Analysis of the Semi-finals

Real Madrid v. Juventus

Real meets Juventus in Turin on Tuesday, May 5th, for the first leg of the Champions league semi-finals. The advantage of playing away first is almost obvious, especially with the away goal rule. If real tie, with goals, then a mere nil-nil at the Bernabeu will put them through to the final. At home Real have been deadly this season, deciding big matches such as the quarter-finals against their cross town rival, Atletico. Real’s form in 2015 has not been as perfect as their form in 2014, yet they are definitely getting back in their groove. They’ve lost to Barca and Atletico in the return matches of la liga, which will likely be motivation for the UCL. Ancelotti will likely be sacked if Madrid doesn’t keep the Champions League trophy for the eleventh time. Such a big club like Madrid can not go without silverware for a year, and they know this. The players are mostly all returning from injury, from Bale to James who returned about a week ago and has since been in both the scoresheet with his stunners and dictating the pace of the game from the midfield. This has set off Isco as he thinks it is unfair James is right back in the starting 11. Yet I believe this will only make them more competitive and give Isco reason to play even better.

James celebrating his stunning volley vs. Almeria in Real’s 3-0 win.

Juventus has likely been having their best year in a while. They have not been this far in the competition in several years. They are basically Italian Champions with more than 10 points ahead of the second place, and they are also still alive in the Italian cup, thus making for a possible treble. Yet I do not think they will be able to get past this Madrid side that has been fine tuned by Ancelotti since last year. Modric is essentially the only player Juve will have the delight of missing the matches. Players to look for in Juventus are Pirlo playing a world-class holding midfielder that distributes the ball and takes set-pieces like no other, Tevez who seems to be back at his EPL intensity he found in Manchester, and Pogba the young French central midfielder who is both physically and skillfully phenomenal.

After a rough quarter’s, Juve are through to their first UCL semifinal since 2003.

Bayern Munich v. Barcelona

This match is very close to predict, Bayern have shown they do not rely on Robben to attack, and are definitely a world class side. Although, Messi and company seem to have found what they did not last year, and are looking to achieve their first big trophy since the signings of Suarez and Neymar. Neymar has already reached the goal tally that the Brazilian Ronaldo had at his time in Barcelona. The Barcelona attacking trio has been deemed the best to play at Barcelona, yet I personally think it was Ronaldinho, Messi, and Etoo who won the Champions league in 2005/06.

Ronaldinho, Messi, and Etoo. The best Barcelona attacking trio ever in my opinion.

Down to the Semi-finals

After the excitement from the Quarter-finals, and now the semi-finals draw, the champion will be chosen in merely 3 fixtures. This Champions league has seen not only the best football in Europe, but also one of the most dramatic tournaments ever. Looking back at some of the most memorable moments expressed in pictures, starting off in the group stages.

Liverpool out after a disappointing group stages.

Alexis is disappointed after his side lose 3-1 at the Emirates and are eventually knocked out in the round of 16.

The very controversial David Luiz shuts up the haters, for at least one match, as he scores a late equalizer and eventually PSG knock out Chelsea in the round of 16.

Bayern destroy Shaktar 7-0 after a 0-0 first leg sending Bayern flying into the quarters.

Barcelona’s Suarez had a field day vs. PSG as he scored a brace featuring a nutmeg on David Luiz before each goal:

First goal:

http://streamable.com/e/5iiv?autoplay=1

Suarez’ first goal with a beautiful nutmeg in the build up.

Second goal:

http://streamable.com/e/bz8e?autoplay=1

Chiellini shows what Gerrard should have done with Demba Ba when he slips in the Quarter-finals and saves a possible counter with a handball.

Chicharito’s late winner sends 10-man Atletico home from the Bernabeu and Real into another UCL semifinal.

The roller coaster second leg saw Bayern beat Porto 6-1 to comeback from a 1-3 loss in the first leg.

