attract big name players. More importantly, looking back at Abramovich's appointments, there is one word you could use to describe them all, they are tacticians. Capello you could also put into this category.

Will Abramovich go for a young apprentice in Di Matteo, like he did last season with Villas-Boas? Or will he go back to what he knows best and bring in a wise old head?