Now that the last four teams in the competition are known, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, and Bayern Munich, the end is near. The draw is as follows:

Juventus vs. Real Madrid

Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich

I predict a Champions league final to be an El Classico. Even though I did miss my last prediction when I predicted Bayern to lose, I think Barcelona is looking more solid than Bayern. Barca is yet to be outplayed in a match in this competition, and when it matters most, I do not see them letting the chance to return to a UCL final pass by. Also I see Real Madrid fighting toe to toe with a Juventus that many people do not believe in, but when tough games come around, its almost as if Real grows to reach their potential. In two fixtures I think Real will come out on top in aggregate and reach the final. Los Blancos have a galactico side once again and the end of this competition is one for all football fans to watch, and enjoy it as it is most likely going to be another very memorable champions league semifinal round.

An Analysis of the Porto vs. Bayern Munich Match

Porto is definitely an underdog in this match, yet I feel as though it is not impossible for them to overcome the likes of the bavarian giants that have world class players established in both the european scene as well as the international football scene. One reason Porto have a chance is the amount of injured players currently at Bayern.

Bayern Injury List

10.4	Sinan Kurt	F	0	0-0
10.4	Tom Starke	G	0	0-0
10.4	Medhi Benatia	D	13	1-0
10.4	Bastian Schweinsteiger	M	15	2-4
3.4	Franck Ribery	M	15	5-7
3.4	David Alaba	D	19	2-1
3.4	Arjen Robben	M	22	17-7
23.8	Javi Martinez	M	0	0-0

These players will all miss the first leg of the match against Porto for the quarter finals of the Uefa champions league. Without Alaba, Benatia, and Martinez, all common Bayern first team defenders, it will be hard for them to field a very solid defense. Ribery and Robben are world class wingers, and without them Bayern will lose a lot of depth in the attack along with making their play style forcefully become centralized. Finally Schweinsteiger is a very solid central midfielder and as seen in the last world cup he can shut down the attack of great players even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Porto needs to look to find an advantage while Bayern is lacking these players in their starting line up and look to work from there. The first leg will be on Tuesday April 14th, and Porto will be looking to upset Bayern from a possible fourth straight semifinal appearance in the Champions league. I will be cheering on Porto, not only because it runs in my blood, but because seeing the underdog pose a fight to such a giant makes for a spectacular football match. I see a lot of parallels from this match and the match I saw in the world cup last summer between Algeria and Germany where no one believed in Algeria yet they took Germany to extra time and ended up being 2-1 after 120 minutes of football.

That is a little display of how Porto can dominate a match.

Quarter Finals Approaching

After all the excitement of the Round of 16, 8 teams are still alive to square off for a place in the Champions League semi-finals. Out of the 8 matches from the last round I predicted 5 of them correctly. 2 of the 3 fixtures I failed to guess the winner of were decided by the away goal tie-breaker. Chelsea was knocked out in Stamford Bridge after tying PSG 2-2. Likewise Arsenal had a chance to comeback from the 3-1 loss at the Emirates but fell short, they won 2-0 at Monaco but 3-3 aggregate put Monaco through with 3 away goals. The PSG – Chelsea matchup was a rematch of last year’s Champions League where Chelsea advanced on away goals, this year PSG got their revenge. The other fixture I predicted wrongly was Borussia Dortmund – Juventus, where the first leg Juventus took 2-1 and then in the second leg they stomped Borussia 3 – nil.

The draw for the quarter-finals are as follow:

UCL Quarter-finals draw.

This draw looks very competitive and no one can be 100% sure in their predictions, but I’ll give it a try:

PSG v Barcelona

This is a rematch of their group stage matches, where Barcelona came out on top both times. I think Barcelona has shown great football lately, from El Classico, to their clash with Manchester City. Messi is in great form, and doesn’t need to be scoring goals to affect the game. Suarez has finally routinely found the back of the net. And Neymar is just Neymar, give him half a yard and he will be gone, to the goal or assisting, he has put up great numbers this year so far with 17 goals and 4 assists. He is second in the team for average whoscored.com rating at 7.89 behind Messi’s 8.83. Barça will win, but it will be a close one, as PSG’s back 4 are all Brazilians who have played against the Barca trio together, and separate.

Atletico v Real Madrid

Los Blancos will win the Madrid Derby in the Champions League. You likely didn’t hear it here first or have the thought come across your mind when you read these words. Yet this is one of the fiercest rivalries in Europe, and a rematch of last years final. Likely one of the most awaited games of the season so far. The question is can Real return to the form they saw in the first half of the 14-15 season, and ultimately the form that saw them Champions of Europe and of the Copa Del Rey 10 months ago. Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema definitely have the hype to win this matchup, but can they get their synergy back together and play as a team? Modric returning to the midfield was a great boost, and James should return by the first leg. With Ancelotti’s side fielding a 4-3-3 like formation, the three in the middle will have to work their asses off in training to show they deserve to start, with a pool of highly skilled players such as James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Isco Alarcon, Sami Khedira, Illaramendi, and the newly arrived Lucas Silva from Cruzeiro in Brazil. If Real play as well as they can and should, this should be a definite win for them.

Ronaldo celebrating his goal in the Champions League final last year when Real Madrid won 4-1 in extra time.

Porto v Bayern Munich

No one else will believe this, and it may seem outlandish, but until now, Bayern has not faced a side that will challenge them more than FC Porto. The Portuguese side have shown that they can play world class football and have shown the world they are more than good enough to be among Europe’s best 8 teams. If they hang on in the match at Allianz Arena, I see Porto winning 2-0 at home. Casemiro, who won the Champions League last year with Real Madrid has been solid in the center midfield, along with distributing very well. Porto is also a team, but they do not lack quality in their ranks, many of the players shined in the World Cup last year. Brahimi with Algeria, Jackson Martinez and Quintero with Columbia, Herrera with Mexico, and finally Martins Indi with the Netherlands. Quaresma is a super-sub that can come in and work the Bayern wingbacks, the pace that Porto can offer from the outside with Tello, Brahimi, and Quaresma is insane, along with their set-piece prowess that they have shown in the UCL, there is no reason for Bayern to be counting them out. Finally I think that Porto matches up well with Bayern because they do not need possession to score and play their play casemiro free kickstyle. Counter attacks are the main threat with this Porto side, and Bayern should be careful.

Danilo celebrating his late equalizer to give Porto a 1-1 draw for the first leg against FC Basel.

Juventus v Monaco

Even though I messed up both of these sides last time I predicted winners, I am now almost sure Juventus will be in the semi-finals of Europe. I did not believe the hype around Juve. Sure they won the Serie-A last year and will likely do it again this year, although I did not know they could thrash teams in the European scene too. Roma was killed 7-1 against Bayern at home, one of the reasons I didn’t believe in Juventus. Though Tevez has shown new found form that mirrors his United days and Juve has several world class players and veterans such as Buffon, Pirlo, Marchisio, Pogba, Giovinco, Chiellini, Vidal, Evra, Morata and Llorente. This team has depth, and skill where Monaco doesn’t have nearly as many world class players. Taken Monaco did beat Arsenal, I don’t think Juventus will fly by them, but Juve has everything going for them.

Those are my predictions for the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals that show some very exciting matchups. I will be looking forward to watching them and enjoying the football. If you disagree with any of these predictions say so in the comments. Some of the sites I used for stats and draws are as follow:

whoscored.com

uefa.com

Excitement in the Return Matches

With the second leg of the fixtures starting this week, fans saw surprising results, injuries, and most of all, Champions League football. This Champions League football that has been branded for its display of tactical managers, fierce competition, crazy fans, great goals, and historic comebacks. This week saw very one sided matches such as the Porto and Bayern victories, along with very close matches where Madrid lost in the Bernabeu and had they not had a 2 nil lead would’ve lost. Also the tie between PSG and Chelsea saw PSG go forth with more away goals, bringing revenge when the opposite happened in Chelsea’s favor last year.

As my family from Portugal are all Porto fans, I was ecstatic to see them claim a spot in the next round of the Champions league with an absolute win over FC Basel. The 4-0 result came with a goal from the Brazilian Casemiro who came from Real Madrid.

Real Madrid also snuck into the next round of the Champions League, carried by their 2-0 win in the first leg in Germany. Their loss to Schalke in Madrid caused some tension in the team and Ronaldo claimed he wouldn’t talk to the press anymore this year.

The Champions League is back!: Logistics of the Return of the UCL

After a break since the end of the group stages, the Champions League has commenced once again and football fans everywhere are excited to see “the best of the best” square off in the first knockout stage round. The first two fixtures occurred on Tuesday February 17th and saw both results as draws. Bayern was held off by Shaktar and PSG came back from a one nil deficit to Chelsea at home. With the return of the Champions League the football leagues are more balanced and their fixtures will take place mostly on the weekends for the next couple of weeks. Also big teams that are not in the Champions or Europa Leagues will have an awkward midweek break. This is mostly true for Manchester United who has one of the most expensive weekly salaries in Europe paying for players like Di Maria, Falcao, Robin Van Persie, and Wayne Rooney to name a few. Some Champions League sides will see their players needing rest from two full 90 minute matches in one week’s span, and the league ties are usually the matches clubs rest their starting 11 players on. Teams like Madrid and Barcelona tend to give their star players some rest in league matches in which they feel confident upon winning. These logistics of the return of the Champions League in February is nothing new to clubs as it has become routine for clubs with such tradition. One club that may be negatively affected by their presence in the knockout phase is Borussia Dortmund. They find themselves at the very bottom of the Bundesliga and having Champions League matches to be worried about is the last thing that would help their recovery in their domestic league.

BVB is struggling in the Bundesliga with stupid errors that turn into heartbreaking losses.

January Transfer Window

Football (soccer) fans everywhere are excited about this day, the transfer window deadline day. Unlike American sports, football has two designated windows in the course of a year for players to be able to be purchased (traded) by clubs around the world. This time is marked by changes to teams, and a well orchestrated transfer window can mean great performances in the following months. Noting that the January window is in the middle of the European season, so clubs are not so eager to let players go, and the market tends to inflate due to the situation at hand. If a club is going to buy a player in January, it usually means they are not doing well and are desperate for a change, thus allowing prices to sky rocket.

In this blog post I will be reviewing the largest transfers that occurred in this January’s transfer window, rumors that never turned out to be true, loans to satisfy team rosters, and the best deals for clubs.

Rumors that could have but didn’t happen:

Garreth Bale to Manchester United

There was much drama at the Bernabeu after the Club World Cup win as Whales international Garreth Bale seemed to be in bad terms with his teammates, reflecting on the pitch. Madrid lost two matches in a row after their 22 match winning streak they had previously been in. Bale had instances where a goal was surely on if he had chosen a lay off instead of taking it on himself, yet he chose to be greedy, without success. This edged on transfer rumors of a huge transfer that would’ve been if Bale was indeed to go to Manchester. This was not the case to Madridista’s delight. Bale will stay at the Bernabeu.

Lionel Messi to Chelsea

Another English club that was rumored to make a huge transfer in January, Chelsea were thought to have sent a 200 million pound bid for four time ballon d’or winner Lionel Messi. This was followed up by some online drama when Messi followed Chelsea on Twitter. This move was made a rumor after a few weeks when Messi went back to his previous statements that said he wouldn’t leave Barca for a while.

Notable transfers:

Odegaard to Real Madrid

Odegaard holds up a Real Madrid shirt. He will be playing for the reserves team that plays in the second division until the end of the season.

The wonderkid everyone was fighting over finally chose a team to go to… and make bank. The 16 year old Norwegian is making 80 thousand pounds a week, more than Marco Reus and Paul Pogba make! This came as a shock to many fans, yet catering to a potential super star is a good investment for Madrid.

Torres to Atletico Madrid

Fernando Torres has lost his form that made him a star earlier in his career, but ever since his move back to Madrid, where he became a star, he has scored 2 goals against Madrid in the first leg in the quarters of the Copa, and then opened the tally against Barca in the semi’s.

Victor Valdez to Manchester United

A free transfer saw the ex-Spanish international that was a free agent sign with the English giants. He will be the second Spanish keeper at Old Trafford. De Gea is still to be the starter as of right now but having such a legend in the club is always good.

Andre Schurrle to Wolfsburg

The Chelsea German international and world cup champion is on his way back to Germany after not finding space in the Chelsea regular squad. The 23 million pound move was a last hour transfer that will define his career.

Loans:

Podolski to Inter

As the 14/15 season progressed, it became clear Arsenal would be marked for their injuries in the season once again, yet even then Podolski couldn’t find a place in the squad, so a loan to Inter was the right choice. The German international had a good time in Brazil, being crowned world cup champion, even with his club performances being sub-par. He will be meeting up with Shaquiri who left Bayern for similar reasons, yet not performances, but really space in the club.

Knockout stage draws!

The draw for the champions league knockout stage, that will resume play in February, has come out. In this post I will show each matchup and make my pick for the winner along with talk a little about each one.

Paris SG vs Chelsea

I think Chelsea are the favorites, along with my pick to win this matchup, but nevertheless the overall better side. They are flying in the premier league, and with Mourinho being back, he has this new drive to win the UCL for the Blues as he has not won that title while managing them. Also PSG in the group stages just hasn’t impressed enough to beat the best English team in the competition.

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich

Anyone who doesn’t pick Bayern in this one has extremely high hopes. Bayern has been a super power in football the last couple of years, and their team is the base of the Germany national team who won the 2014 world cup. They should win both matches without much challenge as the Ukrainian side, Shakhtar, doesn’t have much to threaten Bayern with other than a handful of Brazilians who don’t play for the Brazilian national team but have found their way to the club.

FC Basel vs FC Porto

This may seem like a close matchup to most, although I think Porto is a dark horse in the UCL as they have a very good team with solid players such as Jackson Martinez, Ricardo Quaresma, Quintero, Brahimi, Tello, and Herrera. Their attack is very solid and has a nice variety of players who can bring different playing styles to the pitch. Their midfield also has shown to create great opportunities and I can easily see Porto flying past Basel.

FC Schalke 04 vs Real Madrid

The reigning world champions will be looking to defend their UCL title with two wins in the two legs against Schalke. Even though they have just lost twice after their 22 match winning streak, Los Blancos are still a favorite and have a team that may be even better than last years team that flew past every team into the final, marking historic results like 4-0 away victory vs Bayern Munich and 6-1 and 3-1 thrashings of Schalke in the round of 16.

Manchester City vs Barcelona

Manchester City do not have a history in the champions league, and drawing Barcelona in the round of 16 isn’t something that will put them on their way to do so. Even if Messi does make a transfer to Chelsea, which is very unlikely, I do not see Barcelona losing to City. Neymar has become accustomed to Barcelona this season and is playing superbly well and showing his transfer was worth the money and that he isn’t a flop.

Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund are struggling in the Bundesliga, but I do not think this will be the case on February 24th when they head to Turin to play Juventus. They seem to be in different gears when playing in the champions league, for in the group stages their performances were lights out. Jurgen Klopp has surely made the Champions League his main target and Borussia has everything it takes to knock out a big team that Juve is.

Arsenal vs Monaco

The first pick that is a lower seed is Arsenal, who finished second in the group with Borussia, I believe they will beat Monaco as they want to show their fans they are a threat in European football and aren’t complete flops every year that they make the UCL. If Sanchez plays as well as he can play and has shown, and they don’t play as carelessly as they did against Anderlecht when they gave up a 3-0 lead to go on and tie 3-3 at the Emirates, they can definitely beat AS Monaco.

Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid

The final matchup of the UCL round of 16 is an interesting one, between the third strongest German team in the competition (in my opinion) against the third strongest Spanish team in the competition. Nevertheless Atletico did make it to the final last year and have shown they are a strong side after beating Real 2-0 in the Copa Del Rey. I see Atletico winning this without much effort as Simeone has upped the ante in the club in recent years and made players perform as well as they possibly can and making average players turn into great ones as they play as a team.

Those are the matchups in the round of 16 along with my predictions. The team on the left is the team that is the lower seed (placed second in their group in the group stages) and will have the first leg home.

http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/schedule?competition=7

the link above gives the dates and time of every matchup.

Corruption?

Blatter at a FIFA press conference in 2014.

FIFA has made several decisions that people do not agree with. Anywhere from naming Franck Ribery the player of Europe when Ronaldo won the Ballon Dor in 2013. People also aren’t too keen on the fact that Blatter is rumored to have taken a bribe to take the world cup to Qatar in 2022. He has shown himself as a biased president in several ways including saying that Messi is a good boy therefor he is more likeable and should win the Ballon Dor. He has forced countries, such as Brazil, to build brand new stadiums with government money. This made a huge unneeded debt that is going to take years to pay back and a lot of tax payers money to pay for. This made controversy because Brazilians were angry at their government for not building hospitals or schools but building stadiums instead. Blatter is on the hot seat and isn’t liked by most as his scandals has proceeded his reputation.

In my opinion, most of the evidence is rumors, yet he has seemed like a very biased president of FIFA. His quotes show that he skews views to being subjective and more than just the football aspect of it. Only time and further investigations will uncover the truth about this.

Historic Champions League Finals

In this blog post I will speak about historic champions league finals that have been played and will be remembered as the most historic finals for anything from a large comeback to a big rivalry.

1978-79

Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Malmo FC

This final was very historic as an English club that was very small in the national scene, came up from no where with the management of legend Brian Clough. He had tried managing Leeds United but failed due to the players’ attitudes then went on the Nottingham Forest where he won back to back Champions League titles, this being the first win. Forest is now in the lower division of English football and has been for several years. Although there mark has been set in Europe with their two champions league titles.

1998-99

Manchester United 2 – 1 Bayern Munich

When United conceded a 6th minute goal they knew it would be a rough game with such a start. Although no fan would have expected a come back in regular time, which is what happened. 2 goals in injury time saw the trophy go from the German club’s hands to Manchester. Sheringham tied the match in the 91st minute and then Solksjaer gave united the lead in the 93rd. Everyone who witnessed this (and wasn’t a Bayern fan) likely got goosebumps as United rallied so late.

2003-04

Porto 3 – 0 AS Monaco

Mourinho is now known as one of the best managers of all time, but this is likely because of what he did at Porto in his stint as a manger there. He made the Portuguese club win its second champions league title and first in the 2000’s.

2004-05

Liverpool 3 (3-2 penalties)- 3 AC Milan

Steven Gerrard is a legend. But the games that he will be immortalized by are a select number that proves all of his worth. Milan were up 3 nil at halftime. A scoreline that gave the team from Milan one hand on the cup. Gerrard picked his team mates up and with his extraordinary leadership, Liverpool rallied to tie the game at 3-3 and go on to win in the penalty kick shoot out.

2011-12

Chelsea (4-3 penalties) 1 – 1 Bayern Munich

Bavarian giants Bayern Munich had been in the 09-10 final and lost to Internazionale, and were looking to bounce back with a win in the Allianz Arena (their home stadium). Chelsea were major underdogs, with a team that wasn’t predicted to make it far, crossing the path with Spanish giants Barcelona and beating them in the Camp Nou to clinch their spot to the final. Bayern had everything going for them and went up 1 nil early on. Didier Drogba, a Chelsea legend who was about to leave Chelsea as his contract expired, saw the game slip away after he fouled Franck Ribery in the penalty area to give Bayern a penalty and a chance to almost put the game away. Robben skies it. Late in the game Drogba heads home a corner in the 88th minute to tie the game. The once villain in the final has become the hero. Drogba makes this game legendary after he buries the 5th penalty to win the title.

2013-14

Real Madrid 4 – 1 Atletico Madrid

This was the most recent final, and also a very historic one as well as the two teams were not only rivals but from the same city, the Spanish capitol, Madrid. Real had won 9 previous titles, and reaching the 10th title would be a historical feat, let alone bragging rights to beat their rival. Real was down 1 to zero but tied in stoppage time with Ramos heading in a corner. Bale scored the go ahead goal and the flood gates opened. Real champions and win la decima.